Yea its been almost two years but it was time to introduce
my mom to my Cambodian life… while every volunteer gets excited for family to
come and visit there life aboard we also get nervous of how will all of this be
handled. Be4 most of my friends moms came we would sit around and speculate on
what events would throw our parents over the edge have check list to not go
over board we get it we signed up for this they did not. Hum though I have to admit with my mom who
never really leaves the country and idea of a vacation is going to the
“country” aka Pennsylvania yea I know your thinking hum is that really
considered country well in my family it is lol that’s how you can tell we are
just too new york anyways I knew this was not going to be the vacation she was
excepting or wanting or even ready for.
With all this said the on goings of this visit with my mom and aunt
Marybeth are at times funny and sad but this is not to say anything negative
about the over all vibe of the trip because it was awesome to just share random
moments with people from back home! But for sake of entertainment what I bring
up will be all the over the top moments but know not every second was that
crazy. I think its fair to say that
until you come visit you also will think half of what I write is made up or not
real however soon my American family was in for the shock of just how real
Cambodian life could be. I never go about things the easy or normal way so my
host family came with me to simreap to meet my mom and aunt the night before I
have my host mom walking around outside with out a shirt or bra on why because
she was soo sad that she did not have a bra to were to meet my mom and spend
the whole day having what she thought were American style clothes made to meet
my family. Mean while on the west side of things my mom and aunt both went out
shopping in Thailand for what they thought were Cambodian clothes and to see
how west and east thought they made the mark on the other was amusing to say
the least. My host sister jentu who thinks America is number one was the guide
for this trip anything involving Americans she is front and center. She is the
one who sells used clothes which I always call salvation army clothes needless
to say she waned to give my mom some of her clothes as a gift so I spent the 5
hour car ride to semi reap conving her why that was not a good idea she had
high hopes and dreams I think that my mom would love said clothes so much that
jentu could have her take a bunch back to America and sell them…yea really lmao
she has not realized they come from America yet. Due to my rocking the boat
antics once we got to said hotel I had to fight with the manger bc he was not
happy about the fact villagers aka Cambodian nationals would be staying in the
hotel haha lucky my family is not someone who gives much thought to the
discrimination they get put though in there own country, however some Khmer
people really will not even attempt to go in what they feel are “white people”
only places. When we get up to the room my host mom is going to take a shower
however 20 mins later she finally comes out to inform me that she could not
take a shower because she did not know to. I go to inspect to see the western
shower and all the nobs and understand so for once im not the one having to be
taught something by her which is an hourly occurrence in my day to day life. In
true khmer style even though I called the hotel my mom was at hours be4 to let
them know I was in they forgot so after a while I finally call back to discover
they are in we all meet up at the hotel for the meet and greet which I think
went well. Onto ber-iey which is this all khmer resort something that I don’t
think shows up in lonely planet but you take a boat and there is some runis and
an awesome sunset to watch and that was the first exploration of Cambodia for
my American family and perhaps got them up excited then nervous about Cambodia
maybe? Anyways we get a big dinner were jentu convince the khmer staff that I
am Cambodian when jentu puts her mind to something she really can get anything
she wants its sort of shocking. Ankor Wat and the other smaller wats were a
full day event which took a lot of energy but well worth it I think I
personally liked the wat with the tree thought it the best. Lunch was the
interesting while I am used to my Khmer family idea of packing lunch but my mom
and aunt who have been on only package food had to move out of there comfort
zone. That morning we did go to a Khmer
market and I got coffee while jentu ran around buying food so I never actually
saw what she was buying until we sat down to eat which I might have warned her
about a few things never minded. So jentu and my mom are unpacking this lunch
which was just in a Khmer style cooler nothing like America anyways she pulls
out this full chicken which she did have cooked at the market but it still has
it head on (typical for Cambodia) but not for an American to see it still has
some feathers on it or hair. When my mom turns to me and says your not going to
really eat that and I just laughed bc I eat this type of chicken all the time
and there is never a refrigerator involved however I think her and my aunt
liked the shrimp or prawn I still don’t know the difference between the two one
is bigger then the other? Mean while my host family is eating the eyes of the
chicken and fighting over who will eat the claws. The next day we go to some
hand made art places that are ngo like which I think my mom liked better then
the wats more up her ally and bought some stuff to support the ngo it was nice
after a long day in the hot sun. that afternoon all of us get a fish massage
which is us putting r feet in a pool full of fish that eat the dead skin off ur
feet. The Cambodians felt nothing while all of us Americans were freaking out
and like ahh it tickles im sure the people watching us were entertained. On our
way back to phnom penh we stop in prey chore where my other host family lives
that was pretty uneventful however I could tell my host mom was not happy to
meet ther other Khmer mom I guess 3 moms in one place is not a good idea. We
stayed in the city for a night and then headed to my site when on the way to
the taxi stand they decided that a shared taxi with 8 people is not something
they want to try just for the record that is the typical way of getting around
for Khmer people but I was able to find a private taxi for 40 dollars for the
day. I gave the mtv’s crib tour of my village and a lot of people spoke with
them im pretty sure it was a lot to take in so it was hard to judge how they
really liked it. On that note I guess it also goes with out saying when you go
to such an extreme place to visit you need a month to really appreciate 1-2
weeks just not enough time to adjust. I think the tour of my actual life was
hardest for my mom to see evidently I did not give her enough of an idea what
she was getting her self into and that could be due to my two years of working
on integration into being “Khmer” I am sure on either end of things whatever
was sad or frustrating at the time will settle in a few weeks once everyone gets
back to normal and life and will realize seeing a country like Cambodia can
help you grow/change as a person even if its for a short time. In the mean time
to show that even a small interaction with another human being and creat a
ripple effect my host sister jentu now wants to desperately learn English so
she can call my aunt Marybeth up and play speak with her and keeps telling me
how much she wants to skype with her. You never know in life who's life you will
touch and on that note peace out from the other side of the world!!!!
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