Boat Chnout JIT JIT

Translated the Election are happening this weekend and it occurred to me I have not updated you in a while though I am not sure how many people care but at least i can show you some pictures etc.

So this is how campaigning works in Cambodia especially if you are the opposition party you are not given space to really set up anything so instead you drive around with speakers on ur car and moto and whatever else.

 So every morning bc the CNRP head quarters is close my house i wake up to there them song it starts at about 6:30 and ends at about 10 at night. O and after 20 years in self exile the leader Sam Ramsey received a pardon from the king and has returned this video is at the air port. The crowds go back for miles its pretty crazy. National news was not allowed to cover his return but VOA (VOICE of America was on it).

It is not only CNRP out and about but the current ruling party as well however people tell me that they pay people between 5-10 usd where CNRP go out for free. the current phrases one hears lately is doh mon doh which means change or not and then the number which for CNRP is 7 and CPP is 4 there are many other parties but I guess you can say these are the two that matter. The smallest is this democratic peoples party and they are angry that no one will talk about what their policy's are.

What as shocked me so in America voting stuff is in an age bracket of 40 plus who get supper involved its why you know to raise money they have dinners to raise money bc in America it seems assumed that the youth will not par take seriously. I guess one can argue that the Obama Campaign changed that but on the whole you get what i mean. Well anyways in Cambodia it is reversed kids still in hs and college in some cases single handily are in charge of campaign efforts rain or shine they are out on their motos in the back of a truck for the past month to get people to vote for their party. This however is new according to people i talk to social networking has changed voter participation also what has worked in the past for the current ruling party is no as effective as now the majority of voters did not witness the genocide and want a none corrupt government with true democracy.

Nearly all of Phnom Penh’s communes have voter registration rates in excess of 100 per cent, amounting to more than 145,000 additional names, with one commune topping the 200 per cent mark, an analysis of previously unseen government population data reveals. Further analysis of the already public National Election Committee voter list shows there are more than 25,000 exact duplicate names in Phnom Penh alone. Basically it is estimated that about 10 percent of the voting population has been removed from the list and excess names have been added especially in key battle areas where the current ruling party is losing ground.

So the return of the opposition leader has been given credit to America however I think it was more UN influence never the less Cambodians think its all Obama not sure why but people are always thanking me one old man came up to me as i was walking to school to shake my hand.

Will Things stay the same or...

Will they change doh mon doh??

More Then Meets the Eye

I saw this and thought about gender expectations and how sometimes it really is like what Atticus Finich have to walk a mile in someones shoes. Think about all the people we have ignored because they did not meet some social ideal. I think I myself have had a few break down moments when I realized how my own brain washing has caused me to make people invisible anyways this is clip just sort of made me want to repost. 

happy we got the british out of america day!

Well I guess we had another 4^th of July and fyi living overseas believe me when I say that the Brits are still hostile about us throwing that tea over board haha. Im sure they are just sad bc almost every country has a freedom from the UK but what do they get nada. I played with some sparklers and that was about it the embassy has 5 dollar tickets but there is to many people and not enough food for the 5 bucks.  On other good news I got my camera working again so I will soon to have a million new pics to share with you all of my new office etc.  o right its presidential elections in Cambodia and I can fully heartily admit USA elections r crazy in their own way Cambodia has a whole different kind of crazy! For ex only the ruling party has space to set up events so the opposition parties are forced to be on the move all the time so there are like 1000 kids n moto’s with flags representing their party in oncoming traffic and when u on a bike and they come at u the best way I can describe it to you guys it’s like that part in the lion king when Siba and his dad on in the stampede.  The whacked out thing is that the current ruling party pays university students 10 dollars a day to stand on the side of the rd so the party looks cool hip etc and all of the parties go around blasting music but the ruling party has the most money so they seem to have I kid u not trucks with movie screens on them playing music videos of the current president. I should also not delude u to think any of this is a fair election however all the parties do try to gain votes im pretty sure the current party has to win and yeah there is an or else. In the papers it’s been stated by the current ruling party president if he loses there will be civil war it will be all the CNRP fault (that’s the most popular party) anyways I just thought bc CPP (the current ruling party) has been in power for the past 20 years they sort of had his in the bag however the stuff coming out in the papers r all the threats the current P.M is making is as if he is nervous and im not sure I understand why. It also goes without saying u do not want to be an ngo or work in the gov and not support the cpp im pretty for what I understand u can lose ur job esp if u r in the gov and don’t help run the campaign. As for the war I don’t see it actually happening bc I really don’t think cpp will lose (too much corruption at the voting booth) however incase to ease ur minds I will leave Phnom Penh for the weekend of the election bc that’s where all the military is however poor Cambodians really think that if that happens that America will send in our military to uphold democracy.  Though we did get free of the press back in Cambodia VOA VOICE OF AMERICA is a huge radio station in Cambodia esp in the village level and the ruling party kicked them out a week ago for the month of the elections and the US Embassy I think said no more funding blah blah and two days later VOA and all other foreign press was allowed back in it should be noted that Khmer press is owned by the current party so the only way to get a fair balance of news is though things like the VOA my host dad loves the VOA when I lived with him he used to tell me all sorts of things and ask me questions and when he realized VOA had a web site would make me go online. Well ill stop with the political update bc I have some stories about the cream of wheat guy which know u all love to read about! Okay so I may have mention that im not sure if he is mentally challenged or messing with me it goes back and forth bc im always so unsure but now im back on the though process that he is messing with my head. So the other day he updates on his Skype that he is in Cambodia now im like wtf is this real or not I don’t know??? The thing about him though is I can’t ask him bc if he is messing with my head that’s what he wants me to do bait me to see if ill flip out it’s like the longest game of war I have ever played with someone anyways then he tries to call me but im at work so I don’t pick up and bc I have skype plus even if im not on I can get voicemail messages but he did not know this so he did not know that I would know he called basically all I heard in my voicemail was click click. Now im thinking why is he calling me unless he is already in Cambodia so now I have to call my host sister to warn her and to warn jentu as well bc he hated jentu and I dunno could see him trying to pull something with her as well. I already had plans to go to the village for a day bc it was my host moms bday so I thought I can figure out more when im there.  Side the bday party was fun the thing about my host mom is I think she encourages me to do things that r not culturally normal but things she has wanted to do in her life. Well in between the next interaction I had with cream of wheat guy my host grandmamma died of what exactly not sure this is what I can guess maybe she had hpv that turned into uterus cancer that then spread to her bones this is all a guess though based on what they told me her symptoms were. I sort of felt like the whole her dyeing was a freak show I don’t think my description will do it justices but she has been really sick for a month I guess it got really bad this past Friday so every single older person in the village with all these monks persist spend 24 hours a day at my host grandmamma house. Meanwhile the day that she died they take out her ivy which I told them not to bc she was going to be in pain but they were like no this will help her die I knew that was wrong. I also don’t think they moved her since the last time I was there so she just had a blood clot pooling in her forehead it was a bit much to see. Then in Cambodian culture you give money to family to help with the funeral when I went to give them money bc she was still alive they made me put the money in her hand which was also a bit much. I went back and from my house to my g-mamas house at one point im sitting down with a bunch of monks who are writing on a chalk board predicting the future I thought it was for the old lady talking to him but no it turns out they were trying to predict when my g-mama was going to die (the monk was wrong he said Monday but it was Sunday night at 10pm). Meanwhile there are rows of chairs lined up with people just sort of looking on like a show of someone about to die. I left for the last time bc I realized the likelihood that she was going to chock on her own fluids and die really slowly bc I asked if they were going to give her meds to put her to sleep and they were like no we don’t have any. That’s when I knew that’s was too much for me to handle and they were not getting the things I was asking them. Well in between my visits to the sideshow I go online to see if we could get in touch with Jenta my host sister living in Korea when cream of wheat guy calls me. I debated not answering it however the game plan was to see where he was I am pretty sure he is not in Cambodia now but not positive. He just went on and on about how he is looking at Chinese women online that he wants a new wife once again I debate how stupid can he be?!?! There is no way the us gov will let him have a foreign wife anyways he is doing this shit bc he was convinced with his big ego that jentee would miss him first but she is so over him that she thinks its funny how desperate he is. Then he brought up these annoying wedding pics to send them to my dad’s house I’ll get them when I am home but then he is like well I have other pics to ill give u as if he has creepy pics I dunno this guy has a few screws loose. The rest of my weekend was spent in class im taking a class on the impact of education in society its been interesting its has prompted me to read about America and education it’s called academically adrift im only on chapter 3 but its address the major gaps in higher education and labor market etc. well till next time peace out from the other side of the world!