Truly 3rd World

Because we have become so accustomed to life here in Cambodia, I sometimes "forget" we live in a 3rd world country. I know it might sound silly, but some of the 3rd-world-ness must be ignored in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle here. Because of this "forgetting", I tend to think we live somewhere normal. Until the following happens.... :

Yesterday I was watching TV after school in the back part of our house. All of a sudden, I heard a LOUD noise coming from near the street. I figured it was an old jalopy car or moto whose muffler had maybe fallen off, and this was the cause of the noise. I tried to ignore it, and I continued watching American Idol (YES!!! we get it here), but the noise didn't go away. I finally got up and walked out on our deck that overlooks the street. What I saw next horrified me.

There were tons of people who had also come out of their houses, stopped their motos, etc. to "watch" whatever it was making the sound. My eyes searched the street to find where it was coming from. Is it a funeral procession, with moto after moto filing down the street? No. Has a helicopter landed in the near vicinity? No. Finally, I spot the noise-maker. It was 2, normal sized pick up trucks driving on the very edge (in the gutters) of each side of the road. In the back of each truck were buckets of some sort of liquid, a hose and a fogger-like machine. Out of the fogger was being sprayed some green substance. I knew in an instant that these trucks were spraying chemicals up and down our street. My assumption was that the spray is for mosquito control.

There was no warning given to the people, like, "At 4:30pm we will be spraying toxic chemicals. Please stay indoors, and close all windows." No. In fact, the Cambodian people were standing in spray's path watching the whole thing!!! They were not afraid of the toxicity, they were not trying to get out of the way of the green spray...they were watching it, as if entertainment had just set foot on their once boring street. My heart broke, but my instincts also kicked in and I went inside as quickly as possible...closing all windows and doors. I could not believe that this country is not educated enough to know the dangers of spraying toxic chemicals into the faces and homes of its people. Or do I come from the overly protective country of America, where lawsuits over this kind of stuff are a dime a dozen? Ah, I don't know!!! It is hard to have lived in 2 such extreme places, and find the middle ground for what makes sense.

Education is knowledge, and knowledge is power. I am so thankful to at least be from a country where the people are educated. I am also thankful to be in a profession where I get to educate others on a daily basis. For now, me and my green spray-filled lungs need to get back to work.

:: You Know You're In Asia When.... ::

• Your rice cooker breaks, and you FREAK OUT and think, "Now what am I going to eat!!?"

• Everyone around you refers to their height in meters.

• Crazy drivers are not just a small fraction of the driving population, but the majority of the driving population.

• (specific to Cambodia) Police pull people over just to make a buck. And if you get into an accident, you simply assess the damages and pay the victim right there on the spot.

• Rat is on the menu at local restaurants, as well as running down any given street at night.
  

• Big, colorful fruits grow on most all trees.

• There is a "siesta" (nap) time everyday from about 12-2pm. All stores and vendors close down, and hammocks are strung up everywhere...full of sleeping bodies.

• Lizards are the size of small cats.

• Diaper-less babies are everywhere.
  

• Men stop on the side of the road to pee, not trying to conceal themselves from anyone at all!

• There are poorly, but hilariously, translated signs everywhere. (see picture below)

• You cannot, for the LIFE of you, remember if it is normal for steering wheels to be on the right or left side of cars.

• Your shower consists of a spout coming out of the wall: no curtain, no bathtub...nothing between you showering and the entire rest of your bathroom.

• Most buildings are adorned with fancy gold stuff.

I suppose that just as it has taken us this long for Asia to feel like home......it will be a weird sensation coming back to the "normalcies" of life in California. When we get home, if we crave rice, ask if we can set up rat traps in the house, are paranoid about large lizards, take naps everyday from 12-2pm, and drive all crazy like........please forgive us. We are officially Asian now, and we will have to become re-Westernized once we get home :o)

What Have We Been Doing?!

Warning: this blog is going to be completely random. There is no creative way I can cohesively get all of these bits to flow together, so, here you go. Here is what we've been up to these past few weeks.
Last week we had a Monday off of school, and that same day a large group of students and staff (including my hubs) left for High School Bible camp....about 6 hours drive from the city. The girlies and I decided it would be a perfect day for the pool, so we set off to relax and have some fun by the water. Here are some fun pics from our day.

My toes, the gorgeous pool, and some very Asian building in the background.

Two great women: Joanne (from Hong Kong) and Polly (from PA). I love these girls!!


Me and Jo, having fun with camera angles in the sun :o)

Here are a few pictures from our neighborhood. People are staring LESS at us now, because they see us around the neighborhood daily. I love to photograph the daily lifestyle of the Cambodian people, they are SO relaxed and live very simple lives: the ladies take their baskets to the market each morning around 7am to shop for the day's fresh produce and meats; the men hang out playing cards or checkers on the street corners; the children find random things to play with, and are outside in the mornings and afternoons, and the food stalls are hopping as soon as the sun goes down!

Some of our adorable neighbor children, playing unsupervised ALL the time.

This is the main corner in our neighborhood. People sell everything from used shoes to fresh fruit. The moto drivers you see spend their entire day waiting for potential customers.

This is the old railroad track: trains used to run frequently all over the country before the Khmer Rouge. Now, people have entire communities next to the tracks. They live here.

This last week, I (K) had the opportunity to visit a large school in our city that hosted a Field Day for all 3rd-5th graders. We took the kids out on buses, and they participated in numerous track and field events! It was a great day to watch them show off their athletic talents! Here are some pictures from our day.

All the different schools represented at the Field Day. We are the light blue ones!

Some of my beautiful girls! All 3 are Cambodian.

More beauties! From L to R: one of my Korean students, a Filipino, an American, a Cambodian, and a Canadian! Some of these guys made up our relay team, who ended up taking second place!

Brian and I had a fantastic Valentine's Day together yesterday! We celebrated by relaxing at home, taking naps, going out for a nice dinner, having Swenson's ice cream for dessert, and buying some new DVD's to enjoy. Basically, I could care less what we do on these somewhat silly holidays....as long as we're together. Here is a pic of us in front of our favorite fancy restaurant, Le Duo. They make fresh pastas daily, and have fabulous pizzas and salads, too!