My Growing Family

These are some of the people who I will miss a lot when I go back home. Well, now that they are family...I will have to venture out to Cambodia more often. :)

Eating lunch at the hair salon

Me and Mom

Oh, Sovanea is not going to be happy about this photo...

Lyno

Tessa, Bunthy, me, Jessica

Sovannea and Jessica - my two favorite people

Host parents!

Adventure and Reflection

Before i knew it, it became July and now it is half way gone. Every morning I sit on the balcony listening to the sounds outside--a woman calling for empty plastic bottles/cans, motos honking their horns, and bells notifying of the approaching monks.

 I have been asked to update people on my life in Cambodia, but this place is too perplexing and marvelous to describe. Everything hits you in the face so hard all at once. Nothing is half-way.

The smells are either heavenly--from fresh jasmine flowers adorning people's door-ways, to deadly--fresh fermenting human and animal waste.

The people here are either extremely loving and friendly, or extremely abrasive.

Every outfit is well planned, nothing is thrown together at the last minute. Hair is not quickly put into a ponytail, but nicely curled or braided. Finger nail polish is an art and continually changing.

The food is extremely sweet, bitter, savory, or incredibly spicy.

The weather is either unbearably hot, with heat rising from the ground, or wet with monsoons that require one to swim through the busy streets and sleep with earplugs.

The women are constantly overlooked while the children are constantly reprimanded.

Here in Cambodia, I experience the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. I cry from laughing at least once a day. I hear stories of individuals who have become my most current hero. People who have overcome impossible odds and stigmas. People who have used their whole life savings in an effort to make the lives of their children a little bit better. Women and children who have moved beyond the prejudices of poverty in a society where money means everything.

Hopefully someday soon I will have the opportunity to sit and write everything that I have experienced down. Until then, I will continue to share little pieces of my life in Cambodia. Who knows, maybe as I continue writing these experiences, it will promote reflection in someone else.

Filter Much pt.2

Since writing my first blogs post on the lack of filters in Southeast Asia, there has been many more noteworthy conversations. Posted below are just a few highlights my roommates and I have heard while in Cambodia.

Example 1: "Oh Melanie, you and Tessa have very big feet."
Example 2: "When you laugh, I cannot see your eyes." -J
Example 3: "You look Chinese because your nose is very big."
Example 4: "You cannot fit on moto because you are too big, it will make me go like this" (Moto driver than tilts the moto.
Example 5: "Oh, you have gotten so big." V then points to the shirt.

Thank you neighbors for saying such noteworthy things. :)

Time

I really hate that time goes faster when you are having fun. I cannot believe that I will be sitting in Utah in 2.5 weeks. It is going by too fast! Someone please build me a time machine or somehow make the earth spin in reverse. I do not actually know if that will make time go backwards, but it worked in the movies therefore it must be true.

Anyways, this summer truly has been an amazing experience. I have loved working at RACHA and learning how public health functions in an NGO setting. I have been living my dream this summer and I hope to return to Cambodia next year. I only hope that this can be more permanent instead of 3 months stints.

In a few days I will post about the highs and lows I have experienced in this country, as well as my overall thoughts.

Chess

Recently, Tessa and I have become obsessed with playing games with each other. The first game is chess. Tessa brought an IPAD to Cambodia and downloaded a free app of chess. Now we play chess everywhere whether it is on the balcony, the bus, lunch break, middle of the night, while we do laundry, in between reading journal articles, etc. If you cannot find us in the usual spots or I seem distant on chat, it is very likely Tessa and I are playing chess. 

As of now, I am wining in the Cambodia Summer chess competition. If I remember right, the score stands at Melanie: 75 Tessa: 32. Take that Tessa! Hahaha. We will see who wins the competition at the end of the summer.

If only Tessa and I could play Harry Potter chess...

Visa

Before entering the amazing country of Cambodia, you have to apply for a visa. When I first entered the country, I was not sure what visa I was supposed to apply for. They have 8 different types and no explanations. As a result, when I got off the plane I left the section blank and filled in the amount of time I would be in Cambodia. By doing so, I was hoping that the immigration police would give me the correct visa. Well, to keep this post readable and short...they gave be the tourist visa, which is the wrong one. I needed the Ordinary visa or E visa.

Why is the tourist visa bad? Well, after a month in Cambodia you have to renew your visa. Well unlike the ordinary visa, which can be renewed as many times as you want, the tourist visa can only be renewed once. After you have renewed your tourist visa, then you have to leave the country or be charged horrendous fines. As a poor college student, I opted to leave the country instead of pay thousands of dollars to stay in Phnom Penh.

Well, my tourist visa extension was about to expire so Tessa, Rachel, and I took a trip to Vietnam (story to be posted later...maybe). On the bus ride home, I told Tessa that I was going to apply for an E visa instead of a T. Tessa was a little confused when I told her this because the T visa is cheaper than the E visa. In addition, we are leaving Cambodia in a few weeks and therefore extensions do not really apply to us anymore. So why the E visa? It is the principle. I was supposed to have an E and I want one in my passport. Sorry, there really is not a more outstanding reason. Also, having the option to stay in Cambodia forever also factored into my decision for getting an E visa. Don't worry, I won't stay in Phnom Penh forever now because I need to finish my degree. Haha. Once I obtain my MPH, who knows where I will end up...hopefully back in PP.

So one visa application submission, interrogation by an immigration officer, and $27.00 later I finally have an E visa in my passport. Hooray! I would show you a picture, but I am afraid my computer will blow up because of memory issues. :)



P.S. I am really glad to be back home in Phnom Penh. Saigon was great, but way too expensive.

Rice

I love being Cambodia, I really do. I love that I can spend time with my neighbors, sit on the balcony watching the rain, play charades everyday, but most of all I love that I eat rice for almost every meal!  It is wonderful!

Some people go through caffeine withdrawals when they do not get a drink every few hours, I go through rice withdrawals when I do not eat it at least once a day. Rice just goes with everything, there really is not one dish I cannot think of that is not enhanced by adding rice. Okay, lets not think of obscure dishes like macaroni and cheese or cake because that is just ridiculous.

Be prepared everyone, when I get home the first thing I will make is a bowl of rice. :)

YUM.

Okay, maybe not rice because I do not have a rice cooker...but it is next on my "Things to buy" list.

Monsoon

Monsoon season aka rainy season is officially here! Everyday it sounds like a waterfall in our house, not because water is leaking through the roof but because of the amount of rain hitting our metal roof. It sounds wonderful, right?

Well, it was great the first few rainstorms...now it is just bothersome. Everyone disappears at night, walking to work is like crossing the Mississippi, and frankly I am running out of dry clothes. Rain, rain go away, come again some other day. Seriously, I am ready to embark on a cloud destruction trek, invest in a floatation device, or invent a machine that will blow these rain clouds to Utah.

Pictures

Well, it has been quite a bit of time since I wrote an actual blogpost. Frankly, life in Cambodia is not as exotic as most people think it is. Everyday I wake up at 6 am, go running, shower, go to work at the RACHA office, go home, eat dinner, and hang out at the beauty salon. Unfortunately, I am not fighting off monkeys and elephants on a regular basis.



Now to the blogpost title...

I have never been a fan of photos. Whenever anyone tries to take a photo of me, I run or hide behind an object/person. As I have gotten older and social media more apparent in my life, I have come to realize that photos are part of everyday life. I can no longer successfully avoid all photos...as a result, Facebook now has a bunch of unflattering photos of me.

I cannot help it, for some reason I have this urge to pull faces or create a double chin. However, do not get mad at me if a photo of me is not serious...after all, do you not want to remember me for who I truly am? I suppose if you really want me to smile, I can smile like I am in pain...

Work in progress, work in progress. For now, here are some flattering photos Tessa took of me while we were playing in the rain.

P.S. Mom, I promise there are plenty of photos that are normal. I just haven't had time to post them.

Also, I will blog more about the work I am doing with RACHA. I have been traveling the past few days and will catch up on posts sooner or later.

Taken

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and destroy this movie before it was released. I know that the action scenes are fantastic and that all the people who die deserve it, but it is ruining the spirit of adventure. Without fail someone will use the idea behind Taken as reasoning to not do something. Yes, things like that do happen...but not all the time. There is one important concept that will help you prevent being "Taken" and that is risk management. Seriously, not everyone gets chloroformed and dragged off into sexual slavery. 

Anyways, just something I have been thinking about for the past few days.