Settling In

Finally, I’m starting to feel somewhat comfortable here in Phnom Penh, in terms of carving out a life for myself and getting used to the chaos (though acclimating to chaos might not be the most healthy thing in the long run). I’ve started Khmer lessons, will start working out next week, and I want to try to get onto the English-language radio station.

I've had a good week, and feel better about living here, for 3 reasons:

1. Water Festival this past weekend: Phnom Penh's population swelled from 1 to 2.5 million, as people flocked from the provinces to cheer on their teams racing on 50-person, sleek and narrow, hand-crafted boats, each with a coxswain and dancer! The festival celebrates the reversal of current on the Tonle Sap river--the Tonle Sap and Mekong meet in Phnom Penh, and during the rainy season the river rises so much that water from the Mekong pushes the current of the Tonle Sap up-river (to the Tonle Sap lake, the largest inland lake in SE Asia). It can do this because, well, Cambodia is really flat, especially between the Lake and Phnom Penh. The festival commemorates the beginning of the dry season essentially, as the Tonle Sap now flows towards the sea again. I went to a friend’s apartment on the river a few nights ago, and at night there were fireworks and boats with intricate colored-light displays of the seals of different government ministries (think Lite Brite design of Gov Ministry Seals!). Thousands of people were walking along the riverfront, playing games, buying little pieces of food to eat, and enjoying themselves--it was great! The social coherence, celebratory feeling and common goodwill emanating from foodsellers, firework-watchers, moto-drivers, and everyone else was remarkable.

2. Meeting great people. I met up with this guy Yazan. We were told to meet because he is a friend of a friend of Hannah Lantos. He just graduated from Duke, was actually their student Graduation Speaker, and is currently working with an NGO that runs an orphanage in Battambang. He's working on an ongoing Duke research project and is funded as a sort of 1-year post-bac fellowship. Battambang is 6 hours away, but he was here for Water Festival. It was so wonderful talking with someone my own age, going through similar changes at the same stage of life (adjusting to life after college). Everyone else here is at least 27, and while many are awesome, few are going through that one particular and difficult change. Also, he has been here 3 months, so it's inspiring to see how well he as adapted Cambodian life and how well he's learned Khmer. Something to strive for.

It was great to have such flowing and interesting conversations with someone who I could relate to so well. I hope there are others out here who aren't 6 hours away too.

On Wed night, Daniel invited me to dinner at his friends’ apartment, a beautiful, open space with great art on the walls, an atrium, and a spectacular balcony. Man, if only the French had stayed in power here, everybody would have apartments like this! Well, at least the wealthy, and then the underbelly of society would work for them, but at least they would be working in beautiful buildings. Please note the sarcasm in these statements; otherwise it would sound really insensitive.

Anyway, I had a great night of amazing food and conversation with 8 of Daniel’s friends here. They are all older, but are really fun and interesting, 2/3 of them work for NGOs, predominantly with orgs that combine the arts with the empowerment of children, or with environmental orgs. The others worked for the UN (UNICEF, UNHCR). Really fun, interesting, smart, and motivated people—hopefully I will see them increasingly in the coming months.

3. I decided to take a day trip out of Phnom Penh to this village called Oudong. It was my first time out of Phnom Penh, and it was soooooo refreshing. The village was an hour and a half away, and I rode with my friend and favorite moto driver Sophorn. He had never been to Oudong before either, so while he wasn’t a great guide, he really enjoyed himself. Out of flat and beautiful rice fields rises two small hills, on which a few pagodas sit. A trail has been constructed between them, and all along the way you pass chedis (mausoleums), one of which is filled with the ashes of a King. There were Buddhist offering sites all along with way, with giant Buddhas and other representative figures in many different shapes and forms (golden Buddha, wooden Buddha, reclining Buddha, and many others). Maybe the most interesting site was a pagoda that had been destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and was currently undergoing reconstruction. A giant yellow-painted Buddha was being reformed and held up by posts, and the roof had been destroyed. I was, in fact, walking through ruins, but recent ones rather than ancient ones.

There was also one mosque at the top of one of the outer hills. It had been there for 50 years, though it had also been gutted during the Khmer Rouge. Along the drive, I also saw about 4 mosques—Islam is the second-most practiced religion here, and has a growing presence. I want to find out more about Muslim culture and how it interacts with Buddhist culture here. The Kingdom of Cambodia is officially a Buddhist state, though it has a deeply entrenched history of Hinduism, and I wonder how the growth of other religions is impacting present-day Khmer culture.

At Oudong, there were so many beggars--amputees, the blind, the aged, children, it was very overwhelming, and there was one for about every 5 steps on the 509 steps on the staircase up the hill. One shrewd teenager came up to me and started fanning me, and then followed me and Sophorn the whole way. We couldn’t get rid of him, but the fanning was pleasant, even if I felt a little strange being so lavished with privilege. I gave him two dollars at the end, and all along the way gave some of the beggars—and all of the amputees—about a quarter each. There are money changers who change larger bills for the smallest currency so that people can distribute small amounts to more people, and to the Buddhist offering sites, along the whole route. But all in all, just seeing the way houses were constructed, the way people were living, and the forms of spiritually displayed at these important sites was very interesting, beautiful, and a refreshing change of pace to the chaos of Phnom Penh.