"jong" is Khmer for "want"
This afternoon one of the guys on the team wasn't feeling so well, so he spent the afternoon/evening resting at the hotel. One of the girls taught his afternoon class, and I taught his evening class. Today was the last day of actual classes, and the team wanted to make sure to share the Greatest Story Ever with each class, so that's what I did with this evening class!
While I was sharing, there was one guy, Sa-Rye, who was very interested in the story. There is this look that people generally have when they're truly listening and wanting to learn more about Jesus, and his eyes were filled with that desire! (He has been studying with our organization for well over a year.)
I shared the whole story with this small class of five students, two of which are already believers, then at the end I asked what they thought. He was the first to say anything ... "I want to believe Jesus." I'm not sure why, but I was somehow a little shocked, and unsure what to do. I encouraged one of the other believers, Roahtana to talk more about what that means, then I shared Romans 10:9, then the other believer told him in Khmer, "You can believe NOW if you want?" He said, "jong," which means he wants!!! It was so exciting to hear that in Khmer, understand it, then hear him say in his own language that he wants to believe.
Roahtana led Sa-Rye in prayer to follow Christ! They talked for a little bit afterwards.
Later in the night, when I was on Facebook, Sa-Rye messaged me, "Teacher, what can I do when I believe Jesus?" :-D That is so awesome! --> Pray, read the Bible, and tell others about Jesus!!! Our classes have been studying the gospel of Mark, and they all have a copy of it in Khmer and English, so I suggested that he start reading Mark.
Please pray for Sa-Rye, as he begins to grow as a new child of the King!
Also, pray that others will, "jong" too! ;-)
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Lions, Tigers, and Bears ...
Phnom Tamao
Last weekend we went to the market with our 3:30 classes, and today we went to the zoo with our 1:30 classes!
Foreigners pay $5.00, and Khmer pay $0.50! It's like this everywhere we go. The glass half empty - foreigners get ripped off ... the glass half full - Cambodians get a discount!
The purpose of these trips is to build relationships with our students, create more opportunities to share The Truth with them, let the team explore Cambodia, and have fun! We did all of the above! My favorite part was the playground at the end! Several of the guys competed on who could do the most pull ups, and the older lady tried to do them too! :-D
The ride there ... 30 people in a 25 passenger van ... it worked!
The ride home
On the ride home I got to talk with the two guys behind me (to my left, which you can't see in the picture), one of which is Islam. They've only been coming to class for about a week, so they've just started learning about Jesus. One thing I noticed was when they talked about Jesus they'd say it in Khmer and leave out, "Pray-uh," the part of His name that means God. Jesus in Khmer is "Pray-uh Yae-soo," and they were saying, "Yae-soo." I'm praying that one day God will open their eyes to see that Jesus is "Pray-uh," too!
We will be leaving in the morning to go to Siem Reap! We will only be there for 2 half days, and 1 full day! After that we will return to Phnom Penh, and the team will only have a week and a half left. Please pray for God to work mightily!
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:20-21
Last weekend we went to the market with our 3:30 classes, and today we went to the zoo with our 1:30 classes!
Foreigners pay $5.00, and Khmer pay $0.50! It's like this everywhere we go. The glass half empty - foreigners get ripped off ... the glass half full - Cambodians get a discount!
The purpose of these trips is to build relationships with our students, create more opportunities to share The Truth with them, let the team explore Cambodia, and have fun! We did all of the above! My favorite part was the playground at the end! Several of the guys competed on who could do the most pull ups, and the older lady tried to do them too! :-D
The ride there ... 30 people in a 25 passenger van ... it worked!
The ride home
On the ride home I got to talk with the two guys behind me (to my left, which you can't see in the picture), one of which is Islam. They've only been coming to class for about a week, so they've just started learning about Jesus. One thing I noticed was when they talked about Jesus they'd say it in Khmer and leave out, "Pray-uh," the part of His name that means God. Jesus in Khmer is "Pray-uh Yae-soo," and they were saying, "Yae-soo." I'm praying that one day God will open their eyes to see that Jesus is "Pray-uh," too!
We will be leaving in the morning to go to Siem Reap! We will only be there for 2 half days, and 1 full day! After that we will return to Phnom Penh, and the team will only have a week and a half left. Please pray for God to work mightily!
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:20-21
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Cambodia Bucket List
baby duck egg ... check! I ate an entire baby duck egg tonight ... and it wasn't bad. I'm really thankful for the team from America, because if it hadn't been for them, then I probably wouldn't have finished it. BUT I DID!
I tried it a couple months ago, and didn't like the taste, but wanted the team to try it too, so I was willing to eat it with them. They're rock stars! All five of them ate their baby duck, and a couple even ate a second one!
To give you an idea ... baby duck egg in Southeast Asia is like pizza in America. It's not too expensive, it tastes delicious (according to the people who live there), and it brings people together! Now you get the idea? Cambodians don't normally like pizza at first. They have to acquire a taste for it ... yea I know, crazy!
I tried it a couple months ago, and didn't like the taste, but wanted the team to try it too, so I was willing to eat it with them. They're rock stars! All five of them ate their baby duck, and a couple even ate a second one!
To give you an idea ... baby duck egg in Southeast Asia is like pizza in America. It's not too expensive, it tastes delicious (according to the people who live there), and it brings people together! Now you get the idea? Cambodians don't normally like pizza at first. They have to acquire a taste for it ... yea I know, crazy!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Crazy Week ...
Jau
Jau is Khmer for thief. In the city there are a lot of thieves. It's well known that if you leave anything out / not locked up really well, then it will not be there the next day, or even the next hour. Growing up in Oklahoma, things get stolen, but not too much. Here, I've heard stories of thieves stealing women's purses while they're on driving down the road on their moto. The thief either pulls really hard to break the strap, or they come prepared to cut the strap with scissors. Like I said, I heard of these things, but didn't really take it too seriously. Honestly, I thought that Cambodians are just too paranoid. Well, a couple of nights ago I was driving home, just before 9pm on a busy street, and two guys came up beside me on my left side. My purse strap was across my body, and my purse was in my lap. All of a sudden, the passenger on the moto grabs my purse and started pulling on it. I immediately yelled a long NOOO at the top of my lungs while slapping him with my left hand and driving with my right. He kept pulling for a few seconds, a car behind us was laying on their horn, then the guy let go and the moto sped off. Praise the Lord that I am okay, we didn't wreck, and he didn't get my purse! Needless to say, I bought a small backpack the next day! (Thieves won't try to steal a whole backpack because it's not easy to steal, like a purse with thin straps.)
--> I tell you all of that, not so you can be worried, but so that you can pray for our safety, and pray for this country. We should be careful and take all safety precautions, but no matter what we do God is in control!
Phnom Penh Tour
I started out the day with Proverbs 16:1, "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." The original plan for the PP Tour was to have three groups of 2 Americans and 2 Khmer, with the Khmer taking the students to certain "touristy" places around the city on their motos. As of yesterday, one guy cancelled, one girl tried to cancel so we weren't sure if she'd show up or not, and another girl said she didn't have a moto; therefore, we changed the plans to three tuk-tuks. Another guy was able to come unexpectedly, the girl did show up, and the other girl did have a moto! We already hired the tuk-tuks, so we just continued with that plan, which gave us more quality talking time during traveling! Here are some pictures:
Both groups of girls at the Royal Palace (left) and the Riverside (right).
My group (left), and all three groups together (right). Both are at Wat Phnom.
Market Scavenger Hunt @ P'sa Orussey
This was the part of the day that I'd been worrying too much about all week. We invited both 3:30 classes to go to the Orussey Market with us on a scavenger hunt. I was praying that God would have the right students come, and the right number of students. I was really worried that too many students would show up. The number I thought would be ideal was 3-4 guys and 6-8 girls, but still knowing that God's thoughts and ways are higher than mine.
We've always obeyed the buddy system with teams, but in the past it was okay for one of the buddies to be a trusted student. This year, it's important for the team that there are two Americans together at all times, which meant we could only have three groups. To no big surprise ... God is in control and He does answer prayers!!! We ended up having 4 guys and 7 girls, in addition to us 6 Americans. PERFECT! The groups weren't too big, each group had one tuk-tuk, and we all had a wonderful time!
Dried Shrimp BBQ'd pigs
We ran into the guys ... and the girls!
Ducks only feet away from death We came back and ate snacks together
We all tried crickets for the first time! They're really not too bad! I wouldn't choose to eat them, just because it's a mental thing, but I'd eat crickets over hot dogs any day! They're kind of like chips!
Please be praying for the students in the pictures. There are only a couple students pictured that say they are believers, and only one that I've seen fruit from. A few of the students, we haven't gotten to talk to them much before today, but most of them are genuinely seeking! These seeking students already KNOW The Truth, but aren't willing to surrender yet. Please pray that they'd quit saying, "no" to the Holy Spirit, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord!
Also pray for us, as believers, that God would give us strength, energy, health, obedience, and above all LOVE for our students!
"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." ~ 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Jau is Khmer for thief. In the city there are a lot of thieves. It's well known that if you leave anything out / not locked up really well, then it will not be there the next day, or even the next hour. Growing up in Oklahoma, things get stolen, but not too much. Here, I've heard stories of thieves stealing women's purses while they're on driving down the road on their moto. The thief either pulls really hard to break the strap, or they come prepared to cut the strap with scissors. Like I said, I heard of these things, but didn't really take it too seriously. Honestly, I thought that Cambodians are just too paranoid. Well, a couple of nights ago I was driving home, just before 9pm on a busy street, and two guys came up beside me on my left side. My purse strap was across my body, and my purse was in my lap. All of a sudden, the passenger on the moto grabs my purse and started pulling on it. I immediately yelled a long NOOO at the top of my lungs while slapping him with my left hand and driving with my right. He kept pulling for a few seconds, a car behind us was laying on their horn, then the guy let go and the moto sped off. Praise the Lord that I am okay, we didn't wreck, and he didn't get my purse! Needless to say, I bought a small backpack the next day! (Thieves won't try to steal a whole backpack because it's not easy to steal, like a purse with thin straps.)
--> I tell you all of that, not so you can be worried, but so that you can pray for our safety, and pray for this country. We should be careful and take all safety precautions, but no matter what we do God is in control!
Phnom Penh Tour
I started out the day with Proverbs 16:1, "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." The original plan for the PP Tour was to have three groups of 2 Americans and 2 Khmer, with the Khmer taking the students to certain "touristy" places around the city on their motos. As of yesterday, one guy cancelled, one girl tried to cancel so we weren't sure if she'd show up or not, and another girl said she didn't have a moto; therefore, we changed the plans to three tuk-tuks. Another guy was able to come unexpectedly, the girl did show up, and the other girl did have a moto! We already hired the tuk-tuks, so we just continued with that plan, which gave us more quality talking time during traveling! Here are some pictures:
Both groups of girls at the Royal Palace (left) and the Riverside (right).
My group (left), and all three groups together (right). Both are at Wat Phnom.
Market Scavenger Hunt @ P'sa Orussey
This was the part of the day that I'd been worrying too much about all week. We invited both 3:30 classes to go to the Orussey Market with us on a scavenger hunt. I was praying that God would have the right students come, and the right number of students. I was really worried that too many students would show up. The number I thought would be ideal was 3-4 guys and 6-8 girls, but still knowing that God's thoughts and ways are higher than mine.
We've always obeyed the buddy system with teams, but in the past it was okay for one of the buddies to be a trusted student. This year, it's important for the team that there are two Americans together at all times, which meant we could only have three groups. To no big surprise ... God is in control and He does answer prayers!!! We ended up having 4 guys and 7 girls, in addition to us 6 Americans. PERFECT! The groups weren't too big, each group had one tuk-tuk, and we all had a wonderful time!
Dried Shrimp BBQ'd pigs
We ran into the guys ... and the girls!
Ducks only feet away from death We came back and ate snacks together
We all tried crickets for the first time! They're really not too bad! I wouldn't choose to eat them, just because it's a mental thing, but I'd eat crickets over hot dogs any day! They're kind of like chips!
Please be praying for the students in the pictures. There are only a couple students pictured that say they are believers, and only one that I've seen fruit from. A few of the students, we haven't gotten to talk to them much before today, but most of them are genuinely seeking! These seeking students already KNOW The Truth, but aren't willing to surrender yet. Please pray that they'd quit saying, "no" to the Holy Spirit, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord!
Also pray for us, as believers, that God would give us strength, energy, health, obedience, and above all LOVE for our students!
"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." ~ 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Monday, May 27, 2013
But the people in Cambodia ... ?
About two weeks ago, at the end of class, I told my students that if they want to know more about God, they should read the Bible, and we have Bibles for sale. A used English Bible is $1. I had two students purchase Bibles (Rosa and Choon-E)!
Tonight at the end of class I told my students, that we will meet to go share the Greatest Story Ever (GSE) tomorrow at 2:30. If they want, then they can come. (About half of the students in this particular class are believers. Other classes have fewer believers.) Then, while everybody was leaving, Choon-E asked me about sharing the GSE. I know she has heard it before, but asked her if she knew it, and if she wanted me to share it again. She said she had time and wanted me to share again now.
I spent the next hour sharing with her. She had many questions:
- Why did God not kill Satan? Then the people would have never sinned.
- God killed many people by the water [the flood]. Why did he not kill Satan before? Then we would all have a good relationship with God.
- Is the fruit sin?
- One of the 10 rules is to not kill, but God says to kill the animal?
...
We got to the end about Jesus going back to heaven, and Him being the ONLY way ...
BUT THE PEOPLE IN CAMBODIA...?
- They do not know Jesus
- They cannot believe Jesus
- Many people, they never hear about Jesus
- Maybe I tell them these stories, but they think it is a lie. They cannot believe
- You live where many people know about Jesus, but people in Cambodia, they do not know ...
Over and over again she said these things.
She has more concern about the lost knowing Jesus than most of us, including myself. :-(
She kept asking if there is another way, because the people live too far away and maybe have never heard of Jesus. We often have this same question: What if a person lives and has never heard the name of Jesus? Can they go to heaven?
=> Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." Jesus is the ONLY way. There is NO other way. If a person does not believe in Jesus Christ, and make Him Lord of their life, they can NOT go to the Father. They must receive the penalty for their own sin.
- If there were another way, then there would be no reason for Jesus to have come, lived a sinless life, be crucified ... take the penalty for us.
- If people who never heard could still go to heaven then why would God tell us to GO tell them about Jesus? So they can hear and not believe, then not go to heaven? No. That's ridiculous.
I think part of us hopes that they "can still get in," maybe so we are relieved from the responsibility of praying for them, or going to tell them, or sending people to tell them. I'm not sure, but the Bible is clear that no man cometh unto the Father, but by Jesus.
Please pray for Choon-E! (girl)
Pray for Rosa! (guy)
Please also pray for the two teams we have coming! One team is on the plane as a write this and will be here in 24 hours. The other team will leave OK Friday morning and arrive here Saturday night! Pray for their safety as they travel and for God to work in them and through them while they are here and when they return to the states at the first of July!
Thank you for your support!
Tonight at the end of class I told my students, that we will meet to go share the Greatest Story Ever (GSE) tomorrow at 2:30. If they want, then they can come. (About half of the students in this particular class are believers. Other classes have fewer believers.) Then, while everybody was leaving, Choon-E asked me about sharing the GSE. I know she has heard it before, but asked her if she knew it, and if she wanted me to share it again. She said she had time and wanted me to share again now.
I spent the next hour sharing with her. She had many questions:
- Why did God not kill Satan? Then the people would have never sinned.
- God killed many people by the water [the flood]. Why did he not kill Satan before? Then we would all have a good relationship with God.
- Is the fruit sin?
- One of the 10 rules is to not kill, but God says to kill the animal?
...
We got to the end about Jesus going back to heaven, and Him being the ONLY way ...
BUT THE PEOPLE IN CAMBODIA...?
- They do not know Jesus
- They cannot believe Jesus
- Many people, they never hear about Jesus
- Maybe I tell them these stories, but they think it is a lie. They cannot believe
- You live where many people know about Jesus, but people in Cambodia, they do not know ...
Over and over again she said these things.
She has more concern about the lost knowing Jesus than most of us, including myself. :-(
She kept asking if there is another way, because the people live too far away and maybe have never heard of Jesus. We often have this same question: What if a person lives and has never heard the name of Jesus? Can they go to heaven?
=> Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." Jesus is the ONLY way. There is NO other way. If a person does not believe in Jesus Christ, and make Him Lord of their life, they can NOT go to the Father. They must receive the penalty for their own sin.
- If there were another way, then there would be no reason for Jesus to have come, lived a sinless life, be crucified ... take the penalty for us.
- If people who never heard could still go to heaven then why would God tell us to GO tell them about Jesus? So they can hear and not believe, then not go to heaven? No. That's ridiculous.
I think part of us hopes that they "can still get in," maybe so we are relieved from the responsibility of praying for them, or going to tell them, or sending people to tell them. I'm not sure, but the Bible is clear that no man cometh unto the Father, but by Jesus.
Please pray for Choon-E! (girl)
Pray for Rosa! (guy)
Please also pray for the two teams we have coming! One team is on the plane as a write this and will be here in 24 hours. The other team will leave OK Friday morning and arrive here Saturday night! Pray for their safety as they travel and for God to work in them and through them while they are here and when they return to the states at the first of July!
Thank you for your support!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
The "Countryside"
Heading Out ...
At the beginning of this week, I was able to go to my friends home in Kompong Som. Their house is about three hours from Phnom Penh. One the way there we took a taxi, which is a man who lives in Kompong Som and drives people to and from Phnom Penh each day, using his own car. In America we would say the car holds 5 people, including the driver, but in Cambodia, it holds 8 people. Yes it holds more because Cambodians are a lot thinner than Americans, but it's also because you kinda have to sit on each other. Four people sit in the front and four in the back. I wasn't brave enough to take out my camera, but this is a picture I found from someone else.
Hahaha! For our trip there were two men in the driver's seat, two women in the passenger seat, and me, my two friends, and one of the friend's husband in the back seat!
The Beach ...
Kompong Som is most famous for the beaches. So many people go here for vacation. We actually only went to the beach for about 30 minutes, and didn't swim. Here's the picture.
Everybody who hears this thinks it's crazy that I was in Kompong Som and didn't "really" go to the beach. I'm not sure why we didn't go, but I'm okay with it! We went to a really small waterfall and swam for about two hours. We also went to the sea, about less than a mile from my friends' house. At the sea we caught a few small shrimp, and tried to catch some other thing, but only found one. I wish I'd taken my camera with me then!
Food ...
We ate seafood everyday for lunch and dinner, and it was really good! That's right! I used to hate seafood, but now I can eat it, and sometimes enjoy it! We had clams, crab (I'm still not very good at getting the meat out of these crazy things), lobster, shrimp (which I peeled the head and shell off myself!), different kinds of fish, duck (I know it's not seafood :-D ) ...
The House ...
Their house was REALLY nice! It was a made of wood, like most houses in the countryside. Upstairs, they had linoleum on the floor and maybe on the wall too! I didn't get any pics of the whole house, or the upstairs, but here's what I got.
BATHROOM
The bathroom is maybe 15-20 feet from the house. The picture on the left shows it from the outside. It's the part with the door and stairs! :-) On the right is from the inside. You have the squatty potty, and a large pot and a 5 gallon bucket to hold water. Inside the large pot is a small plastic bowl with a handle, that you use to pour water on yourself. I took my first, second, and third "bucket baths" here!
Downstairs room
Top left and bottom left are the same wall, the top from inside the room, and the bottom from outside. The top left is a little blurry, but you can kind of see the two burners where all of the food is cooked. The top right picture shows the table where the food is prepared. The bottom right is the "back porch," where they wash the food, wash the dishes, wash hands after dinner, brush teeth ... You can't see it in the picture, but next to the porch, is a big barrel of water. We took water from that big barrel to fill the bathroom water pot and bucket. Though I'm not sure how they get the water in the barrel ... maybe from the faucet on the back porch.
Typical Day ...
My friends' dad works in another town far away and only comes home on major holidays, so he was not there. There was me, my friends Yee-Yin and Kim, Kim's husband, their mom, their brother, sister-in-law, and their 4month old baby boy. Pretty much all I did was lay around in a hammock all day! They wouldn't let me help. This is what the two guys did too. My two girl friends would help cook and clean some, but we all laid around a lot! The mom however, got up early every morning, and stayed busy for a lot of the day! After she finished making lunch (around 10:30), she'd sit around and visit for a couple hours, and after dinner we'd all visit for a few hours.
Between 10:30 and 12:30, lunch would sit on the table, covered to keep the fly's off, and each person would eat whenever they wanted to. We all ate dinner together around 6:30, then went to bed around 10 or 10:30.
Things I Learned ...
- Many Cambodians do not drink with the meal. After you finish eating you put your plate where they do dishes, wash your hands, then get a glass of water.
- We never washed our hands before meals, but always after.
- Girls do all of the work ... cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, refilling the bathroom water ...
- Guys go to work and make the money, then come home and sit in the hammock.
- Most Cambodians don't use toilet paper ever (in the city and countryside). I'm glad I brought plenty of Kleenex packs!
- If you need to use the restroom at night, there are little pots that you use. In the morning you take your pot downstairs and empty it.
- The noise Americans make to call a dog to them is the same noise Cambodians make to tell the dog to go away! Crazy! I think Americans make a similar noise when talking to babies, which I almost made one time with their baby. Whew, glad I caught it before I made the noise. That could've been really offensive.
- Cambodian dogs can eat ANYTHING. They eat tiny chicken bones, fish bones ...
- Whatever food isn't eaten for one meal is used for the next, and the next, and the next!
- Pajama's are not just for sleeping. They are to wear any time you are at home, no matter what the time of day.
- It is impolite to sit with your legs crossed, "Indian Style," with people who are older than you. It is perfectly okay with people who are about your age / friends.
I'm sure there were other things I should've learned, but didn't, or I forgot. Overall, I had fun and it was good seeing the way my friends live, though I think they live a lot better than most Cambodians. I also got to know them a lot more!
At the beginning of this week, I was able to go to my friends home in Kompong Som. Their house is about three hours from Phnom Penh. One the way there we took a taxi, which is a man who lives in Kompong Som and drives people to and from Phnom Penh each day, using his own car. In America we would say the car holds 5 people, including the driver, but in Cambodia, it holds 8 people. Yes it holds more because Cambodians are a lot thinner than Americans, but it's also because you kinda have to sit on each other. Four people sit in the front and four in the back. I wasn't brave enough to take out my camera, but this is a picture I found from someone else.
The Beach ...
Kompong Som is most famous for the beaches. So many people go here for vacation. We actually only went to the beach for about 30 minutes, and didn't swim. Here's the picture.
Everybody who hears this thinks it's crazy that I was in Kompong Som and didn't "really" go to the beach. I'm not sure why we didn't go, but I'm okay with it! We went to a really small waterfall and swam for about two hours. We also went to the sea, about less than a mile from my friends' house. At the sea we caught a few small shrimp, and tried to catch some other thing, but only found one. I wish I'd taken my camera with me then!
Food ...
We ate seafood everyday for lunch and dinner, and it was really good! That's right! I used to hate seafood, but now I can eat it, and sometimes enjoy it! We had clams, crab (I'm still not very good at getting the meat out of these crazy things), lobster, shrimp (which I peeled the head and shell off myself!), different kinds of fish, duck (I know it's not seafood :-D ) ...
The House ...
Their house was REALLY nice! It was a made of wood, like most houses in the countryside. Upstairs, they had linoleum on the floor and maybe on the wall too! I didn't get any pics of the whole house, or the upstairs, but here's what I got.
The bathroom is maybe 15-20 feet from the house. The picture on the left shows it from the outside. It's the part with the door and stairs! :-) On the right is from the inside. You have the squatty potty, and a large pot and a 5 gallon bucket to hold water. Inside the large pot is a small plastic bowl with a handle, that you use to pour water on yourself. I took my first, second, and third "bucket baths" here!
Downstairs room
Top left and bottom left are the same wall, the top from inside the room, and the bottom from outside. The top left is a little blurry, but you can kind of see the two burners where all of the food is cooked. The top right picture shows the table where the food is prepared. The bottom right is the "back porch," where they wash the food, wash the dishes, wash hands after dinner, brush teeth ... You can't see it in the picture, but next to the porch, is a big barrel of water. We took water from that big barrel to fill the bathroom water pot and bucket. Though I'm not sure how they get the water in the barrel ... maybe from the faucet on the back porch.
Typical Day ...
My friends' dad works in another town far away and only comes home on major holidays, so he was not there. There was me, my friends Yee-Yin and Kim, Kim's husband, their mom, their brother, sister-in-law, and their 4month old baby boy. Pretty much all I did was lay around in a hammock all day! They wouldn't let me help. This is what the two guys did too. My two girl friends would help cook and clean some, but we all laid around a lot! The mom however, got up early every morning, and stayed busy for a lot of the day! After she finished making lunch (around 10:30), she'd sit around and visit for a couple hours, and after dinner we'd all visit for a few hours.
Between 10:30 and 12:30, lunch would sit on the table, covered to keep the fly's off, and each person would eat whenever they wanted to. We all ate dinner together around 6:30, then went to bed around 10 or 10:30.
Things I Learned ...
- Many Cambodians do not drink with the meal. After you finish eating you put your plate where they do dishes, wash your hands, then get a glass of water.
- We never washed our hands before meals, but always after.
- Girls do all of the work ... cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, refilling the bathroom water ...
- Guys go to work and make the money, then come home and sit in the hammock.
- Most Cambodians don't use toilet paper ever (in the city and countryside). I'm glad I brought plenty of Kleenex packs!
- If you need to use the restroom at night, there are little pots that you use. In the morning you take your pot downstairs and empty it.
- The noise Americans make to call a dog to them is the same noise Cambodians make to tell the dog to go away! Crazy! I think Americans make a similar noise when talking to babies, which I almost made one time with their baby. Whew, glad I caught it before I made the noise. That could've been really offensive.
- Cambodian dogs can eat ANYTHING. They eat tiny chicken bones, fish bones ...
- Whatever food isn't eaten for one meal is used for the next, and the next, and the next!
- Pajama's are not just for sleeping. They are to wear any time you are at home, no matter what the time of day.
- It is impolite to sit with your legs crossed, "Indian Style," with people who are older than you. It is perfectly okay with people who are about your age / friends.
I'm sure there were other things I should've learned, but didn't, or I forgot. Overall, I had fun and it was good seeing the way my friends live, though I think they live a lot better than most Cambodians. I also got to know them a lot more!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Fried Ginger with Pork
Today at language study I learned how to make a Cambodian dish, fried ginger! This particular dish was fried ginger with pork. This week I've been learning the names of Khmer dishes and ingredients. Then today, after studying for one hour, my teacher said I would learn to make Khmer food. I was SO excited!
We went to the kitchen and we started making the dish. She told me what to do / what she was doing, and continually quizzed me on names of utensils and ingredients. I learned a few new words and re-learned words I had "learned" before. After we finished everybody (all of the other teachers and myself) got to taste it, then we went back and reviewed. We went step by step and I wrote it all down in Khmer / reviewed all of the words we used! I'll translate it all into English for you! ;-) I also put the Khmer (with my poor phonetics), which makes the directions a little more messy, but makes it more fun (I think)!
Fried Ginger (Chaa Kinyighy)
Ingredients:
Pork or Chicken
1 whole ginger root
3-4 garlic cloves
vegetable oil
sugar
salt
fish sauce
Knorr soup mix or MSG
Directions: (translated directly from Khmer)
Wash the pork (or chicken) first (lee-ung sike jrew sun)
Then slice pork (bon-tow-op mow han sike jrew)
Peel ginger (jet kinyighy)
Slice ginger (han kinyighy)
Hit / smash garlic (with the side of the knife in order to remove the peel) (dom k'dum saw)
Take peel leave (remove the peel) (yoke som bawk jen)
Slice garlic (she used the same Khmer word, but actually diced it) (han k'dum saw)
Open light (turn the burner on) (balk plung)
Put pan (put the pan on the burner) (dat k'teya) An interesting thing I learned from this is, they actually say this is the first step! I think in English / America, it is assumed. Here, another teacher asked me what the first thing was and I said, "put the oil in," then she said, "did you not put the pan in first?" :-)
Put oil (dat b'rang)
Stir oil (go b'rang)
Wait maybe 2 or 3 minutes (jum brahael be ruu bai neeah tee)
Wait until hot (dtoke owie k'dau)
Put ginger (dat kinyighy)
Stir ginger until cooked (go kinyighy owie ch'un)
Scoop out ginger leave (take the ginger out of the pan) (This is where the video starts, which I can't upload fro some reason, but I'm trying to upload it on Facebook - I think it will help if you really want to make it) (dooah kinyighy jen)
Put oil (dat b'rang)
Put garlic (dat k'dum saw)
Stir garlic until color red (they also call it deep fried garlic) (go k'dum owie poah cra-haum)
Put meat (dat sike)
Put sugar (dat scaw)
Put salt (dat om-bell)
Put fish sauce (don't worry, it won't taste fishy!) (dat tuk t'ry)
Put MSG (if you don't have MSG, you can use Knorr soup mix) (dat soup Knorr)
Stir until cooked (go owie ch'un)
Put ginger (add the ginger that you already cooked) (dat kinyighy)
Stir maybe 2 or 3 minutes (go brahael be ruu bai neeah tee)
Taste (p'lewuk)
Add sugar, salt, ... (whatever is needed to taste good) (thyme scaw) Another thing I learned was, if it tastes too salty you can add a little more sugar! (That is what we did)
Eat with rice! (nyum jia moy bi)
I hope you can understand that! As you can see, Khmer doesn't have all of the extra words that English has like "the."
This was one of my favorite days at language. My other favorite day was when I went with my other teacher to get gas in her moto and I learned how to get gas and reviewed giving directions. It was so fun driving around the round-about three times as we practiced the word for round-about!
We went to the kitchen and we started making the dish. She told me what to do / what she was doing, and continually quizzed me on names of utensils and ingredients. I learned a few new words and re-learned words I had "learned" before. After we finished everybody (all of the other teachers and myself) got to taste it, then we went back and reviewed. We went step by step and I wrote it all down in Khmer / reviewed all of the words we used! I'll translate it all into English for you! ;-) I also put the Khmer (with my poor phonetics), which makes the directions a little more messy, but makes it more fun (I think)!
Fried Ginger (Chaa Kinyighy)
Ingredients:
Pork or Chicken
1 whole ginger root
3-4 garlic cloves
vegetable oil
sugar
salt
fish sauce
Knorr soup mix or MSG
Directions: (translated directly from Khmer)
Wash the pork (or chicken) first (lee-ung sike jrew sun)
Then slice pork (bon-tow-op mow han sike jrew)
Peel ginger (jet kinyighy)
Slice ginger (han kinyighy)
Hit / smash garlic (with the side of the knife in order to remove the peel) (dom k'dum saw)
Take peel leave (remove the peel) (yoke som bawk jen)
Slice garlic (she used the same Khmer word, but actually diced it) (han k'dum saw)
Open light (turn the burner on) (balk plung)
Put pan (put the pan on the burner) (dat k'teya) An interesting thing I learned from this is, they actually say this is the first step! I think in English / America, it is assumed. Here, another teacher asked me what the first thing was and I said, "put the oil in," then she said, "did you not put the pan in first?" :-)
Put oil (dat b'rang)
Stir oil (go b'rang)
Wait maybe 2 or 3 minutes (jum brahael be ruu bai neeah tee)
Wait until hot (dtoke owie k'dau)
Put ginger (dat kinyighy)
Stir ginger until cooked (go kinyighy owie ch'un)
Scoop out ginger leave (take the ginger out of the pan) (This is where the video starts, which I can't upload fro some reason, but I'm trying to upload it on Facebook - I think it will help if you really want to make it) (dooah kinyighy jen)
Put oil (dat b'rang)
Put garlic (dat k'dum saw)
Stir garlic until color red (they also call it deep fried garlic) (go k'dum owie poah cra-haum)
Put meat (dat sike)
Put sugar (dat scaw)
Put salt (dat om-bell)
Put fish sauce (don't worry, it won't taste fishy!) (dat tuk t'ry)
Put MSG (if you don't have MSG, you can use Knorr soup mix) (dat soup Knorr)
Stir until cooked (go owie ch'un)
Put ginger (add the ginger that you already cooked) (dat kinyighy)
Stir maybe 2 or 3 minutes (go brahael be ruu bai neeah tee)
Taste (p'lewuk)
Add sugar, salt, ... (whatever is needed to taste good) (thyme scaw) Another thing I learned was, if it tastes too salty you can add a little more sugar! (That is what we did)
Eat with rice! (nyum jia moy bi)
I hope you can understand that! As you can see, Khmer doesn't have all of the extra words that English has like "the."
This was one of my favorite days at language. My other favorite day was when I went with my other teacher to get gas in her moto and I learned how to get gas and reviewed giving directions. It was so fun driving around the round-about three times as we practiced the word for round-about!
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