Okay, back to life in Cambodia…. I need to pull up my memories from the past week; it all seems so long ago. We got back from Siem Reap on Wednesday afternoon, and I really don’t remember anything about Wednesday or Thursday, so I must have mostly worked on my dissertation and another paper that I had to write. On Thursday I did go to get my visa extended. You only get it for one month, and then it costs $45 to get it extended for an additional month. You can go the official ways, which costs $30 but apparently takes forever (they keep your passport for 25 days – I am not even staying here that long!). Instead, one of the girls took me to the passport office for Cambodians. Someone at that office helped us with the visa extension. I had to bring my passport, a passport sized photo (you can get it taken here), and a copy of my e-visa. I paid, and we left everything there until Monday. It was pretty painless, but at first I was freaking out about having to leave my passport with him since I know that is something you are not supposed to do, but apparently it is something that you have to do to get the extension. And the person is someone that they know at the dorm and who they have used for all the other residents who stayed longer than a month. The person who knows all of this is graduating next year, so I recommended that she write down the info so that people in the following years will be able to help the residents.
I also have tried to pick up my dress from the tailor a few times. The first time, it needs some adjustments. The next day it wasn’t quite ready. When I went back four days later, they were closed in the middle of the day. I will try again on Sunday the 9th!
On Thursday I also went to a used bookstore on Street 240. The regular books there were really expensive for used books. I would have liked to get some of the travel books and some other things for the more advanced students to read, but there is no way I am paying $8-10 for a used book. That is extortion in the U.S., much less in Cambodia! But, they had a good selection of young adult books, and they were all $1-2 each. This is exactly the kind of book I have been looking for because I think it will be the perfect level for a lot of the girls in the dorm. I got a HUGE stack of books for $30. I think I’ll go to some of the other used bookstores in town to see if I can get some more of this kind. I also am going to try to contact the owner to see if I can get a deal on some of the other books since I am buying them for a non-profit.
Friday :
Friday morning I went to Sovanna Phum, the shadow puppet theater, with about 15 of the girls. We did a puppet making workshop, which cost $4 per person (again, thank you to everyone who donated money and made this trip possible). They really enjoyed the visit, and it was great to learn the traditional way of making the puppets.
Here are some pictures of that event:
Clockwise from front left: Channy, Thida, Menghun, and Savry working on their puppets.
From left to right: Dany, Menghun, and Savry with their puppets.
The whole group with our puppets!
I am going back on Thursday the 6th with another group of the girls, so I’ll put up some more pictures after that!
Saturday:
Most of the day Saturday I just worked on my dissertation and the other paper. At one point I did take a break and went to the grocery store to get some things for movie night. I made everyone quesadillas for the movie snack! I was a little nervous since it was a lot of cheese, and they do not eat any cheese, but the all really liked them! I got a few different kinds of cheese, and we had to slice it really thinly since there wasn’t a cheese grater to use. I got the tortillas from Café Yejii, and they were really good – I was impressed! To go inside of the quesadillas, I got a can of kidney beans which we mashed up a little, some green onions, and green bell peppers. Around 4 of the girls helped me make them, which they enjoyed. I am glad they helped because they were so much better at make thin slices of cheese than I was! Shoot, I just realized that I didn’t take any pictures of this process or of everyone eating them. That is too bad. We also put a few hot peppers in two of the quesadillas, and those were a big hit. Spicy things definitely are okay here! Then we ate them while watching Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, which they also liked. Before I leave, I am going to try to get to the Russian Market to buy some more movies for them to have on hand. They really like to watch movies when they have free time so that is something I would like to do for them.
Sunday:
In the afternoon we had the final talk in the Women’s Empowerment Lecture Series. The speaker was Chea Veasna who was the first woman in Cambodia to earn a law degree. She also was involved in founding the Harpswell Foundation at a certain extent. I think she was much of the inspiration to building the dormitory. She also is involved in another organization here called Chances4Cambodia, which helps poor girls go to school (but not a place to live). Some of the girls from that organization came to the talk, too, which was nice. Everyone seemed to really enjoy her talk, which was nice. Here are a few pictures of that event:
Chea Veasna during the talk.
The girls in small discussion groups during the talk.
She even talked a little about sex, marriage, and relationships which was surprising since that is a pretty taboo topic among people, especially women here. I think it was good to talk about a little bit though because it is a reality of life. I get a little worried about the girls here since things like relationships are so foreign and even things like kissing in movies makes them uncomfortable. Not that I think it is good to focus on that stuff during college! Studies should come first!! And, it is not like I knew much more at that age. But, I just get a little worried that a relationship or marriage must come as such a shock to women here. Also, since so many of the girls in the dorm want to study in Western countries from graduate school, that atmosphere definitely will be a complete shock – the discussions, the sexuality on tv, the dress, etc. This might be a topic that one of the future leadership residents might want to address. Not an in-depth discussion, but just talking about a few things so that life after the dorm and especially graduate school in other countries won’t be quite so uncomfortable for them.
Monday-Wednesday:
Monday thru Wednesday I really just worked on my dissertation and the other paper all day, every day. After I turned in the dissertation on Wednesday, I did make a trip to get some fried bananas. There is this awesome place that makes them on Mao Tse Tung – like a little fried banana factory, not just a cart on the side of the road. They also have fried sweet potato slices and taro root. For 4 fried bananas (we are talking a foot long each!) it was 2,800 riel, which is like sixty-five cents. How awesome is that? At Monument Bookstore on Sunday I got a few small Asian cookbooks, and one of them has the recipe for fried bananas. I am so excited!!!!
Here are a few pictures of the bananas so you can be jealous of the delicious things I am eating:
The place where you can buy the best fried bananas in town!
Here is what the fried bananas look like:
From left to right: Menghun, Kimleang, and Raksmey enjoying the tasty snacks!
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