11-2-08
We have been in Cambodia for a little over three months now. We trained in the district town of Kampong Tralach, but I am sure you are well informed about that already from Stephanie’s postings. We lived with a very nice family in Pouk district for about a month, but recently moved due to the proximity of the house to the national highway. We were under a lot of stress due to the noise from traffic and the incessant construction and how busy the road always was. The rules of driving are not well known in Cambodia because of a lack of driving licenses, so, there is the “Cambodian golden rule of driving,” honk frequently to alert others of your presence. The constant honking is enough to drive a couple that has always lived in quiet neighborhoods insane. It was unfortunate that we had to leave because we did like the family very much. Most often it was Bong Leng, a 54 year old school administration worker, her sister Bong Keng, a 49 year old homemaker and small time cookie entrepreneur, a niece and a nephew. Of course there were always many people coming and going and extra family staying on the weekends. We are very excited about our new house. It is in a quiet neighborhood with a rice paddy on two sides. We have a back entrance to our two rooms and also have a small patio, bathroom and kitchen area. It is very peaceful here. The mother of the family is a midwife at the health clinic in town, the father works at home taking care of the house and tending a large garden, mostly of a vegetable similar to zucchini, which he sells to generate extra income. They have a 14 year old son that also lives here and is very enthusiastic about practicing his English with us. In the yard we also have a mango tree, a lime tree, several coconut trees and a few papaya trees.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Angkor Hospital for Children
One of the daughters of the host family, Thea lives here in Siem Reap. She’s married to a volunteer doctor from the US named Gene who works for the Angkor Hospital for Children. We got the tour yesterday of their complex. What a place. It put me back into a reality check of the condition of this country. It’s easy to forget where you are when you get to Siem Reap, just because of all the Western restaurants and all the tourist spots, and sometimes you feel like you are back in the states.
But we walked through the hospital and saw how everything was running. Yesterday they had a patient list of about 430 people. Families travel from hundreds of miles just to get to this hospital, and then sometimes camp or wait overnight just so they can see a doctor and be looked at. Many people are suffering from things that would easily be taken care of in a western country. Gene showed us the schedule board of a list of the patients they were caring for that day. Many are suffering from malnutrition, pneumonia, anemia, diarrhea, tuberculosis, parasites and the list goes on. You can visit the website here: www.angkorhospital.org. It’s truly a wonderful thing that they are doing there. I commend those who can work in the medical field. Touring the hospital yesterday, made me sort of wish that I could do that type of work, so I could help out in that way. But I just don’t think I’m cut out for it. But there is definitely such a need in this country.
The medical care for the majority of people in this developing country is not good at all. Gene explained to us that those going to medical school even in Phnom Penh, when finished really only have the same education as those of a 3rd year med student in the US. Then you have many of those people going back into their villages starting up their own clinics. It’s a huge project this country has to take on, with education and getting everyone and everything up to speed. Not to mention all the hoops that have to be jumped through with the government and corruption and everything else that happens in third world countries, when trying to get good programs running and keeping them running.
The hospital was started by a photographer Kenro Izu who was in country photographing some of the temples. It has grown and grown from several generous donations and also receives grants to keep it in operation. Apparently there is a waiting list of doctors from around the world (the U.S., Australia, England, Switzlerland, and more) that are wanting to volunteer here. Gene explained that right now they’re at full capacity and cannot allow all of them to come at once. The hospital would have to expand to be able to accommodate the extra workers.
Anyway – an interesting visit.
There is a new visitor’s center opening up next week for the hospital. We got a sneak peak at the center. All I can say is that I commend those that are so generous of their, time, expertise, talents and gifts. There is a definite need here. We saw it first hand when we walked into the waiting room full of about 70 people who had not been seen, 45 minutes before the hospital was closing for the day.
http://www.fwab.org/
But we walked through the hospital and saw how everything was running. Yesterday they had a patient list of about 430 people. Families travel from hundreds of miles just to get to this hospital, and then sometimes camp or wait overnight just so they can see a doctor and be looked at. Many people are suffering from things that would easily be taken care of in a western country. Gene showed us the schedule board of a list of the patients they were caring for that day. Many are suffering from malnutrition, pneumonia, anemia, diarrhea, tuberculosis, parasites and the list goes on. You can visit the website here: www.angkorhospital.org. It’s truly a wonderful thing that they are doing there. I commend those who can work in the medical field. Touring the hospital yesterday, made me sort of wish that I could do that type of work, so I could help out in that way. But I just don’t think I’m cut out for it. But there is definitely such a need in this country.
The medical care for the majority of people in this developing country is not good at all. Gene explained to us that those going to medical school even in Phnom Penh, when finished really only have the same education as those of a 3rd year med student in the US. Then you have many of those people going back into their villages starting up their own clinics. It’s a huge project this country has to take on, with education and getting everyone and everything up to speed. Not to mention all the hoops that have to be jumped through with the government and corruption and everything else that happens in third world countries, when trying to get good programs running and keeping them running.
The hospital was started by a photographer Kenro Izu who was in country photographing some of the temples. It has grown and grown from several generous donations and also receives grants to keep it in operation. Apparently there is a waiting list of doctors from around the world (the U.S., Australia, England, Switzlerland, and more) that are wanting to volunteer here. Gene explained that right now they’re at full capacity and cannot allow all of them to come at once. The hospital would have to expand to be able to accommodate the extra workers.
Anyway – an interesting visit.
There is a new visitor’s center opening up next week for the hospital. We got a sneak peak at the center. All I can say is that I commend those that are so generous of their, time, expertise, talents and gifts. There is a definite need here. We saw it first hand when we walked into the waiting room full of about 70 people who had not been seen, 45 minutes before the hospital was closing for the day.
http://www.fwab.org/
To Town.
111008
So we biked into Siem Reap yesterday. It took us about 40 minutes to get here (16k away) – at a fairly casual pace – so it’s nice to have that option. Not to mention, it’s much easier to get around town here, we can cover twice as much ground without any money, plus bikes are pretty easy to park.
We had Monday off due to Independence Day, and Tues through Thurs off because of Water festival, so Will and I are taking advantage of this time and having our own little mini vacation in Siem Reap.
We are mostly here for the Water festival. Usually they have really big row boat races (you know with the really long skinny boat and about 20 people rowing it; I’ll try and post a photo of it) – on the Mekong River. The main festival is in Phnom Penh. I guess it’s a really big event and thousands of people go into town to go and watch it.
Being new Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to leave our province for the 1st three months. But – since we are 2 of the 6 lucky volunteers in Siem Reap province, we do get to experience Siem Reap’s version of the water festival.
As we rode into town yesterday, we saw a few teams practicing on the river. One was a whole team of women----- and man were they cookin’. They were moving right along, all in perfect sync – rowing very quickly with precise motions on the very still water. They looked like a machine – the way they were just gliding right along.
Nonetheless it’ll be interesting to see. I’ll write more about it after we witness it, and maybe post a few pics or a video of it if we can get a good spot along the banks of the river.
So we biked into Siem Reap yesterday. It took us about 40 minutes to get here (16k away) – at a fairly casual pace – so it’s nice to have that option. Not to mention, it’s much easier to get around town here, we can cover twice as much ground without any money, plus bikes are pretty easy to park.
We had Monday off due to Independence Day, and Tues through Thurs off because of Water festival, so Will and I are taking advantage of this time and having our own little mini vacation in Siem Reap.
We are mostly here for the Water festival. Usually they have really big row boat races (you know with the really long skinny boat and about 20 people rowing it; I’ll try and post a photo of it) – on the Mekong River. The main festival is in Phnom Penh. I guess it’s a really big event and thousands of people go into town to go and watch it.
Being new Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to leave our province for the 1st three months. But – since we are 2 of the 6 lucky volunteers in Siem Reap province, we do get to experience Siem Reap’s version of the water festival.
As we rode into town yesterday, we saw a few teams practicing on the river. One was a whole team of women----- and man were they cookin’. They were moving right along, all in perfect sync – rowing very quickly with precise motions on the very still water. They looked like a machine – the way they were just gliding right along.
Nonetheless it’ll be interesting to see. I’ll write more about it after we witness it, and maybe post a few pics or a video of it if we can get a good spot along the banks of the river.
Catching Up.
110908
Besides playing war with the ants in our kitchen, things have been going pretty well. I’ve read and heard from a few sources that mint, cinnamon, citrus peelings, vinegar and coffee grounds are all deterrents for ants. I’m giving them all a fair chance, especially since they are all green choices, less expensive and much healthier and cheaper than using a can of Raid. AND they all smell better than Raid. I just spent the last 20 minutes lining the top cement portion of the wall that’s open to the outside which surrounds our kitchen with a barricade of cinnamon. Well not really a barricade, but I sprinkled a whole defense line around the kitchen. I’ve stuck a piece of chewed mint gum into a hole where I saw a whole interstate hwy of them coming out of. I studied this one for a while and it seemed to be working for the moment. The instant they got within one centimeter of the gum they’d turn around and march away -- each and every one of them. I wonder how long it’ll last. I hope for a while. We shall see. I’ve tried vinegar – Which DOES kill them when sprayed directly on them; however it doesn’t work as a deterrent. I haven’t tried coffee grounds; the only thing is -- in our market we can only get instant coffee… (Which I suppose I should try) – And true coffee grounds can be purchased in Siem Reap – but that too is expensive. We’ll see.
But really other than that things are good. We’re getting settled into our new place just fine and are truly enjoying the full nights of sleep without hearing the traffic. It’s funny – now that we’re a ways from the national road, I definitely notice just how loud the road truly is. I mean, as soon as I approach the market on my bike – you begin to hear the sound of traffic roaring through town, and horns, and motos, and big trucks. Sigh. We are in a MUCh quieter location and are enjoying it immensely.
Besides playing war with the ants in our kitchen, things have been going pretty well. I’ve read and heard from a few sources that mint, cinnamon, citrus peelings, vinegar and coffee grounds are all deterrents for ants. I’m giving them all a fair chance, especially since they are all green choices, less expensive and much healthier and cheaper than using a can of Raid. AND they all smell better than Raid. I just spent the last 20 minutes lining the top cement portion of the wall that’s open to the outside which surrounds our kitchen with a barricade of cinnamon. Well not really a barricade, but I sprinkled a whole defense line around the kitchen. I’ve stuck a piece of chewed mint gum into a hole where I saw a whole interstate hwy of them coming out of. I studied this one for a while and it seemed to be working for the moment. The instant they got within one centimeter of the gum they’d turn around and march away -- each and every one of them. I wonder how long it’ll last. I hope for a while. We shall see. I’ve tried vinegar – Which DOES kill them when sprayed directly on them; however it doesn’t work as a deterrent. I haven’t tried coffee grounds; the only thing is -- in our market we can only get instant coffee… (Which I suppose I should try) – And true coffee grounds can be purchased in Siem Reap – but that too is expensive. We’ll see.
But really other than that things are good. We’re getting settled into our new place just fine and are truly enjoying the full nights of sleep without hearing the traffic. It’s funny – now that we’re a ways from the national road, I definitely notice just how loud the road truly is. I mean, as soon as I approach the market on my bike – you begin to hear the sound of traffic roaring through town, and horns, and motos, and big trucks. Sigh. We are in a MUCh quieter location and are enjoying it immensely.
Small Things III
Road Construction
Today I noticed for the first time some actual decent road construction markers. Back in the states we have lots of bright orange cones, and blockers to keep traffic in check. Here we’ve noticed one of the methods is to use broken off branches and big rocks put on the side of the road as a deterrent that they don’t want anyone to drive on.. However today – I noticed some brightly red and white painted markers that they are using to keep traffic away. Then I got closer to them and noticed that they were brightly painted branches. Very resourceful. I kind of liked it.
Today I noticed for the first time some actual decent road construction markers. Back in the states we have lots of bright orange cones, and blockers to keep traffic in check. Here we’ve noticed one of the methods is to use broken off branches and big rocks put on the side of the road as a deterrent that they don’t want anyone to drive on.. However today – I noticed some brightly red and white painted markers that they are using to keep traffic away. Then I got closer to them and noticed that they were brightly painted branches. Very resourceful. I kind of liked it.
. . .
Next door neighbor lady 
She is quite a character. Really kind of funny. Not formal at all and just says what she wants to say. For a while now she has been asking us who we were going to vote for in America. Well at least that’s what we could gather. Mostly it’s a bunch of words and sounds we don’t understand and then every once in a while we hear her enthusiastically say “John McCain!!”
Peace Corps policy does not condone us talking about politics (I think that mostly means Cambodian politics) – but we use that excuse for American politics as well. We did explain to her that we sent in our absentee ballots, but that we did not want to discuss who we were voting for.
But it was just so funny to hear her talk about it. She very much liked John McCain. I think part of it was because he has visited Cambodia. Part of it might be because maybe he helped fight the North Vietnamese. I do wish I knew more of the language to get her true feelings on it all. – But then she’d talk about Obama, and it sounded like she’d say that he was okay too – because he has dark colored skin, like herself.
Then last night – after she found out who one, she called us on the cell phone and told us that Obama had won. (I don’t think she realizes that we can pick up some BBC/ABC on our short wave radio and that PC had already informed us of the news) But she definitely wanted us to know how the election went.
. . .
Nyam Bei Howie? Eat Rice Already?
(that’s the direct translation). If people have nothing better to ask or say to you, they usually ask you if you have eaten rice yet. Actually, if I did a tally on the text messages I’ve gotten from Khmer people on my cell phone – as to what the topic of conversation was, it would be: Nyam bei?
They sure do like their rice in this country.
. . .
Rice Porridge Boh - boh.
Have I mentioned that my new favorite breakfast is Boh-boh (rice porridge) with a twist?
Most Khmer people eat this rice porridge (which is pretty bland; actually they make it in the Philippines too) – and then sometimes they add some pork to it for breakfast. Hrrrrm…..
Anyhow... I remember visiting the Philippines with my family when I was 5 years old, and we were at my mom’s aunt’s house and they had made this rice porridge. “There is no way I am going to eat this stuff, it tastes horrible” thought five year old Stephanie to herself. Sure enough – auntie and my mom mix some sugar and cocoa into the stuff and it’s gone in minutes.
Whether it’s good or bad, I don’t know, but not much has changed in my taste buds in the last 22 years.
Rice Porridge Boh - boh.
Have I mentioned that my new favorite breakfast is Boh-boh (rice porridge) with a twist?
Most Khmer people eat this rice porridge (which is pretty bland; actually they make it in the Philippines too) – and then sometimes they add some pork to it for breakfast. Hrrrrm…..
Anyhow... I remember visiting the Philippines with my family when I was 5 years old, and we were at my mom’s aunt’s house and they had made this rice porridge. “There is no way I am going to eat this stuff, it tastes horrible” thought five year old Stephanie to herself. Sure enough – auntie and my mom mix some sugar and cocoa into the stuff and it’s gone in minutes.
Whether it’s good or bad, I don’t know, but not much has changed in my taste buds in the last 22 years.
I’ve resulted to eating Boh-boh with a spoonful of sugar and several scoops of Ovaltine powder in it. To keep things on the healthy side, I’ll throw in a banana as well.
Man that stuff is good.
I don’t think I’ll ever lose my sweet tooth. Maybe more appropriately named: chocolate tooth. I mean why would you eat something else, if you’ve got chocolate as an option?
White Towel
Don’t you love it when you wash your towel (let me mention how difficult it is to wash a bath towel by hand:
Wait, wait wait. I almost forgot. Let me preface the above paragraph with the reason I even needed to wash the towel in the first place.
Don’t you love it when your towel is all of a sudden invaded by hundreds of ants? (yea. It happened to me too. See the entry about Ants – and them attacking Will’s towel. Luckily enough I’ve gotten in the habit of inspecting my clothes/towels prior to putting them on/using them to CHECK for ants due to our recent misfortunes.) But yes. The whole reason I even needed to wash a towel on a Wednesday (usually it’s a Saturday or Sunday thing for me) was because the blasted ants invaded it.
I think the ants are winning right now. I tried vinegar in a squirt bottle today. It does seem to kill them, but it doesn’t deter them. Boo. Onto the next trick.
Anyway, the towel is clean – and I’m hoping it’ll stay this-a-way for the next week.
- it gets really heavy when it gets wet and you have to wring it all out all full of water,
- the 100% cotton fuzzy material soaks up lots of suds, so after doing the normal 2 rinses, you definitely have to do a 3rd to make sure all the soap gets out; anyhow washing your bath towel is for sure at least a 15-20 minute time commitment)
– anyway – as I was saying… don’t you love it when you wash your towel and then when you’re away for a bit a big gust of wind blows it off the line into the sandy, dirt beneath?
Wait, wait wait. I almost forgot. Let me preface the above paragraph with the reason I even needed to wash the towel in the first place.
Don’t you love it when your towel is all of a sudden invaded by hundreds of ants? (yea. It happened to me too. See the entry about Ants – and them attacking Will’s towel. Luckily enough I’ve gotten in the habit of inspecting my clothes/towels prior to putting them on/using them to CHECK for ants due to our recent misfortunes.) But yes. The whole reason I even needed to wash a towel on a Wednesday (usually it’s a Saturday or Sunday thing for me) was because the blasted ants invaded it.
I think the ants are winning right now. I tried vinegar in a squirt bottle today. It does seem to kill them, but it doesn’t deter them. Boo. Onto the next trick.
Anyway, the towel is clean – and I’m hoping it’ll stay this-a-way for the next week.
ANTS IN THE PANTS. No Joke.
It is hard for me to have any complaints about this new place because over all it’s just wonderful; but one thing that we are battling is our new nemesis: ants.Being on the ground floor; AND actually having a kitchen/cooking area, we quickly (and I mean quickly) discovered how fast these ants can take over an area.
The first night Will made some dinner. We were sitting down enjoying our meal and after we were finished when I wanted to go wash the dishes there were HUNDREDS of ants ALL over the countertop area and stove. Hundreds! Not only ants, but biting ants. I wish I would’ve taken a picture.
They’re really kind of a battle…. – I mean how much RAID is healthy to spray? Probably not any of it; but I don’t know what else to do. I guess the next time I get to some internet; I’ll be spending some time researching how to deter the little buggers from entering ANY areas they shouldn’t be in. But wow they can be a pain.
I guess for me, the silver lining in this cloud is that I think I have finally found something that will teach my beloved husband to clean up after himself in an efficient way in the kitchen. In the past it has always been, I’ll do the dishes tomorrow, or pots and pans left out, spills on the counter here, drips on the stovetop there. While I love him dearly, in this particular location and climate that we're living in, I’d hate to see what the kitchen would look like after 12 hours, considering the amount of ants that discovered food in a matter of 17 minutes. We are DEFINITELY going to have to run a tight ship if we want to keep these ants from marching – no Invading -- our living space.
We’re still battling them. Yesterday Will had his towel hanging on a rope outside, and didn’t realize that it was covered with ants when he went to dry himself off. Ummm… yes – I’d have to say he was bit in unmentionable areas.
I sadly discovered today when it was too late that ants had discovered my bamboo shelves full of my clothes. Sure enough they got into MY unmentionables and not until I was on my bike one the way to school did I realize that I too, had ants in my pants.
Like really. Ants in my pants. If I need to say anything…this is NOT a pleasurable thing AT ALL. Not to mention their bites seem to last and itch for a few days. Usually I’m worried about the mosquitos for dengue fever or malaria… but now, it’s the ants.
This is my new biggest frustration. If anyone has any true suggestions on how to keep them out in an open air cooking/patio space I truly welcome all suggestions. If anyone knows any secret recipes of how to make vicious ant poison let me know. We’re heading into Siem Reap next week, so I’ll see what I can find for ant poison. It’d be one thing if they didn’t bite – but biting ants are another story. Sheesh.
Anyway, I think that is all for now. Time to put on some calamine lotion and hit the hay.
Until next time – I’m signing out. – smb
SO - We've Moved!
110308
While I do feel bad about leaving the host family we were with as they were very nice people and I got a kick out of them and I was really growing to like their nephew baby named, Yeut – Will and I are VERY glad to be in a MUCH MUCH quieter neighborhood.
The move went really well – and we explained to the host family that we want to remain friends and visit them often. They seemed to think that was okay, and also understood our reasons for leaving.
Yea – I do have to say that living right on the national road, this close to Siem Reap – which is ALSO under construction was TRULY way toooo much to take. It was so loud constantly and because of the thin walls and open air- it truly felt like our bed was right next to the freeway. Well actually – it was literally right next to the freeway, because thin wooden walls and open air windows can’t really compare to a home w/ insulation, or even a house with cement walls.
Not to mention the neighbor’s geese; and their dogs that would really, really howl anytime an ambulance went by, and the last few nights their cat was in heat – and wow could she meeeeow.
Needless to say we weren’t getting nearly enough sleep - and it’s truly kind of hard to put on your happy face and speak another language you’re just learning when you weren’t able to sleep the night before.
--- Peace Corps understood our concerns, and so did our old host family – and they helped us find a new place to live.
Our old peace corps nurse happened to be friends with a volunteer doctor in Siem Reap – who happens to be married to a Khmer woman, (named Thea) who just happened to be from the town we are in. The nurse was helping us to try and get a new place and asked this lady if she knew of anyone who might be interested in hosting a young couple who are here to teach English.
She went back to her house and asked her mother, and the first suggestion out of her mother’s mouth was, “Why don’t they stay here! We have two rooms in the house that are not being used, and we might as well have some Barangs (foreigners) here.”
So we met the family and saw the house – and fell in love with it right away. The family is very nice. They have the the one daughter named Thea – who works as a nurse in Siem Reap and is married to the American doctor who volunteers at a children’s hospital. They’ve got another daughter Sopeap, who is married with 3 kids and lives in Phnom Penh, and then Dara who is 14 years old and is here at the house.
The host mother’s name is Socheat and the host father is Vonn. She works as a midwife in our town hospital and the father stays at home and does house work and tends to their garden. I believe he used to farm rice, but hasn’t done that in quite a while, as I believe they used to have land in Battambang province, and things I believe got shuffled around after the Khmer rouge.
Anyway- a VERY nice family and we couldn’t be more pleased.
We’ve got two nice rooms with some beautiful traditional Cambodian wooden furniture, along with a little patio area with our own bathroom and kitchen area. It’s perfect. It’s like our own little apartment. And BEST of all – we’ve only got one neighbor to the south of (which is even a little ways away b/c the family has a large yard) and other than that we’ve got rice fields to the north and west of us.
It is quiet. It is sooo nice. I cannot even explain. I think we’ll be pretty happy here. It’s funny – now at night I can hear the faint sound of some bass from music in a bar somewhere (the Macarena seems to be big here); whereas before I couldn’t even hear that. In the mornings at the old place, I couldn’t even hear my cell-phone alarm clock go off in the morning because the large trucks, horns and traffic was too loud. (Luckily OR unluckily –however you want to view it; I was already awake. There was no way I could’ve overslept at the old place). Have I mentioned that there are virtually no traffic rules in Cambodia? The way they alert everyone to know that someone is coming from behind you is by honking horns.
Anyhow.--- we’re getting settled in here. We will be doing most of our own cooking which will be nice; but will eat with the family maybe 2-3 times a week. We had our 1st meal with them tonight --- and boy was it delicious! We had quite the spread of stir-fried vegetables, fried and battered fish and then this HUGE bowl of baby shrimp that came from the Tonle Sap lake. It was wonderful.
I’m so excited to FINALLY be able to settle in somewhere and unpack our clothes for good for a while. It’s a good feeling. And I’ve also got a good feeling about this new place. More as it comes.
The Day we accidentally biked to the Siem Reap Airport.
So I knew we were close to Siem Reap. But I didn’t realize we were THAT close.
Will and I had been studying the maps a little bit (and google earth- which if you haven’t discovered Google Earth, it is this AMAZING program in a scary way. Google, google earth, download it and you can get satellite images of MANY places in the world and zoom in pretty close. i.e. I have found the house we’re currently staying in along w/ exact latitude and longitude via google earth. Anyway….) and noticed that we’re not that far away from a large body of water called: Western Baray. It is a large rectangular man-made lake built by the Khmer Empire back in the 12th century. It was built for irrigation. It’s unbelievable how big it is and to think it was all built by people shoveling dirt around this area that they knew collected a lot of water during the rainy season.
It was nice to be out biking around, especially along some water. I do miss being by water. Going by it really made me want to go canoeing or water skiing, because I’ve spent many a summer doing those types of activities. We continued to follow the dirt road east for a ways just enjoying the exercise and the views and Saturday morning in general; when all of a sudden to the right we saw a huge airplane.
I kind of surprised myself, I didn’t think we had gone that far, but sure enough there was the airport plain as day. It’s not quite in Siem Reap but it’s close.
I guess there are a few things that always catch me off guard in this whole Peace Corps experience. I guess there is also a lot that WE are experiencing simply because of our location. We Aren’t in the most rural area and definitely aren’t roughing it as hard as some of our other comrades. (i.e. we have 24 hour electricity in our town, and oh yea- we’re only 16k from Siem Reap that has everything you could possibly want). There are Several people without electricity and several people who would kill to be able to buy ice cream and Pringles (both of which I can buy at our market). Anyway….
It’s just nice to know that biking to town won’t be a problem. We can save some money because our Peace Corps budget doesn’t quite match that of what you can spend in the touristy town of Siem Reap. So if we want to splurge on some pizza, frozen yoghurt or burgers perhaps biking to town is the way to go - simply because taking a tuk tuk costs the same as what we’d spend on pizza; plus you have to factor in taking a tuk tuk TO the pizza place from wherever you were, along with the want to buy a beer and well let’s just say it all adds up. One could easily spend our entire month’s stipend in a long weekend at Siem Reap if they weren’t careful. It’s a good thing we can speak a little bit of the language and are able to find the True Khmer restaurants and also pay the Khmer price.
Anyway- it was just kind of fun to accidently stumble upon the SR airport, on our leisurely Saturday morning bike ride.
The Silk Farm
102508 } The Silk Farm
So we’ve passed the Artisan’s de Angkor Silk Farm sign several times. It’s really close to our high school actually. We decided we’d check it out on our leisurely afternoon today. Who knew we were so close to such an interesting place!?
They said they have 5 hectares of mulberry trees which the silk worms feed on. They showed us the life cycle of the worms and when they take them from the fields they bring them to this area where they turn into the cocoons and then they boil the water and then thinly feed the silk threads into a machine where they can separate everything.
It really was pretty amazing. I touched one of the silk worms and it was really, REALLy soft. Will ate one that had been boiled, (he claimed it could’ve used some salt and told the woman who was boiling them as well).
Then we were shown where they dye the threads and also where they refine it. They also use raw silk in some of their weavings.
Then we went into the room where the women were doing the weaving. Several different looms were all being worked by hand. It was quite amazing actually. To make a patterned fabric with 4 colors it takes about a week to do (approx. 40 hrs).
I tried to convince some workers to teach me how to weave the silk and I would teach them English in return, but they didn’t seem too receptive. I think I’ll keep asking about it though- as they made such beautiful fabrics, it would be very interesting to learn.
Anyway- it’s pretty neat that we’re so close to this place, I’ll definitely have to go back and visit. You can see some pictures of it here to get a glimpse:http://picasaweb.google.com/willandsteph/081017#
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Fresh Squeezed.
We finally moved into our new place, and I might say that we are a little spoiled. We've got two rooms,our own kitchen area and a bathroom plus a patio. It's quite spacious and its like our own little apartment. THe new family is really great too - we had our first dinner with them last night - and had stir fried vegetables, fresh shrimp, fried fish and rice. Can't complain!
Yesterday I purchased a juicer (you know, what you make lemonade or fresh squeezed orange juice in?)- and enjoyed some fresh squeezed OJ this morning on the patio. It was wonderful. I'm definitely looking forward to more of that in the future.
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I had a few blog entries to post, but realized I saved them in the wrong format to open them at the current inernet cafe I go to. Oh well. More soon.
Yesterday I purchased a juicer (you know, what you make lemonade or fresh squeezed orange juice in?)- and enjoyed some fresh squeezed OJ this morning on the patio. It was wonderful. I'm definitely looking forward to more of that in the future.
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I had a few blog entries to post, but realized I saved them in the wrong format to open them at the current inernet cafe I go to. Oh well. More soon.
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