Christmas in Cambodia

Christmas is in fact celebrated in Cambodia, although I am learning bit by bit about what that actually looks like. Christmas trees appeared at the beginning of December in some of the shops and restaurants, complete with blinking lights, tinsel garlands, and big "Merry Christmas!" signs hanging under the stars at the top of the tree. I've also seen some lovely little Santa outfits for babies and toddlers--if you've been looking for one, now you know where to find it :) And advertisers and stores have partially adopted the idea of getting people to shop for gifts. I don't know if Cambodia's Buddhists (the majority of the population) do much beyond these examples to celebrate. For the Christians, however, families and churches enjoy celebrating, although it is not important to actually celebrate on Christmas Day. The Christmas celebration at the Khmer church I've been attending was on Sunday the 14th. It was a full-morning event, complete with visitors from local political leadership (a very big deal), lots of song and dance presentations, a guest preacher, and a big shared lunch. Many people stayed for an afternoon of singing and games as well. This video is from a few days after the celebration--a group of kids from the church who went caroling around the neighborhood and stopped by our house. It's a little dark and quiet, but turn up your volume and squint a bit and enjoy!

Biker Chick

So, if you haven't seen this picture yet, here you go--the official shot of me on my motorcycle! I've basically gotten the hang of driving it around--as in I feel comfortable on it, although I still take is a little slower and more cautiously that the average Cambodian :) The basket in the front is very handy for after trips to the market or grocery store. And I don't get saddle sore anymore, either, which is good :) If you also missed the bike details and are dying to know--it's a Honda Wave 100, made in Vietnam. A cheaper option than bikes made in Thailand or Japan.

Cabahl knyom hot hie!

Which means: "My head is tired!". A very useful phrase in Khmer which I made sure to learn. I can say it approximately ninety times a day when my poor brain is weary from studying and from all the general learning associated with being in a new culture. Lots of new things to absorb! As of one more tutoring session this afternoon, I will be happy to have made it through my first full week of language studies. I now am able to muddle through the entire Khmer alphabet and am starting to read and write some simple words--like going through kindergarten again! Fast fact of the day: "Khmer" is the name of the Cambodian language and is actually pronounced "kuh-my", rather than "kuh-mare". Khmer is also the word used for "Cambodian", in the way we would use "American."
And now--I have one more short study session before I get to take a break for lunch!

Bangkok

I don't know how closely the situation in Bangkok has been watched in the US news, but being as how Thailand is one of our next door neighbors, we have heard quite a bit about it. I am no expert on the situation, but if you don't know much, here are a few basics: there has been a strong anti-government group in Thailand for some time. This group has staged many demonstrations and done things like surrounding the Thai Parliament building in late November so that the parliament could not longer continue their session. A week ago, the anti-government group filled the two Bangkok airports with protestors, effectively shutting down all airport operations. This had a fairly major effect--imagine if all air traffic in and out of Chicago was halted--planes in the air enroute to Chicago would have to be rerouted to land elsewhere (other cities or military airstrips),people in the airport would be stuck there or would have to find lodging in the area and alternate forms of transportation out of the city, no air freight or shipping could move along, and so on. All of this happened in Bangkok. And because Thailand as a country is wealthier and more developed that most other South East Asian countries, Bangkok served as a major hub for the entire region. So, in Cambodia, this meant that American expats trying to fly home for Thanksgiving often had their travel plans changed at the last minute or spent some extra time in Bangkok (although the Thai government, the Thai protestors, and the airlines themselves all did quite a lot in providing free lodging, food, water, blankets, and ticket changes to those affected). Cambodian mail and imports/exports ship through Bangkok, so these services have been on hold all week. As you can imagine all of this has a huge and immediate impact financially in many ways, and a future impact as well: what blow has this dealt to the Thai economy when the worldwide ecomony is already in recession? Will Thailand be judged too unstable for tourist flights and shipping to continue to be routed through Bangkok as a major hub, and will these operations shift to another country and another city? We shall see! Here's a news link that just came up on Yahoo--the anti-government protestors got their wish and the Thai government has been dissolved:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_political_unrest;_ylt=AvSSPWHgYYC2G99_cj93VCBvaA8F