First Mass E-mail

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Hello Friends and Family!

I have been in Cambodia for 2 1/2 days, yet it feels like I have been here for over 2 1/2 years! Everywhere I look is a year's worth of stories--in one glance. I cannot truly capture it all in words yet and am actually suffering from severe writer's block (example: I wrote the word "wow" to start a journal entry yesterday and that was ALL that came out). I guess that--for now--I will have to resort to bulleting specific moments of intrigue.

--The School: I am staying at Seametrey Children's Village (for those who don't know), teaching children ages 3-8. Muoy, the woman in charge of the school is quite empowered. She models the school after the Maria Montessori program which is quite appropriate for children in Cambodia who may feel--either now or eventually--disempowered by poverty. I taught today for the first time, just now getting used to the fairly laissez-faire approach of teaching where following the children and allowing them to teach you is more important than giving specific structure to their activities. Today, for example, I opened a package with some of the older kids at the school. Instead of telling them who the package was from, when it was sent, etc., I asked them to tell me: "Who sent this?" "When was it sent?" "Tell me about the person who sent it?" With this teaching, I am constantly in a world of curiosity--tell me, tell me, tell me. I am already learning how to relax into the children's world rather then pushing my world/idea of structure onto them.
--Life as Western Woman in Cambodia: Cat calls are literally cat calls--that type of clicking sound that you can make with your tongue. That is the Cambodian man's form of woo-ing a woman. I did have a couple of men call "Bessie! Bessie!" to me, but actual words are a rarity in woo-ing. I haven't felt intimidated by this constant cat calling (yet)--just smiling and walking feels comfortable.
--New Connections: I am the only volunteer at the school, other than a Swedish man named Goran who has multiple piercings and wears rolled up jeans. He is about 45 and has been at the school for over a year, setting up the computers and helping Muoy with her boat restaurant and boat library--2 other projects that she is embarking on. I have befriended two children who are sleeping in the classrooms of the school, because they do not have a place to live right now. Their names are Srey Lin and Channett--both in 6th and 7th grade respectively and their English is impeccable. They have been my tour guides and mentors for crossing the road, which I can now do with only minimum panic--cars, motos, tuk-tuks, and elephants cross the street with absolutely no regard for pedestrians. Next time you see a parent holding the hand of a child in the US as they cross the street on the way to the park...you can imagine children in Cambodia who are sometimes only 3 or 4 crossing a highway--that is what it looks like!
--Kinh's Artwork: I have a room to myself in the school. It is quite cush--with fan and mosquito netting. There is also a Western style bathroom that I will share with the other volunteers when they arrive. For now I share this and the kitchen with Muoy and Kinh (Muoy's husband). Kinh is probably the most magnetic individual I have met so far. He is an artist who is constantly in the kitchen drinking dissolvable coffee, which I drink with him sometimes to listen to his stories. Today, he showed me a charcoal drawing of his parents that he created when he was 8 1/2. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, all of his other artwork was lost, except for these two drawings, torn and faded, but still exceptional. He was so poor when he was young that, to practice his art, he would sometimes resort to drawing in the sand. His work has evolved over the years, and so have the symbols within his work: A caged bird that is sometimes free and string. One of the most remarkable pieces is a sculpture that is woven into the railing at the school. It is a rusted bicycle seat, meant to be an abused woman's face. Across the face he has used string as a symbol of silence ( e.g. string is used for hangings). He also uses string--within the piece--as a symbol of 'togetherness,' or as the Buddha calls it, 'sutra.' On the back of the face, there is a piece of paper that reads "Don't ever touch me again." My eyes watered when he told me about how his travels in the Middle East--specifically Kataar--had inspired this piece. Truly original and moving.
--I pay the cook at the school $1 for 2 full meals a day. With (pretty much) every meal I have had a new fruit: rambutan (round pink fruit with soft spikes and jelly center), longan (sweet, round fruit that has a jelly center), and tamarind (a series of fruit beads connected to each other--you crack each bead and eat the juicy center). At every meal I eat rice, meat, and vegetables with traditional Khmer spice arrangements (mostly everything has lemongrass). The rice is eaten with a spoon--not chopsticks or a fork.

WOW! This e-mail turned out to be much longer then expected, although I think that whatever aspect of myself that was socialized into having expectations has vanished with the absorption of this powerful culture.
I am going to put together a BLOG to organize all of the above observations, but have not gotten around it yet. In the BLOG there will be an entire section that is dedicated to Khin's art, as there are about 5 brilliant pieces which were described to me today that I could describe in detail if given the space (and attention, for anyone interested!). I will try to update the BLOG bi-weekly, but this is a loose commitment.
I am not homesick yet, although I would like to have people here (from home) to share this obscenely indescribable experience with me. If you are ever in the area--or at least want to write, the address is:

Alex Kelly
13A, Street 830
Tonle Bassac
Phnom Penh
Cambodia

Love,
Alex

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