to do in cambodia: artisans of angkor

Christopher and I are returning to Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat, this weekend (for our race! eek!) and it seems only appropriate to share one thing I really enjoyed doing with Paige and Michael when they visited this past summer.

On a travel-book-whim, we decided to walk to the nearby Artisans d'Angkor. It is a school for young people with artistic talent who aspire to study and produce traditional Khmer art.  The handicrafts they make require intensive study and nuanced skill.  In their workshop, they carve varieties of marble and soapstone, weave silk and paint it, and carve and laquer wood.

The school provides a free tour of the variety of arts the artists are studying to tourists and visitors.

 We took a tour with a young man who had studied English at his local wat in a town in the countryside before coming to Artisans d'Angkor. 

Our tour was really fantastic, and I recommend visiting.  You can find the workshop and gift shop on Stung Thmey Street, right off the main road running through Siem Reap.  It's just a short walk.

Have you ever visited an art workshop?

of food and friends

there seem to be a lot of food related posts here lately, doesn't there? i'm somewhat sorry, but really, it tends to be a big focus of a peace corps volunteer's life outside of doing good work- we tend to plan, get excited about, and document our delicious meals. 

this was one of those times.

 

a while ago, when the new western restaurant opened in our town, we made friends with the owner, a fabulous woman named reaksmay.  she likes to try baking or cooking new items, and often we're blessed with being given a small something of these new endeavors to taste.  one of those was a slice of lasagna, and chris, jill, and i swore we were going to ask her to make it again sometime, just for us. 

lasagna isn't on the menu typically- based on what we paid for our huge slices, i can tell you the ingredients for making it seem to be quite prohibitive, and i don't imagine many people- or us!- in our town could afford to order it regularly.

but good lord, was it good.

do you ever plan your life around your next delicious meal?

'tis christmastime, in cambodia!

This week, Chris and I decided to forget that we're far away from our family, friends, and holiday traditions and recreate one tradition in our tropical home: decorating for Christmas the week after Thanksgiving.

So, we decided to hang the Christmas lights that we received last year around a doorway in our house, and adorn it with all the cards we have from last year.  Then, we spent an evening making ourselves some Santa hats, and a wreath, complete with berries.

And finally, we donned our hats for the Marsh family holiday card picture taking.  It was really exciting, I tell you!

There is something about a string of Christmas lights.  When the sun sets and the multi-colored lights bounce off the windows, I can't begin to describe how homey and happy and holiday-magic it makes me feel.  There's this warmth that that little string of light spreads.

So, officially welcome, dear holiday season, to Cambodia.

When did you decorate for the holidays?

one cheeseburger, sixteen months

often the day to day differences between our life here in cambodia compared with our life at home escape me.  mainly because so many big things are different, the smaller ones fade into the background.

food, in general, is of course a big difference.  but things diversity of food, availability of once-convenient things begin to...fade over time.

which is why when chris and i went to bangkok last july and encountered a mcdonalds, for the first time in a year, we were excited but also weary.

we had not eaten any form of western "fast food" in a year.  who knew what it would do to our stomach?

but eat a cheeseburger we did.  and one was enough in fact.  and we weren't all that enticed by the myriads of western chains and fast food that populated the city.

it's funny how, over time, those things that were once readily available, and varying degrees of delicious, begin to seem less appetizing and less...necessary. 

but, dang, were those hamburgers a tasty reminder of home.

do you find that the less you eat fast food, the less you want it?

a first thanksgiving

In many respects, this year was my first thanksgiving.  It was the first time I was more than a tiny bit responsible for a Thanksgiving meal.  In years past, in America, maybe I helped with the mashed potatoes.  Maybe I "made" the crescent rolls.

Maybe I used the leftover oil from frying the turkey to make fried twinkies (may they rest in peace.)

 

But this year, Chris and I and the other Volunteers in our province (and some fantastic few others who made the trek down!) happily agreed to accept the challenge of preparing the side dishes for a Thanksgiving feast for our fellow PCVs and the staff who would be training them over the holiday.

Allison, our country director's wife, as she did last year, organized the entire meal.  For 100 people, she prepared seven turkeys, three giant tubs of stuffing, and a dozen cans of stuffing.  For 100 people, we agreed to make a vat of mashed potatoes, pounds of carrots, piles of green beans, and the largest salad we've ever seen.  With the finishing touches of rolls bought in Phnom Penh and a gravy made in our kitchen, the meal would be complete.

In my OCD way, I started by working with Allison to break down exactly what we'd need.  I spent a couple of hours googling the pounds of potatoes required for a buffet for 100 hungry Americans and Cambodians.  Once that was determined, I made a happy little chart of which people would be responsible for which dish, and a shopping list of items we'd need from the capital, and what we could buy- and how much we'd need- from my town's market.  Chris worked with the Peace Corps staff to head to the market to purchase the fifty-five pounds of potatoes, thirty pounds of carrots, thirty five pounds of green beans, and dozens of pounds of salad fixings Saturday morning.

And then the real work began.

We washed and peeled.

We made messes and more messes.

We boiled and mashed.

We diced and chopped.

Eventually, we began to look like Bret Michaels?!

Until it was finally complete.  Twelve full hours later, the table was set and the hard work of 10 Peace Corps Volunteers, 1 Country Director and 1 Country Director's wife paid off.

Below is what the majority of fifty-five pounds of mashed potatoes looks like; and yes, they are housed in a tub that is typically used for clothes washing.  Though the tub was new and clean. 

A toast was made by our Country Director.

Lines began to form in anticipation of the feast, and the Volunteers generously allowed those of us who worked on the meal to eat first. 

I took too much, after I cautioned others to pace themselves.  Of course.

Chris and I were still a bit sweaty, but so, so happy.

And mostly, incredibly excited to eat the food we'd labored on up to the minute of the meal.

The Volunteers were, from what I could gather, very happy and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving.  Their thanks were visible in the gorgeous sign they made for us.

Thank you, K6s, and fellow K5s, Penny and Allison for making this one of the best Thanksgivings this side of the International Date Line!

this happened.

this weekend, chris and i and four other peace corps volunteers converged to peel, cut, cook, assemble, organize and arrange the side dishes for 100 fellow volunteers and staff.

it culminated in the following and was totally worth the entire twelve hour day.

full story tomorrow.

colorful cambodia

One of my favorite things about the road from my site to Phnom Penh are the colorful braided and twisted fabric items that sellers offer on the roadside.

From bright pink to indigo blue and everything in between, these rugs and hammocks strike my fancy every time I see them.  The craftsmanship! The colors! Oh Cambodia, I love you.

for serious

I'm not sure you could underestimate the importance of clean, dry underwear living in Cambodia. Perhaps I should extend to that, living anywhere as a Peace Corps Volunteer?

Because it's just that serious.

Underwear, for me, as a PCV in Cambodia, has to be, by necessity: comfortable, quick drying, of a material that will not chafe, or wear down quickly, and not even necessarily cute. It just has to last through dozens of rounds of handwashing with very harsh soap and provide comfort after using a squat toilet where there is nothing but water to rinse with after business is done.

Needless to say, new underwear is pretty much the pinnacle of deep-in-my-soul-comforts I have here.

***

I brought 25 pairs of underwear to Cambodia.  This is the least amount of underwear I have owned/used probably since I was ten years old.  I promptly put a small pile away for the halfway through service mark.  I wore the same fifteen pairs for days and days.

And I wore them, and I wore them, and I wore them.

On my birthday last year, dear friend Paige gifted me a pair of underwear.  Awesome friend Katie also sent me a few pairs in a package.  Then my parents brought me a couple pairs when they came to visit.  And then Paige gave me another pair this year.  And then John sent me three new pairs.

And I realized that you can take the girl out of the home-with-hundreds-of-pairs-of-underwear, but you can't take it out of the girl.



***

So, in light of wearing, and wearing, and even out-wearing some of the same underwear for a year, I recently retired one pair of underwear.  Six were on trial for retirement, but five survived. 

She was probably a bit too merciful, that judge, but she has difficulty parting with underwear, so be gentle.

In all honesty, I need to face the truth and just bust out the final ten pairs I tucked away for the second year (seeing as how we're a solid four months into that second year) and give those worn out pairs the sweet death they know is coming.

***

Another deep-in-my-soul-comfort? These fantastic slippers I also received from John, who sent the underwear pictured above.  Squishy and pink and a luxurious wonder!

happy day of giving thanks!

four years ago, topher and i spent thanksgiving wandering around the glorious world that is williamsburg, virginia.  i'm pretty sure my history-loving soul was fed the greatest of feasts that year.

i hope, this year, you are fed the feast of feasts- a feast of love, and joy, and peace. of family, and friends, and hopes of the year to come.  and, certainly, a feast of delicious and amazing food!

happy thanksgiving all!

being married in the peace corps

for the past two weeks, the newest group of volunteers has been back at our site for an additional two weeks of training.  one evening, a dinner for the married couples of the newest group was arranged, and chris and i were invited.

something i've been aware of for the past sixteen months which truly solidified at the dinner is this:

it's pretty dang awesome being married in the peace corps.

and because it's a week to truly remind ourselves to be thankful for those things which we are graced with, i must admit:

i am incredibly grateful to be married in the peace corps, and grateful for all that it brings.

october 30, 2011. three months into the peace corps.

for me, being married in cambodia, in the peace corps, has meant having someone with me every day who deeply understands the frustrations, joys, setbacks and leaps forward that come with serving a whole new community in a whole new culture.

it has meant supporting one another and lifting one another up when needed most.

it has meant chris knowing when i've had a rough day and surprising me with the smallest things to help me smile.

it has meant someone to lay down next to each night, sweat through the sleeping hours with, and rise cursing the same rooster every morning for sixteen months.

it has meant having an intelligent, kind, handsome man to stand up for me in public when i don't fit the mold of a proper cambodian woman and help me in private when i still can't cook.

it has meant someone to give me my space when i need it, and have the conversations with our host family or others when i just don't feel up for it.

it has meant growing our marriage and our bond in ways i never could have imagined sixteen short months ago and giving ourselves a foundation of deep respect, understanding, and communication that i doubt we would have had otherwise.

october 30, 2012.  fifteen months into the peace corps.

oh, yum

the image above is that of one of our water filter's "candles."  these ceramic candles allow water to be absorbed but refuse any other permeation- from dirt to bugs, and everything in between.

the ceramic candles are typically a nice warm white color.

for a long while, our candles didn't need cleaning all that often.  but recenly, chris has had to clean the candles twice in three weeks.

the image above is, in fact, from just three weeks of use.  three weeks was all it took to render our normally-white candles to the rainbow of browns above.

makes one feel so great about the quality of water, doesn't it? especially for the majority of cambodians who don't have access to filter or can't afford to purchase all of their water, and must resort to drinking water straight from the nearest available source.

during this week wherein we americans typically seek to remind ourselves to be thankful, please take a moment to be thankful for that which i am grateful and which so many people around the world do not have: access to clean water. 

because it's independence day

a few weeks back, i had the pleasure of attending my second official independence day celebration.  last year, independence day was the first official holiday i celebrated at my permanent site (we'd celebrated pchum ben with our training host families) and i remember trying to soak it all in and straining to understand the story of cambodia's independence that was blasted from a speaker.

last year, i also showed up to school at my then-normal time- 6:55 am- because i'd been told the celebration would begin at 7.

ah ha ha.

this year, i knew to sleep in a bit and instead join my fellow teacher trainers and our trainees at the independence monument around 7:45.  i avoided forty five minutes of standing around and needlessly walking from our campus to the nearby monument.  

this year, i parked my awesome bike next to all of the city's policemen's motos, and fell right in with my fellow teacher trainers, who were just heading to line up.

it was a bright and sunny morning, though not yet hot.  as like last year, a hired singer entertained us until the VIPs of Takeo- our governor, chief of police, ministry heads, and their deputies therein- arrived.

the story of cambodia's independence was told- how former (and the late) king norodom sihanouk secured a peaceful independence from france in 1953 and how cambodia had enjoyed an illustrious national history for the last 59 years.

monks prayed, incense was lit and offered by the VIPs.  finally, doves were released, as were balloons.

this year, we went all out for balloons- they were angry birds balloons!

the whole crowd was lit up with giggles as they noticed it too and camera phones came out to capture our province's angry bird balloon celebration of cambodia's independence.

 by 8:45, i was back at home and enjoying breakfast.

a most successful independence celebration indeed.

a sweet day

today was one of those sundays i love. lots of angkoi laing-ing (sit play-ing ---hanging out----), and delicious things to eat.

i woke up early to make brownies with my fantastic program manager, who is in town for the two week training of the new group of volunteers.

we split the batch and both of us could barely contain our excitement to have a brownie, even though it was only nine in the morning.

i then took advantage of the cooler morning and biked to visit a friend- a twelfth grader who attended my camp glow last june, and her mother.  they run the teacher guest house in town, and last weekend when i stopped by, they gifted me a couple of new nail polishes. i returned the favor with three of my own, sent from america.

in the afternoon, after two hilarious guys from the new group of volunteers swung by, chris and i biked to the "i love you mart" to enjoy a cool beverage and free fans.  while there, we were graced with the presence of three additional new volunteers, who basically had me laughing until my stomach hurt for a good hour.

finally, we rounded out the day with a surprise and welcome visit from our friend and former khmer tutor.  she brought us pineapple from northern province battambang- "much sweeter than the sour pineapple" found in our province, says she- and saw that chris had bought a pumpkin.  while he had planned on making a dessert concoction of some sort, she proceeded to help us use the left over rinds to make a khmer dessert- bongaim sngaam la po- literally, "dessert boil(ed) pumpkin."

shredding the coconut meat.

squeezing the coconut meat to make a thick coconut milk. pumpkin rinds in the pan to the right.

boiling the coconut water and pumpkin until the pumpkin is soft...

tasting after a hefty number of tablespoons of sugar have been added. "pa-aim?" "pa-aim kroo-up kroan!" (sweet? sweet enough!")

the last step: adding the best and thickest coconut milk from the first squeezing.

delicious boiled pumpkin in a coconut milk and sugar bath.

and that, in a very wordy nutshell, was my sunday.