January 2008 Newsletter

January 25, 2008

Hello friends!
Greetings from Cambodia where it is hot even during the “cool” season। I have been in Phnom Penh for seven weeks. My main task for this portion of my internship is to learn the Khmer language and culture. This involves meeting with a tutor five days per week and living with a Cambodian family. I will save my adventures in language learning for another time. I would like to tell you about my host family.

My host family consists of a mother, whom I call Ming, or “Auntie”; a father who is only around about one day a week due to his job; three sons, one of whom is married and also away most of the time, as is his wife; a daughter, Dany, who is 18 years old; and a three-year-old granddaughter। They are a traditional Buddhist Khmer family, although the oldest son is a Christian.

I spend most of my time interacting with Ming and Dany। Both have helped me immensely in adjusting to this new environment. Dany taught me how to wash my clothes by hand. She also speaks some English, so when my Khmer is insufficient (frequently), I can go to her. She wants to know about my life in America and to practice her English. But she also makes me speak Khmer when she knows that I can. But since Dany is a university student who studies at three schools (yes, three!), she is also gone for a large chunk of the day.

Dany and Greta (A self-portrait)

Ming is a wonderful host mother। She is patient and speaks Khmer slowly and simply enough that I can often understand what she is saying, or at least get the gist of it। We have enjoyed getting to know each other, even though we can’t always communicate with words. She is already saying that she will miss me when I leave. Ming often says that she pities me because I have to live in such a different environment and eat strange foods. She is concerned that I might be lonely or bored. She is afraid I will waste away because I can’t eat the food she cooks, and then when I return home, my mother won’t recognize me. I keep telling Ming that although this is new food for me, I want to learn how to eat it. And I do eat it. I don’t always know what it is, but I eat it anyway.

Ming’s concern about food is valid। I had a rough introduction to Khmer food as I got sick the day after I moved into her home. I could barely eat anything for days (not even chocolate cake!), and it took me nearly 40 minutes to eat a plate of rice. And the language barrier made it difficult to convey to her that I was ill right away. But now I am starting to like some Khmer food and have little problem eating it. I don’t always know how to eat it, though. When Ming presented me with an entire grilled fish, she had to teach this meat-and-potatoes, Lancaster County farm girl how to eat it. (And if Ming isn’t there to tell me how to eat something, there is usually at least one person who is just standing there watching me. Greta eating Cambodian food is apparently very entertaining.)

Ming cooks

There are mosquitoes galore at my home, especially in my bedroom and in the bathroom। It was so bad that I dreamed I had chicken pox. I counted 81 bites less than five days after moving in. When Ming saw my poor, itchy feet, she immediately retrieved some medicine and began to smear the balm over each red welt. As I watched her, I was amazed that this Buddhist woman from a culture with so many taboos about feet would even think of stooping down and touching mine. It reminded me of a certain man who touched—even washed—the feet of others some 2000 years ago in Palestine.

I really like my host family, and although life has not been extremely easy during the past month that I’ve been with them, I’m glad that I have this opportunity. I pray that these last five or six weeks with them will be a rich experience for both me and the family.

Prayer Requests:
· For safety as I ride my bicycle
· For good health (I’ve been ill somehow for 4 of the 7 weeks I’ve been here)
· As I learn Khmer and for the courage to speak it
· That I would be a good witness to my host family

Praises:
· The mosquitoes are biting me less!
· I’m starting to sleep better at night.
· I have a great host family.
· 92% of my support is in place

Thanks for you prayers, Greta