I.
I remember explaining the Thailand-Cambodia conflict over the Preah Vihear temple to a class of students one morning. This was back in October, and two Cambodian soldiers had just been killed in a firefight with the Thai army. The students did not know that, and I felt that it was not my place to tell them that kind of news. I did manage to explain what the conflict was about and what was happening between the two camps of soldiers. One boy told me, “Nevermind, one Cambodian solider can kill ten Thai soldiers!” I sighed, knowing how far from the truth he was.
II.
Sunday afternoons are the time when I usually start heading back to Angkor when I am in Siem Reap for the weekend. One afternoon I had gone over to Lucky Mall to pick up a few western food items to take back with me to site (bread, peanut butter, pancake mix, several cans of tuna fish). A tuk tuk driver started talking to me when I came out, and chatted with me while I packed up my bicycle. He asked the same sorts of questions that they all do. “How long have you been in Cambodia? How old are you? Why do you speak Khmer? Are you married?” For the latter I gave him the answer that I tell everyone who I do not want to talk to for very long. I said that I had a girlfriend back in the ‘States who I was passionately in love with, and that I would marry her as soon as I got back. He bought the lie because they all are enamored with mawkish love stories. However, curiosity demanded that he ask me how old the girl was. Now I was curious. Why did that matter? I said that she was the same age that I was. The driver said this was no good. “If you were to marry a girl of sixteen or seventeen, this would be better.” Cambodian men seem to marry women who are much younger than they are, at least seven to ten years their junior. Why this is so is anyone’s guess.
III.
One morning in Siem Reap town, I came to the usual restaurant that I eat breakfast at. As I sat down, I could hear screams. One woman reclined in a wooden chair was holding a little girl to her chest while another rubbed her back with a sharp piece of metal. The girl’s skin was rough and showed a deep red where blood was starting to come forth. When one side was finished, they turned her over and started with her cheeks before moving down to her chest. A crocodile tooth hung on a gold chain around her neck provided the only protection. Her cries were deafening, and the attempt to cure her of whatever she had certainly was not working. I went to eat someplace else.
During a visit to the Wat one afternoon, I noticed that the abbot had circular burns all over his arms. I asked him about them. He told me that you take a small tea cup, heat over a set of coals, and then place it over an area of skin for a few seconds. I cringed when he told me this, and watching my face he laughed. I asked him why he did this, and he said that it removed the bad spirits from the body if you were sick or in pain. He asked me if I were interested in having it done to me. I declined.
IV.
I have the feeling that students say things to me in English just to see what my reaction is. I have this feeling because it was not that long ago that I myself was in high school. During one class, I had just put my bag down on the desk when a students called me. He said, “Teacher, my girlfriend not love me anymore. She love my friend.” “Oh…,” I responded, “I’m…sorry to hear that.” “Yeah yeah,” the student said smiling as he sat down. It took me a second to figure out what had just happened, but I quickly ignored it in order to go and teach the lesson.
V.
During Khmer New Year, the local Wat in Angkor was filled with people. The year of the ox was celebrated with dancing, games, prayer, and ceremony. One of the games that both children and adults were playing was a curious form of tag. People were running around with bottles of white talcum powder in their hands, and attempting to smear the faces of their friends and family. To my immediate misfortune, many of my students were there. Several of them walked up to me smiling with arms outstretched, holding white clumps of powder, and yelling “Lok Cru!” While I did my best to keep them off me, I eventually did get smeared several times. One of the teachers said that this custom comes from Thailand.
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