FAQs and rice. So much rice.

I meet new people in my village everyday, and they always ask me to sit with them and talk. I gladly comply because I want to make as many friends as possible in my village. I get asked the same questions over and over again. This is great for me, becuase it has made my Khmer so much better by hearing the same questions from different speakers, as well as being able to formulate answers more rapidly. I thought id list them off in order of frequency and importance to the asker, because a lot of them are questions that wouldn't get asked back home, at least not when you first meet someone.

1. Where are you from?
2. How old are you?
3. Are you married?/Do you have chlidren?
4. Why aren't you married?/Why don't you have children?
5. Do you have a boyfriend here in Cambodia/back at home?
*note* question number five is generally only asked by women, and only in the company of other women.

6. How many siblings do you have [back home in America]?

7. What do your parents do [back in America]?

8. Are you homesick/Do you miss your family?

9. What do you do?
10. How much money do you make per month [here in Cambodia]?
*note* this question is ALWAYS asked- without exception. when I respond that I dont make money because I am a volunteer, most people are completely shocked.
11. How much money do you/your family make [back in America]?
12. Do you eat rice back home in America? Do you eat Khmer food/do you like it?

If you will notice, questions about family come first- always. Family is hands down the most important thing in Khmer society, and it shows. Many women in my village almost look at me with pity when I tell them that I am not married and don't have children. Most women in my village are married by 18 or 19 and have children almost immediately after marriage, and having many relatives living together is preferable to any other living arrangement. Most of my Khmer friends all have at least five siblings- when they find out I only have one brother they ask me if it makes me sad. When I asked them why it would make me sad, they said because having many siblings is better because you always have someone around to spend time with. The communal nature of families here is so interesting. Most families in my village all sleep in the same room of the house even if there are multiple rooms in the house just because its considered happier to have the physical proximity of everyone together. Needless to say, my family had a difficult time adjusting to the idea of my need for 'alone time' and wanting to do individualistic activities like reading or painting or drawing, but after a few attempts at trying to explain that its just a different way of relaxing (trying to explain cultural subdlties in Khmer isn't quite my strong suit just yet...) my family got the idea.

The questions about my job and salary are fine, but my favorite questions are the ones about rice and how often I eat it. Rice is yet something else that permeiates every inch of Cambodian life. It seems that every single person in my community has a rice field, or has a stake in a rice mill, or sells rice or a rice by-product of some kind. People eat rice at every meal, they feed uncooked rice to their chickens, and they feed the leftover cooked rice along with leftover food to their dogs and cats. I have to admit, my favorite chore at home is feeding the dog. I take a bowl of left-over rice, add some leftover meat or sauce from a meat dish, mix it all together and call the dog to dinner with a clicking noise that is the universal dog-call here. Anyway, people always ask me if I eat rice back home in America, and when I respond that I might eat rice once or twice a week in America, the looks of surpirse do me in everytime. They ask "Well, what do you eat instead? Bread?" and I say sometimes.... but its difficult to try to explain that American food is really just food from all over the world that gets adapted over and over again. Maybe I should print some pictures of western food and show them to people.

For now, I eat my three bowls of rice everyday (one at every meal) and try to not think about my cravings for western food. Speaking of food, Thanksgiving is coming up- and my next trip into the provincial town after this one. I can't wait to eat turkey and watch football!