Monday, November 29, 2010

Tragedies, Triumphs, and Thanksgivings.

November 21st to the 28th, 2010. It was one weird week.

Not only was it Thanksgiving week and Water Festival in Phnom Penh but one of my best friends and her boyfriend had come to visit me from America.

I came in on Saturday to pick my friends up from the airport and see a little bit of the Water Festival. Water festival is HUGE in Phnom Penh. It is a holiday which celebrates the change in the current of the Tonle Sap River through boat races, fireworks, and lots of free concerts. These boats are massive and hold around 40 to 50 people. It is awe inspiring to see how coordinated the rowers can be in their strokes – when completely synchronized they look more like a mythological sea monster. One fin lifts, the other one strikes the water, one, two, one, two…

I had some misgivings about going to water festival to begin with. The crowds are awful. Some places you can hardly move as there are so many people in front, to the back, and both sides of you. And as a foreigner, you draw attention to yourself and it makes being pick pocketed or targeted for theft that much more of a possibility. Needless to say, I avoided the crowds and mostly stayed away from water festival (when I could).

It was great to see my friends Veronica and Ross and catch up with them after a year of being away. They looked good – a little white to me after being in a country of tan people- but overall healthy and happy (even with the jet lag – or “lack of it”). The next day we made to see Cambodia and good use of their short visit (they were only here a week).

Then I heard about the tragedy. On Tuesday morning I got a call at 2 am from a friend asking if I knew what the incident was that happened in Phnom Penh. As I was no longer there, I really had no idea and quickly set about searching it on the internet. The first few hits were a bit frightening. They spoke of people getting electrocuted on a bridge in Phnom Penh – of women inciting a stampede by running around frantically - and people becoming nervous and causing panic and a stampede when the suspension bridge started swaying. The first estimate of casualties was around 180 people.

It took a few days to sort out what exactly happened that night on the Koh Pich Bridge. Even now, over a week later and with over (or nearly?) 400 people dead, they still do not know where the fault lies. All I can say is that too many people got onto the bridge and when everyone panicked, people died. My host sister from training was actually on the bridge and, luckily, survived. She did have to stay about a week in the hospital as she was having trouble breathing.Now, two weeks later, she says it bothers her to laugh or talk sometimes.

After a tragic start to my friends' visit to Cambodia, we continued on to discover the beauty that makes it the "Kingdom of Wonder" including the beach, Angkor Wat, and Toul Sleng and the Killing Fields. On Thanksgiving we celebrated by eating an amazing Italian dinner at Luna D'autunno in Sihanoukville after asking a handful of restaurants if there was anything going on (i.e. Turkey dinners with the works) in town but, apparently, there is no love for that American holiday there. It all worked out though as the food and wine we had that night was amazingly delicious.

They flew out on the 27th and I went back to site the following day to a very, very busy week. Not only did I need to give a presentation to the Provincial Health Department about Peace Corps (in Khmer) but I had visitors coming to my site and I had to prepare myself for my first half marathon that I was running that Sunday. There was a lot of biking, nail biting, and sleepless nights but I survived the week triumphantly. The two things I was most nervous about (the presentation and the half marathon) went better than I expected. Following the presentation, the doctors and NGO staff said that I, and the other two volunteers who gave the presentation, spoke Khmer very clearly. We were giving the presentation in order to give the NGOs and others involved in health in Svay Rieng an idea of what the Peace Corps does and what we would like to do in regards to health. We were also doing it to help our cause in getting a Girls Health and Leadership Camp underway (something we wish to hold in the provincial town sometime in March next year).

My first half marathon at Angkor Wat was a big question mark when I bussed up to Siem Reap on Friday the 3rd. I had not been able to train the last few weeks before and had no idea if I would even be able to run the entire 13 miles as I had never attempted it before. Luckily, as with all things I build up in my head, it was not as bad as I made it seem. At times during the 2 hours and 8 minutes I was out on the course, I did psych myself out enough to stop and walk.... something I wish I hadn't done now so I would know what my real running time was for those 13 miles. The biggest regret I have was drinking nearly an entire water bottle around the 9K mark... which gave me a wicked side ache at the 10k mark... which led me to walk for over a minute... which then made my muscles cold and heavy and unable to move at the pace I set in the beginning and led me to walk more later in the course. Now I have my sights set on running another one before rainy season starts again:)

After all this running around, biking to and from from the provincial town and site, I still cannot relax. Tomorrow I plan on biking (sore muscles and all)to the provincial town in order to get a data projector from the provincial university so I may be able to (FINALLY) draw a world map on a wall in the school's library. Unfortunately, the University needs it back Friday night for a 7:30 am class on Saturday ... which leaves me with a little over a day to draw the entire world map on the wall of the library. I am hoping, wishing, praying, that everything goes as planned and that when I bike (the 25 miles)into town with the projector on Friday afternoon it will be with the knowledge I, and my students, have brought the world to Romeas Hek High School.

Wish us luck :)

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Hotness and the witchdoctor

So I guess I had to come to Cambodia in order to make my first batch of salsa. And learn about the caustic-ness of chili oil and what that can do to the skin. And meet a “witchdoctor”.

This past weekend all of the Peace Corps Svay Rieng volunteers met in the provincial town to do our own Thanksgiving dinner. Not being your typical place to celebrate an American holiday – the food was far from typical. It was "Mexican" – tortillas, fried beef in taco seasoning, beans (galore! .. even with some rocks in them!), CHEESE!, and salsa. I was in charge of the salsa making along with some other volunteers. We had all the necessary ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic, limes, salt, black pepper, and chili peppers. As I never really encountered these chilies growing up (I’m German/Irish – we eat potatoes and sausage and sometimes pasta) and having lived in a sorority with a cook nearly the entirety of my college career – I never considered those silly little spicy red plants dangerous. But, oh, they really really are. My painful experience can only be described as “the hotness” now.

Did you know they contrive the main ingredient of pepper spray from chili peppers (hence the name – pepper spray)? The horrible burning sensation on the skin and what causes all of your mucus membranes to go into overdrive is from something called “capsaicin” and it is some pretty nasty stuff. I had known a little bit about it – I mean everyone has heard of that friend, family member, or acquaintance who was dared to do this or that with some Tabasco sauce (aka my brother) – and so I knew to at least avoid my eyes. Hindsight is 20/20 and having not known the dangers to my skin I went ahead and handled the peppers liberally (I was told to make sure there were not too many seeds in the salsa -as that would make it too spicy- and proceeded to handle every single one of the peppers - carefully squeezing those little seeds from the red casings they came in).

It took about 20 minutes before I was seriously considering chopping my hands off. I tried everything … putting my hands on ice, in a bucket of water, rubbing them with soap, vegetable oil, salt, and lime juice. I would’ve tried milk if there was any - but that isn’t something Cambodian people have laying around the house. The only thing that worked was putting my hands in a bucket of uncooked rice (what they call angkah here) for about 30 minutes. And BAM – most of the burning went away. It wasn’t until evening the following day that underneath my fingernails finally stopped tingling though.

Info on Capsaicin --- (taken from livestrong.org)
A Science Daily article states that capsaicin is "an extremely powerful and stable alkaloid." It's produced in the glands located between the pepper's placenta and pod walls. When capsaicin comes into contact with your skin, it stimulates circulation and invokes a response in your pain receptors. Used in pepper spray and various insect repellents, capsaicin also deters human predators, as well as the pests that threaten your garden.

How to avoid Pepper Burn
Avoid the dreaded "pepper burn" in your kitchen by wearing rubber gloves whenever you handle chili peppers or measure out hot pepper oil. If you're peeling or chopping peppers, remember not to touch your lips or eyes, advises PBS' Scientific American Frontiers. Want to get rid of some of the heat in that hot pepper you're slicing? Carefully remove the pepper's placenta, or "midrib," advises the Chile Pepper Institute.

"First Aid" for Pepper Burn
If your skin accidentally gets exposed to capsaicin, first rub it with alcohol, advises the Chile Pepper Institute, then soak it in milk. According to Science Daily, capsaicin is neutralized by fats. Another option suggested by the Jalepeno Madness website by way of Poison Control is to wash the affected area with soap and water. Apply olive oil or vegetable oil. Rinse after one minute. If you get hot pepper in your eyes, the Chile Pepper Institute indicates that the only way to treat it is to flush your eyes with water.

The moral of the story? Use gloves. Or don’t use chili peppers. Or use chili prepared in one of those nice little shakers.

The dinner was fabulous in the end. Delicious tortillas filled with delicious things. And we were even able to score an hour in a local bread oven -which looked like it may have been from the middle ages – for some awesome brownies and pecan pie ala Kristin and Alan.


Ok enough about chili peppers…


Having just spent the weekend in lovely Svay Rieng town - I was told I must share the story of my experience with a "Kru Khmer" or a traditional Cambodian healer. As I may or may not have mentioned before, my house now holds five additional people (two highschool students, two Vietnamese men, and a male relative of my host mother's) along with my three sisters, brother, "uncle", mother, father, and myself. With all these people we also have/had some extra help around the house. Before what I will call "the accident" we also had an "ohm" (older aunt) who would do most of the cooking for the family during the day and go home at night. It was because of my Ohm that I finally got to meet a Kru Khmer.

As a health volunteer I had heard stories about the traditional Cambodian healers. Most of these stories left me with the image of a man with wild hair- possibly wearing face paint and a feather headdress- a “witchdoctor” of sorts. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed when this very thin, quite old, Khmer man rides up to my house on a decrepit bicycle last month. My ohm - who is in her late 60s - was trying to lift something much too heavy and rolled her ankle. Unfortunately because of her age her ankle no longer had the resilience to deal with it and didn't "roll" so much as break or was sprained … I still don’t know. When I arrived to the house my host sister had wrapped it in a scarf and told my Ohm to keep it still. After arriving back at home from teaching and seeing her in tears on the traditional Khmer table – greh- I started to tell her she needed ice for the swelling and quickly got a bag of it together for her. She took it from me and placed it ever so delicately next to her injury. By this time my sister had come back and told us that she had help coming.

And that was when, on his very sad looking bicycle, the Kru Khmer arrived. He was wearing the usual uniform of any rural Khmer man of simple means – a tshirt with an assortment of different sized holes, pants that are much too short, and a cigarette in hand. In his other hand he had incense and a bag of herbs. These herbs – when sniffed – reminded me of lemongrass and, maybe, spearmint? Anyways… the Kru Khmer quickly set about chanting and lighting incense. He gave my ohm one stick of incense to hold and stuck others in the ground around my house. There was some spitting involved in, around, and on my ohm, and in the end the herbs were placed on the injury and my bag of ice set to the side.

Now, a month and some days later, my ohm’s injured ankle is still injured and very very swollen. When I asked her if she had gone to the hospital she said no - that it will heal "in time". Now I pray that if anything happens to me - and I am somewhat unable to talk (unconscious or otherwise) - the first line of defense that my host family calls is the Peace Corps Medical officer and not the skinny, rough, smoking, spitting old man around the corner with the incense in his hands.

One question I've asked myself today: I wonder what the witchdoctor would've done with the hotness?

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Questions I’ve recently asked myself…

Have I really become so accustomed to being uncomfortable that I can sleep on a plastic fork all night and not even notice?

How can I look MORE American?

Was it the 12 or so shots of rice wine I had yesterday or my lingering cold that made my run today an ultimate FAIL?

Why can’t I stop eating noodle soup?

Can you be addicted to MSG?

Does a cell phone that is on make you more susceptible to being struck by lightening?

Does really long mole hair bring good luck?

Why do mosquitoes exist? Is it to torment me? And if mosquitoes lay eggs in the water that I bathe with, could they hatch in my wet hair?

How does Hillary Clinton look so good for being 60+?

What are the long term health effects of breathing the smoke from plastic things burning?

Did I just waste $190 to take the GRE if the world is ending in 2012?

Why do Cambodians love John Cena so much?

How long does it take to use a kilowatt of electricity on your laptop in rural Cambodia?