"...I recommend getting a manicure and a cute helmet"

Well I've been in Cambodia about a month now, and I've got a new language, a new name, and a motorbike with pink flowers on it.

Welcome to Asia

(hahaha Who is that person??!)

My impression of Cambodia so far is that it's an intense place. Either laid-back apathy, or full-on chaos. There seems to be no middle gear. And the last few months have been full of the unexpected. It feels like everything is new- even my name.

(Melissa is kind of awkward to pronounce in Khmer, so instead you can call me " លិសា ")

But I've gotten used to life here pretty quick. The language is tough, but getting easier; the food is mostly simple healthy and good; the climate, well, I'm getting used to that too :) ;navigating downtown traffic on a bike, while wearing high-heel shoes (haha) -that is truly an art!

Fields That Are Ripe...

Someone very wise explained to me once that getting to know a new culture should involve more than just speaking the language. It's important to know about the people and the things that matter in their lives. You should try to do what they do and feel what they feel... walk a mile in their shoes. I agreed that sounded like some pretty wise advice... And the next thing I knew, I was barefoot in a rice paddy.

I'm living in the city of Phnom Penh now, but last week I went to visit some friends in the countryside of Takeo.

It's beautiful out there this time of year with the bright green rice fields and sugar palms.

The brothers there were all busy with the rice harvest, so we went to help them one afternoon after service. When we asked if we were "good workers", they laughed and said 'No! We were slow and wasted too much time playing and taking pictures.' (hahaha) Whatever do they mean??

But rice isn't the only thing being harvested in Takeo. There's a small group with about 12 publishers and their territory includes the entire province- a large part of which has never been witnessed to before. This is how to get there...

And this is me trying to speak Khmer! (haha) Is she smiling because she's interested... or just laughing because she has no clue what I'm saying?? Talking to Budist people is so different from what I've been used to in Ecuador! But I'm having fun trying to understand that religion and figure out how to reason with the people.

Just about everyone here is very polite, curious about our message, and willing to listen. This woman was from Vietnam and didn't speak much Cambodian, but she was nice and accepted a Watchtower in Vietnamese.

We traveled an hour or so to reach this family's house, where a new bible study is being started.

She can't read well and didn't have a pair of good glasses, but it was really touching to see how much effort she was putting into trying to understand the information. Her little grandson (in the picture on the left) is deaf, but doesn't know sign language at all. Way out in the country where they live, there are no resources at all for families with deaf kids. I showed him the bible stories book and tried to get him to mimic some signs, but he was too shy. *sigh* So many people need help...

There's no Kingdom hall in Takeo, so guess where they have the meetings?

When they take the attendance, do you think they can count the chickens too?

A Cambodian Cooking Show...

It's 7am on a Saturday morning and I'm standing over a boiling pot of green goo, with a stick and a dictionary. Who says there's nothing fun to do here on the weekends?!

We're making something called "lot". After harvesting and cleaning the rice, it's soaked in water and then ground in a stone hand mill, together with some leaves that give it the delicious green color.

We boiled it for what seemed like an eternity, then some mysterious white powder was added (baking soda maybe?) After that, the mixture turns into something like glue and is poured into a press. The noodles that come out are cooled and rinsed in water. Then we break to meet with the service group and go preaching...

...when we came back, I helped grind and squeeze fresh coconut milk, that was served with the finished product. A bit of palm sugar syrup is drizzled over the top and the end result is pretty good.

But the job didn't stop there. After lunch it was off to the market to sell the stuff. Local people thought it was hysterical to see a foreigner doing this job, and we attracted a fair bit of attention. Everyone had a good laugh! :)

One bowl sells for about $.25 cents US. The sister I was with does this 6 days a week to help make money for her family.

Back in Phnom Penh...

One of the things I prayed about when I came here, was to find a bible study who I'd be able to communicate with. (I was thinking along the lines of someone who spoke a little English?) But I should know by now that prayers are seldom answered in the way we expect them to be... At the first Sunday meeting I attended, a young deaf woman showed-up with a tattered old copy of the bible stories book and a huge smile. (That's her standing next to me with the pink shirt) After the meeting, I was simply informed that she was now my bible study ("excuse me, what??") She knows a little ASL, is enthusiastic about her study, comes by herself to almost every Sunday meeting, and wants to comment.

This is us: the 5 of us in the sign language group, 8 deaf who attended the meeting that day, and a few visitors from the US. This meeting was pretty good attendance, but actually there are even more deaf people who come to the meetings sometimes. According to Google there are an estimated 50,000+ deaf people in Cambodia... with 5 people preaching to them... it's a lot of territory to cover! So, there you have it: the story of how I was abducted by a sign language group in Cambodia ;)

If you're wondering what it's like.... The Cambodian alphabet has about 67 letters in total (give-or-take a few? I think? ...actually, I'm really not sure how many there are :) Every time I think I've learned them all, a new set appears. They multiply like rabbits) Each of the 33 consonants can be used in either a major or minor form. So that means that each letter has 2 different ways it can be signed also. Then there are 23 different vowel punctuation marks that are added by touching the corresponding point on your finger or hand between signs for the consonants. It looks something like this:

Apparently, the people who thought-up this language decided that it was just not complicated enough, so to make it more fun, Cambodian letters are not necessarily written (or signed) in the order that they are pronounced (or understood). Its a big bowl of alphabet soup

There's so much more I could tell you about.... meeting people and going places and lots of visitors... but I'll save it for next time :) And leave you with a view of the Cambodian countryside

11/19/10 "...Today we went to Phnom Chiso, climbed the stairs up to the temple ruins and saw the endless views from there. We went on some studies in remote area of the countryside and had a great time. The roads were wild on the motorbike... catching air on the pot-holes and almost blowing-up in the slick mud. The brilliant green rice paddies, set against a sky streaked with impending thunderstorms and sunshine; the skies here have a bi-polar personality -It is this place- You look around and just can't help but feel like anything can happen..."