An Ex-pat's Guide to the Universe... of Cambodia

I wrote this October 12 but haven't had internet since then... sorry about the double post. I figured I might as well post them all while I can!

Upon arriving in Cambodia I quickly realized that even simple everyday actions are very different here than in the states. We all had to learn how to wash our clothes, clean our water, bathe, converse, and of course use the bathroom. It is like I left America a more or less fully functional adult, and when I arrived in Cambodia I could only function at the level of an infant. Any 10 year old child could tell or show you how to do these things, but I had to be taught how to do all of them. I thought for your entertainment, and because school ended two hours ago and I am now out of things to do for the day, I would describe how to do some basic things in Cambodia vs. America. Hopefully it doesn’t serve to discourage anyone from visiting!

1. Bathing
Not that anyone needs to be taught how to bathe American style, but just think about what is involved. Turn on the water, step in the shower, close the shower curtain. Lather, rinse, repeat. Turn off the water. Voila!
As I mentioned before my bathroom has a hose that brings the water right into the bathroom. It is glorious. I just scoop the water out of the big bucket and dump it over my head, lather up, and dump again. While I’m in there I usually spray my arms and feet in the morning with mosquito repellant so I can easily wash it off my hands. I then just shimmy into my sarong and walk back to my room! I know some people have given up on this, but I still carry my water bottle of filtered water into the bathroom with which to brush my teeth. Which brings us to…
2. Preparing Drinking Water
For most people in America this consists of turning on the tap.
In Cambodia Peace Corps hooked us up with some awesome water filters! We don’t have to boil our water first, which is nice because I feel bad using too much of my family’s wood or propane and it takes 20 minutes at a rolling boil to really kill what is in the water. Instead I scoop the water out of the rain water catchers and into my giant steel pot where I add a cap full of bleach. This totally freaked me out at first, putting bleach in my drinking water, but it can’t be worse than what I normally ingest on a weekend in the states… After 30 minutes of sitting, I pour the bleached water into my water filter and in a few short hours I have a whole filter full of delicious clean water. Go team.
3. Washing Clothes
This is my favorite. I dream about washing machines all the time. Just sort lights and darks about once a week and throw in a load with some detergent. Return in about 45 minutes to transfer clothes to the dryer or drying line.
FILL: During training my host family had a well in front of their house where I would do laundry. I would throw down the bucket, let it fill up about half way, and then haul it up and pour the water into the basin. Luckily my permanent site family has a motor that pumps water from their well. As I’ve said before, I’m totally spoiled here. I just scoop the water from the holding tanks into the wash basin and also fill a bucket.
WASH: I put a few items of clothing in the basin and sprinkle some detergent on top and squish it around. With t-shirts and stuff I just sort of scrub the fabric against itself because I don’t want it to stretch out too much. With other stuff I then pick up the scrub brush and go to town. Especially my pants require a lot of scrubbing to get the mud and what not out. My poor linen pants have stains on them from I don’t know where that are definitely in there for good. After I scrub out all the curry that I have inevitably dropped in my lap that week I squeeze the water out of the items and throw them in the bucket of water. When I’m done with my whole load I dump out the water from the basin, usually a dark color that is either reddish or greenish or blueish brown, and rinse the wash basin then fill it with clean water.
RINSE: I pull the items from the water bucket and squeeze them out, then rinse them one more time in the wash basin full of fresh water.
SPIN: I wring them out and toss my clothes back into the laundry basket to carry them to the front of the house.
DRY: My family has a bunch of racks so I put everything on hangers and let it hang dry. On drier days this is quick, but on humid days sometimes it takes a day or more. I have a nice set up in my room with a clothesline so when things are dry I don’t even have to fold them I just throw them on the line in my room! I still think it is awkward that my underwear hangs out in front of the house for the whole village to see, but I usually sandwich it between other clothes. Hopefully all the guys have managed to keep their leopard thongs hidden; I don’t think that would go over well in the community. I am not even kidding. This is a true confession by a volunteer…
4. Speaking
It is difficult to explain the difference between speaking the same language as everyone and piecing together part Khmer, sometimes part English, usually part pantomime. I have gotten quite used to sitting quietly while people ramble on to each other about me in Khmer. Sometimes they are not so nice because they think I cannot understand, but when I get the drift of what they are saying I usually just say something mean back in English. My host brother in law was talking about how I must not be very smart because I do not speak Khmer very well while we were all sitting at the dinner table. Later I told him his haircut looked like a ridiculous ugly child in America. He had no idea what I was saying. Is it petty? Absolutely. Does it make me feel better? Absolutely.
5. Dropping off the Kids at the Pool
You know what I’m talking about. The John. The throne. Dropping a bomb, a deuce, dookie. There are two kinds of toilets in Cambodia, a western looking toilet and a squatty potty as I like to call it, better known as the Asian style squat toilet. This is basically a rectangular porcelain platform with two indentations on either side for your feet, sometimes ridged for traction, and a hole in the middle. Upon discussion many of my fellow volunteers and I concluded this type of toilet has its advantages. While it may be difficult to master the “Asian squat” at first and it can hurt your knees if you have extended or frequent visits, there is no weird hovering half squat like with the western style toilet, no soaking wet seat, and it’s much cleaner because you get good cheek spread-age (I am so never getting a professional job in any future employers read this. I swear I don’t normally talk about poop and buttholes this much.).
The western style toilet usually looks just like an American toilet… but it is not. I definitely do not sit on mine so I have to do the weird hovering thing. At least it is a thigh workout. I do, however, have a butt squirter. There is a little hose that comes out of my wall, attached to PVC pipe, with a gun like nozzle on the end. You use it to squirt your butt! It is a great luxury. The other option is to take the water scooper, scoop water, and then pour it on your butt, usually followed up or in conjunction with your hand. It is advisable to consistently use your left hand, and only eat with your right. Flushing consists of pouring a scoop of water down the toilet in both cases. Toilet paper isn’t really an option. I guess some volunteers use it but then you have to transfer it to a trash bag and burn it later. The less trash the better. Plus, I personally do not want to have to deal with a bag of poopy paper every few days, or every day if you are lucky…

Hopefully you enjoyed my little lesson about life in Cambodia. If you have any questions about my life here I would love to answer them. Part of the mission of Peace Corps is to teach Americans about the culture in which we live for two years. While that part of the mission is definitely not what I think is most important, it can be fun and interesting.
I miss everyone back home! Send me an email or leave me a comment, let me know what is up in your life (or as my teddy bear Khmer notebook says, what is up in your fashion?).
P.S. I am trying to write an update every week but the internet situation is questionable. I will do my best to keep it current but life is hard on the streets.