"How to Drive in Indonesia"/Cameroon/possibly Cambodia...other favorite developing country
Well, I was unpacking more of my goods in the house and came across this hysterical article that was given to me in Peace Corps--I wanted to find the original to give due credit to the master who wrote this fantastic piece, so I would like to share it with you. Please read and have a good laugh, you'll LOVE it, especially if you've been to any country where driving rules, regulations, street lights, stop signs, actual roads, speed limits, driver's ed etc. DO NOT EXIST!
"How to Drive in Indonesia"
Jon Carroll:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/20/DDGO453EOE1.DTL
Ants and Frogs
Ok, the ants in this country are serious, organized and ready to strike at any notion, however slight, that food will be, has been, or is in the process of falling to the counter, ground, desk, computer key board, etc. Never have I quite experienced their madness like here in Cambodia. Really. I know this may sound kind of typical to some of you, but damn, nothing can be sealed tight enough. Worse than Cameroon. They are even in my refrigerator (while it’s running, not only when the electricity is out!) climbing up the side, inside around the mustard jar and sniffin’ out my UHT sealed-tight milk. Don’t even get me started on the soda/beer can candle holders I’ve made—the candle light attracts the bugs, fire kills ‘em, they drop inside the candle holder and within seconds the ants are all over the dead stuff. Madness I tell you. The poor project officer who works with me must have dropped some crumbs next to his printer, it was covered, swarmed even, the guy had to finally remove himself and his cell phone, jump drive and planner as they were over-running his desk-top area. And, my favorite, in the middle of the kitchen floor a nice large flying roach has been killed and well, I just have to wait about 24 hours and I’ll find the thing more than half way across the kitchen on its way to the small crevasse between the molding on the door and the wall—save for the mighty stream of ant-workers, nothing is left behind. Ok, so they’re good for some things.
Anyway, there are a lot of interesting creatures and critters here (these crazy spiders I’ll report on at a different point)—frogs like you wouldn’t believe. I had a really cute small one jumping around my house and several taking up residence on the porch the other night after a good 30 min. rain. I actually learned about how useful frogs can be in providing sustainable support for vulnerable households here…guess? Yes, they’re easy to produce and they’re healthy and nutritious too! One of the other CBOs we work with here is piloting a project where they have introduced this new, big, hearty version of frogs from Thailand and are harvesting tadpoles and training community members on small scale, sustainable production for households. It takes very little input—just some water (clearly there’s plenty of it in the rainy season, even fairly accessible in the dry season), a net and some careful watching and a little shade. Presto, those bad-boys produce like no tomorrow and keep producing. I was pretty impressed and people love to eat frog here so it’s not even an issue about introducing a different, unaccepted type of food. We’re going to invite these folks to talk about this and their other very appropriate interventions to our workshop in June for our partners.
Otherwise, work is keeping me quite busy and I don’t see any break in the near future…however, I just found out today that I’ll be going to Zambia in July for about 4 days for an Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) project technical conference for the organization. Very cool. I’ve never been to Zambia and I’m really excited to learn about new and different approaches to support OVC in more sustainable and practical ways so this should be good.
Other things that I’m learning about:
-Avian flu and how to set up a rapid response system if an outbreak occurs (and if it spreads to humans);
-Integrated Farming Management Systems; Farming techniques that use the whole farm/household to sustain and provide inputs (chicken coops over fish ponds, production of liquid fertilizer (I know, very cool), well, the frog production of course and wild fish preservation (one intervention protects them in a pond near a pagoda in the dry season and then in the rainy season release them into the rice paddies to help the whole fertilization, growing process--fish eat good stuff, release good stuff and the farmers can fish traditionally/naturally to keep 'em in check—the whole process is connected so the fish remaining actually make their way back to the pagoda—it’s amazing);
-The health system, referral system, home-based care services and the operational district (Ministry of Agriculture uses this) vs the health center coverage areas (Provincial Health Department and Provincial AIDS Authority use this) in Svay Rieng province, which overlap somewhat since our project works in agriculture defined target areas but we work through the PHD/PAA and health center coverage areas;
-Low input gardening
-And Khmer—Good night=Rea (roll the ‘r’ a little) tri (like ‘try’) souah s-dey (like sa+‘die’); mango=svay (as in 'Svay' Rieng--we have lots of mangos here--lucky for me ;)
Pictures of Svay Rieng
An elephant walking down the river front in Phnom Penh...
Also, driving to Phnom Penh, a bit overloaded and...
See some pictures of Svay Rieng: Favorite Restaurant (with my blue bike in front ;) ...
More to come and Vietnamese pics on the way!
Vietnam Get Away...
Some things about Vietnam that struck me as interesting:
-Despite the 100+F temperature, women wear jackets, long pants and socks with their cute kitten-heeled sandals, and the best part: full length, past the elbow evening-type gloves. Really. Plus cute gardening hats, sunglasses and full on burqua-esque face covers (although for quite different reasons)—ladies, this is what we call serious protection from the sun, smog, exhaust, fumes and overall dirtiness of the city. I was in a shoe shop in HCMC on the main shopping drag and YES!—They had my size in a nice slip-on flat sandal in black. Perfect. Plus they were only $15, a steal for leather sandals. Anyway, I realize that my ragged-y a**, dirty, sweaty American sized clodhopper feet (compared to the Vietnamese ladies…) go to try on these cute little shoes, next to an oh-so-stylish, petite, non-sweaty and perfectly clean-footed Vietnamese woman who just pulled up on a moto in the same 100+F weather I did, (no doubt after whizzing through the same smog and mad traffic, just as I had done) and she’s all pulled together—and those feet! Nice. After slipping my sandals off and gasping at my feet, the kind shoe-sales woman helped me buckle the shoes, but I quickly felt REALLY BAD and decided I needed to give this woman a break and head back to the guesthouse to wash my feet before shopping any longer. But this woman next to me in the shoe shop wasn’t the only one looking perfect. No, almost all the women do. The visions of completely covered women on motos struck me. That’s it girls, they just completely cover themselves, literally from head to toe when they leave the house. Once reaching their destination, they don’t remove the first layer until safely inside or in a garden or restaurant somewhere protected from the elements...hmmm, not so easy, I think. Anyway, it’s a funny sight, I wasn’t sure what to think at first with the long gloves and all, but hey, it works. You just might see me with some socks and my cute little sandals on sometime soon. But there was more to take in in Vietnam than how-to keep-clean-in-the-heat.
No problems from the border to HCMC, but once in this bustling town, the driver of the 25 or so person bus I was in became a bit distracted or something and ended up hitting the taxi in front of us, who then of course hit the taxi in front of him. I’m surprised we actually hit another car/bus/large vehicle, as the streets are almost entirely filled/overflowing/over-run by motos and bikes. Anyway, no one was hurt, but the taxi drivers who were hit were really pissed off and lots of yelling, screaming, pointing and running around ensued. I decided not to wait around for another bus or more of a scene (as they were trying to keep us all on the broken down one while another arrived, yeah right)—it was 5:30pm, universal time for rush hour and I would have been there for hours. I hoped off and found another taxi to take me to my guesthouse.
I arrived and relaxed on the top floor room, across from the rooftop terrace with a lovely breeze (!) and overflowing flower pots—it was a nice $10/night with A/C and hot water. Cute place, the woman had lived in France for sometime and was very accommodating, loaning me Vietnamese Dong to pay for the taxi, chatting me up etc. I quickly left the hotel though in search for some snacks and found some good Pho (beef noodle soup with your choice to add whatever you like—sugar, MSG, salt, soy sauce, hot peppers, lime, fresh basil leaves, bamboo shoots) and of course, really good Vietnamese iced coffee (I love this stuff! The French passed this nice thing along…).
Friday morning I hit the street early to walk around the neighborhoods a bit and then went to a few pagodas. Both were Chinese influenced and the first one was a Taoist pagoda—lots of turtles in the pond as well. Beautiful, quite old (was first built in 1780s) and peaceful. This was a good way to start the day. The second spanned across about 5-6 blocks and I did happen upon the monks just as they were sitting down to eat; I milled around a bit until they finished, and lucky to be around to hear them chanting after their meal and watched them as they filed out of one of the buildings. At the same time, a man sitting in one of the courtyards began playing a traditional wood-carved flute. It was a mental reprieve from the heat and thoughts of work.
My afternoon consisted of typical sports fare in HCMC for all good barang (foreigners): shopping, eating more in the market, exploring the food section and trying to figure out what was in the bins, barrels, sliced open on the tables, and being lead away from the stench. Someone had cracked open a durian. Ugh. Bad smell, bad taste (in my opinion at least). With my arms weighted down, I figured why stop now? I headed to the supermarket! I really needed some milk (yup, the nice stuff you don’t have to refrigerate…), cereal, nutella (!) and other goods that I can’t buy in Svay Rieng…The last part of my day consisted of weaving in and out of the mad hoard of tourists (yes, me among them) through the “Russian Market” section of town—lots of little stalls, somewhat reminiscent of Chinatown NY where you can buy the BEST (or worst…depending) rip-off North Face, Alpine Lowe, LL Bean etc. backpacks, duffel bags and all the Fendi/Gucci/Prada rip-offs you could ever hope for; most under $7-8, cheap! Bangkok, Phnom Penh and other SE Asian cities have the same, so this was no surprise, but the quality seemed superior here in Uncle Ho land…the handmade paper and stationary shops also happen to be in this area and I was loving that.
I ended up ducking in and out of my neighborhood (backpacker haven, yes indeed) for the rest of the night, window/stall shopping and well, yes, broke down and ordered a cheese burger and fries. I was noodle-d and rice-d out…that’s it here in Svay Rieng, so ‘eh, I splurged $2 and I was full.
My morning was rushed to try to get out of town as I was really lucky to use one of the webcam-stocked internet cafes to reach my dear friends and loved ones: Matt, Mary, Laura, Pat, Betsy and Chris, having quite a Friday night at Silver Spring Towers, apartment 601 dart championship (and unofficial, drink till you pass out party). It was great to see everyone, although with somewhat of a lag, but I think that represented well their state of mind by the time I called them. I can’t wait to get back on the ‘cam (let me know if you have access!)…after an hour of laughing, IM-ing and making faces into the ‘cam, I said good-bye and picked up my nice traditional Vietnamese long silk top with pants—tres chic…but the rest of my day wasn’t so chic…I ended up sitting at the bus station for an hour or so trying not to gag on the fumes in the mid-day heat. Getting to the border then wasn’t the tough part, crossing back into Cambodia became an issue, as the Phnom Penh office assured me their paperwork would do the trick. Well, not quite and after trying to communicate with the border police (calling in a Khmer NGO friend who gives HIV/AIDS workshops to the border police was also a worthy try but yielded no results…) I just gave up and took another month-long business visa. We’ll see what happens when I go to PP and enter the annals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to resolve it…
Finally made it home after swerving in and out of teenagers running on the street and others 5 (!) to a moto, throwing baby powder and water on each other to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Somewhat eventful trip, but I returned home and had electricity for the whole night! Perfect…
Other favorite things in Vietnam:
-Construction helmets/hard hats are just as useful as motorcycle helmets;
-Being labeled ‘big-girl size’ (repeated to me about 4 times over the course of 2 hours of shopping—apparently anyone above a size 8…);
-Every internet café in HCMC has webcams!
-There is a lot of green space that people actually use here—fierce games of badminton (really) and the -Vietnamese version of hacky-sack played by all ages;
-Rooftop patios (although these are a must in Phnom Penh as well);
-Did I mention the really good iced coffee????;
-Hour long massages by the blind masseuses at the Traditional Vietnamese Medicine Hospital;
-Pho (soup, see above) and Bun (noodles, room temp, little spring rolls cut up, chicken/pork/beef, vinegar and fish sauce, lettuce, fresh basil, bamboo shoots, carrots, hot pepper, tamarind sauce and hot sauce if you like, all mixed up together);
-Really good coffee, teas and all types of teapots and cups you could ever hope for;
-Propaganda posters all over the place in the typical pop-art-esque style…
**pictures coming soon**
Happy Khmer New Year!
Well, Khmer New Year is in full swing in Svay Rieng Town, the market is packed with flowers, bread (!), fruit (apples from China even) and people, plus I finally moved into my house! I'm out of the rat-running Wai Ko Hotel! That place had A/C and a generator all the time, but I'm not interested in going back unless the power is out and it gets above 120F. I don't mind bugs, ants, even spiders (if I know they're harmless) but rats kinda' get to me and the Wai Ko delivered with a nice big one sneaking under my door at night to rustle through my garbage. Ugh. Anyway, on to more interesting things...I'm off of work for 3 days to celebrate the new year (see office to the left, HIV/AIDS unit on the first floor) and I'm going to Vietnam today around 2pm to get my visa straightened out and to check out Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon...I hear Hanoi is a better get away, but I'm excited to check it out and do a little shopping of course, to stock up on supplies like milk and veggie cleaner (yeah, yeah, I know all of you PC people are scoffing at me, but hey, Bird Flu is here, gots to be careful ;)
Other things: Khmer New Year party at the office was rockin'! I learned how to dance to Cambodian pop music, some traditional music and some really bad electro-pop junk sampled from Australia or something, but hey, the meat was grillin' and the beer was flowing. Everyone thought it would be funny to see the two 'barang' (foreigners) play games with the kids (but man the adults were all over the games too!) so I batted around with a blindfold to hit a clay pot jammed with baby powder (not so cool), down from a string dangling it from the rafters. Their version of a pinata...not sure if the Mexicans or the Cambodians got that one first...Anyway, I wish it had been filled with candy. So, onto musical chairs, which ended up being a bit more of a contact sport since the kids pulled up their chairs to make a nice audience for the adults who pushed them out of the way to play! They love this game! Anyway, games were for the afternoon, meat grilling (pork, beef and some sort of wild deer?) and dancing for the night. See some pictures attached.
Otherwise, life has been busy, meeting with our partners who we are funding for the project to figure out how we will move forward, planning, budgeting, more budgeting and sweating it out in the office (we don't have A/C yet). I'll add pics and more talk about my house in a bit.
So, Happy year of the Dog to you all! And I wanted to include some Khmer script for you to read but my computer doesn't support it and it's quite large in terms of space...more soon!
Arrival in Cambodia
There is a lot to share here and I'm way behind, but it's Khmer New Year! Year of the Dog and the office party is rockin'...the sounds system is set up, food is cookin' and kids are running around. I hear there will be lots of beer and rice wine, so pictures and a report soon...
PIP!
More from Texarkana and Michigan Visits
So, a little trouble posting pictures last time, sorry about that. Please see now the lovely pics of Texarkana and some from Michigan where I had a great time seeing friends and family, eating lots of good food and hanging out (also getting a little stressed about leaving, but that's typical). Highlights from Michigan: seeing Mim and Pip, playing a serious game of BINGO, seeing the new babies and connecting with friends and family from long ago and not-so-long ago.
I was really lucky to spend a few days with Mim and Pip--it had only been since Christmas but seemed like a long time. It was special to be able to catch up with them, hear them laugh and hear Mim wishing and praying for BINGO! Pip told me about going to Lowe's and buying supplies to fix up the garage/tool shed/hide out in the back and that he was planning to make a new bench. His sweet smile and hearty laugh made me believe he would be out there this spring getting things in order and making his way outback each day to think up new projects (and take his beloved scooter out for a spin). I cherish the few days I had with him, slept on the couch (as BINGO downriver goes on late!), saw him in the morning and one more day and then a week later he passed away. He lived a long and full 90 years--I'm lucky to have been with him just a week before...I think a lot of you met him and know what a sweet, caring man he was and how much he loved and cared for his family. I think Matt can attest to that at Christmas when he got the introduction: "You take care of my girl or else I'll call my boys up down at the KofC hall..." He was serious! He's in a better place now, but we miss him so much.
