I've had quite an eventful week back in Phnom Srok. I have continued to expand my network by attending a Khmer wedding, returning to the evening English lessons I discovered last time and watching a talent contest at the local pagoda. I also met Panya Sor (wisdom power) who is my landlord’s new baby son!
I have twice walked up the road in the evening and attended English classes to much amusement of the children. They shout their questions at me in English and then repeat what I say to their teacher who helps them to translate. It is great to be in a classroom again and with kids who are very eager to learn. They are used to learning to read and write English but actually speaking it aloud to a real life English speaker is a real treat! It’s amazing how keen they are to ask me questions: ‘What time do you have breakfast?’ ‘where do you usually go on holiday?’ ‘what colour do you prefer?’ They also asked if I could sing, to which I answered yes (what else? I mean, I could’ve been in a band you know) and they swiftly gave me a round of applause and looked at me very expectantly. They actually wanted me to sing a song to them, in English, right there and then. Well, by this time the class had attracted quite a crowd and for the first time ever, I experienced a touch of stage fright! I racked my brain to think of a song which would appeal to my audience, stood up and burst into singing ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes!’ – with actions! I think they were suitably impressed although I must get used to the Khmer way of giving applause as they clap at the beginning of a performance rather than at the end. It gave my little rendition a slightly anti-climatic ending as there was quite a silence after I sung the final ‘toes’. Anyhow, we spent a while translating and in return for my song they taught me the Khmer words for those parts of the body (which I’ve promptly forgotton already!)
The children at the shop front are also becoming more used to a barang being around the place and less frightened of me. I have spent a couple of afternoons playing with the three boys. They are all between 2 and 4 years old, cousins of one another and very cute! They have taken to chanting what sounds like ‘Wonky Kong Wonky Kong’ whenever they see me which is in fact toddler speak for ‘Barang Chi Kong, Barang Chi Kong’. In English this means ‘White person rides a bike, White person rides a bike! And causes great hilarity to both the children and any adults who happen to be within earshot.
Then there is my new ‘bong srei’ (big sister). This very funny little lady (she’s only 32 years old!) talks very fast, is very amusing and has taken quite a liking to me. She started off staring at me and talking to me so quickly that I couldn’t catch a work of it. Then she would speak to the other Khmer people around her who would all belly laugh. At first I wasn’t sure whether she was being unkind or just having fun and she was a little bit scarey! However, it is now apparent that she has quite a fun personality and is quite a joker. Her and her husband live somewhere behind my house and bake bread every night to sell in the morning. You wouldn’t believe how pleased I was when I found this out as I was quite sure there was no alternative to eating rice three times a day! This week, the lady told me she liked me (phew!), asked how old I was and asked me if she could call me her little sister. Khmers usually don’t use their friend’s names to call them but instead they respectfully call everyone older brother, older sister or younger brother, younger sister depending on their ages. I was very touched by this! It is yet another incentive to stick at revising and learning more Khmer language so that I can understand more and join in more conversations. At the moment I’m still doing a lot of listening, smiling and nodding!
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