All posts by Luke Smith

General

Another Small Step

1 Comment

It is hard to believe that I have already been in Cambodia for 13 months now. I guess I can start counting in years now. Life is fairly hectic with taking the fourth language class at the Institute of Foreign Languages and going down to the village every other weekend. Plans are coming together well for the three month stay in the village which will start in January. A couple weeks ago I preached part of a sermon in Khmer. I think more than anything it reminded me of how far I have to go in language learning. Mixing the normal nervousness of public speaking with still stumbling along in a new language is quite the experience. Below are a few photos from the village:

——————————————————–

Waiting to preach.

esther_village-woship-vision

Teaching English at the village where we plan to live.

new_location-luke_englishclass

The house that will be my new home for a few months.

new_location-our_future_place

General

And the Rain Came…

Leave a comment

… and it kept on coming. It is the rainy season here, so it is not shocking that it was raining. However, it rained almost all day for several days last week, and the flooding was as bad as I have seen in the year that I have been here. The Cambodia Daily reported that the flooding caused about $70 million in damage. The drainage system in the city is just not built to handle a large volume of water, so water covered some of the streets for several days. Below are a few pictures from the flooding in the city.

100_0728

This man was undeterred by water, but at least he decided to roll up his pants first.

100_0729

I thought about driving though it too, but logic prevailed and I went a different way.

100_0730

General

A View from the Village

4 Comments

bok bok bok… or cluck cluck cluck… take your pick on how you want to write out the noise a chicken makes. It is a noise that I have heard plenty of in my life, but recently I have realized that it is not a very soothing sound to try to fall asleep to. My roommate and I have started spending a couple weekends a month in countryside, and the lean-to that we sleep in is just a few yards away from the chicken house. I seem to wake up during the night countless times to the sound of the chickens. On the bright side, at least they caused me to wake up in time to see this beautiful sunrise…

100_0677

Things Along the Road...

Things Along the Road… Traffic Accidents

Leave a comment

100_0041A few months ago, my roommate made a traffic video to give a taste of how the streets are here in Phnom Penh. In someways, I have become more accustomed to the traffic patterns here. But having seen a couple of semi-trailer and moto collisions over the past few weeks, I have been reminded again of the danger of driving here. Some say that there is a pattern to the chaos, and I agree somewhat. However, semi-trailers and motos just don’t mix well on the same road no matter what the pattern may be.

I was recently reading an article entitled “Driving Tips for Cambodian Streets” by James Cottle (World Team), and was amazed by how accurate his description of driving here is. Below are his thoughts on the difference in the mind-set of Western drivers versus the mind-set of Cambodian drivers:

  1. Westerners say, “A road is a place of order where people follow and lead in an effort to get to where they want to go.” In Cambodia the attitude follows a thought more like, “The road is an area (dirt, paved or grassy area) that I can use however I see fit in order to be first in getting to where I want to go.
  2. Westerners say, “This is my side of the road, that is your side.” In Cambodia the lanes are places to be used no matter if there is a yellow divider line or not. Motos will frequently drive along the side of the road going the wrong way looking for an opening to cross to the correct side.
  3. Westerners say, “I have my highway rights.” In Cambodia you have the right to move over as three vehicles come your way “in your lane.” Hanging on to your highway rights just to defy the new culture of Cambodia is a sure way to get into an accident because the other quickly-approaching car is thinking you are going to get out of his way.
  4. Westerners say, “Just obey the signs, signal lights, and speed limits.” In Cambodia most of this traffic paraphernalia is suggestive only. You will not want to depend on others to place the same value on these things as you do.
  5. Westerners say, “This doesn’t make any sense at all.” In Cambodia many of the driving methods are ludicrous but some of them make perfect sense once you begin to understand the system. Unfortunately it will take time (maybe a few years) before you really begin to comprehend the reason behind the madness.
  6. Westerners say, “Thanks for letting me pull out in front of you; I’ll hurry and get out of your way.” In Cambodia take your time even when someone has shown a kind gesture, don’t worry about holding them up. They understand the cost of quickly crossing lanes.

Previous posts in this series:
Things Along the Road… Money Changers
Things Along the Road… Fried Crickets

Things that make you go hmmm...

Things that make you go hmm… An Unwelcome Visitor

3 Comments

Living in a foreign land, I have tried to be friendly. But some guests just aren’t welcome. Such was the case with this rather large centipede that we found crawling across our living room floor. It seems like when it rains that lots of little, and sometimes not so little, crawling things try to seek shelter in our home. We have many geckos that aren’t too bothersome, and I figure that they help eat bugs. However, I wasn’t for sure if this centipede had much value, so its stay in our house didn’t last long…

mother_centipede

General

Into the Fog

3 Comments

100_0510Fog may make for a nice picture as it engulfs the Golden Gate Bridge, but I have never heard anyone say that they like to drive in the fog. However, five days a week, I get up from bed and go into the fog. The fog is not along the road, and I don’t recall ever seeing fog in Phnom Penh. The fog that I am speaking of doesn’t cause much of a visibility problem, but it does cause an understanding problem. I think that it was one of my Greek or Hebrew teachers in seminary who spoke of language learning being like driving through fog.

As you learn a new language, it always feels like your brain is in a continual state of fogginess, or so it seems. This is because most teachers are continually trying to teach their students new words and grammar structures. So as a language student, I often feel like I vaguely grasp a newly introduced concept or word, and then the next day something new is again introduced. Thus, it seems like I am always seeing blurry shapes on the horizon that I can’t quite make out.

However, it is amazing to look back on lessons that seemed so foggy at the time, and realize that now they seem so crystal clear. The other day, I flipped through the book from my level one class and realized that somewhere along the way, the fog lifted and now the lessons seemed quite easy. Even though, at the time when I was first learning them, the lessons seemed quite difficult and at times almost overwhelming. Really, I think that the only way to learn a new language is to persistently go into the fog, and hope that somewhere along the way the fog lifts…

Things Along the Road...

Things Along the Road… Money Changers

Leave a comment

100_0025Well, it my be hard to top the shock value of the first post in this series: Things Along the Road… Fried Crickets, but most of life can be rather mundane. So this post along with many others may not be all that exciting, but they will continue to give a brief snapshot of life in Cambodia.

Money changers, especially in areas around the markets, are another common thing to see along the road. The official currency of the country is the riel. However, the US dollar is widely used throughout the whole country. In the past, coins were used, but the current system does not use any coins, US or Cambodian.

exchanging_moneyThe current exchange rate is about 4,300 riel for 1 US dollar. But most small shops and restaurants give an exchange rate of 4,000 riel for 1 US dollar. The money changers in small booths along the road offer the best exchange rate. So one can gain about 7 cents per dollar by getting money exchanged at a road side booth rather than using US dollars at places where prices are charged in the Cambodian riel. When getting money exchanged, each US dollar is closely inspected, because the use of counterfeit dollars is a fairly common occurrence. Also, I think my brain is still adjusting to dividing prices by 4,000 to see how much the price is in dollars.

General

To Kill a Mosquito

1 Comment

100_0509The rainy season has begun here and with it has come a welcomed break from the heat. But on the downside comes driving in the rain often and a great increase in the mosquito population. Mosquitoes must have water to lay their eggs in to complete their life cycle, and the rainy season offers an abundance of ideal places for mosquitoes to lay eggs. Some species of mosquitoes can go from an egg to an adult in just 4 days.

A few weeks, ago I had stopped at a street side electric shop to see if I could find a bug light to buy to aid in keeping the mosquito population at a minimum inside my house. I didn’t know the exact name in Khmer, but I asked if the shop had mosquito lights. But all this inquiry received was a very puzzled look from the salesman, and I realized that I did not know the proper name for it in Khmer. I thought for a moment and then asked if they had a light for killing mosquitoes in Khmer. With this, the look of puzzlement left the salesman’s face, and I was led to a shelf with several bug lights on it. In Khmer, the name for the bug light literally means ‘machine electrocuting mosquitoes.’ Which is a fitting name, since the blue lights are only a lure to draw the mosquitoes in where they are electrocuted to death. It may sound cruel, but I have yet to meet anyone who is upset by the death of mosquitoes.

I recently bought another bug light at a shop along the road close to where I live. I had tried and failed to buy one a few months ago at this shop, and I thought that they just didn’t have them. However, this time knowing the proper name, when I told the store owner what I wanted, he quickly pulled one out from under the counter.

Inch by inch, I am moving forward in my ability to communicate. It is a slow process, but every so often a small but encouraging breakthrough occurs.

Things Along the Road...

Things Along the Road… Fried Crickets

8 Comments

cricketsYes, that is right! Fried crickets. There are many food carts along the streets here in the city. Most of the food is fairly typical dishes that one would expect to see here and an assortment of fruits and vegetables. However, when I see the food carts with crickets and a variety of other bugs, I always think to myself that I can’t really believe that people eat things like that. But having said that, Daniel and I recently, under much pressure from some Cambodian friends, gave them a try. My thought is still that a fried cricket is something that is better to be seen than tasted. From my observation people here eat them like snack. crickets_0 So instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips or pretzels, they snack on a few freshly fried crickets. And as you can see from the picture, if you don’t like fried crickets, there are plenty of other fried bugs to choose from.

This is the first of a series of posts that Daniel and I are starting called: “Things Along the Road…” We will basically be trying to capture pictures and share a few thoughts about, as the title says, things along the road. So be watching for more posts in the weeks ahead.