Saturday, July 16, 2011

Many Words for Perfection

There are many words for perfection, but few can come close to describing the elements of the last evening in Cambodia. We worked yesterday (Saturday) so the crew can have a full week off starting the 24th, before it moves up to the Tenle Sap lake, which is about four hours from Phnom Penh, where many of them live. The day was peppered with little children (two of whom peed on the floor in a span of five minutes--babies in Cambodia don't often wear diapers, because parents cannot afford them), some of whom were precocious, all of whom were absolutely adorable. There was an impossibly fat little baby that laughed without teeth, a little girl who could speak a few phrases of English, another little girl with pigtails and missing front teeth, and a boy who put three or four stickers on his face. Children are a delight--and you don't need language to communicate. All you need are smiles and hands and a playful spirit. There are few things that can lift a moment of frustration like a child, or like one of the old women in Cambodia who continue to smile and tell me my French Canadian nose is beautiful.

Once the crew left for the night (most went into Phnom Penh for the night--the ship is very close), I watched the rainclouds move (which has become a favorite pasttime...Cambodian rainy season pre-storm winds carry such energy!) over Phnom Penh to the other side of the river and helped the cook make chocolate-filled sweet rolls, when suddenly I noticed--a rainbow! I love rainbows--there is something so breathtakingly spectacular about them. They often appeared in Trinidad in the rainy season, sometimes full, vibrant arcs, sometimes two. I get so excited at the simple beauty, but usually cannot say a word, lest people think I am insane, but because the crew members here are my friends, they watched as I tried to get them all to notice (and fortunately, one of them was equally as excited and another just watched with amusement as I got even more excited when a second rainbow became visible) and took a few pictures. Later, I finally got the sunset I had been waiting for all week (there had been a beautiful one Monday night, but I did not have time to get my camera in between English classes), played Monopoly cards with the other Americans on the boat (at the moment, there are five of us, with two more returning from Ankor Wat tomorrow), and came out to the moon making me catch my breath. In a few days, it will be full and by the time I was outside today, it had already risen to a decent height, but it lit the bank up and made the river sparkle and gleam. Even though the Mekong is brown from silt and often filled with litter, most of the disappears when it becomes shades of almost-black at night, and it completely fades from memory when shining with the moon.

Today will be quiet--filled with the interview transcripts on which I am behind (again), reading on the deck, and perhaps a walk through the village. Tonight, we have our worship service. I love worship here--it is so simple, in the ship's dining room, and the lessons must be translated, so they too are simple, but often eloquent. My favorite is singing though--singing in English is difficult for the Khmer, and none of us Americans know how to sing in Khmer, but something about the mix of off-key melodies feel very much like prayer, and the enthusiasm with which they are sung most certainly must be. A few weeks ago, we sang "Yes, Jesus Loves me,"which makes me smile anyway because I remember learning it in kindergarten, and I remember the captain singing softly for most of the chorus until he got to the "loves me,"which he belted out. Even the memory of it makes me smile. I especially love when we sing in English and Khmer together.

It is a complete privilege to be able to be in Cambodia for seven weeks in my last real summer vacation ever. The people here are so kind and generous, always willing to share a smile or call out "hello!" They are all so gracious to me as a foreigner, and my Khmer has improved by leaps and bounds (which still doesn't say much, given that I know very, very little Khmer)--I can communicate just a little, and I have a few excellent Khmer teachers (and a very, very disorganized piece of paper nearly entirely covered with phonetic pronunciations of Khmer vocabulary). Thank you for the love and prayers, and I wish you all blessings.

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