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February 15, 2009
V-C Day
Valentine's Day in Phnom Penh is intense. Way more intense than in the states. They don't really know where it comes from, but seem to have picked it up from Thai and Korean movies. Regardless, for couples aged from 15-24, it is THE day to go out with your sweetheart, to bring her flowers, and to coax her into sexual intercourse. Some couples only have sex on Valentine's Day and, bizarrely, International Women's Day (March 8).
I've read the qualitative report mentioned in the latter article, and it's interesting albeit a little unsettling to find out about the sexual habits of people not unlike my students. There's such a divide between the very high-school attitudes and 1950s-style mores the girls seem to be locked into(or are willing to admit to), and the seamier exploits admitted to by the men. It reminds me a bit of the city of Lumberton from Blue Velvet: wholesome and staid on the surface, but hiding a lurid, violent, parallel world within. How many of my students, for instance, have taken part in the apparently widespread practice of bauk? (Bauk could be described charitably as "running a train," or more accurately as "gang rape." It's usually practiced as a bait-and-switch on sex workers, getting her to agree to go back to a guesthouse with one or two men, only to have 4 more guys waiting when they get to the room. According to the interviews, many young men don't consider it wrong, because they've "already paid for it.")
In other news, the first trial of the Khmer Rouge Tribunals is starting up with Duch, chief of S-21 (Tuol Sleng), the central interrogation and torture center of the KR...
Plenty of ink and pixels have been spilled on this, most of them by people better informed than I am, so I will refrain from saying anything other than that I have serious doubts about the ability of the KRT to bring any sort of justice to either the former KR leaders or the Cambodian people. They may be able to get Duch, but the rest of them will just keep dragging things out until time does the job we can't.
I just hope the trial sheds light on the inner workings of the Khmer Rouge, something that remains bizarre and puzzling to even the best historians.
Posted by flynn at 4:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 10, 2009
MM..Food
Last weekend, I caught some fish off the coast of Sihanoukville. Yesterday, I skinned 'em, seasoned 'em, wrapped 'em in foil and steamed 'em in coconut milk with ginger and garlic. I actually used my rice cooker as a steamer, a highly useful kitchen hack that I'm going to use more often. This is something that I simply would not have done in America.
Cambodia has made me learn how to cook. It's amazing what the simple fact of not having a microwave will do for your sense of culinary adventure. Plus there's the fact that because we're at the far end of the processed-foods supply chain out here, it's actually cheaper for me to buy tenderloin at the market than spam in a can.
It's really strange how fast the change has been, especially considering that the most I had really attempted beforehand was garlic-toast. Now I'm trying to do stir-fries, curries, marsala, homemade french fries, all sorts of crazy things. It's cheaper than street foods and probably much healthier (though there's something to be said for fat-noodles and hot sauce). I mean, I do have a job that gives me a lot of free time, so it helps that I actually have energy in the evening to whip something up. Anyway, I just thought I'd share that neat fact.
Posted by flynn at 10:59 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack