Home life

Last night I had my first Cambodian home-stay.  I was testing out my Khmer and came to the conclusion that I still have a long ways to go before I am fluent but it was a fun experience!  Another volunteer, Adi, has officially moved out of the volunteer and stays with a family who lives across the street from the SC school, so I decided to tag along.  Also for the first time in a very long time, I watched a half hour of televison.  There were some interesting channels, including a European fashion channel and 2 Indian channels (one dubbed in Khmer... so strange!).  I'm half way around the world and ZeeTV is still a part of my life!  

My home-stay family has a mother, father, a 24 year old daughter, a 15 year old son, another who son who studies in Phnom Penh, miscellaneous cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends that come and go.  The organization of a Khmer family is really smart when you think about it.  Almost every family that I've met in Pursat is not just 2 parents and their 2 under 18 children.   Their entire family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) lives together and each generation is responsible for a different part of the household.  All of the children live at home until they are married so that they can save up to buy their own houses.  Even though I think it's smart, I don't know if I could live at home for 25 years (no offense Mom & Dad!).  Maybe it's not so practical in American culture where independence is valued more than partial financial stability.    

Instead of waking up to clucking roosters, I woke up to a crying baby and a blaring television... about 3 hours earlier than I wake up!