My EYES, My EYES!

The other day, someone asked me if I liked it in Cambodia. When I responded rather enthusaistically, she asked me what I liked about it. After listing off some things like the simplicity of life here, the kindness of the Khmer people and the encouraging contribution to society that I feel my work is making, I added a few more superficial items: the balmy weather, the yummy food, and the FRESH FRUIT! While I will definitely miss all of my wonderful friends in Cambodia when I come back to the states, I think really, truly fresh pineapple, papya, mango, pomelo...comes in as a close second!

Usually I buy my pineapple already cut from the market. But the other day, I decided to be adventurous and buy a whole one just to see if I could duplicate the beautiful pattern that results after de-eyeing the fruit. While the results of my first attempt are not quite as lovely as those in the market, I was fairly proud of the results. For those of you that are curious about how such a thing is done, here is a quick tutorial:

Step 1: I didn't think of documenting my trial through photographs until AFTER I had cut the skin off. So here is my skinned pineapple, eyes still intact.

Step 2: Cutting along the diagonal to get all the eyes in one row.

Step 3: Making sure to cut at an angle to maximize on the amount of pineapple that's left in my final product.

Step 4: Tada! Okay so there are still some little bits left. My perfectionistic juices just weren't flowing that night. Still, I'm proud of my fruit.

But enough about fruit. As promised, here is the newest profile of one of my students:

Sary is 24 and going to school to be a kindergarten teacher. She's really sweet, and has taught me all kinds of traditional Khmer beliefs. Like, did you know that crabs bite women more than men? They especially like pregnant women because, "The crabs want to kill the baby." I had no idea crabs were so malicious! And Sary is also the student that taught me about "coining", which is a traditional Asian home remedy for sickness. If I understand her correctly, it involves heating coins and rubbing them on your body. She has come to class more than once with marks on her from a rather painful "coining" the night before.

Sary's ancestry is partly Khmer and partly Vietnamese. (that's significant, because Cambodians don't typically love the Vietnamese). When I asked her if she spoke any Vietnamese, she said, "Little, little." (a common Cambodian response). The province she is from is near the Vietnam border, so I think I actually went through it on my recent trip down the Mekong River to Vietnam.

Sary's family is Buddhist, and also strong in ancestor worship, but she has decided she thinks Christian beliefs make more sense to her. She told me this week that her parents are relatively supportive of her difference in faith. (As in, they haven't kicked her out of the home.) But her aunts and uncles do not like it at all. When the family performs ceremonies to pray and offer gifts to their ancestors, Sary has told them she will not participate, because she doens't believe her great grandparents can hear her. Sary's aunts and uncles are terrified that Sary's rebellion will anger their ancestors and bring misfortune on the whole family. I'm so proud of Sary and her strong conviction. She told me she wants to tell her mom and dad about Jesus and the God of the Bible, but she doesn't know how. I'm trying to help her have a solid foundation of the Bible so she will be able to explain things to them more effectively.