Things That Annoy Me

1-23-09

Things have been a bit frustrating as of late. Not for any one particular reason, but it’s normal to feel like this every now and then. And so, as a cathartic exercise, I’ve decided to make a list of everything that annoys me about living and working in Cambodia. Please bear in mind, on the whole I’m happy here, and have absolutely no regrets about joining Peace Corps or coming to this country. But sometimes you just need to vent.

Things that annoy me:
-Children screaming “Hello! What your name! Money!” at the top of their lungs every single time I ride past. One particular group has been doing it every day since I got here.

-Students asking the following questions every time they see me. I try and make myself available during the school day for students to come and practice their English and ask questions. I don’t know why I bother with this, since it is the same four or five students day in and day out and they always ask the exact same questions. I will list the questions I get asked almost every day, with the same grammatical mistakes that the students make no matter how many times I correct them:
“Have you eat rice yet?”
“How much did you [bicycle, watch, glasses, book I’m reading, anything they see me using] cost?”
“What time do you eat breakfast every day?”
“What time do you eat lunch every day?”
“What time do you eat dinner every day?”
“What time do you wake up?”
“What time do you go to bed?”
[These five questions are almost always asked one right after another.]
“Can you eat rice?” [The real meaning of this one is “I don’t think you can eat the food here.]
“When you come to my country, how do you feel?” [I still haven’t been able to come up with an appropriate answer to this one.]
“When you teach all the students at Hun Sen Kampong Chak High School, how you feel?” [They love rattling off the full name of the school.]
“In your country, do you have [pigs, cows, chickens, electricity]
“Which student at Hun Sen Kampong Chak High School will you marry?”

-Related to the asking of questions, what really annoys me is when I answer them and they say “yes” and immediately launch into the next question. I know they didn’t understand the answer, but they don’t care.

-People who visit my host family and stare into my room like it’s the doorway to another world.

-If I’m lying in bed with the door open, visitors staring into my room like I’m an animal in a zoo.

-People asking my host family “can he eat Khmer food?” when I’m sitting right there and eating Khmer food.

-People asking me how Cambodians can become rich like all Americans, and then acting like I’m lying when I tell them I don’t know.

-When my co-teacher skips class to play volleyball with the other teachers.

-Students who believe I can teach them to speak perfect English through osmosis, or with my magical foreigner powers.

-Always getting charged more in the marked because since I’m an American I must be rich.

-Being expected to skip class and get drunk at 10:00 in the morning with the other teachers when they find an excuse to have a party. Which is once or twice a week.

-People spitting in public. This happens at home too, but it’s still a pet peeve of mine.

-People grunting at me to get my attention.

-The lack of personal space and privacy.

Now, lest you think things are all negative here, I’m going to list the things that are awesome. I feel that the things on this list, while fewer, far outweigh the previous list.

Things that are great:
-My host family.
-My community.
-The experience that I am getting.
-The interesting people I will meet.
-The interesting places I’ll see.
-The fact that as a recent graduate and with the economy the way it is I have a guaranteed job until 2010.
-The fact that I’m in an exotic country while some people I went to High School with are still living back in my hometown.