7/25: Reflections

Some things that I've learned:

There's no practical reason for electrical outlets to be different from place to place.  In Cambodia, they have universal outlets.  You can plug anything into them (the only exception: some of their outlets are universal non-grounded outlets, so they only have two prongs).  The reason that the sockets are different country by country is economic.  Exporters can easily price discriminate between countries if a consumer can't import a product from another country because they use different electrical outlets.  Yet another way for corporations to dodge the invisible hand.

Jewish vegetarian engineers in Cambodia are apparently fairly common: there are at least two of us.  I stumbled upon the blog adamincambodia.blogspot.com.  I think that he is already back in Canada, though.  And he knew Khmer much better than me.

Health:

In the month that I have been in Cambodia, I have been nearly unscathed.  I haven't had any diarrhea or other stomach problems, I haven't gotten a fever, I haven't gotten any fungus, and overall, I have been completely healthy.

The one exception: early on, I ate some American potato chips, and one of them stabbed the inside of my mouth, giving me a sore for about a week. 

Events:

I haven't been doing a ton of stuff aside from the touristy things already mentioned.

I got a traditional Khmer massage. 

There are some pretty cool events at the China House.  They had a Spanish movie playing a few weeks ago (I think the movie thing is a weekly occurrence).  They had a jazz band playing.  The events are all free.  They also have a pretty good restaurant upstairs. 

I went to dinner with one of the people from the office.  A lot of socializing seems to happen around meal times.  In Cambodia, meal times seem much more relaxed than America.  Less rushed. 

I've been to the markets and some nonprofit stores.

I've spent a lot of my time keeping up on my commitments back home like debate coaching and directing Hackathon. 

Culture:

When I first came to Cambodia, I expected that there would be cultural differences that I would have to adjust to.  Instead, I only found differences in mannerisms.  That is, people do things differently, but I wouldn't find it strange if people in the US acted similarly, and the culture wouldn't have to change much if there was mass adoption of the mannerism.

For instance, in the markets, you can barter.  Some westerners react to this as "they're trying to rip you off -- and they will if you let them!"  I think that lonely planet put it well: "Remember back home, we pay astronomical sums for items, especially clothes, that have been made in poorer countries for next to nothing, and we don't even get the chance to bargain for them, just the opportunity to contribute to a corporate director's retirement fund."  Something similar to bartering is necessary, and in the US, we have supposedly replaced it with the free market and 'competition,' which means that instead of bartering, we throw everyone to the wolves, leaving half of the people get ripped off and half of the businesses to go bankrupt (of course, in the case of undifferentiated commodities, it works pretty well.  It only works less well when corporations can dodge the invisible hand through things like advertisements, the network effect, and monopolistic practices -- like most noncommodity industries -- that it works imperfectly).  Each way has its merits.  They can and do coexist.  Once you get used to either, it's not too weird.

Or food.  It's a little bit more difficult being vegetarian in Cambodia than in the US, but in the cities, most places have some vegetarian option.  The primary difference between here and the states is that I don't speak Khmer whereas I do speak English.  In the US, I can say "I don't eat meat," explain that that includes fish, pigs, birds, and anything other animals that they can think of, and ask if they can make one of their dishes with tofu (though such an explanation isn't necessary in vegetarian friendly places like Eugene or the Bay Area).  Even though many travelers complain that there aren't any vegetarian options, whenever I'm eating with a local, they can get me a great vegetarian dish (albeit, it might not be on the menu). 

The people are pretty much the same.  As the narrator in "Seasons of Migration to the North" said to his village of people in the Sudan about the people in the UK, "just like us they are born and die, and in the journey from the cradle to the grave they dream dreams some of which come true and some of which are frustrated; that they fear the unknown, search for love and seek contentment in wife and child; that some are strong and some are weak; that some have been given more than they deserve by life, while others have been deprived by it, but that the differences are narrowing and most of the weak are no longer weak" (3).  In addition, just like people in the US, Cambodians have cell phones and are bad with technology; they have corrupt people throughout the government, corporations, and nonprofits; they have people working to make a living; they have people in every sector working with pure hearts to make the world a better place; they have elections which may be contested, but are accepted enough to have a stable state and rule of law; they need better public transportation, public infrastructure, public education, and public healthcare; they suffer for ridiculous standards of beauty; they have patriarchal gender norms; they don't always get along with their neighboring countries; they are a service economy; they have traffic accidents and diseases; they have works of art; they tend to get up earlier than I, a college student, would like to; and the similarities go on.  While each of these qualities may differ in degree, the society overall isn't too different.

There are some differences.  Thanks to the Khmer Rouge and the US (we had a secret bombing campaign there during the war in Vietnam, remember?), they are war torn, which means that they have things like unexploded land mines (FYI - the US still hasn't signed the landmine ban) that leave civilians without limbs; the people are poorer and less educated; English is their second language rather than their first; they are Buddhist rather than Christian; much of their business and economic growth comes from foreigners rather than locals; labor is cheap, and capital is expensive. 

Part of this is because of globalization.  Now, anyone with a bank and a thin piece of plastic can get money in any city in the world.  Anyone with money can get a cell phone, internet, and all of the comforts that they are used to at home.  People wear the same clothes and buy the same trinkets made by the same companies.  People eat the same species of genetically modified corn (the yellow one with little nutritional value that can't grow outside of greenhouses.  Check out Winona LaDuke's website at honorearth.org for more about this).

I'm not opposed to any of that on principle.  If western culture makes people happy, then that's good.  I'm concerned, though, because the west has been digging the world into a lot of holes that might be hard to get out of.  I guess that I used to have the idea that there were other ways of living where people thought differently and that one of those different paradigms would have a way out of some of our problems.  I had the idea that we could fix the world's problems by changing the culture, that diversity is a good thing and a diverse set of cultures would leave room for one that could fix our mess.

Instead, I am realizing that the same forces that have been incrementally reforming western culture are the ones in which we must put our hopes, dreams, and endeavors.  This is it; now let's make the best of it.