Fortune Tellers and Foreigners

Hey everyone :) I hope everyone's doing well! I'm going to let you know right off the bat that this will be a short post. We're heading to Thailand later today (yay) so I'll post a lot more when I get back. I just wanted to keep you guys updated with our plans.

So first off, this past week has gone basically as normally as any week here in lovely Phnom Penh can. We had two visitors to the orphanage this weekend- Doug and his son Michael from Ohio (I think I mentioned them in my last post). They threw a party Saturday night that started off with fried chicken and sodas for dinner. And when I say fried chicken I mean it looked like someone had taken a whole chicken and put it in a fryer- every part of the chicken was still there. It was a little awkward to eat, but we managed. Then the older kids set up speakers and we had music all night- well until about nine p.m. I love when we have parties here. The music is so loud that everyone in the neighborhood has to hear it- it's like hiring a DJ back in the States. Yet nobody calls the cops- instead our neighbors come out on their balconies and listen and join in the dancing. There really is no place like Cambodia anywhere else in the world.

So after the party (which, like the last party at Palm Tree, was a mixture of American and Khmer music), we all pretty much collapsed and went to bed. The music didn't stop till 9:30, which is definitely past our bedtime here, and by the time we were done dancing and chasing kids, we were exhausted.

The next morning we got up at our usual 6 a.m. and went to see a fortune teller. Sna, one of the older girls at Palm Tree, had gone to see him earlier and insisted that he is the best- I think she may be a little biased because he is also related to her family. But we all thought it would be really fun to go see a fortune teller in Phnom Penh since they're everywhere here and none of us had ever had our fortunes read before. We met the fortune teller at Sna's sister's house, where most of her relatives now live.

To jump off the subject for just a moment: a lot of the children at Palm Tree do still have living relatives and some of them even have parents who are still alive. However, a lot of their relatives can't afford to take care of them, so they still live at Palm Tree and they go home to visit once in awhile.

Back to the fortune teller. We sat down on a rug in a circle, and he told all of our fortunes in front of each other (which may seem a little scary but in light of the situation I think it was nice to have other people there with me). Sna translated everything for him since he didn't speak much English. I went first- I feel like for some reason I always end up going first in these situations, I have no idea why.

The fortune teller took out half a deck of cards (all the cards from the Aces to the sevens), and had me shuffle the cards seven times. Then he had me cut the deck and hand it to him. He spread out the cards and had me pick one. I'm still not sure what the significance of any of this was. He spread out the cards in lines, and then proceeded to give me information about my life. He told me that I like to travel- well no duh I'm in Cambodia. Anyone could guess that. He also said that I would be taking a trip in a week- yes we're going to Thailand, but still, most foreigners who travel to Phnom Penh are going all over Southeast Asia, so he could still have guessed that I would be traveling. Not that I was skeptical about the fortune telling process or anything.

Then he had me do the shuffling the deck thing again and he spread the cards out differently, with stacks on one side and a row on the other side. He proceeded to tell me that I would get married when I'm 26-27 to a businessman. He then told me that I'm going to be rich when I'm 26-27. So apparently I'm either coincidentally selling a novel at the same time as I'm getting married or I'm marrying somebody who's rich. He said I'm going to date somebody in the next year but it's not going to work out- which, even though I feel like I mostly laughed off this whole experience, will still probably nag at me if I do actually end up dating somebody this year haha. He also said that when I do get married, I'm going to have three kids: a boy, a girl, and another boy. That part is ok with me.

He told me a lot of specific things too. He said that I was going to get a gift from a man on Wednesday (which I don't think happened but I forgot I was supposed to be on the lookout for it, so it might have happened and I just didn't realize it). He also said that one of my friends was going to come to me for help this weekend (Jessi thinks it's her), and that I'm going to have a fight with a friend next week (we're all hoping that's not true). He also told me that I'm going to have trouble at work at the end of this month... but I don't have a job (thanks for reminding me mr. fortune teller), so I'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean. He told me that I'm going to be able to do whatever I want with my life- he told us all that so I'm not sure how I feel about that actually being true, but it was nice to hear.

All in all, I liked my fortune teller experience. I have to say it was probably the highlight of my week. Jessi's and Alisa's were similar- Jessi is getting married when she's 28 and Alisa is apparently supposed to meet her husband in November while she's still at Palm Tree. So that might be interesting haha. He also said basically the same things about our past love lives and experiences, but kept it general enough that we could all apply his words to our experiences... So I'm not sure how legit that part was. But it was still fun to hear our "futures" and compare notes.

It was also really cool to see the family dynamic at Sna's sister's house. They brought food for us and refused payment, even though we felt kind of bad eating their food. We plugged in a vcr in the little room upstairs with its bamboo for floorboards, and watched Sna's sister's wedding video. Let me tell you- wedding videos here are soo different. They love to put random bright colors in the background of the pictures, for one thing. It's a little blinding. But Sna's sister looked beautiful and it was fun to watch the wedding ceremony itself and see all of the guests interacting.

Later that day, after our fortune teller experience, we decided to go find a gym. We ended up at this little all but outdoor gym where several Cambodian men were working out. Since it was only a dollar for four of us, we were like, "Oh why not?" Everyone stares at us anyway, so it wasn't as if it was anything new for us. Though it was extremely hot in the gym and we vowed to find an air conditioned one next time. Also there is some strange gym equipment on this side of the world, I have to say. I'm not sure what some of it even works out. And everyone works out in jeans. I don't know how.

The rest of the week was pretty much similar to all of our weeks at Palm Tree. We had exams in my class almost every day, but the kids apparently like exams here so I guess it was a good thing. Most of them did pretty well anyway. I've become a lot more comfortable with teaching while I'm here and Nita will leave halfway through class all the time, and I no longer feel like I need to panic- which is definitely progress. It's been easier to think on my feet and come up with games and fun ways to teach my lessons now that I know where the kids are and what they are used to a little more.

As for our upcoming plans. We're heading to Thailand later today- our flight for Bangkok leaves at 4 and lands at about 5:30. Then our plan is to wander around until we find a guesthouse. Fool proof plan, right? We do have a travel book that lists several guesthouses so we'll have some help, but it'll be an adventure. We're staying in Bangkok all day Saturday and sightseeing. Sunday morning we're leaving for Koh Samui- we ended up getting a flight since it was only a few dollars more than taking night trains both ways, and saves about twenty hours of travel time. Koh Samui is one of the islands on the Eastern coast here, and we're hoping the weather will be a little better there because apparently the weather is going to be terrible all over Thailand this week (of course), but statistically the Eastern islands get hit less than everywhere else. We're planning to stay at Koh Samui but also go to Koh Pangnang, which is about half a ferry ride away, and maybe to Koh Tao, which is supposed to have amazing diving and snorkeling trips. We head back to Bangkok Thursday afternoon, and then we're staying in Bangkok until Sunday afternoon (the 26th), when we head back to Phnom Penh. So that's our plan so far.

And I promise you'll get a detailed post when I get back of all of our Thailand adventures. I miss all of you so much- I'll be home in a few weeks! Can't wait to see you!

Love from Cambodia,

Monica