Day 7

Today, 7. January, is a public holiday in Cambodia. It is called Victory day or Genocide day. Victory day is the anniversary of the day when the Cambodia people ended the regime of the Khmer Rouge with help of the Vietnamese military. Many Cambodians call the day their second birthday because their lives were saved from the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Since it was a public holiday, we did not have to go to University and language classes. Instead we started the day with some more pancakes and jam and then went to the markets with our homestay mum. We bought things to prepare special food, since we were celebrating her second birthday. They wanted to make pizza for dinner!!

After we got home from the markets, we were a little bit exhausted since it was a lot of walking and the day was very humid and hot. So we decided to spend a little bit of time at home and do a bit more sightseeing in the evening. While talking to the daughter of the homestay family I noticed a few more cultural differences.

Apparently, girls are only allowed to get one piercing on one ear. That means that you are a girl.

If you have no ear piercings at all, it means you identify yourself as a boy. If you have both ears pierced (normal earrings), it means you are a grown up woman. It is not common to have more than maximum one piercing on each ear and usually the parents are very strict and don't allow it.

Parents are also very strict about getting boyfriends or girlfriends. Boyfriends or girlfriends are only allowed when you finished Uni. At least it is like that in the family we are staying with.

In the evening we walked along the river bank. For this trip our homestay mum had the idea that we all wear the same shirts. This way, nobody would get lost. She even came with us to show us around.

It is a very big thing here in Phnom Penh to do dances at public places. Imagine about 30-40 people standing next to each other and dancing to a random Asian song. The question is: How come they all know the dance steps?

Some pancakes and home made jam^.^. It was papaya jam.

Catching a tuk tuk with our homestay mum. She can not speak one word of English, but basic communication somehow works.

Food stalls at markets.

Meat at the market. Not too sure about the storage conditions O.O

Our homestay family making pizza for dinner. The pizza was really delicious.

Close up of the pizza.

We were all wearing the same t-shirts in the evening to make sure nobody gets lost. It was the idea of our homestay mum. (: