More on New Year...

I've been trying to think of how to sum up my six days in the village but it was such a mixture of different experiences and emotions! It is difficult to give a complete picture so I guess I'll just try for a few glimpses... Here is one:

The first night I discovered what I think was supposed to be a secret. While the afternoon was still quite warm I took the opportunity to lounge in the hammock inside the house and ended up falling asleep. When I woke from my nap I wandered out the back to see what everyone was doing. I saw four or five men squatting on the ground in a clearing amongst some small trees close to the houses. When I stepped outside they quickly folded an old rice sack over something. But this something had a something that looked rather like the tail of a dog hanging out the side of the sack. The other thing that seemed a little odd was that several men were holding large knives in their hands. Too quickly- "mum" called me to go for a walk. For the next hour or two we wandered from place to place, sitting to chat with friends and relatives. While we were still out I was called back to eat.

To my surprise I was led into a room with a place on the floor set for one. Perhaps they thought that I must be getting hungry? I tried to do the polite thing for an Australian context by explaining that I wasn't too hungry and was happy to wait for everyone else before I ate. This suggestion wasn't well received so eventually I sat. The sister I share a room with kindly joined with me. We ate a pork and vegetable dish with rice.

Some time after dinner I went outside again where the other meat curry was almost ready to be eaten. One of the older women gave me a cheeky smile and asked in Khmer, "Can you eat this food?" I replied, "Yes, I can." This started quite a discussion with most people seeming to agree with the person who declared authoritatively, "She doesn't understand. She doesn't know what it is. She can't eat this food." I didn't argue. If they thought they had their secret I'd keep it hidden that their secret was out.

The next morning my "younger brother" made it all quite obvious. He came up to me looking excited and said with a loud, clear voice (& in English)- "Do you want to eat dog today?" Alas, there were no leftovers. As far as I know all of the remaining dogs (even the really noisy ones) were still barking when we left. Maybe next Khmer New Year...