Compare & Contrast

One aspect of this culture that I continually underestimate is the sense of it being a collective culture. My latest revelation is that even throwing-up can be a communal event.

The weekend before last I ate some dodgy food and spent the night vomiting. I tried not to puke too loudly so as not to disturb the rest of my family as they lounged, watched TV and then went to bed. On Sunday "dad" was preaching at a church in one of the provinces and the others had all planned to go too. I encouraged them to stick with their plans and was happy to be able to rest in a quiet house- only venturing out briefly in the late afternoon to buy lemonade from the house directly opposite ours.

Exactly one week later "mum" also ate some bad food. I was dragged awake by her extremely loud gagging, coughing and moaning. I tried to get back to sleep but noticed that my "little sister" leapt out of bed to assist. She went downstairs and I heard her slapping on her mum's back (I'm guessing to help get it all out?). I could here that "dad"was out of bed too. He was outside the bathroom offering sympathetic "oh"s, "erh"s and "tut tut tut"s between bouts. On Sunday "mum" spent the day resting on a mattress in the centre of the main living room. Somehow she slept through Cartoon Network shows dubbed in Khmer, Video Hits in a variety of languages, Khmer dramas, boxing, kickboxing and soccer matches as various family members as well as neighbourhood kids took charge of the remote throughout the day. She rested through my sisters giving her period back rubs and massaging her legs. No lemonade was given but there was ample supply of rice porridge.

I'm not sure if I'll ever become so at home here that I'll let my spewing become a family event. However, it was interesting to compare & contrast the past two weekends...