Bird flu

January 13th

Lets play a new game: guess what kept Anaïs up this night. Well, it wasn't a wedding this time it was a )%@*# rooster which went on, at interval of a minute to a minute at a half (I counted) from 5 am. At one point I got so exasperated I waked my window shutters open (I don't have a window, just shutters with slits through their whole lengths) and the stupid bird got scared away. Only for a moment though. He came back with a vengeance a few minutes later.

Speaking of poultry, funny thing: the Cambodian government affirmed that there is no bird flu in Cambodia, cos you know, even if countries all around here have it, birds don't go through Cambodian borders, obviously they go around them. So yesterday when we went to see the Familial House in Takh Mao, the mother was saying how she used to have many chicken but they all died recently, and then she innocently said, and the neighbors one's too all died, there must be a kind of epidemic. Corinne and I looked at each other and we just laughed… If only it could reach my neighbor's stupid rooster…

But night is not the only time when I have trouble with noise here. Since I got here, there has been some kind of ceremony involving loud annoying music on my street EVERY DAY. We had two weddings, which last 2 to 3 days each. We were so relieved went it finished yesterday. And then this morning, another kind of loud music driving us all nuts. Not like Khmer pop tunes, this time this traditional xylophone-or-flute-like-sounding-traditional instrument crap that you hear in Chinese movie. There's about 5 notes and it goes on continuously. Every 2 hours or so, the music stops and then a guy speaks on the microphone lamenting some incomprehensible phrases (not that I understand Khmer anyway). So I asked my Khmer colleagues: what is this now? He replies: A ceremony to show gratefulness and gratitude to your parents. Every Cambodian needs to do that before their parents die. It lasts 2 full days and people are invited to attend. But what I don't understand, is why they can't quietly meditate on how great this parents are, instead of broadcasting it to the whole street. Or just have a mother's day and a fathers day without bothering anybody? He answers: you need to show people that you are grateful.

I had a pretty eventless day today, as I stayed in the office all day. Mrs Tannath, the director of the Psar Depot center called me to ask if I wanted to join the educators tonight as they go to their weekly night visit of the streets. Unfortunately I had been invited to a dinner tonight at Bea and Jerome so I had to decline, but I hope she invites me to come next time. That'll be quite scary but so interesting at the same time.