I have been teaching the students a number of fruits and vegetables in English and they have been teaching me how to say it in Khmer. It is a fun little game and the students really do enjoy listening to my helpless attempts to say the words and applaud me when I get it right.
Our language exchange can go something like this…
Me: Banana, jayk
Class: Jayk
Me: English, banana.
Class: Banana
Yesterday something funny happened. I was trying to say onion in Khmer, k’dteum bar-rung, but was really not succeeding. Then one boy says, “Bar-rung. You bar-rung.” I was a little taken a back by this….was he calling me an onion…I’m not that ogre like in my behaviour and appearance. Then, remembered that ‘bar-rung’ means ‘French’ and it is the Khmer word for foreigners. I just smiled and said to him “I’m not French, Khnom jear joo-un jee-ut oa-strar-lee (I am Australian), but yes I am a foreigner.”
It’s a simple fact that I am a foreigner here. I am different, I look different, sound different, do things differently and I struggle with simple routine tasks that are simple for the Cambodians because it is all new to me. When I walk down the street I am followed by many eyes, you are contently being watched. It’s just something you have to get use to and not let it get to you. As shining lights we are called to be different and stand out in the world. We are all ‘bar-rung’ because here is not our true home - our home is in heaven - but how you live here on Earth really counts. People are watching you so be the example that Christ has called you to be.
