I am teaching Consumer Behavior and International Marketing, probably two of my favorite business classes. It's like studying psychology and cultures, from a modern practical perspective. Yes, yes, then there's GDPs, Lorenz curves and such. It's been tremendously intriguing reading these textbooks I've not looked at since college. The more I do, the more I realize how they tie in to the everyday workings of the world today, and mine as well.
In response to a question in my weekend class about what or who their managers are like, one guy said in Khmer, "my wife is my boss." These students continue to surprise me with such responses! When I spoke about India's lack of population control, another guy says, "ah, they're not using uh...those things...um, condoms" -- well, thankfully, I'm not here to teach them about that! In my lectures, I try to keep a yogic mind in tact...talking a lot about ethics, sustainable economies, environmental practices and stressing the importance of keeping true to their values and traditions. Each day though, I have to think hard and fast, how any of this textbook stuff or my jabbering will help these youngsters (18-25 year olds) build a more promising future for themselves, their communities and Prey Veng. In 3 weeks.
There is not a single traffic light or signal in this village. This is a town where the streets really have no names. Everyone goes around at a leisurely pace on their bicycles and even motorcycles. I've been catching sunsets by the lake any day I'm not volunteering at a home for girls, founded by my friend, Diane, who kick started this trip for me. The most "modern" store is the convenience shop attached to the brand new gas station around the corner from my hotel. There are quite a number of tour buses that go through town a couple times a week, stopping by the hotel restaurant. They are tourists from around Cambodia and Vietnam. I've seen less than a dozen foreigners/westerners in my ten days here. And there's a slew of international non-profits here, from Red Cross to Unicef.
A favorite spot is the lake front stretch where I continuously witness breath-taking sunsets. My usual ride is to head out of the hotel after my 3rd shower of the day around 5:30 and just chase after the sunset. Sometimes, I stop by the street vendors on my way home, getting some corn or local delicacies for dinner. A few days ago, I rode around these intriguing circular rings of streets that I saw appear on my ipad map. They turned out to be dirt roads that ended with a big Buddhist temple right in the center. Buddhist chanting was being piped out through loud speakers, much like Muslim prayers back in Malaysia. I got many stares, but even more smiles.
I am here for just another two weeks. They're gonna be the quickest days, I can tell. I'm not sure how much I'm doing for these folks, maybe they more for me. My student translator said as we parted from our weekend class this afternoon, "the students say they like it so much, learning from you. You're not like the other teachers here...they don't keep us back for so long" -- I'm not quite sure if that was meant as a compliment as he was laughing. So I laugh too.
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