Water Festival

What a crazy week! On Sunday through Monday this week, Cambodia celebrated Water Festival (or in Khmer 'bon ohm tuuk') the biggest holiday of the year. The Festival celebrates the day at the end of rainy season when the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow. Cambodia is the only place in the world this happens. The Festival honors the river and how it really provides life in Cambodia- water, the ability to grow rice, etc. Phnom Penh fills with people (like 2 million more than normal) and there are boat races on the river. Each province has one or two boat teams. The boats are something like big canoes, except that they hold about 70 rowers. As you may have heard, this year's Water Festival ended with tragedy, but I will come to that later.

I decided to spend this four day weekend with my host family. First, on Friday night, my sisters and I went out dancing. I have never stayed out so late in Phnom Penh. The place we went was half awesome and half cheesy 80s lounge. I was 1 of two foreigners in the place. We actually didn't dance too much because it was crowded and my sisters were shy, but the night did end with the 4 of us on the dance floor rocking out to Justin Bieber. A night to remember!

On Saturday, we had a birthday party for my little 2 year old host nephew. My sisters spent all day cooking. The house was completely full of people. Fortunately, I did know a lot of them from our church. Again, a pretty great evening.

On Sunday night, we decided to go to see fireworks at the riverside. So my sisters, our pastor and his mother and son, another MCCer, and I headed downtown for Water Festival. The crowd was crazy- felt just as big as when I went to the inauguration and that was 2 million people. We made our way to the front (as a side note, for the first time in my life in Cambodia I can actually see over crowds to some degree. I'm not tall here, but I'm at least not below average anymore!) and the longest fireworks display I have ever seen started up. As the fireworks exploded overhead, big boats covered in lights floated by on the river. It reminded me of the night light parade at Disney World. Each boat represented a government department. They were gorgeous- a million lights dancing a long the water. A new boat made to represent Phnom Penh had Wat Phnom on it, the founding temple of the city. That one was my favorite. As it ended, all of us made our way out of the crowd (took at least 45 minutes). Then, we got stuck in crazy traffic trying to get home. But still, it was so beautiful and so great to be with my sisters, that I'm really glad I stayed in town for my one and only Water Festival.

Now comes the sad part of the story. On Monday night, the last night of the Festival, while I slept safely in my bed, nearly 400 people were killed in stampede at the riverside. Everyone was leaving a island in the river by way of a very narrow bridge. No one seems to know quite what caused it, but people panicked, pushing in both directions on the bridge. Around 400 died and at least 750 were injured. I've been on this bridge, I think it would fill 'full' if 100 people were on it. My sisters woke me on 4 AM on Tuesday morning to watch the news. Its a surreal experience to be pulled out of bed to the cry 'something bad happened!' and ask 'where?' in return and hear a location 2 miles away. And then, to watch the news in a language I can't really understand while my sisters called everyone they knew to make sure they were okay. I have to say, it felt the same way I did on Sept 11th- that early morning fear, that not knowing. And for Cambodia, this disaster is on the scale of that day for the U.S. (Of course, without the war fever)

It has also been interesting to see how Cambodia choose to mourn this loss. For the last 2 nights, outside every house and at the bridge itself people have been leaving offerings- incense, bananas, money, candles. . . all given to the spirits of those who died in the hope they won't haunt the city. The price of bananas has more than quadrupled. The government declared today a national day of mourning. My sisters said they think the island will close permanently because no one will want to go to a place so full of the dead. Even my family, who did not lose anyone, is more subdued than normal. Its such a human question- how do we mourn well? What does it mean to grieve? I have to say I feel somewhat disconnected from it. I am sad for the families that loss someone, but I also feel some distance from it. I'm not feeling it in the same way as a Cambodian. Maybe that's just a survival mechanism. Maybe its because today is also Thanksgiving and I want to feel good to ward off homesickness. At the same time, in the U.S. we see things like this on the news all the time, bad things that happen in far away places, but this time for me, I'm in it. The people who died can't be so easily forgotten. And that's probably a good lesson for all of us. Even when tragedy happens far from home, it still matters, its still very real and personal to someone.

So I enjoyed Water Festival and at the same time, I mourn along with this country. I liked bonding with my sisters over holiday celebrations. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Enjoy turkey and good black friday sales. I'm spending the day with friends, eating at a restaurant buffet, and having a sleepover. It strangely doesn't feel like Thanksgiving- the weather is too hot, and I'm not with any of you. But that keeps me from being too homesick and I'll enjoy this Thanksgiving for what it is- an expat celebration : )