Friday, January 18, 2008

Toamadaa

I may get confused.
Is it normal to breathe pollution, or breathe fresh air?
To go running and dodge traffic, or to run alone in the woods?
To get coffee and be surrounded by suburban high school students, college students on their laptops, and businessmen on their blackberries... or to look out over the busy streets where dirty children play, half naked, with their friends?
To hear everyone else’s cell phone conversations in public places and become annoyed at the inappropriateness of it, or to hear conversations on cell phones that you long to understand?
To wear a seat belt in the car, or to ride on the back of a motorbike with no helmet?
Shopping for clothes at the mall with shiny clean stone floors, chandeliers, and the smell of the Clinique counter, or the market... where you avoid stepping on old food, a misplaced brick, or another person. Where the prices are much cheaper, but it’s hot, and it doesn’t smell like the Clinique counter.
To buy organic produce because it’s healthy... or spend twenty five cents for some vegetables from the market?
To take a shower 4 times during the day because of the sweat that covers your shirt and drips down your face. Or because it is just so hot and you don’t know how else to cool off... or to shower once in the morning, and spend the rest of the day in climate controlled comfort where your makeup doesn’t run down your face?
Applying makeup four times a day is definitely not worth it .
Is the neighbors pet supposed to be a rooster? Maybe the rooster is not really a pet.
Dinner with a friend on a mat on the floor? Cooking in a kitchen outside?
Or a dishwasher, with the TV on in the background and the fireplace warming the room?
Doing my own laundry, complete with Downy and dryer sheets, soft towels and fresh sheets...or having someone else wash for me, and hang my clothes out to dry in the sun and the dust?
Having at least one interaction every day where not all words are understood... or always having an understanding of every word a stranger will speak?
To be surrounded by American friends with much in common?
Or be surrounded with friends from around the world with much in common?
Toamadaa?
I’m still not sure.

5 comments:

Mom said...

Gretchen,
What does Toamadaa mean? This was something to think about. Mom

gretchen said...

FYI to all who wonder...
It means "usually" or "the usual" in Khmer....
sometimes used an expression to show something is the norm... :)

Mom said...

Gretchen,
Thanks for your explanation. What might be normal for us may not be to others. Interesting! Mom

Thai Dave said...

Drinking a $3 bottle of juice from the supermarket or slurping a mixture of juices from a plastic baggy for 30 cents you bought off the street? hehe

gretchen said...

dave, i am laughing out loud! i saw a girl drinking a cloudy mint green drink today and thought it looked interesting! hmmm... but not interesting enough to try! i got sick from a street vendor last week... :)