unravelling the string: mystery language

Monday, 23 May 2011

mystery language

I work with 15 Khmer people, 1 Eastern European girl and 1 German guy. The staff at my guesthouse are all Khmer. English is not the first language for any of them, but it is the language we all speak to each other.

I have struggled with an accent identity crisis ever since I left Missouri 13 years ago. From southern belle drawl to nasaly Michigan and Chicago, then to England, I now get told I just sound like I am from California. Neutral. I am not a chameleon. I just don't like to repeat myself, so I adapt to be understood, it's not really a conscious effort.

But here my accent is not changing. I'm noticing I'm just eliminating entire words from my sentences, to be sure I'm understood the first time. It's terrible. I say things like 'where you go to lunch today?' to the girl I am working with or 'you like my key'? before I give it to the cleaning girl passing me in the hallway.

Great. My ratio is now 10% British English, 20% American English, and 70% pidgin English, with some very confused spelling going on... still not using 'z' but definitely have started to drop the 'u' after a month away from that cloudy island. I must get out of here before I start replicating the things I see on menus and signs. The best one lately was 'Chicken Condom Bleu' (not kidding)....

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Disclaimer

This blog reflects my unedited thoughts and I've shared it with you it is because you are either one of my long standing friends or family members, or you are one of the many random and wonderful people who come in and out of my life whom I find interesting or perhaps have connected with in some small or big way - but most importantly, you have somehow demonstrated that you have the slight potential of truly 'getting' the unedited version of me. So, this time around, with this blog, I will warn you that it may not be for everyone, as I am not going to spend my time commercialising or sugar coating for the masses (I have exploring to do!) and yes, sometimes this means I may sound just like I do when I am across the table from you - I may get long winded, introspective or lost in my thoughts and go off on tangents or be 'too deep' or 'too personal' (you know what, deep and personal is real to me, and I like real - hopefully you do too), I may make no apparent sense, or say something that only I think is funny, and I'm okay with that. If you are too, read on. Because, while I hope that this blog helps me keep in touch with many of you better, if you want the truth, it is really primarily for me - to capture the raw version of what will hopefully be a very memorable journey I will reflect upon for years to come.

What the hell am I doing

Good question - have asked that a few times, myself. The answer to that question may evolve as I go along. Technically I am getting on a plane and going to Cambodia to do some volunteer work and see where it takes me from there. But beneath that I suppose I must admit I am following that unravelling string I mentioned when I left Guatemala last September. (Not sure about my word choice here... 'unravelling string' could be perceived just as a more eloquent way of saying 'screws loose'. Oh well, perhaps it's true... but in a good way.) Anyway, I will recap what I wrote as I was departing: "My list of lessons learned here is long and I won't go into all of them right now, but I think I can summarise them into one big theme. So many decisions in my life have been based on practicality and sensibility. Sometimes based on societal expectations or expectations I've placed on myself about what success and happiness should look like. And if I'm honest, there is a little thread that runs through all of these that is really just nothing more than fear - fear of the unknown, fear of the unconventional, maybe even fear of failure or what other people may think. And if I take nothing more away from this little journey it is this - that thread of fear has started to unravel in a big way."