So Your Character is From Cambodia …

With it being Asian American and Pacific Islander month I’m so happy to have Nita on the blog today to talk about her home country of Cambodia!

So Your Character is … series is where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last time’s So Your Character is from Lithuania … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally or politically shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

My name is Nita, and I’m from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I’m currently a Chemistry major and Biochemistry and Business double minor at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. My hobbies include writing, reading, sketching, and of course binge-watching Criminal Minds on Netflix. I love mint chocolate ice cream, and my safe space is in a chemistry lab. Chemistry is my passion, and I’m currently working towards a career in medicinal chemistry, but I love writing poems and stories, which is why I have published a poetry book called “Love, Reasons, You.”

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What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?

When you mention Cambodia, most people look puzzled and have no clue where it is. However, those who do know where we are often associate Cambodia with the Angkor Wat Temple, which is a popular tourist attraction. One of the country’s main sources of income is through tourism, and Angkor Wat is definitely one of the biggest and most attractive sites for tourists from all over the world to visit. I think the architecture of the Angkor Wat Temple definitely is unique to our country and draws the attention of many tourists.

Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?

Cambodia has two main seasons, wet and dry. So, if you’re visiting in the dry season, definitely bring a lot of sunscreen, or if you’re visiting in the wet season, I suggest you bring some raincoats and prepare for a lot of humidity. We are a tropical country in Southeast Asia, so the sandy beaches are a very good place to indulge in fresh seafood and get really good Instagram pictures. My favorite places in Cambodia are the Angkor Wat Temple and the many boba and coffee shops.

Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?

Since I’m currently studying abroad, my homesickness has made me realize all my mom’s home-cooked dishes are my favorite. We have a soup that is called “somlor maju kroeung,” and I’ve been craving it for a long time. The word “somlor” means soup, “maju” meaning something sour, and “kroeung” means spices. It’s sort of a sour soup with special spices, and when my mum adds some beef in it, it is absolute perfection. Cambodia has many different soups and stir-fried dishes. Normally during any meal, I’d set up 5 plates of rice for each member of my family, including myself, and then the soups and stir-fried vegetables would go in the middle of the table so that we can all share the sides. One thing is for sure, Cambodians eat a lot of rice. We have fried rice, porridge, rice noodles, and even sticky rice, which can be made into a dessert.

Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as “biscuits” instead of “cookies”?

Most Cambodians will speak by shortening the syllables of each word. We won’t annunciate each word like it is spelled out. I think because we speak fast, the words are shortened in syllables. A lot of our slang will come from something we call “bek sloy” which is like a modern term for growing teenagers who like to be different from societal norms. Most people will use the slang terms that these teenagers come up with as a joke. I honestly don’t understand most of the slang myself because they’re relatively new, but I just figure out the context in which other people use it and follow them.

Describe briefly a regular day in your country.

A regular high school day for me would go something like waking up at 6:00 am to get ready for school because my dad would need to take us to school early, being in class from 8:30 to 11:40 am, and then a 2-hour lunch break, classes again until 5:30 pm, and then a little snack time with my sister, homework, dinner, homework again, and then sleep. My high school days were extremely repetitive and honestly boring for the most part. I enjoyed the long lunch breaks because my friends and I would have boba tea delivered to the school, go off-campus for some ice cream, or maybe walk to the coffee shop next to the school for a cool space to study before tests during the second half of the school day.

How does your country compare to others, especially the States since my audience is primarily American? Environmentally? Politically? Culturally?

I feel like Cambodia is a lot more conservative than the States. For the most part, Cambodia does seem to lack resources in female empowerment. I do recognize the differences in cultures because Cambodia has always been historically known to teach women to be dependent on men. However, there have been more attempts to speak out on gender inequality issues and solutions to overcome that, and to uplift women to become more independent in Cambodia, so I really appreciate that a lot. I think Cambodia gets a lot of influence from the U.S. media too, so when Cambodians see how the U.S. moves to empower more women, they are inspired to also find their voices and speak up.

Briefly describe three of your country’s historical events that you feel are important.

If I had to pick three historical events in Cambodia that are important, it would have to be the day the Khmer Rouge genocide led by Pol Pot started, when the genocide ended, and when our country gained independence from France. The genocide is a crucial point in our history because to many Cambodian people, it is still fresh in their minds as the regime reigned from 1975 to 1979. Entire generations were wiped out by Pol Pot’s regime, and to this day we are still rebuilding our society as we lost many doctors, scholars, politicians, monks, teachers, etc. Therefore, the day the genocide ended is also extremely important to us. It signified the beginning of a new era for Cambodia and liberation from a cruel five-year-long genocide. We lost many people, but the day the genocide ended, many people were released from the Khmer Rouge’s gruesome tyranny.

Moreover, Cambodia was under a French protectorate for a long period of time. The French took control of most of our resources for the years that we were under the colonial rule of the French. Our Independence Day is November 9th, and we were liberated in 1953.

What are some stereotypes about your country that irk you? What media portrays your country badly be it a movie, a book, or a TV show?

I think one of the stereotypes that irk me the most is that they think every Cambodian is poor. When I went overseas, a lot of people were surprised when I mentioned that we had coffee shops because they didn’t think that our country could afford such a luxury. I’m not sure if there is a specific medium that I think portrays Cambodia badly, but I think certain movies do show Cambodia as a very poor country, which is why I can totally understand people having that misconception because they’ve only ever seen that perspective in the media.

What media portrays your country well be it a movie, a book, or a TV show?

I think since Cambodia is such a small country, I haven’t really seen much Cambodian representation in the media, but I think some movies and documentaries that portray Cambodian history do a really good job, for example, “First They Killed My Father” which is a book that was made into a Netflix TV Show.

Who are your top three favorite fictional characters native to your country in books, movies, or shows?

I think my favorite fictional characters would be from short stories I read in high school and bedtime stories I’ve heard throughout my childhood. The top three characters would be Chav Chet from “Kolab Pailin” which would translate to “Pailin Rose,” Chao Pin Me Dai (thumb-sized grandchild) from the bedtime story my dad always told me almost every night, and the turtle from “Tunsay neng onderk” which translates to “Rabbit and Turtle.”

Are you interested in participating in this project? Check out the tips archive to see which countries have been filled and if you’re from a different country, shoot me an email at howellvictoriagrace(a)gmail(dot)com. I’m especially looking for Cuba, Senegal, Belarus, Zimbabwe, and Laos.

Do you have any characters from Cambodia? Did this inspire you to write a Cambodian character or set a book in Cambodia? Are you from this or been to this country and you have further input? Feel free to share! Do you have any questions for Nita? Be sure to thank her!