Kru-saah Kinyom (My Family)

If there is one aspect of Khmer culture that is most ubiquitous it would have to be the family structure.  That and cheap beer, but there are a lot of families too.  I think the coolest thing is the fact that It reminds me so much of home, mostly because my family is related to literally the whole “street”.  I use this term loosely because my neighborhood is only accessible through an unpaved version of a glorified alleyway. My home, at any given time can have anywhere from 3-9 people in it and any and everything in this neighborhood is cause for investigation (like exercise or singing).  I have a “mom” (who is the oldest of about 5 or 6) who is also apparently THE local grandmother for this block because she has almost mafia like resources.  We have a garden where most of our vegetables grow (any other produce she gets at the market for the most nominal of prices simply because of who she is), people are always bringing things by just because and we seem to have a seemingly endless supply of meat even though the only type around the house is a group of (molting) chickens.  Additionally, she randomly acquires cases of water, energy drinks and handmade crafts at will… Seriously, this woman is a sorceress.  Anyhoo,  I have an uncle  named Vannak, who was at one point a monk I believe and another uncle who lives across the “street” who coincidentally is housing Tysor, another PC Trainee.  I have about 5 siblings that I’m slowly meeting one by one and about 4 nieces and nephews, the youngest of which is a charming, energetic and particularly spoiled bundle of joy whose name I routinely forget….Then again, I tend to forget most of my relatives’ names because no one really uses names here, only variations of aunt/uncle (Ming/Pooh) or brother/sister (Proh/Srai).  I have a one-toothed grandma (big-mama aged women are known as yays) who is considerably ancient and speaks at just above a whisper…she also groped me the first time we met, so I tend to steer clear of her.  All in all, we could definitely be doing much worse for the wear.