I struggle with relationships. It takes me a while to fully trust someone, and I’ve found that it’s really hard for me to really open up until that complete trust is in place. Because of this, I am not capable of getting attached to the people I’m working for, near, around while on the World Race. …or so I thought. Leading into the Race, I was sure I’d be able to walk in and out of each country easily, as my relationships would be with my team, and I wouldn’t have to say those goodbyes for a while. I never would could have imagined the bonds that can be built in the span of a month.
Even though the language barrier meant we never even had a full on conversation, the people in this video have become family. I spent the second half of the month calling Vith (finally learned the spelling of his name, too!) “brother” and he called me “sister.” We found out Evon’s name is actually Von, but saying “e” in front means we were calling her “Auntie Von.” By the time we found out we didn’t bother to stop calling her Evon, as she too was already part of the family.
Much like parents can understand what their toddler is saying when others may think it’s just baby talk, we gained the ability to hear broken English, typically combined with hand motions/charades, and understand what was being said. On our last day, after hundreds of hugs, Vith said “sister, let’s go Vietnam, see you tomorrow, no.”
This month taught me a lot, but my biggest takeaway is that communication is bigger than words. You don’t have to speak the same language to build a deep connection and loving relationship with someone. Besides, what would a conversation be without a little game of charades??
My already big family just got a little bigger. Wilson family, meet our new Khmer brothers and sisters (and auntie)!
One of our last English lessons we sat out in the dried up lotus field…
(which happens to be where we went “fishing” a couple weeks prior)
Riding in a tuk tuk on our way to visit a school for Vith to attend in August!!
Sarath Savony after English class/games. She liked to joke about how tall I was. She’d make me squat down, then put her hands on my shoulders and use that to propel her as she jumped. For a few seconds she was taller than me, and then she’d just giggle and give me a hug.
After joking about jumping in the pool fully clothed, in the middle of the day, Evon was totally for it. Photo credit goes to Vith who captured some great shots of our little impromptu work break.
My Khmer family, though we’re missing a few. <3
Ok, one last note about the video and the song choices. Athough they may seem random, that’s far from true. We sang/heard these songs daily, as they were among Vith’s favorites.
