Sunday, September 23, 2007

People and Life Style

Family : Cambodian families are normally big. There are at least 2 children for the average. Most fathers go to work or try to earn for a living for the families, but nowadays things have been changing. Some women go to work or find ways to make money for the family too. Most children go to school and do not help much in the families, but they are respectful to their parents. These days they become more and more independent, but most of them still cannot make their own decision by themselves because they are under control of their parents. As a result, they are not so sophisticated and not responsible and not open. However, they are peaceful and friendly people.

Marriage: People get married at their twenties or thirties but some people get married at a very young age as well, around 16 to 20 , especially in the countryside. Women frequently set up the family around their twenties, men get married around their thirties in the city because they need to get education and find jobs first before they think about starting a family.
Most marriages are arranged ones because Khmer people are profound into tradition. They are not
only traditional, but also into belief. Before getting marriage they always go to the the fortuneteller to
predict about the both bride or bridegroom' s date of birth whether they both can live together for the whole life or not and they can be happy together or not and so on and the best time to get marriage. One in a while because of the fortune teller's prediction they both cannot get marriage, although they even fall in love.
The wedding is usually big with hundreds of guests and all the guests have to pay for the food owing to their standard of living. The rich are expected to pay more than the poor.


Baby: After they get married, it is time for them to think about having babies because most women stay at home and they feel a bit bored for some reason so they want babies to help to kill their time or because they love children. To have a baby normally is not planned as they are shy to talk about sex. For some families especially Chinese Cambodians, they want to have first child as a boy because they believe that he can bring the family prosperity and luck. After being born, a baby is named by their parents or from their grandparents or sometimes from a monk who they really believe in.

About a month they celebrate a so-called out month anniversary which the parents invite
relatives and close friend to join and enjoy meal and dancing sometimes.
Friends : Friends usually go out in big group which is likely mixed, girls and boys together. They seems to be close together in general. In facts, even if they sometimes go out together, boys and girls, they naturally think in different ways. Boys' behavior is likely to be superior to girls. Nevertheless, they cannot touch even hands and hands. If you touch a girl without their permission, it is considered rude or offensive. Hug a friend who is a girl is not absolutely possible at all, in the contrast women can touch men without permission and is considered friendly.
Women are always more respectful in public than men and women are considered weak
and pitiful gender but this is valid in some ways only ,especially something relevant to tradition and sex.
Graduated students: They don't really have big dream after high school as we can see they still wear white shirts while are going sightseeing because they don't believe in the government which is full of corruption, bribe, pro-family and all the time plays tricks to their own people and never has willing to make progress to the country.
However they just try to go to the university where they have the last hope for the unclear future or some of them give up hope and turn to find jobs or become motortaxis riders or waiters or waitresses or workers in factories.


Foreign Languages: English is absolutely the number one language in Cambodia as its role is necessary and magnificent in this country. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and the government basically depends on foreign aid and foreign investment. Many international organizations flowed into Cambodia to help improve the standard of living and the lifestyle by using their budgets from charity around the world, especially from the powerful countries such as European countries, Australian, USA and Japan.
As a result, they have to learn English or French languages so that they can find a good job to make money for their family.

0 comments: