My First Cambodian Wedding

I’ve officially been in Cambodia for a month and this is just about the fourth time I’ve gotten internet so please understand that THAT is why I haven’t been posting very many updates (Mom). Also because I like to keep my updates interesting and well-written so a hurriedly banged out paragraph about how hot it is or how the neighborhood roosters are going to get run the fuck over one day if they don’t get out of my way quickly enough isn’t really my style.

Last Sunday, I went to a wedding with fellow PCT Andrea and her family. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share because my camera broke down on the first day in Cambodia and all the battery acid leaked out and ruined the internal functions of said camera. Cambodian weddings are, in a word, different. They’re quite elaborate and there’s a lot of bowing and sitting on the ground and the religious old man sitting in the front says a few words and there’s more bowing and the exchange of gifts and rings between the bride and the groom (the groom at this wedding actually got so nervous that he stuck out his right hand for the placement of the ring instead of his left. There was a lot of yelling and embarrassed laughter that followed). When Andrea and I showed up we were waved immediately into the makeup room and had our faces done up.

Now when I say done up, my friends, I mean done up like you’d never wish on an American gal, ever. In addition to a faceful of foundation so that your face looks like it’s about 10 shades lighter than it really is, there’s pink eyeshadow (plenty to share), fake eyelashes, blush, lips, and the eyebrow treatment. I foolishly wore glasses that day and my eyelashes were so ludicrously long that I had issues blinking because they would get stuck behind my glasses lens and be rendered useless. I tried to go about without wearing glasses and feeling around, blind as a child with Vitamin A deficiency, but in the end decided that I didn’t want to miss the finer details of the festivities and ripped the falsies off. We watched the rest of the ceremony and had lunch (at 10AM) with the rest of the guests before leaving. The meal was good, there was a lotus root , wintermelon, and fish soup that I really liked.
When I got home, I made a beeline for the bathroom and spent a good 20 minutes scrubbing at my face to take all the makeup off: the foundation, the eyeliner, the eyebrows, the eyeshadow, the rouge, the lips. After I was all scrubbed and clean (and slightly raw), I looked in the mirror. And then I did a double take.

WAIT a minute. I know I scrubbed off all that eyebrow makeup but…where are my OWN eyebrows?! Are you serious? They SHAVED OFF MY EYEBROWS to draw in new ones?!

Rather than crying, I shrugged and figured there are not many people I need to impress here, anyway. Welcome to Cambodia!

P.S. A week later, my eyebrows are growing in just fine. I’ll be back to normal looking in no time!