"New Life in Kompong Preah"
One of my most memorable summers was spent in Madison, Wisconsin. It's a comfortable college town bordering some beautiful lakes. They had great fermented cider (called a 'woodchuck') some cool local bands, and there was a great local paper called The Onion, that's since gone global.
Over the next few weeks, classes are studying Khmer in Madison at the Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute (SEASSI). Generally 4 hours of class study and 4 hours of homework. On the weekends? You catch up.
It's kinda like language boot camp. And if you're in the 'Heritage Khmer' class, you get to learn using cultural tidbits like this 80's era government - published comic book about life during the People's Republic of Kampuchea era. (Title above.)
At the beginning of my stint, I went to an army surplus store and bought an armload of t-shirts. With a black marker scribbled a khmer consonant or vowel on the front. I wore one a day, and by the time the course was over, I had my alphabet down cold.
I'm still in touch with most of my SEASSI pals, once you've been through something like that it's hard to forget.
[Many thanks to Tomoko Okada for sharing a copy of this comic!]
Tags: Cambodia,comics
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