Night market

Outside of the night market in Cambodia

There's so much to do and see! And there are so many motos!

beautiful music

While touring the temples at Angkor Wat we came across this band. The musicians were all men who had been hurt by landmine explosions-- a very real problem here in Cambodia. You don't want to wander off the paths into the forest or farm areas because you may happen upon one. These men were playing music to pay for their children's English classes. There is a lot of begging in Cambodia. If you're sitting in traffic in a tuk tuk, kids as young as 4 and 5 walk right up to the sides to beg, and if you're sitting in a restaurant it's not uncommon for them to come right to your table to ask for food or money. So seeing these men play their instruments was unusual and impressive.

Puppy playtime

The hotel owner came home with 2 wonderful bundles of joy the other night. They are a nice change from thr hissing cat that lives down by the pool.

Cambodian style popcorn

This weekend we went to see the Hunger Games. It was so amazing to sit in air conditioning for 3 hours. I was actually cold- first time that's happened here. The concession stand had tons of popcorn flavors so we asked for the sweet corn. This is what we got.

Christmas in Cambodia

Didn't think I'd be seeing anything to do with Christmas over here but boy was i incredibly wrong. All store employees wear Santa hats, there are gift wrap stations but the best of all was this...

Khmer what?

I had my first day of teaching Monday. I'm working with a class of 15 kinders aged 4 and 5. They struggle with my name so it sounds like they're calling me "teacher chocolate". I also struggle immensely with their names but nothing I produce sounds anywhere near as good as chocolate.

#itsnotworsejustdifferent

This past weekend my class took a 9 hour bus excursion to Siem Reap. It's home to the Angkor Wat temples. We went to a night market- while there I got a foot fish nibble. It felt so ticklish. We toured temples all day Saturday and then went for a night out on Pub Street. 75 cent beers, anyone? Sunday we toured a site that allowed us to climb on temple ruins. Our bus broke down about 5 hours from Phnom Penh. I had the pleasure of using an outdoor "squatty potty" which is a glorified hole in the ground. Squatty Potties don't have toilet paper or bum guns, instead they have a bucket of communal water with a scoop-- you use this to splash your bum clean. The phrase my class uses, it's not worse just different certainly doesn't apply here.