And I Ate.....

Last night I ate snake on a stick.  Thats right, I ate snake on a stick with the bones and all.  Nick and I were going to eat tarantula, but the bug cart didn't have any so I had to settle for snake on a stick.  Once I get a hold of the evidence, I will post the photos on here, so stay tuned.

Singapore!!!!!!!

I just returned from an adventure packed 48 hours in Singapore. What an awesome city. Ten adjectives to describe Singapore: immaculate, fun, green, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, expensive, delicious, convenient, fashionable, fantabulous! I think that about says it all. We flew into Singapore on Thursday afternoon. Talk about culture shock! Even the public transportation there is clean. It doesn't smell like pee or anything. It was raining when we got in so we spent the afternoon wandering around a nearby mall, marveling at all the delicious food :) That evening we headed out to the PiA party. It was so much fun. It was at a swank wine bar and there was free wine and hors d'oeuvre. Sadly the food did not cut for three eaters like us, so after the party we hit up a 24-hrs McDonalds. Sadly, it was as bad as I remember it being in the states.

Friday we woke up early to explore the city. Kyle and I got up at 6:45, as planned, but Mike didn't think we would actually get up, so he slept in for two extra hours! We finally got out of the hostel and had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausages...Yummy. We spent most of the day just walking around taking in the sights. We went to Chinatown and a woman who had a calligraphy stand asked me if I could take a her picture for her brochure. One picture turned into many pictures and we had ourselves a regular old photoshoot. As a thank you she painted my name for half-price. I walked around some more and went back to retrieve my name and she had me take even more photos of her. I felt bad for Mike and Kyle they had to wait around, while the woman decided whether she liked her smile in each of the pictures I took..hahaha!

After walking around all day, we changed and went to watch a Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert. We were so close to missing it. They were just closing the doors when we showed up and we had to run to get to our seats. It was a really good concert. Even though I was exhausted I stayed awake for the whole thing. There was a cellist who played an amazing solo. After the concert we sat down by the water and then spent the next two hours hunting for food. We finally just went to a little place on the corner near the hostel and had delicious chicken, curry and rice for super cheap. I knew the restaurant had to be good cause there was a line out the door at 11:30 at night. We wanted to go out, but had to pack and get some sleep cause our plane left at 6:45 this morning. When I got home, I was so tired I took a four hour nap. I could probably have slept all day.

I almost died.... but not really and Jackie Chan

I just had to tell everyone what happened to me last night. I went to plug my fan into the multiplug in my bedroom, being very careful because the plastic around the wires was starting to come off and I had already been electrocuted once, and as I put the plug into the socket there was explosion of sparks and the lights went off. I then had to take my cellphone and feel my way around the apartment to find the circuit box (i think thats what its called). Turns out the whole plug blew off the end of the cord while I was holding on to it. Very traumatic :) On the upside, I had a legit excuse to use my air con....FABULOUS. Gotta buy a new fan tonight :(

Oh yeah, on a totally random note, Jackie Chan is speaking at UC today and I get to go. I am not really sure what he is gonna talk about. Hopefully he will break something or drop someone... that would be so awesome! Yesterday I heard he sang for an audience, but sadly I had neither tickets nor time to go to that performance. I've heard there is free food today, so you know I will be there. Let you know how it goes!

The Water Festival: A Day at the Races

Tuesday I finally was able to drag myself down to the Water Festival. The Water Festival is the biggest yearly celebration in Cambodia. It marks the changing of the flow of the Tonle Sap river. The Tonle Sap, I think, is the only river that changes the direction it flows. Crazy right? So every year Cambodians from all over the country descend upon Phnom Penh for three days of celebration. I was being something of a recluse, because the city was so busy. The mornings aren't so bad, but by the time night rolls around its hard to even walk down the street. So Tuesday I made it down to the river front to watch the last day of the boat races. It was pretty cool. They race in long canoe like boats and there are about 60 guys paddling. They haul balls. So I sat on the water front in the "foreigner area" for a couple hours. It was kind of weird to be set apart from everyone else, but at the same time nice I didn't have to worry about pick-pocketers.

I finally had to leave the Water Festival to go visit Pheng at his temple. On my way there it started to poor. I showed up at the pagoda soaking wet, which was pretty awesome. After getting questioned on my marital status and age by a random old man, Pheng and I had an informal English/Khmer lesson that turned into a lesson on Buddhism. The entire time I was at the temple it was pouring outside and by the time I went to leave my shoes were soaked and it was dark out. The old woman who sleeps in the temple kept insisting that I stay the night. I eventually convinced that 7pm was not too late to be wading through calf deep water, and she let me go on the condition that I take her grandson's poncho (even though it was no longer raining). I put the poncho on and it smelled AWESOME. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Pictures from Battambang

Battambang

As some of you may know, I spent the last week in Battambang, a Cambodian province.  I had to go for work, but Mike, Kyle and I went up Friday night so that we could explore a little bit.  The bus ride was cold, but uneventful...well, I did lose my crappy cellphone.  Saturday was pretty mellow we mostly just walked around the city and napped.  I think we were all a little tired from the week.

Sunday was much more exciting.  In the morning, we were supposed to go kayaking on the river.  We
caught a tuk-tuk out to the kayaking place, which was about 5 miles outside of town.  We showed up and the place looked really empty.  However, the tuk-tuk driver assured us that someone was there and left.  Of course no one was there and of course we didn't have the number of either the tuk-tuk driver or the guide, so we had to walk back to town in the middle of the day.  Luckily, someone saw us and called our guide and he came and picked us up after about 40 minutes.  Things definitely improved in the afternoon though.  We rented motobikes to drive out Wat Banon, an old temple located outside of Battambang city.  It was so much fun.  I didn't crash once and even went like 50 kph (31mph)!  I'm so ready to get a motorcycle :)  The wat was really cool too.  It is located on the top of a hill.  You have to climb 300 odd steps to get to the top, which kinda sucked, but then I saw a little old lady walking down the steps and figured if she could make it up than I had better too.

During the week, I met with a number of interesting NGOs and individuals who are working in Battambang province.  It was nice to meet with people who are actually implementing projects, they usually have a slightly different perspective.  Wednesday we were invited to visit the village learning centers of Bahai organization.  Their objective is to teach morality through English...quite interesting.  The road to the village was a little rough in a tuk-tuk; I almost bounced out a couple times.  The kids at the centers were adorable...of course.  On Thursday, we went to the Catholic church in town to hunt down a jesuit priest that many people had mentioned.   We weren't disappointed.  The man was extremely insightful and very forward thinking.  That afternoon I met with another priest who was equally interesting.  Everyone there was so nice.  I spent the afternoon hanging out with the kids, all land mine victims, who live on the church grounds and in the evening I was lucky enough to watch them perform classic Cambodian dances with the children from another Catholic church in the area.  The kids, about 50 of them, are preparing for a trip to South Korea where they will perform.

I headed back to Phnom Penh on Friday.  I was sad to leave Battambang, because it is much quieter and greener than Phnom Penh, but I was excited to have clean clothes.  I was also sad that I didn't get to meet up with Phasy's, a former student, family.  Hopefully I will make it back and be able to speak Khmer (fingers crossed).  The language acquisition is going slowly.  There are so many characters and sounds to learn, but I am determined to succeed.

p.s.  more pics to be posted soon, it takes me awhile to upload them.

I ate.....

Last night I went out to eat with some friends and I am very proud to report that I ate not one, but three pieces of cow tongue.  Yes, that is right I put cow tongue in my mouth :)  The first bite I had tasted awful, because I dipped the tongue in some mysterious sauce I was given.  Of course, after eating it, Kyle told me it was made from fermented fish.  We all know how I feel about fish :( so you can only imagine how I feel like ground up fermented fish sauce...blah!  Just thinking about it now makes me feel a little ill.  The cow tongue on its own wasn't that bad.  Its not as chewy as a I thought it would be.  It tasted a little bit like what a wet dog smells like, but not strong enough to make it gross.  I'm still working up the courage to eat a tarantula.  Bandol told me that the legs are fine, but the body is kind of like eating a gusher.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Perhaps I will just eat the legs.  I will keep you posted.

My former students rock

The title of the post says it all.  Check it out  http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/drumrollnow-the-half-the-sky-contest/?apage=27#comment-150547

Happy Constitution Day

Hello again.  I just found this picture on my camera and thought I should share it just in case you wanted to know how sick I was :)  Although, I was able to move my hands again by the time this picture was taken.  I actually think I look better than I felt...teehee.  My favorite part of the ordeal was when the night nurse came on.  The first thing he did was come up to me and asks me if I was healthy enough to go home.  Now maybe its me, but I always expect the health professional to tell me when I am healthy enough to go.  I had to inform the nurse that I wasn't supposed to leave until my temperature dropped under 38 degrees C.  He then told me it was hard to control fever when you have Dengue which, of course, I did not have.  Hmmm....should I have been nervous?

Yesterday was a national holiday, Constitution Day, which meant no work.  Hurray!  I was finally able to make it to Pheng's (pronounced pang) temple.  Pheng is my monk friend and go to for all questions about Buddhism.  He's been a monk for 14 years, half his life.  I had planned on visiting the wat earlier, but I was struck down by illness.  I arrived at Wat Srah Chok in the afternoon.  I was sitting in  Pheng's room when I was told I was "perspiring."  Gotta love honesty.  I had to inform him that I never stop perspiring in Cambodia, which is why I drink lots of water.  I don't know how Cambodians do it.  They almost never sweat.  I see girls wearing sweatshirts, beanies, long pants, socks, everything and not a bead of sweat to be found.  You would think that by now my body would have adjusted, but no.  Oops I'm ranting.  Anyways, I was sad that I did not get a chance to poke around the wat while I was there, because it stared raining (of course), and monks tend to avoid the rain.  Perhaps next time I will get the grand tour.  Instead I spent four hours discussing Buddhism and Cambodian Buddhism.  Now when I say discuss I really mean I asked a million questions :)  It is interesting to hear everything from a monks perspective.  However, I did contribute by impressing the monks with my enormous height and by talking about my brother who is two meters tall.  I must say after my afternoon at the wat I heart monks even more than I did before.  All the monks I have met so far have been so nice and they always smile, my kind of people.  After the temple, I finished off my day with some bomb tacos and a couple Angkors with a friend.  All and all, I would say it was a pretty good Constitution day.

The rumors are true: I am blogging again

Before I get started, I must dedicate this, my first post in Phnom Penh, to the lovely Margaret Allison.  If not for her, this post may not have ever happened.  Ok, now that that is out of the way we can begin.  I’ve been living in Phnom Penh for about six weeks now and so much has happened already.  The first two weeks were a crazy whirlwind of activity.  My first day here I interviewed a socially engaged monk and had dinner with one of the princes of Cambodia.  I met tons of people working in the development field.  I realized that I have A LOT to learn about development and Buddhism.  I suppose that I couldn’t possible fit six weeks worth of adventures in one blog, so I will use on of my favorite tool…. bullet points!  So far I have (not in chronological order):

• dined with royalty
• made friends with a monk
• found an apartment
• eaten some really good food
• eaten some not so good food
• gotten seriously ill and had to go to the clinic, because I lost feeling in my hands, feet and face (not cool)
• been dragged across the street during rush hour by a motodriver, because I couldn't make it across on my own
• gotten completely soaked my the sporadic torrential downpours
• become addicted to The Office (i know, random)
• got a pet bunny
• had my pet bunny die
• heard some incredible life stories
• met the Cambodian love doctor
• showed up late for the Pchum Ben festivities and only got to see monks sweeping up garbage
• gotten locked out of the gym wearing a bikini and towel, had to call the manager and wait someone to come and unlock the door

Hmmm...I think that about covers it.  I haven't taken any pictures yet (bad Auggie).  I am hoping that my roomie will and then I will just steal his.  In the next couple weeks, I hope to make it out to the provinces  to interview people there.  I am excited, because I don't think Phnom Penh is real Cambodia.  It blows my mind that Phnom Penh and Chittagong are on the same continent.  It seems like they are on different planets.  Ok, I need nourishment.  Stay posted for some more detailed descriptions.  Byeeeeee.