The week is over, and boy has it been a long one. I decided to take ALL THREE classes that are offered over the summer, even though the CIEE people advised against it. 9 credit hours in six weeks? I got this. :D I'm just not going to be sleeping much...
But I'm excited. I love my classes, I love the khmai language, and I am meeting lots of really nice, wonderful people. Blue Cacuro is very yummy.
Had wonderful lebanese food for dinner with my friend from CIEE. Had fresh hummus, garlic paste, pita, and delicious little pizzas. Now I'm hanging out at JAVA cafe. It's a love little western style place, kinda fancy, but the people are very nice, and I have made friends with the waitress. Her name is Leia, she is so sweet! I miss my family and my friends, but I know when I leave I will miss this place too. I am slowly getting better at the language everyday, and I feel like I am picking it up fairly quickly, at least more so than I expected.
We tried to go to a fancy japanese resturant yesterday, but it was very expensive, so we decided to go elsewhere... but I enjoyed talking to the waitress in japanese... even if in the end I had to tell her we were going to leave.
Then we found this tiny little sushi place called Mr. Sushi, owned by this funny little japanese man. It was in the lonely planet guide, and it was a great recommendation. SO DELICIOUS.
I had seven hours of class on Wednesday... and most days I have 4-5, which isn't as bad... but so much reading.... So much I haven't done. Ugg. This morning we had a field trip to Udon, which is the town where the capital of the khmer civilization was located after it was moved from the temples at Angkor/Siem Reap. Also, there are these small mountians/large hills that dominate the landscape. On top, there are stupa monuments to all of the previous kings from the past five centuries or so. It was beautiful, and wonderful.. but I was not in the mood for a mountian hike, I feel so out of shape... my legs get tired very easily. But I know its good for me, and I try to not complain much. It was absolutly beautiful!!!! I got some pictures, I'll post them to FB later.
Anyway, I should do some more reading...
More soon!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Long time, no blog...
It's been a while since I posted anything, sorry guys!
We arrived in Phnom Penh late last night. Actually, it was only nine or so, but it felt late. That was one of the longest six hour bus rides over. I couldn't sleep at all. The roads were full of pot holes, and our driver was insane. I watched the newest episode of the doctor last night, and played some BS with my khmer friends, Ratonak, Apple, Vesna, and Hong. :) I'm sad that they aren't staying with us in the hotel anymore... But they have homes here, so that doesnt' make much sense. And we will see them in class, and hopefully out and about. Today is kind of a free day, thus I have time to post. I should be doing some reading, or working on practicing my khmer... but that's okay. I need a break. I've been trying pretty hard to stay caught up. :) We have a TON of reading though.
I had lunch with Mr. Ware and three kids from Rock Bridge yesterday. That was pretty wonderful. Sophoon and John came with us as well. I'm going to miss her here in Phnom Penh... she's so sweet! I hope she does well, since John is going back to the states for Grad School.
I feel really lucky to have the freedom and mobility I do to come here. I feel SOOOO blessed. As the monk who did the water blessing over our group the other day said, maybe I was really good in my past life... But I don't know how I feel about that. That would imply that I believed that people who had hard lives did something to deserve it. I don't know that I think the world is that clean cut. I think plenty of bad things happen to good people who don't deserve it, and plenty of bad people have good lives with no earthly consequences.... So I still have my questions and doubts, even with Buddhism...
I'm thinking about going to get my hair cut with Elle some time this week. There is too much of it to deal with in this hot weather. But if I get it as short as I want to, I wont be able to pull it up anymore... and it will be in my face more than normal.
Hmm...
Anyway, I love Cambodia. I can't really communicate how wonderful it is here. So I'm going to make a list of words that come to mind when I think of Cambodia, that I don't really associate with the US as much. Or at least I associate more with Cambodia. Some might seem negative, but the whole package is what makes it so great!
Giant Mosquitos (mo), Skinny cows, lots of eggs, ducks, chickens, "fuck you" geckos, lizard room buddies, fans, aircon, trash, motos, kind people, smiles, "hey lady, hey lady, you buy?", "boom boom," Linga vs Lingum (what is the plural!??!! It's Latin! No, it's Sanskrit!) Otteh, Awkun (no tuk tuk driver, I do NOT want to go anywhere... How do you say GTFO in khmer?); BS=Bullshit= pile of shit!!... Making fun of how people laugh, hiding from the heat and the torrential rain. Talking Japanese to random japanese tourists. Hong trying to speak japanese. Apple = Pretty lady, Rotonak = Also pretty lady. Rice paddies, mud, giant hats, so many mosquito bites, no books in Khmer, people correcting how to say words you were SURE you were saying right (everyone says everything differently!!), no blankets, one pillow. large puddles, learning to cross the street all over again, strange sounds in the middle of the night (aka dogs howling, babies crying, machines running), loudspeakers everywhere, blasting khmer music. Watching people sing along to khmer pop music, and having no clue whats going on, Hong hogging the kareoke machine, talking about how awesome Queen is (universal truth), cheap DVDs, worrying about whether or not I will be able to import said cheap DVDs... (If they want to take my Star Trek Voyager and Justice League cartoon away... fuck them... :( I can't even get those legally in the states very easily. ) Lots of walking, riding on the back of a moto, crazy bus driver, so much bad American pop music... Getting really excited about non-instant coffee, delicious ice cream,
I'll continue later. :)
Gotta go tour this new city!
We arrived in Phnom Penh late last night. Actually, it was only nine or so, but it felt late. That was one of the longest six hour bus rides over. I couldn't sleep at all. The roads were full of pot holes, and our driver was insane. I watched the newest episode of the doctor last night, and played some BS with my khmer friends, Ratonak, Apple, Vesna, and Hong. :) I'm sad that they aren't staying with us in the hotel anymore... But they have homes here, so that doesnt' make much sense. And we will see them in class, and hopefully out and about. Today is kind of a free day, thus I have time to post. I should be doing some reading, or working on practicing my khmer... but that's okay. I need a break. I've been trying pretty hard to stay caught up. :) We have a TON of reading though.
I had lunch with Mr. Ware and three kids from Rock Bridge yesterday. That was pretty wonderful. Sophoon and John came with us as well. I'm going to miss her here in Phnom Penh... she's so sweet! I hope she does well, since John is going back to the states for Grad School.
I feel really lucky to have the freedom and mobility I do to come here. I feel SOOOO blessed. As the monk who did the water blessing over our group the other day said, maybe I was really good in my past life... But I don't know how I feel about that. That would imply that I believed that people who had hard lives did something to deserve it. I don't know that I think the world is that clean cut. I think plenty of bad things happen to good people who don't deserve it, and plenty of bad people have good lives with no earthly consequences.... So I still have my questions and doubts, even with Buddhism...
I'm thinking about going to get my hair cut with Elle some time this week. There is too much of it to deal with in this hot weather. But if I get it as short as I want to, I wont be able to pull it up anymore... and it will be in my face more than normal.
Hmm...
Anyway, I love Cambodia. I can't really communicate how wonderful it is here. So I'm going to make a list of words that come to mind when I think of Cambodia, that I don't really associate with the US as much. Or at least I associate more with Cambodia. Some might seem negative, but the whole package is what makes it so great!
Giant Mosquitos (mo), Skinny cows, lots of eggs, ducks, chickens, "fuck you" geckos, lizard room buddies, fans, aircon, trash, motos, kind people, smiles, "hey lady, hey lady, you buy?", "boom boom," Linga vs Lingum (what is the plural!??!! It's Latin! No, it's Sanskrit!) Otteh, Awkun (no tuk tuk driver, I do NOT want to go anywhere... How do you say GTFO in khmer?); BS=Bullshit= pile of shit!!... Making fun of how people laugh, hiding from the heat and the torrential rain. Talking Japanese to random japanese tourists. Hong trying to speak japanese. Apple = Pretty lady, Rotonak = Also pretty lady. Rice paddies, mud, giant hats, so many mosquito bites, no books in Khmer, people correcting how to say words you were SURE you were saying right (everyone says everything differently!!), no blankets, one pillow. large puddles, learning to cross the street all over again, strange sounds in the middle of the night (aka dogs howling, babies crying, machines running), loudspeakers everywhere, blasting khmer music. Watching people sing along to khmer pop music, and having no clue whats going on, Hong hogging the kareoke machine, talking about how awesome Queen is (universal truth), cheap DVDs, worrying about whether or not I will be able to import said cheap DVDs... (If they want to take my Star Trek Voyager and Justice League cartoon away... fuck them... :( I can't even get those legally in the states very easily. ) Lots of walking, riding on the back of a moto, crazy bus driver, so much bad American pop music... Getting really excited about non-instant coffee, delicious ice cream,
I'll continue later. :)
Gotta go tour this new city!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Well, it's the monsoon/wet season, so it rains every day or so. but most of the time its just hot and sunny. I managed to get a slight sunburn on the back of my neck yesterday, because I forgot to put sunscreen there. Cold showers are wonderful things in this weather...The evenings and mornings are the best, with the tropical breeze and smells and birds and frogs and bugs all humming... :D
Orientation was amusing. We have a professor who degrees from Standford, University of Chicago, Grottenburg in Sweden, and University of Hawaii. He was the first Khmer person to get a bright flight scholarship, and he's really fun and nice and awesome. The white guy in charge of our program is kind of an offensive dumbass... He's quiet and shy, and nervous. I think he needs some valum or something. He gave the safety talk today, and went on for an hour and a half about all kinds of horrible things that could maybe possibly (very unlikely) happen. Like, you can't tell girls to NOT carry purses. Everyone carries purses. There is a right and a wrong way to do it, but I didn't trust his advice at all. He was not knowledgeable, or friendly. He seems to be a nervous wreck. It was ridiculous, just to try to scare people... I don't like people like that, who worry excessively...We could all tell that Dr. Sedara was offended, but he took it really well, saying that he had to say that sort of stuff because it's the crap the state department says, and insurance and blah blah. It's a bad job, but I guess someone has to be the annoying worry wort.
But the intro to Khmer language was fun, and we got two free meals today at really nice places, so that was awesome. I've decided Fish Amok and Khmer curry and Sour Soup are all delicious!! I love the food here!
Tomorrow we have our first full day of classes/a little more orientation stuff. We had dinner with students from the local Khmer university, and they were very nice! Some of the guys kept awkwardly whispering and it was amusing. I wish I could have understood what ridiculous things they were saying to one another. So much awkward and amusing.
I have made friends with one of the young ladies who works at our guesthouse. She's so nice and we have been helping each other with languages. She helps me with Khmae, and I help her with english. It's so much fun!! Her name is Sokham. We briefly met our khmer teacher, and his english is impeccable! I'm excited to take his class, I think he will really know what he is doing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to audit the Nations Building class, and take the Khmer class for credit.
I hope this is a good decision. And I stay as excited about the language as I am now. I love learning in the real, natural setting. It's so much better than in a classroom... but now I will have both!
Orientation was amusing. We have a professor who degrees from Standford, University of Chicago, Grottenburg in Sweden, and University of Hawaii. He was the first Khmer person to get a bright flight scholarship, and he's really fun and nice and awesome. The white guy in charge of our program is kind of an offensive dumbass... He's quiet and shy, and nervous. I think he needs some valum or something. He gave the safety talk today, and went on for an hour and a half about all kinds of horrible things that could maybe possibly (very unlikely) happen. Like, you can't tell girls to NOT carry purses. Everyone carries purses. There is a right and a wrong way to do it, but I didn't trust his advice at all. He was not knowledgeable, or friendly. He seems to be a nervous wreck. It was ridiculous, just to try to scare people... I don't like people like that, who worry excessively...We could all tell that Dr. Sedara was offended, but he took it really well, saying that he had to say that sort of stuff because it's the crap the state department says, and insurance and blah blah. It's a bad job, but I guess someone has to be the annoying worry wort.
But the intro to Khmer language was fun, and we got two free meals today at really nice places, so that was awesome. I've decided Fish Amok and Khmer curry and Sour Soup are all delicious!! I love the food here!
Tomorrow we have our first full day of classes/a little more orientation stuff. We had dinner with students from the local Khmer university, and they were very nice! Some of the guys kept awkwardly whispering and it was amusing. I wish I could have understood what ridiculous things they were saying to one another. So much awkward and amusing.
I have made friends with one of the young ladies who works at our guesthouse. She's so nice and we have been helping each other with languages. She helps me with Khmae, and I help her with english. It's so much fun!! Her name is Sokham. We briefly met our khmer teacher, and his english is impeccable! I'm excited to take his class, I think he will really know what he is doing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to audit the Nations Building class, and take the Khmer class for credit.
I hope this is a good decision. And I stay as excited about the language as I am now. I love learning in the real, natural setting. It's so much better than in a classroom... but now I will have both!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Just What it looks like.
Statue of Elephants having sex. I think I need this in my life. This was the only one we found in the whole market, and Jack and I were very amused. I may have to go back and buy it later, but for now, the picture is amazing. 
Froggy on the MOEx bus at 5:30 am on Sunday June 5th. He's ready for this adventure.
Mountains on the coast of Seoul, South Korea. The view from take off was very beautiful! I didn't get a window seat coming in, sadly, but I got on one the way out.
Sunset over the Yellow Sea, on the Coast of South Korea. So pretty.
Froggy was so much more ready for this five hour flight than I was. I passed out and slept most of it. Which was good I guess. I didn't sleep much last night, when we finally got here, but I feel fine. So it's all good. :)
My roomate, Ashlee, from WashU, in the Tuk-Tuk with me. A Tuk-Tuk is a cart attached to a motorbike. Kind of like the Shakespears Pizza Bicycle guy. One of the main forms of transportation, rather than taxi. Much cheaper. They only want tip, no charge!
A home or abandoned lot thing near our hotel.
There are beautiful flowers everywhere! More pictures to come. Also the Tiger Beer umbrellas are everywhere. These people love their local beer. Angkor is the Cambodian Beer, Tiger is a Thai beer. I haven't tried them yet, probably should... but I don't like beer. :/
Monday, June 6, 2011
In South Korean Airport
Yay, South Korea. It's about five here I think, and our flight leaves at 7:20, so we've got some time. It's fun to hear snipits of Japanese here and there. I think I'm going to go look at books and noms, see if I can find anything fun. I'm exhausted and have a headache, but the worst is over with, I hope. < 3
Friday, June 3, 2011
Srs buznez.
Enough of the drama. Time to get serious. Today is Friday, I leave at 4:30am on Sunday morning. My dad is driving me to the MOEx station.
Going away party went off mostly without a hitch yesterday, and now I am trying to decided which bags I want to take with me. I have a larger suitcase, a smaller suitcase, a backpacking bag, and a backpack. I haven't started stuffing things in them yet, but they are all in my apartment and ready for stuffing. So that is progress.
I still need to clean out my art stuff from the sculpture studio, I am have a brunch date with Samy soonish, a movie date with Nate at three, and the time between is for packing. Tomorrow I'm going to hang out with Louis and likely get my stuff out of art. And go to bed at a reasonable time. Or maybe just not sleep? Probably not the best plan. Then I'm OUTTA HERE.
Taxes are done, FAFSA is done, stuff for apartment is signed and shortly will be turned in. WHOOO. So much less stress, and it wasn't even worth all the stress. It wasn't that hard. Note to future self, freak out less about silly things.
I need to finish making important phone calls, like figuring out if they are going to charge me for checking luggage, and how much, and for how many bags, etc. So that is a call to the travel agent. Then I just got off the phone with Molly from CIEE about various things such as payment, luggage, and cell phones.
APPARENTLY I will be able to use my phone over there in theory. Phone calls are outrageous at $3.49 per minute, but at least in emergencies I can make them. Texts are much cheaper at a reasonable $0.35 to send, and I THINK $0 to receive. So text me guys! :D Or they might be $0.20, which is much less fun. Note the in theory. I really shouldn't use my phone that much over there. I need to break myself of the obsession anyway. I'm going half way around the world, I want to mentally also be half way around the world. That's kind of the point of going there physically, despite technologies' attempts to "keep me connected." Blah. I want to fall off the planet for a few months, so sue me. ;)
Lets see, important phone calls, packing...
Also, I hope my tooth is okay. I got it drilled and filled the other day, and it's been a little sore. I don't know if that's normal sore or weird sore. I only really noticed it when I drank some cold lollicup the other day.... So I'm thinking its just sensitive from the surgery. IDK. It worries me a little, so I'm going to call Dr. Fuchs and make sure.
Uh. Star Trek DS9 is awesome. :D
Also I will now be able to get the last doctor episode for the spring season before I leave in theory, which is exciting. I will have doctor to watch on the plane! I also need to do computer things, like move junk to my hard drive and update my ipod, etc.
But I don't know if all of these things will get done. Just hope so. :)
Going away party went off mostly without a hitch yesterday, and now I am trying to decided which bags I want to take with me. I have a larger suitcase, a smaller suitcase, a backpacking bag, and a backpack. I haven't started stuffing things in them yet, but they are all in my apartment and ready for stuffing. So that is progress.
I still need to clean out my art stuff from the sculpture studio, I am have a brunch date with Samy soonish, a movie date with Nate at three, and the time between is for packing. Tomorrow I'm going to hang out with Louis and likely get my stuff out of art. And go to bed at a reasonable time. Or maybe just not sleep? Probably not the best plan. Then I'm OUTTA HERE.
Taxes are done, FAFSA is done, stuff for apartment is signed and shortly will be turned in. WHOOO. So much less stress, and it wasn't even worth all the stress. It wasn't that hard. Note to future self, freak out less about silly things.
I need to finish making important phone calls, like figuring out if they are going to charge me for checking luggage, and how much, and for how many bags, etc. So that is a call to the travel agent. Then I just got off the phone with Molly from CIEE about various things such as payment, luggage, and cell phones.
APPARENTLY I will be able to use my phone over there in theory. Phone calls are outrageous at $3.49 per minute, but at least in emergencies I can make them. Texts are much cheaper at a reasonable $0.35 to send, and I THINK $0 to receive. So text me guys! :D Or they might be $0.20, which is much less fun. Note the in theory. I really shouldn't use my phone that much over there. I need to break myself of the obsession anyway. I'm going half way around the world, I want to mentally also be half way around the world. That's kind of the point of going there physically, despite technologies' attempts to "keep me connected." Blah. I want to fall off the planet for a few months, so sue me. ;)
Lets see, important phone calls, packing...
Also, I hope my tooth is okay. I got it drilled and filled the other day, and it's been a little sore. I don't know if that's normal sore or weird sore. I only really noticed it when I drank some cold lollicup the other day.... So I'm thinking its just sensitive from the surgery. IDK. It worries me a little, so I'm going to call Dr. Fuchs and make sure.
Uh. Star Trek DS9 is awesome. :D
Also I will now be able to get the last doctor episode for the spring season before I leave in theory, which is exciting. I will have doctor to watch on the plane! I also need to do computer things, like move junk to my hard drive and update my ipod, etc.
But I don't know if all of these things will get done. Just hope so. :)
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