A few days have passed since my last entry, and the big milestone is that I went my first full day without napping yesterday and actually woke up to my alarm clock rather than using it as an indicator of when I can stop staring at the ceiling as I try to fall back to sleep. The advantage of not being completely adjusted, however, was that, when you get up at 5 everyday, the mornings last forever. By two in the afternoon, it already feels like it should be time for dinner.
Actually, the naps have been conveniently timed since it downpours about every afternoon. We’re in the rainy season until the end of October, which actually seems pretty pleasant. It’s not like rain at home where it’s overcast for the whole day. Instead, it’s incredibly sunny and puffy-clouded all day, and then you can literally see the storm rolling into the city as these intensely dark gray clouds come in. It’s photographically great because the sun is usually still out until right when it starts, so the light against the dark sky is really cool. Plus, it usually passes through quickly, which gives everything an aesthetically appealing sheen when the sun comes back out. The actual rain comes down in buckets, but even then, you can still always see blue sky somewhere if you look for it.
Since classes don’t start until next week, I’ve had two staff meetings but have otherwise been able to take the week to get to know the city a lot better. Just having some time to walk around and see sites in different areas of the city and talking with people that I’m meeting has been really helpful in being able to get a better sense of the city. I’ve got a much better sense of where things are, and I can picture what an area’s like when I look at a street map or when someone tells me where in the city it is, even if I still don’t know the names of many places. On my own, I’ve gone to the Cambodian National Museum and the neighboring royal palace, which was very impressive. And I’ve met up with someone through Brendan from his Khmer classes this past summer who’s in town for the week, and we’ve been touring around to different parts of the city everyday, seeing everything from Wat Phnom (the temple on the one hill in the entire city where the city was supposedly started - “phnom” means hill in Khmai (also the way to say Khmer in that language is Khmai)) to Central Market.
It’s been nice to have someone to travel around with, and I’ve found that the best thing to do right now is to mooch off of other people’s ideas. Since he’s studied the culture and city in classes, often Justin has ideas of what sites he wants to see, so I’ve checked them out with him. The other teachers at the university have been helpful in describing what areas have which characteristics in my apartment search. When she found out I was going to be here for a year, someone at the guest house that I met and who has spent a lot of time here gave me the name, number, and address of a doctor who is supposed to be much better than the ones that most people go to and know of when they’re here for only a short time. From another expat, I’ve learned that you are supposed to clink glasses with two hands when toasting (one holding the glass and one under the base). Being exposed to all of these different people over this past week has been helpful in learning about the place and really settling in. Plus, at the Central Market that I went to with Justin, I’ve been able to start building up my collection of bootleg DVDs and have already started scoping out the Cambodian t-shirt collection, so what more could I ask for? Life is good.
Right now, latching on to other people’s ideas has been really helpful. The expat scene here is an interesting cultural phenomenon in itself. I think I’m going to want to be a little less in the middle of it as time goes on, but it’s been useful and enjoyable for now. I’ve met quite a number of permanent nomads who are here for a month or a year but who haven’t been “home” for years. Most expats seem to be from Australia, with a share of New Zealanders, UKers, and some Americans (who interestingly seem to me to blend in way more). Some are weird and some pretty interesting (and not as weird), but many have interesting and inspiring stories that they can share. I’ve learned about Buddhism from a university researcher in that field, I’ve heard about a surreal visit to North Korea, and I’ve learned about a growing AIDS prevention program. The area that I’m staying in right now is a heavily NGO-oriented area, so it’s not uncommon to see Peace Corps, Unicef, or Red Cross Land Cruisers parked along the streets. Additionally, about every other face is non-Cambodian, which feels a little bit strange. Also, many of the restaurants around here are slightly nicer, are a little bit pricier ($3-$4 for a meal), and have English and Khmai menus. It’s been a good way to settle in, but I was also happy when I found a non-menu restaurant with no foreigners but packed with Cambodians this past Wed. It felt way more authentic, and the family that ran it went way out of their way to take care of me. Not that the people in other places haven’t been extremely welcoming, but the fact that foreigners are common at the other ones certainly dulls your uniqueness while this one felt more like a local place where they were delighted to have me. It felt much more like an experience in itself rather than just a place where I got food.
In general, there’s not the chopstick culture of places like China or Japan. Even in this local place, everyone was eating with spoons and forks (still no knives). And most places give you both and let you decide. Here, though, as soon as I sat down, they took the mug full of silverware off the table and came back with a spoon and fork in a cup of boiling water to ensure its cleanliness. I noticed that they took care of me in this way the whole time I was there and didn’t repeat it for anyone else. Granted, it was already hot out, they served me tea, I was eating cooked food, and then they topped it off by giving me medal utensils that had just come out of boiling water.
Anyway, to finally get to the subject line of this blog, the same day that I found this local lunch place, me, Brendan, and Justin also went to a local beer garden/outdoor dinner place in the neighborhood where people walked around to the tables selling various parts of the meal. Justin understood that one girl was asking if we wanted spiders. We both decided that, when in Cambodia… Anyway, needless to say, they were not the deep fried mini ones that I was expecting to be able to put in my mouth in one bite and just swallow quickly. Instead, they were deep fried tarantulas measuring about 4 inches in length. I ate some legs, and now I can say I did it. It was a cultural experience, and I have a picture to prove it.