apparently, it's february.

It really is, it's February! Which is nuts, man, just nuts!  The arrival of the shortest month passed me by, literally, as I spent the day biking about 100 kilometers (60 miles) to nearby Kampot town.  We had a holiday from school due to the 100 day funeral and cremation of the King Father, Sihanouk. 

Our original plan for the weekend included what might be our final trip to Siem Reap before we had home later this year, but that was derailed when we were given a travel restriction through Phnom Penh.  The capital city was expecting a couple million people for the funeral, making movement around the city nearly impossible.

So instead we opted to bike, once again, to Kampot.

I don't know why.

It's a beast of a trip, and I can officially declare that I may not be built for long distance biking.

We stopped a number of times, including the one documented here, which was about stop #5 for us, when we were about 10 kilometers outside of our destination.

I. Was. Beat.

But the rewards of the trip are immediately visible when I sat down to this breakfast Saturday morning:


A book, pancakes with real butter, and a coca cola.  Yeppers, pretty much my definition of satisfaction.

I am really going to miss these pumpkin pancakes!

Sunday involved more eating and lounging and not working on the beast of a grant proposal that I am preparing for our second Camp GLOW, which was a poor decision in terms of time management, but a great decision in terms of general weekend enjoyment!

Monday dawned bright and early (for Chris, who woke up in time to see the entire first half) as we sat down to enjoy the Superbowl!  This game was the bee's knees for me, as I've officially decided that the Ravens are my team.  Which sounds so very bandwagon-y, but really, I've been defending Bmore for years (Charm City, baby!), so it's only appropriate that I fully embrace all aspects of the town's sports.  So, go purple it shall forevermore be from me!

I didn't bring a purple shirt with me to Cambodia, so a purple headband had to suffice.  Chris was far too interested in the actual game to be concerned about showing colors, but he was rooting for the winners for the majority of the game (halfway through, muttering something about wanting it to be more exciting? well, got your wish, didn't you sir Topher?!).

And, I mean, Beyonce? And DESTINY'S CHILD? Made. My. Life. It really did.

And even though the next two images are blurry, my hardcore football fan-ness should be noted because:

A) I even had purple nail polish!;

2) I ordered bacon and cheese potato skins for breakfast (it was 8:30 AM!) instead of waiting to go get more pumpkin pancakes, just so the whole thing could have a Superbowl party feel; 

and

C) there was no book in sight. No book, I tell you!

Bring it on, February! I may not have much disposable money left after that delicious weekend, but I'm ready!

and that was the weekend!

As I mentioned in my previous post, this weekend held a few big events.  One of these was a float along the Mekong River (something we've done a few times before) with the Acting Director of Peace Corps, the Regional Director of our EMA region and the White House Liaison to the Peace Corps.  Pretty fantastic to meet three stellar, intelligent women and witness a gorgeous sunset.

The Friday before, I attended the wedding of one of Chris' students from the English class he teaches at the Ministry of Planning with our friend and Khmer tutor, Thany.  She looked gorgeous in her traditional wedding shirt and sampot- that yellow made me wish I hadn't stuck with boring white when I made my shirt 18 months ago!

Khmer weddings typically happen at home (infographic comparing weddings coming soon!), and this was no exception.  Except the groom's home is HUGE and clearly quite new.  Not exactly your typical wooden house, it is stone and stucco. The beautiful three level home's yard served as a seating area for guests.

 There is always music at a Khmer wedding, and a live 'orchestra' if it can be afforded!  The orchestra typically includes at least one male singer and at least three female.  This one featured six women and one man, who sang to live music the entire evening.

 You can also see how tables are set with drinks and plates ready to go for guests to be seated.  All ten guests have to be seated before plates (which are typically wrapped in plastic) can be opened, ice can be served and food can be eaten.

 I don't think I'll ever get tired of taking silly self shots in tuk tuks while traipsing around Phnom Penh.  Though, it's safe to say that Topher is pretty much over them, though he continues to humor me.

 Lastly, this weekend was also the 100 day mark since the former King Sihanouk passed away, and 20,000 monks gathered at the Royal Palace to pray for the King's spirit.  They were amassing all along the main roads in Phnom Penh as we made our way to the boat on Saturday evening.  The sea of orange was quite a sight.

All in all, a great weekend! Cheers to Monday!

like a goldfish

I have now officially seen the Taylor Lautner "thriller" Abduction thrice on Asian HBO.

There are a number of things I have come to realize about myself and my life because of these viewings:

1. I can recognize Dermot Mulroney's voice within three words, and every single time I always wonder where that scar came from.  I imagine a variety of scenarios, ranging from a baseball sliding-into-home accident when he was in little league, to a knife fight in a bowling alley a la Grease 2.  I could easily look it up, methinks, because "Dermot Mulroney scar" was the second thing that pre-populated Google as I typed his name to ensure I was spelling it correctly.  But it's a just a little better, not knowing, you know?  I like the mystery of it all.

B. I haven't decided my thoughts on Taylor Lautner yet.

3. Okay, so I think I still like Zac Efron as a teenage idol more.  He can sing and all. But he doesn't have those muscles?  And Taylor always seems to be squinting into the sun? Which makes him a bit more mysterious, less boy-next-door, like Zac? And I don't think Taylor would ever try to pull off skinny jeans, which speaks to my soul and impresses the teenaged girl living inside my movie-selecting-hypothalamus-gland.

D.  The girl in the movie and her bangs sent me into a deep spiral of eyebrow hatred for approximately one week, culminating in me declaring to Topher that I'm pretty sure I've waxed and plucked my eyebrows into such submission that I'll never get to have those Brooke Shield-like eyebrows that I so deplored in seventh grade but now secretly kind of want back, I mean, a few days a week at least.  And I'm a bit sad about all that there, which led me to ask Topher:

Do you think my eyebrows are too skinny, and do you like my eyebrows even a little bit at all?

To which he said:
Your eyebrows? I don't even notice them.  Unless that left one gets that little tuft that it sometimes does and makes them all uneven looking.

You can envision the wail that my hypothalamus gland let loose after that, oh yes I bet you can.

(I'm still moving on from this eyebrow episode.  Good thoughts for my speedy recovery are welcomed and shall be returned equally so upon the commencement of your next very own physical appearance non-freakout, as dictated by the whomever-therefore-reads-my-blog-clearly-cares-for-my-ramblings-and-I-shall-care-in-return-unto-them guidelines and rules.)

All of this to say, that you're probably asking how one has the time to wonder so deeply about one's eyebrows?

Too which I say, when you've been mysteriously ill for three weeks and have a hotel room to yourself for a weekend in which you are attempting to convince your body to provide all the necessary...items for your medical officer to attempt to diagnose you, you have have a lot of time.

And so.

You also do things like:

A. Make ridiculous lists like the preceding one, and this one, too.

2. Spread out every article you brought on your adventure onto every available surface so that when your husband shows up so that you don't have to spend the entire weekend alone, he says, for the thousandth time since you met nine years ago, "you're just like a goldfish, expanding to the space that you're given!"  To which you reply "when in Rome!" which is the universally acknowledged non sequitur a wife is to use in reply to all statements ever made by silly Tophers and husbands alike.

C. Spend hours thinking about how you seem to have lost your quest for perfection, a fatal flaw that has dogged you since birth.  This occurs in the moment wherein you realize you don't actually need to achieve the best language score ever! Especially in a language you enjoy speaking, but one that will likely very rarely ever again be useful to you.  This, in turn, becomes a realization that renders one of your Thirty before 30 goals essentially nonsensical, causing you to question what you're doing on this little corner of the internet anyway? Until you realize, who cares! You write this for you and that cute little kid with blue eyes that you dreamed about the other day that left a strange feeling in your arms when you woke up! Huzzah!

4. Realize that your desire to give up seeking perfection falls more in line with your Ravenclaw self (knowledge for knowledge's sake! seek out the interesting and don't be afraid to be your oddsboddikins self!) than your Slytherin one (achieve greatness at any cost!), causing you to sorrowfully relinquish your ties to said Slytherin Pottermore account.  You give a mournful prayer in honor of both your former JD-PhD-CEO-seeking-self and your attempts at even pretending you were somewhat of an adult.

Finally, it should be noted that a weekend alone in a hotel room means that you get to turn your air conditioner up really high, wear a hoodie with awesome thumb holes so no cold air can enter!, climb into bed sans-pants-but-with-hoodie and watch Abduction all over again and then type up a seemingly important blog post that is actually a delicious essay about nothing in particular, except to say:

so this is where I am and how I'm doing so far this new year.

How are you?

2012: October, November, December, The End!

This whole writing 4 posts because I really wanted to end the year with a nice round number of posts was just silly. Just plain silly.

Chris and I are currently watching Asian CNN, which is delayed half an hour, to watch the ball drop.  Which mostly means that we've been watching far too much Kathy Griffiths and Anderson Cooper attempts at humor, but really mostly making me feel very, very sad for the state of television.

On that same note, I somehow made it through the entire year without ever hearing about this poor little girl Honey Boo Boo until she was interviewed by Anderson and Kathy.  Then I had to Google that shiz, and oh my word?! What is this?  I don't understand.

So, let's finish this up. It's almost midnight there, and as this blog is still set to Eastern Standard Time (refusing to let some things go, even seventeen months later), so let's get 'er done!

............

October.

 October was a month of birthdays! I celebrated mine a number of times, it seems.  I wrote about all the things I've learned in my 27 years on earth, which, if you glance at it quickly, is seemingly a great exercise in narcissism as it's basically a dozen pictures of me.

We celebrated Pchum Ben for the second time, this time with our host family.  We also celebrated one year of life as official Peace Corps Volunteers with champagne and pumpkin bread (an excuse to learn to make easy caramel sauce and eat a lot of it.)

I got into a bus accident, but all was well, and I got serious when discussing the state of women here in Cambodia, and how much I fear the negative and unintended impacts of voluntourism. Also, I was far less serious for the majority of the month.

November.

Kisses to November. Good month, November.

I wrote a post every single day in November. This made for some interesting posts, and some other ones that are mostly filler that I probably shouldn't link to.

We watched the returns of the presidential election in our home, on this little screen, with this fan cooling us off. We were very happy with the outcome. I also chipped my tooth. Chris wanted to know why we take pictures of ourselves in mirrors. I captured an entire day in the life here.

November was absolutely the month of food. I have more pictures of food than anything else in this month.  Our biggest accomplishment was making Thanksgiving dinner for 100 peeps.

We spent the end of November preparing for our second Christmas here, in an attempt to make me far less sad and dejected than I was last year.

December.

 This month, we ran a race at Angkor Wat.  I somewhat did a daily reflection challenge. I shared why I was incredibly sad in May (and still get twinges of sadness), and asked you what your "drink" is.  I basically summed up the reasons why I lie awake at night, unable to stop my braining from thinking all the futures in all the worlds, and the success of my Camp GLOW.

We spent Christmas in Kampot and with friends. It was a wonderful holiday season.

.....

So kisses to you friends!  Here's to what I hope was a wonderful 2012 for you, too!

2012: June, July, August and September

June. And then it was June! We had long awaited June because it meant the arrival of my parents and school break time!

My mother and father met my host mother and I spent the evening translating back and forth between my two mothers. 

We visited our favorite place together, Kampot, and headed to the beach at Kep for the last few days of their visit. Prior to that, we all ventured to Thailand for the first time, passed through Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

And it included our first visit to Angkor Wat!

(I'm so hot.)

July.

July marked the arrival of Hillary Clinton to our little corner of the world and we were lucky enough to get to go hear her speak!  It also meant the addition of Dairy Queen and we've had lots of delicious soft serve since then.

 It was a bit of shenanigans too that month, as Chris got coined to cure him of his cold, and Khmer biked on my bike, with my purse, with Jill. We also celebrated a year in Cambodia, and I shared how we get around here in the 'bode.  I discussed my desire to give our future children a second, literary middle name.  

For the record, this dude, still not on board.

 We spent many an evenings eating at the 'riverside' in our town.  Cheap corn on the cob, fried meat on sticks and fruit smoothies. Yum.

 July was also the arrival of the new group of Volunteers, and I played an active role in their training.  That pretty much encompassed my entire July and a large part of our August as well.  It was one of the most personally and professionally fulfilling times of my service so far.

August.

August meant the Fillingames! When Paige and Michael told me that they were going to celebrate Paige's competing law school and taking the bar by traveling to Cambodia, I was ecstatic.

  We even made them try Khmer coffee. It is super sweet which is why I love it!  At first taste, it can be a bit... cloying.  We did a lot of amazing things with Paige and Michael, though some of the funniest times came when we got our fish foot massage.

 

And when we got back to site, we had a surprise: a western restaurant to call our own. Cheeseburgers whenever we wanted, money permitting.

In August, I also wrote myself a letter to try to stay in the moment, and I shared how I've been dealing, or not, with a stroke that my grandmother had last year after I arrived in Cambodia.  I also got a bit silly, or funny, depending on your take.

September.

By September, it hit me that much of the year had sped by.  We welcomed six new Volunteers to our province and attended the new group's Swearing In, where I posed for a picture for a camera that apparently only I was aware.

Though I didn't share it, I spent an entire weekend alone in Phnom Penh while Chris ventured to see some dolphins.  We both had successful weekends.

In September, I shared the major differences in cultures of privacy, as well as how I started myself on a path that would lead to running a 10k in Cambodia.  We also biked to Kampot, and spent a lovely weekend taking in sights like above.

.....

A lovely conclusion to come!

2012: so this was january and february

I am wrapping up the year I spent living entirely in Cambodia with a year in review chronicle of some of the best days from each month.

Or, rather, a chronicle of the events that occurred in the first sixth of this past year, as recorded by my phone and/or planner.  Because if it wasn't saved that way, I've probably forgotten the details, which may be for the better.

So, let's begin.

January.

January was pretty special. There was a lot of overthinking of my future hopes, but it started out tranquilly enough, with me excited for the year to come.  I drank some water too fast and put too much faith into some terrible chocolate, and even tried to prove to my husband that I had more internet friends than I actually do. Otherwise known as, the first time I've had to admit publicly that I was wrong.  It was a tense day in our marriage, that was.  I wrote an ode to my coozy, and modeled for the world my new couture for Cambodia.  I got really deep and stuff when I realized I have found a new time and space for my crazy thinkings that I used to do in the shower: doing laundry.  I even tried to bring my vlogging days backed, but that petered out quickly.  I always seem to want to do them only when I've had time to properly dress and prettify myself, and I always seem to not want to put energy into doing that when I shower three times a day. So there's that.

In other news, I learned that I know how raise one eyebrow higher than the other, but actually have no idea how I did it. Also, Chris ate a beetle.  It was slimy, yet satisfying.  I'm making that up, I have no idea what it was like.  It seemed crunchy?!

 We discovered Topher's innate ability to kill large jumping spiders. He goes to great lengths to ensure my safety.  I document his heroics.  It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

 And at the end of the month, we made our first trip to Northern Cambodia to see Libby, drink Coca Cola out of mason jars, and experience our first bout of site placement envy.

February.

 It got really hot and dry in February.  Remembering that, I am now appropriately not looking forward to February.  I wrote a little letter to Topher explaining to him why I don't think he's my soul mate, and I shared the joy that is Khmer music video watching with each of you.  You're still so welcome.

Chris and I went a wedding, and we found mayonnaise in our town.  We weren't smart enough to purchase any mayonnaise (in Phnom Penh) for another ten months, when Topher discovered that we could easily make these delicious tomato and egg and a little bit of mayo sandwiches.

 Cambodia had about twenty holidays. Or three, but I'd lost count by February.

I baked real cookies and real brownies in a real oven for the real first time in six real months.  

 I drank my first Mountain Dew in many, many months and took a picture documenting it wherein I had unfortunate arm-skin-to-body-pressage and produced an arm-is-larger-that-my-neck look that no girl would love.

 And I attended one of my final Peace Corps trainings until my end of service conference this May, and an international TESOL conference in Phnom Penh the following weekend. It was riveting.

.......

I'll be back with March through December in coming hours, as my OCD-like tendencies will have me dividing these little reflections into four separate posts as to have a nice even number of written posts in 2012 to close out the year.

And now you know that about me.