No money, no honey

Has it just been one day? It feels as though this morning were last week.

After a decent night's sleep, I awoke with my stomach aching for food. Luckily it was more than satisfied after I went out for breakfast with a few other teachers at an outdoor restaurant that looked busy--a good sign. We attempted to ask for a menu but we all got served the same breakfast: rice, egg, grilled pork, and cucumber. We then went to the market that is closest and I was a bit overwhelmed with the variety and the vastness of all of the vendors. Scarves, jewelry, odd looking fruits, fish still wriggling about, and clothing of all sorts could be found depending on which crowded aisle you turned. I haggled for a purse and an elephant hanging for 24,000 riel, or $6.

We had a tour of the city on what is quickly becoming my favorite mode of transportation: tuk-tuks. We walked along Wat Phnom, which had a beautiful building and many sculptures in the center of a big park. There was an elephant that you could pay to ride, and Dara told us that it was unwise to ride one in the afternoon because the elephant would be overheated and therefore cranky. We also went to the Royal Palace and as we were waiting outside one of the women selling water approached us and was showing off her English. "See ya later alligator, after awhile crocodile" and her son, who was selling travel books on Cambodia was pretty impressive as well, "No money, no honey." The locals here are very quick to smile and seem to find us foreigners something of a curiosity. Once we got inside the Royal Palace, it was breathtaking to see the architecture and the craftsmanship of what was built and made about 600 years ago. There were beautiful colors and pointed rooftops and a few women making tapestries from looms and men playing xylophone-esque instruments. I have been to other places where churches or bigger tourist attractions also attracted a lot of people begging for money, and this was no different.

LanguageCorps provided a welcome dinner at a very fancy restaurant in the city. We got to meet some of the teachers that will be instructing us over the next two weeks, and a few of them seem like real characters. I'm sure I will have more to update on that after this next week. For dinner, I ate water buffalo which was pretty tasty mixed with veggies and rice. A couple of Khmer girls were dancing on a stage next to our table in traditional dance, bending and writhing their fingers in a way that seemed impossible, or at the very least, painful.

Tomorrow is the first day of class, so I am going to get some shut-eye. I don't know if its the heat, or the jet lag, or the newness of everything, but this day has been one of the longest I have had for awhile. Goodnight for me, Good morning to you!