Advertisement
Wat Toul Tom Poung
I took this from the eastern gate. Note the monk in the shade on the left. Jeem rip soah!
I am at the school Anisa works at, sitting in the middle of her classroom surrounded by 7th graders. I feel right at home. To my left a student is listening to Vanilla Ice and to the right there's Bob Marley. Anisa teaches computer lab and since school's almost out for summer the students are not really doing any work. They're 7th graders, just like the ones I taught in Boise.
This morning after Anisa left for school I took a walk around her neighborhood and stopped by the Russian Market. I still don't know what's Russian about it. Everything seemed distinctly Cambodian to me. I bought some hot-weather clothes and some mangos. Afterwards I wandered around the Wat Toul Tom Poung, very beautiful, and took some photos.
Then i went back to Anisa's to wait for Jim, Anisa's driver. her apartment is on the second floor of a two story building. Downstairs is Kim, a woman from NY and the landlord with is family. The staris up to her apartment are impressively narrow, steep and go around over 360 degrees. I'll have to take a photo of Northbridge Computer Teacher
This is Anisa's classroom with some of her 7th graders. Being here almost makes me miss my 7th graders. them soon. Her balcony and the courtyard below are lined with large plants in terracotta pots, which gives the place a very tropical feel. For the curious: drinking water is in 5 gallon jugs that we put a little pump on the top of to use. The bathrooms are nice and the showers are just cold enough.
Jim picked me up at 11am and took me to Northbridge. He drives a motorcycle and Anisa had left me her helmet to use. Traffic here is definately anarchic, but they dont drive particularly fast since so much of the vehicles are bikes. It doesn't feel particularly unsafe.
Class is almost over, so I will have to cut this off.
Lee howie!
Love,
Heather
Observations:
-They prefer US dolllars to Cambodian money, which they use mostly for prices under a dollar. 100Real is roughtly equivalent to 25 cents.
-Many more people speak English than I had expected, but I'm working on learning Khmer anyway. I love learning new languages and feel better when I can talk to people in thier language.
-This country is in serious need of mechanics. There are lots of mechanic shops and they are all packed. there is a profusion of scooters and motos, not all of which are in good shape.
-There is lots of construction here in the city. It's a wide, low city, so it's not overwhelming even for a small town lover like me.
-I'm glad I've spent some time in Mexico, not that Cambodia looks like Mexico, but that experience definately has helped me to feel comfortable here. And I do feel very comfortable walking down the street here.
-Many major roads in the city are paved, but the vast majority are not. The best part of this is that the dirt is red. I feel very at home with the red dirt.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0224s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb