I can't believe it's almost FEBRUARY! I feel like I've kind of been in a time warp, especially with the lack of the winter season completely! I've been here for 3 months now and I'm really surprised at how quickly the time has gone by so far. 3 short months ago I'm sure my Gramma Gladys was wondering why her crazy granddaughter had lost her mind and wanted to move to the other side of the planet, and yet, fear not Gram! I'll be back before you know it! :)
But things have been going well here :) I just got back from a class I teach 3 times a week from 7-8pm. I'm tutoring a Korean man who's the manager of a big construction project nearby, along with one of his Cambodian staff who studies with him. At the beginning they came across as very serious, almost stern, but once we got to know one another, it's been great. They are hilarious! Never judge a book by its cover.
I've also been working with a woman who owns a Korean restaurant about 10 minutes away, and she is absolutely LOVELY!!! When we started our lessons together we could barely communicate because she's just now starting to learn English for the first time and she's in her late 50s. She is wonderful! Now every time I meet her at her restaurant for English lessons, I have lime juice waiting for me and she makes me food :) Hehe... It's a very tough life; you wouldn't be able to imagine the conditions I'm working in! I mean, seriously... fresh sushi rolls, lime juice, hot tea, cupcakes, steaming hot corn on the cob, delicious Korean food... it's really tough... but what can I do? Endure it, I guess ;) Lol. And now when she sees me pull up to her restaurant on my moto (yes, I'm warming up to the motos too, little by little) she comes out to greet me using the new English phrases we've been practicing & then she holds my hand as we walk into the room where we have our feast, I mean, English classes! Yes, yes... English classes. She asked me to come over earlier tomorrow so she can make me a whole Korean meal :) Like I said, these conditions are just... tortuous! ;)
Beyond teaching, I've been picking up some very surprising habits. One includes eating A LOT of snicker bars! I guess I need to preface this a little by saying that in the U.S. I really don't eat sweet stuff too often - unless my Gram's making a homemade apple pie or something insanely heavenly like that! But really other than that, I'm not too much of a dessert person. I don't like cake and don't eat too much junk food or sweet stuff. But for SOME reason, for the past few months I have REALLY gotten addicted to desserts! After almost every meal it seems that I'm craving a dessert! Noman brings me brownies, I'm buying snicker bars, my students are giving me cupcakes... I am developing a SERIOUS sweet tooth! But for some reason, snicker bars in particular are rocking my world! One day it dawned on me that I had literally eaten 3 snicker bars that day alone (1 after breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!), and since then I have backed off considerably, but I still crave snicker bars!
Another habit I've developed is watching TV. I haven't really watched a lot of TV since I was in college. Movies are a completely different story, don't get me wrong! I LOVE movies! But not TV so much. In grad school there was 1 show I watched once a week on a regular basis throughout the summer, but that's about it. I'm just not a big fan of TV. I think most of what's on TV nowadays is just plain CRAP. Crap, crap, crap.
BUT... since I do have a nice TV that came furnished in my place here, AND I have a lot of free time during the mornings since I teach in the afternoons and evenings, I have really gotten hooked to watching TV too. :( Of course, I have no idea how current these shows are compared to what's new in the U.S., but I've gotten especially hooked on watching really stupid shows like America's Top Model, Britain's Top Model, Australia's Top Model... What is UP with me watching all these modeling TV shows? I don't even like modeling! But I'm telling you, it really sucks you in! I can't stop watching them! Lol. Apart from crappy modeling shows, I can more proudly say that I'm quite fond of Junior Master Chef, where these little kids aged 8-12 cook up these extraordinary dishes that just make me really want to learn how to cook! I can't even boil an egg & these KIDS are whipping up just AMAZINGLY complicated dishes. It's so cool; I'm a big fan! :)
So yeah, with incredible students who are spoiling me completely, along with eating an enormous amount of snicker bars while watching mostly crappy television shows, my time in Cambodia is really flying by! ;)
