1. I donated blood last week. The U.S. Embassy was having a blood drive, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to donate blood as it is much needed here and see the inside of the embassy. Painless experience. AND, they gave me a full meal afterwards consisting of a meat & veggie filled croissant, boiled egg, 2 bananas, can of coke, and bottle of water. I also received a t-shirt (that is much too large for me) that says in both English and Khmer "I can give blood 3 times a year" and a goodie bag filled with 5 packages of ramen noodles, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and some blueberry flavored wafers. I can now check "give blood in another country" off of my list of things to do before I die!
2. I ate crickets. And, I liked it. My friend Sopheak regularly buys roasted crickets from the market, and I had told her last week that the next time she bought some, I would try them. They are roasted in some kind of chili salt mixture and are really quite tasty.
3. I learned about what happens when you don't pay your electricity bill on time...even if it is never delivered to you. On Tuesday, I came home for lunch to find that our power was off. No big deal. It happens sometimes. However, I did think it was a bit strange that all the houses around us had power. At 5 o'clock when we still didn't have power, we were a bit concerned there was an electrical problem. So, we made a call to the electrician, and he arrived to take a look. Needless to say, he made a trip out to our house to pull a slip of paper out of our mailbox that said they had shut our power off because we hadn't paid our bill...that we never received. However, seeing as it was after 5 o'clock, there was nothing that could be done that day since the offices were all closed. So, we ended up sleeping that night with no power, which means we were sleeping in 90+ degree heat with no air conditioning and no fan. I knew that growing up on a farm in a house with no air conditioning was preparing me for something. Anyway, after paying the bill first thing in the morning, they turned our power back on around 4pm. And, the world was as it should be.
4. I am pretty sure that I have mastered the art of riding a moto side saddle, which is important to be able to do when you are wearing a skirt. I am also quite accustomed to fitting three people on a moto...my next step will be 4. And, I can do the foot dangle pretty well, which is necessary when there are no pegs on the back of the moto for the passenger's feet as on my friend Dany's.
5. I am learning to read and to write Khmer as well as speak it. I know all of the alphabet now, and I can even write a few of my own sentences. Hooray!
6. I got a Valentine in the mail today from my 5-year-old niece, and it was only a month and a half after Valentine's day! Regardless, it was a great surprise!
Ok, I think those are some of the main highlights of my life at the moment. Hopefully, I will post again soon to give you another peek into my world!
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