Early rains

It's been raining a little here. By a little, I mean for short intervals, but sometimes with great intensity. For the first hard rain, two nights ago, I was finishing a homemade curry. Emily and Erica, my Canadian friends, went to a cooking class with me a few weeks back. It was lackluster, but then I discovered that I have at my disposal a pestle and mortar. So, armed with said class in our distant memories, we descended upon my kitchen. Mostly the girls, as I was almost an hour late. (I was on the other side of the Mekong from the truck that was taking me home. It happens.) It was a huge hit, and the roommates and other friends said it was good and that I made it too spicy. It was a really great night Sunday night.
Monday was the rain I mentioned. I was finishing of the curry, and ate it on the balcony in our hammock, watching the storm. It was a peaceful way to get ready for bed. Today, however, was a different story. The rain hit in the afternoon, fairly hard, as I was biking to work. Have you ever taught a class with wet socks? It leads to a short class.
Then, later tonight, we went out for Erica's birthday. The rain on the way there was light, but I was on the back of a motodup, with a driver who was not happy with me. But the hard rain fell during the dinner (fresh quail and quail eggs). I have a short video where you can hopefully see the wind and how rainy it was.



I'll try to get some more pictures up soon.
Also, I'll try to post more. I've started doing a quiz night (we took first my first week, and last this week). I met an "African Chief" on St. Patrick's Day, and drank a wonderful green mint-lime smoothie. I'm finishing my public speaking class, and starting a culture class (I'm not sure what qualifies me for either, but I've never let a lack of credentials stop me before). I'm sure I'm forgetting some wonderful stuff, but the point is that I'm having an absolute blast. In other words, I'm in the right place for me right now.

Settled In

I've been teaching for two weeks now. It's a lot less exciting than it was two weeks ago, but I am glad to be working again. Also, the money will be nice. I'm teaching 15 hours now, including 6 on Tuesday and 6 on Thursday. I have a thirty minute break. It's quite a day, but it's the same class four times. I'll have the two new classes caught up in a week or two, and then it'll be the same lesson plan.
I've also been battling my computer quite a bit. A shop reinstalled Windows for me for $15, and saved all my files (yay for not losing my pictures!). A few days later a friend installed Linux for me. It was a bad plan, but I'm getting better at it. Don't worry, in a week or two I'll just throw the thing into the open sewer. I apologize in advance for what this will do to my contact with you. Anyway, knock on wood, it seems to be working more smoothly. I'll tell you if I ever get Skype running.
Life is becoming normal. I don't worry about dying on my bike constantly. I'm learning (slowly) who to buy from at the market for the best prices. I'm finding good restaurants, and I got that bank account I mentioned. I still don't speak Khmer, but I'm starting to pick up a few words in French. I've accepted that I'll speak better French than Khmer when I leave here. So maybe I'll move to Morocco. They speak French there, when they're not speaking Arabic. Party in Tangier, anyone? (It's that or Istanbul, I think.)
Speaking of Africa, I do want to mention how excited I am about what's going on in the Arab world right now. I'm a fan of reform, and I hope that the region is a better place when the dust settles.
Okay, I'm going to go experiment with the idea of left-over dumplings. Cross your fingers and hope they're not too soggy!