May tweny fi

One of the p-units made it up to battambang to teach a research methods class at uniED today. I hear she's whipping the students into shape, getting them in the right gear to complete their mandatory final-year thesis projects. Ah, poor souls.

on the flip side, today I ate breakfast at Sunrise Cafe with InterLashional; had some efficient meetings, got some more work done on my CCFSA final project (which I have failed to complete on time...due date = today); got a new computer (aka CORDE bought a new desktop to use as a server, and I get to babysit it until they find a permanent location:) ); had a coconut and sugar-cane juice; hung out with Enoch; ate an effervescent vitamin C (which was waaay more exciting than it sounds!) - all in all a good time.

Now I get to go shop in the market and then cook some supper, and maybe play a game of settlers of Catan - if urbody is down.

Oh wait, the market.

You see, in Battambang, people speak less english than in phnom penh. This is great, I think it's excellent that I get a chance to really learn Khmer, BUT, it is a complex and dangerous game in the market context. Observe Ashraf Rushdy, a friendly, well-dressed foreigner. Observe Market Ladies, less than 50% honest, and already holding masters degrees in developing countries' dual economies.

In this scenario, I posses a 50% chance of being ripped off at every stall I buy from, or maybe for every item I buy. This could be incredibly expensive except for one factor. They don't know if I know Khmer. In this game of limited information, I can force their hands, and make them charge the right price, as long as I can pass for speaking khmer, and generally knwoing the price of a fruit or vegetable.

I have mastered this with a few short phrases (this may become a video blog post).
how much is this/one kilo of this = ni pun man? muoy kilo pun man?
yes = Baat
no = Atay
Thank you = Aukuhn Chran

It is AMAZING what kind of equalizing power these four can give you. The ony time I encountered a problem as when the chicken lady started asking me personal questions the third time I went by. So now one of the \m knows for sure than I don't knwo Khemr. Luckily, she's on my side.

a sample market experience using the four essentials:

me: Ni 'man? (this one how much?)
her: RANDOM NUMEBR I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THEY SAY
me: baaat, baat, bat....bai (three, as in, I'll take three of them)

me: muoy kilo 'man?
her: ANOTHER RANDOM NUMBER!
me: baat.. mouy kilo.

her: random non-price-related words.
me: atay, aukuhn.

when I have everything I want from one stall: pun man?
her: random number.
me: 5 dollar bill.
her: make some change.
me: auhukn chran!

hope you learned how to shop like a master in a foreign market!