Fixing the Broken Things

"As a tornado, I have bestrewn your house with the broken clutter of your past life."

A real bicycle mechanic A.K.A
 "the wheel deal"

We've been privileged enough to stay at GEMS international school, in the topmost floor, in my friend Prema's room. We've also been given the opportunity to do things like borrow her bicycle. Unfortunately, the bicycle broke. The back tire just straight-up stopped moving! Not being adept in the fine art of bicycle repair, I asked many of the friends here at CORDE what I could do with such a broken cycle. I was directed to a repairman nearby. "How lucky!" I thought to myself, "providence has smiled upon me!". Alas, twas not so. The repairman turned out to be a motorcycle repairman. You'd think that that'd be alright, and that, working with the motorized big brother of little bicycles, he could fix mine. The reality is, you make less money fixing bicycles, and he had a motorcycle that he was repairing. So he clanged around a bit with some tools, loosened this, tightened that, poured oil on stuff. No dice. The wheel wasn't moving. Realizing that repairing my bike would take some time, he promptly dismissed me. ! At this point, the bike was still not repaired. So I held up the back, and directed the front, and walked it back halfway to CORDE, then, frustrated with the pace, and the general situation, I hoisted the bike over my head, and hustled back to the office.

Now, there's this cafe called "1.5 street Cafe", which has been sharing its space with a bike tour company called Soksabike, a play on the Cambodian greeting, "Sok Sabai?" It was at this producer of delicious coffees, that providence really did smile on me (and emily, and the bike?) since Soksabike was testing out a new bicycle mechanic, we were invited to bring our broken bike for him to test his skills. Emily directed the bike and I held up the back end so that it could roll, and as a humorous spectacle of two, we paraded our way through the park, across the bridge, and down three blocks to the 1.5 street cafe. The mechanic diagnosed, deconstructed, replaced, souped-up, and re-constructed the bike in like 20 minutes. It was magical to watch. Allah be praised, Prema's bicycle works again (in time for her return)!

Peanut butter sandwich and an orange-banana shake

There's a look of pure joy on the face of Emily Rushdy (pictured left), as she spreads and eats a delicious snack, reminiscent of the food in her homeland. French bread with peanut-butter, and something akin to an Orange Julius, purchased from the White Rose restaurant, just two blocks away from our house. Though still speaking very limited-to-no Khmer, we've managed to befriend the White Rose family (who recognized me from 2 years ago), and occasionally drop by their restaurant for a fresh shake. Oddly, at a time when Emily was enjoying a very familiar food, I looked up from my seat, and got a feeling of absolute strangeness! It's as if I just woke up in the restaurant, and everything was new. the tables, the people, the language, the music, the t.v., the street and buildings outside, all seemed completely unfamiliar....then the feeling dropped off, and everything was normal again. Quelle etrange!