The XXIV of April

So I'm living in a place lovingly referred to as "the hostel". It is, believe it or not, a functioning hostel, and from time to time accommodates guests of CORDE. Last night we had a bunch of guests arrive, all of them leaving early in the morning. I'm ok with this, except that they didn't have a key. The hostel is a high-security facility, and the gate is always locked when people enter or exit, thus, without a key, one is effectively imprisoned. Taking pity on the poor travelers (and waking up with their morning chatter), I decided to just go along with them and go to work a little early. Of course, this all worked out nicely. You see, last night was my turn to make supper for the crew of permanent peeps living in the hostel (and gems school next door), and I am still white and don't know that much khmer, so I got Melvene to come along with me and help me buy the foodstuffs from the market. Melvene is a student from the Philippines. So I went with her and we got all that we needed for a nice stir-fry, then we decided to buy some mangoes. Mangoes regularly go for 1000 Rials per mango, but you can bargain it down to like 5 for 3000 if you have skills. Melvene and I found a guys selling mangoes at 1kg for 2000 Rials. This is already a good deal, but Melvene felt the need to bargain...

translation in english:

Melvene: "how much?"

Dude: "2000 per k"

Melvene: can I get a discount?

Dude: No

Melvene: what? please, just a small discount.

Dude: No way.

Melvene: how about if I buy 2 kilos?

Dude: no

Melvene: what if we buy 5 kilos?

Dude: no, still 2000 per kilo.

Melvene: ok, ok, What if we get 10 kilos?

Dude: what? 10 kilos?

other dude: No discount.

Defeated, Melvene departs the scene, indicating that she wants to create drama for a discount...so I walk away as well. having made it 40 meters from the scene, I let Melvene know that I just wanted some mangoes, and that I will go back and buy them. Realizing that 2000 a kilo is still a good price, we walk back...

Melvene: okay, give us a few mangoes.

Dude: how many?

Melvene: will you give me a discount?

Dude: 1800 per kilo if you buy 10 kilos.

Melvene: really? oh my gosh! ok. lets get it. Ashruf do you want to get it?

Me: sure.

Melvene: ok help me pick them out.

Dude: *giant happy grin*

That's how we ended up getting 10 kilos of mango for $4.50. I love batmanbang.

Anyway...this morning, taking those guys out the gate in a hurry, I manage to pack my toothbrush, toothpaste, and 4 mangoes into my shoulder-bag on the way out. I was immediately rewarded for deciding to eat mangoes for breakfast, by eating one that tasted almost as sweet as a sugar-cane!! How much better cane it get?

Also, I got some great work done today, which felt good. A 3-month work-plan, and a draft grant application. and a few other random bits, pieces and e-mails. Then, my dad came into town around lunch time, so we all went for lunch together (obviously). I had enough time to have some intense deliberations with Ryan "Q.C." Duly. It went like this:

"Q.C to H.Q., come in H.Q"

"Roger Q.C. this is H.Q. go ahead"

"write a comparison between life in Phnom Penh and Battambang, over."

"Sweetness Q.C."

"I know H.Q., that's why I'm Q.C.. Be brutal, over."

"Roger, H.Q. out."

We don't actually ever speak like that, but I was just reminiscing about walkie-talkies and how much fun they were to play with as kids.

So, this weekend, in addition to a short description of the National Convention that my dad and Ryan came down for, I will produce a brutally honest comparison of life in Batmanbang versus life in Phnom Penh.

Like all the Manifestations of God once said,

PEACE!