the last post

k, the last post was called "mayday, mayday" it was supposed to be about my may1st trip down to Phnom Penh, but instead, it warped into PP vs. BB. My apologies.

May Day was cool , the staff and students of CORDE did some laborious service projects to celebrate. I arrived late, because Quddus, Enoch (Q's cousin) and I decided to make a scrumptious breakfast. Check out the breakfast in the video., and the service projects in pics below.


So I gets on the bus to head down to Phnom Penh, and, just like every other time, wonder who I am going to be seated beside. Turns out to be a young khmer guy, but he was counting the seat numbers in English, so I noted that there was a chance we could have some conversation on the way to Phnom Penh. We both failed to introduce ourselves when he first arrived. Do you ever notice how , once you've failed to greet someone, finding an opportunity to make introductions is a hassle and a pain? I mean, I was unconcerned whether I talked to him or not, but I like to talk people on the bus, and much prefer even minor conversation to the awkwardness of siting beside someone, asking them to move over so you can get out, etc., and not even being introduced.

Luckily, I had bought some mentos.


I pulled out my mentos, pooed two into my hand, and immediately into my mouth, and then I decided to offer some to my khmer neighbor. He was on the phone, and totally shocked, but super-happy about the mentos, ever since then, we were friends. It turns out he's a deputy-governor of a district near batambang, and he specializes in educaiton, information, and culture. So we talked edcaiton, and he's a law PhD student, so we talked politics. Apparently the ministry of the interior has lots of power in Cambodia, they control the poilice, the military, and the military police, so he otld me that I could call him if I ever needed some help while in and around batambang. Cool! Then, right before arriving in Phnom Penh, he asked me if I play any sport, and I was like "well, I played a bit of badminton" and he was like "in batambang? where?" so I described the place, and it turns out he plays there everyday, and we just missed each other on timing or something like that. I met lots of other big-wigs at the bamdinton coutts, and am starting to think that badminton is the cambodian golf.

I also had a great night of chess, sheesha, and grape-juice with neissan. We covered all the happenings since I'd departed for the malaysian adventure, and, he finally gave me the image of a game we'd played on his laptop. Titled "The last draw":

sidenote: I've been attacked by bugs recently, I don't know what it is, but they all seem to be jumping/flying right at my head! I was about to go to sleep in battambang, I looked up to see medium-sized bug on the floor, facing me. It looked at me, I at it, and then it just spread its wings, and sped towards my head!! What kind of silly bug does that? really? Then just this evening (Happy 12th day of RIdvan!) I took the garbage out, and had a giant bumble-bee-ish thing DIVEBOMB me. I had to actually duck and dodge to stay alive. They're after me, I have no idea why, but they're out to get me, and I can feel it....so if I don't post for a few days, you can assume I've been brutally slain by kamikaze cambodian bugs.