Carnivals, Weddings, and a Palace

     Friday was a rough day. It was the first day I really felt homesick and sad. And then I was mad at myself for being so selfish when I had just come back from seeing so much poverty and realizing how blessed I am. I went to the gas station on my lunch to get a Coke (I'm on Dr's orders to drink lots of that while I'm here. Well only if you insist...) and it was all uphill from there.

     A guy from my office, Sileap, asked me if I had plans for the weekend and asked if I wanted him to show me around the city after work. Yay! Someone to do something with! After work, we drove around for awhile and he attempted to be my guide with his brooked English. I mostly just said "uh huh" and "oh wow" even though I had no idea what he was trying to tell me. He'd ask me if I wanted to stop and walk around some places and I told him that I would love to stop and take pictures, but then he wouldn't stop, ha. He ended up taking me to this carnival on Diamond Island. It was really great going around with a local that knows his way around and knows how to negotiate prices, instead of me getting ripped off all the time. We rode the ferris wheel to look out over the city at sunset. Might have been really romantic if I wasn't with a married Cambodian man. But I loved it anyway as he tried to explain to me what different buildings were. Next, we went on a ride like the pirate ship that just rocks back and forth. Totally lame, but Sileap literally screamed THE ENTIRE TIME! haha So dang funny! By the end of the ride, I felt like I was gonna throw up from laughing so hard at him. We walked around a bit more and then played the balloon and dart game. We actually did really well and won a stuffed animal! He kept asking me what I wanted, but instead we picked out an anime stuffed animal for him to take to his daughter. We rode one more ride before we left. He screamed the entire time again. Great entertainment. When the ride was over, he was really impressed with how I hadn't screamed at all during the rides and told me I am "very strong".

     Saturday morning, Sileap came by to take me to the Royal Palace. This is where the prince lives. As he dropped me off while he went to park, several kids ran up to me trying to sell me books and water. I felt bad and ended up buy an English/Khmer dictionary which I've actually been wanting. Now if I could just figure out how to pronounce the words. When we went to buy tickets, they had 2 separate lines. One for Cambodians and one for foreigners. They charge WAY more for foreigners. Everywhere has different prices for foreigners, which I guess is cool to make it possible for locals to be able to afford to do things here. We walked around the palace and the gardens and the pagoda. Sileap again tried to be my guide, although he didn't know how to explain much, ha. Sometimes he would read a sign written in English to me. Very helpful. =) We also went to the Elephant Village. Still no real elephants =(. Although Ketsana did show me pictures today of her riding and feeding an elephant in Siem Reap, so there's still hope for me!

     Once we left the Palace, the roads were all blocked off, apparently because the King of Japan's family was in town. We took a different route and then he pulled over and asked if I wanted to eat. Turns out we were meeting up with a couple other guys that work at RACHA. I got an ice cream bar and corn on the cob (which definitely is not as delicious as the juicy sweet white corn back home). This was apparently a family friend of Sileap's, so they hooked us up. They brought out a big plate of fresh guava and mango and a huge bowl of snails. Yes, water snails. A very special treat here apparently. Sileap pulled one out of the shell with a tooth pick and handed it to me. Yep, I ate a snail. It was really chewy and indeed tasted like murky sea water. They were telling me all about the difference between land and sea snails and about the odd Khmer foods they eat. Sileap promised to take me sometime to see all of it in the market. I only managed to eat 1 snail, but I can't even tell you how many the other guys ate. Sileap took me to a fruit market to get some exotic fruits. I discovered the deliciousness that is the dragon fruit. I will definitely be eating this daily the remainder of my time here. It is pink on the outside and white inside with black seeds like a kiwi. LOVE IT! They found out at work that I love this and the past 2 days they've brought one for me to eat with lunch. =)

     When I got home Saturday, my whole street was blocked off and a huge tent was set up. The people across the street were having a wedding. At around 3 pm, the festivities began. They blasted the speakers louder than you can even imagine. Seriously. And living in a house without any enclosed walls to allow for air circulation, there was no escaping the noise. This went on until about 8 pm, and Kalyan told me it would continue the next day. Sure enough, Sunday morning at 5:30 am, the wedding continued. Now whatever they were doing consisted of chants over the loud speaker and then what sounded like a circus act going on. I have no idea what they do at these wedding parties, but the music continued the ENTIRE day. Karaoke began around 8 pm. A bunch of drunk Cambodians singing karaoke over a loud, poor quality sound system is not pretty. I swear they each sang like 10 minute songs. My only escape was to blast my ipod. Finally the music stopped at 10:30 pm. Ah, silence. Well, almost. Then they began the clean up, which from what I could tell ended around 3 am.

      Last night as I was reading out on my balcony, something dripped onto my hand and book. It was brown and gooey. Mortified, I jumped up and looked up. There, running across the roof was a gecko. Yep, pooped on by a gecko. At least he got my hand and not my clothes. Hands are much easier to wash.
 
     The mosquitoes here are tricky litte suckers (literally). I think I've only actually seen a few, but somehow I manage to get countless bites even though I'm covered in the strongest repellant. I even have a bite on my thumb!

     I've named my pet mouse. His name is Gondol Grorkwok. This is Khmer for Dirty Rat.I think he must get lonely at night, or maybe he's afraid of the dark, because he wakes me up every night at around 2 am to squeak at me.