The big thing about today was the rain; it rained almost constantly the entire day. I started exercising before 6.45am and I ended at 8.15am. I included some stretching exercises I had found on YouTube and a set of exercises involving a chair. I quite enjoyed doing them. I have to start early because I feel the day is over if I begin too late. It's a revolution for me to do exercises; walking, for me, is fun and not classified as exercise. Facebook told me I was to live until I was 104 so I feel I should do exercise to make sure it happens.
While exercising I listened to a programme on smell and how some people are super sensitive to certain odours. One man was a tea taster and he says at home all he wants is a simple meal as his day has been spent with smells. Another lady was said to have an extraordinary ability to smell so many different things. While I was listening it made me think of my dislike of the cooking odour that drifts up to my bedroom and often wakes me up. It's bbq'd pork and it's nauseating. On the other hand, when I go down to the little street restaurant to order pork and rice, I quite enjoy the smell. It seems to me our sense of smell also has a lot to do with the way we feel, our state of happiness and health etc - for example, there's no way I am able to smell anything if my nose is bunged up.
It reminded me of Dad after he'd been injured in the coal mine explosion. He lost his sense of smell and so, if he was cooking bacon, he'd shove the package under our nose to see if it smelt all right. That was in the days of no fridges.
Talking about our senses. When I worked in the Arctic there were very few things to invade our senses. Buildings were simple, roads simple, the landscape simple. One day I travelled to Edmonton during the Christmas holidays and I visited a mall in the downtown area. There was a hotel in the building and the guests' windows overlooked the inside of the mall. As I went up in the escalator I started to feel a bit sick and I think it was because of all the things that were bombarding my senses. The music, seeing my reflection in the copper coated windows of the hotel rooms, the people etc. When I got back north I mentioned this to a nurse and she said it was most likely sensory overload which often affects northern people heading to the big city.
In the afternoon, Vuth phoned and asked if I'd like to go to the wedding party for Tola's sister. I didn't know the wedding couple but I thought I'd keep Vuth company. "Put $20 in your pocket", he said. That would be my gift to the couple and generally paid for the meal and drinks.
I felt sorry for Tola as he should have been outside with the family, greeting people, but he had to be inside trying to organise things. He put us at a table with a couple of people from Nice in France. Fortunately, the wife spoke English so we had a great time chatting. Normally, ushers take people to tables so that a table of 10 people can be created and then the food is served. This time there were no ushers so people were scattered all over the place and no tables were being served. We waited an hour and then I got Tola to invite people to join us from another table. Within a minute or two the food came and it was good too.
The starters included cold meats, crispy noodles, spring rolls and a spicy tomato dish. These were followed by a steaming, boiled duck in a gravy. One of the men at our table stood up and pulled the meat away from the bone to make it easier for us. Then came a steamed fish in a lovely gravy, a Tom Yam soup with shrimps, a delicious dish filled with all kinds of mushrooms, another noodle dish with seafood and vegetables and finally a fried rice dish. We ended with a dessert made from coconuts. Drinks flowed freely and each table had a bottle of Chivaz Regal whiskey on it. Our table did a good job of almost finishing it. As usual, empty bottles and plastic were chucked on the floor under the table. The wedding gift this time was a Khmer scarf which was a much better idea than key chains and other plastic objects. These gifts are given out by the bridesmaids and groomsmen as they welcome guests. I feel sorry for them too as they have to stand outside the hall from around 4.30pm until about 8pm; that's because guests arrive at any time.
I met a man who asked me how old I was. Normally I tell people but this I said, "How old do you think I am." He said I was 57 so he became a friend for life. His other friend said I was 45 which I thought was pushing it a bit. 57 sounds all right but it's a heck of a long way from 104.
