I leave two weeks to today. I've started packing. I only have things to fill my small suitcase but, because I travel premium economy I'm allowed two suitcases. I'll therefore put the small suitcase inside the big one and off I'll go.
I feel like a celebrity. A Cambodian friend put my photograph on his mobile phone as his screen saver. I can't imagine anyone wanting to turn on his/her phone and to find my face staring at him. The comment on the photo says, "Inspiration for the day." I wrote and asked him if I was only an inspiration one day a year. He hasn't replied yet so maybe he's still thinking.
Local friends want to have a farewell dinner on the 3rd, which should be fun. I'm wondering if it's connected with the Yorkshire expression, "We hate to lose you but we think you ought to go."
A racing pigeon has been sold in the UK for around £1.25 million. That makes it as valuable as a famous racehorse. It's nice to know people still race pigeons. In my younger days our neighbours raised pigeons and often I'd be at their home watching the birds return after a race.
I haven't seen the lads for English class for weeks. One of them has decided to get application forms from the French Embassy to study for a Master's degree in France. His English is minimal and his French zero so I doubt he's going to get beyond filling in the form. A friend is now studying for her Master's in France - if you do your degree in French it's almost free. It must hark back to the days when this part of the world was a French Protectorate - the French were brutal so maybe this is their way of saying 'sorry'. Lily's in her first year; next year she'll do half the year in France and the other half somewhere in Quebec.
I waited for Samnang to appear so he could cook my soup; by 5pm I decided he wasn't coming so I cooked it myself. He was miffed when he saw I'd done everything. One supermarket puts together a meal package with vegetables and sometimes meat or fish. It has the ingredients for a local dish. I buy the vegetable package and turn it into a soup by adding potatoes, onions, carrots etc so it's a meal by the time I've finished.
In the evening I went with Tola, Ratha and Vuth to a restaurant that specialises in Cambodian food. By Cambodian standards it's not that expensive - around $7 a dish. We ordered three dishes and shared. We had a beef dish cooked with red ants, a salad that had lotus seeds in it - they are as big as nuts and very tasty; I have no clue what the third dish was. Usually, when two or more Cambodians get together, they speak in their own language. Today I decided to assert myself so the conversation was either in English or I had translation. Looking around the room I saw that my friends were the only Cambodians there; the rest were foreigners. I was told that parking is terrible so the locals don't go as they arrive in their own cars; tourists are dropped off by taxis.
I went to the office with Vuth as it was still open and the family were sitting chatting. They were eating roasted pumpkin seeds. They are delicious but I don't have the patience to nibble the end and then crack them open to get the seed - I eat everything and they still takes good. They want to give me a packet to take home but I'm not sure I can get them through customs.
