observations

as i wait for an internet connection solid enough to do anything but type, i will entertain you with some observations that i have made.

• there are a lot of fun vermin here. lots of bats at night, and rats. i get real excited when i see a dead rat on the street. 
• mosquitoes: those winged vectors of all things evil. the daytime ones bring you a little dengue present, and the nighttime ones offer up a heapin helpin of malaria. as i am the resident bug-magnet wherever i go, i figure its just a matter of time. no worries! my international medical evacuation plan is effective tomorrow. usually, folks are only evacuated to Bangkok or Singapore for hemorrhagic dengue, as far as mosquito-borne illnesses go. i did not ask what and from where you hemorrhage. i figure i will be given info on that on a need-to-know basis.  
• traffic. this is one of my favorite parts of all of Asia, but especially the cities. stop signs are summarily ignored, and the few traffic lights seem to indicate that one should pause a moment on red, or simply speed up to avoid a collision. 
• ...which leads me to mention the rains. water drainage is not phnom penh's strongest asset. the rains are short, but fierce, and flood the streets in a matter of minutes. the children LOVE it, and i have seen kids swimming in the streets in knee-deep puddles of run-off. sometimes they wait until a car or tuk-tuk is passing by, and then grab the bumpers and let the vehicles drag them gleefully through the deep and murky puddles. its horrifying and so joyous all at once. im afraid i would be the buzzkill mom who would be like, 'no, honey, you cant go swim in the sewer water with your friends. im sorry.' 
• the rains cause unbelievable gridlock on the main roads, which drain only marginally faster than the side streets that wind through the residential areas. i have never seen traffic jams like this before! even on the back of a moto, which i use for almost all of my transport (dont worry, mom and dad - i am meticulous about wearing my helmet!), you can get locked into a pile-up for a long long time. everyone is jettisoning for pole position, but somehow it all seems to work pretty smoothly most of the time. i am desperate to be able to upload some of the video i have from some of my more exciting moto rides, but i cant get the internet to cooperate.
• because most people use motos to get around, they are amazingly adept at stacking things and people on the bikes. its not unusual to see a family of 4 all riding together, with the little 1-2 year old balanced in front of the driver, still as can be, with her hands on the handlebars.
• here is another example
• this is a typical rush hour scene
• no local seems to get hot! they wear long pants and long sleeved shirts and dont really sweat. unbelievable... mostly people cover themselves to be protected from the vicious sun, but they are used to the heat and are super tough. im perpetually jealous.
• i have been flummoxed about where to purchase a towel and bedspread! no one seems to know, Cambodian and expat alike. when you go to buy bedclothes, you are only offered fitted sheets. there is no such things as the American fitted sheet/flat sheet/pillowcase set. until today, i have been using, as a towel and a cover at night, this thin piece of cloth that i bought in Africa 9 years ago. it has really come in handy throughout the years! i dry off with it after a shower, and then lay it out to dry under the ceiling fan and then use it as a thin cover at night. today i broke down and checked the mall on my lunch break. i found a blanket and two towels, but im not sure the towels will actually absorb anything. we shall see....
• men peeing in the street is a common sight. earlier this evening, two men on a moto pulled up outside the house across the street, turned off the bike, peed on my neighbor's sidewalk in front of their gate, and then got back on the bike, lit cigarettes and drove off. what?? was this an example of the infamous Cambodian revenge urination? i guess i will never know....
• picking your nose for an extended period of time in public is totally ok. i was in a training today and this older woman  - another participant - was picking her nose, really going for it. we locked eyes at one point, and she just kept picking. she was probably thinking, 'its so rude that that woman is staring at me.' just to test it out, i have, more than once, committed to picking my nose in traffic on the back of a moto. i swear its ok! people even seem to approve. 'shes one of us', they seem to say with their eyes. its kinda freeing. you should try it. just stick your finger up there and make eye contact with someone, keep picking away, and just smile. 
• many expats like to think that they are the only white people in town. they wont make eye contact with me. i have had more white people be dismissive and rude here than anywhere else in the world.  this stands in stark comparison to the Khmer people, who are consistently friendly and helpful. 
• on a more serious note: if you thought that the sexual trafficking of women and children was a joke, you were wrong. there are many, many people that are still pitifully enslaved in our world right now. i am just skimming the surface thus far, and have been exposed to numerous children and women that have been held as sexual slaves for periods of time in Cambodia and elsewhere in SE Asia. its happening here, and its happening in the US. pay attention when you hear the news stories. find out what you can do! i will try to help in this regard, by sending information and opportunities for supporting the cause as they become known to me.