A Sub-Blog

I'm temporarily suspending work on this blog and diverting all adventures to this one:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/holyrockthrower/3/tpod.html

Feel free to go look at it.

The Girl Who Cried Gulf

'Bout time y'all knew it.  I'm going to Qatar this Sunday/Monday.

I said somewhere on here, a long time ago, that I've worked in anti-climate change activism.  And, as far as I'm concerned, I still do.  My future on this earth is too damn important for me to brush aside all knowledge of what I have learned is going to happen within my lifetime.  I've laid dormant for a couple of years, but there's a UN Climate Change conference in Doha, Qatar.  When I heard about it, I was like this:

I must go to it.

And I will.  For my love of climate change activism is surpassed only by my chronic infatuation with Arab Gulf States.  Both together create an emotional gravitational pull from which I am incapable of extricating myself.

So, Phnom Penh is temporarily deferred to my Doha activism fun...but first I've got to go to Bangkok.  And Sri Lanka.  See you there.

The Big O

After my Khmer lesson today, I took a moto taxi to Sorya mall (closest landmark to my house), where I ate a meal at Barbecue Chicken.

When I was finished, I left and walked home.  As I came to Norodom, I saw a confounding assembly of cars and motos pooled in the middle of the road.  Thinking there had been an accident, I walked closer to investigate.  As I did so, I saw that the road had been barricaded by the police; as I walked further towards Norodom, I saw that the street had been totally blocked off and lay deserted.

Upon crossing the street, I saw that cars were backed up bumper-to-bumper on the side streets.  I wended my way through and into my apartment, fed the cats, laid down, read some stuff I'd downloaded on the computer, decided I wanted ice-cream, and went back out.

The streets were still clogged; Norodom was still shut down.

Now I'm used to the streets being shut down all the time for VIPs, the Prime Minister, and even the king.  The police shut everything down for a couple of minutes so that the Big Names can proceed unimpeded, but the thing is, it's just that--the streets are shut down for less than 3 minutes.  Then everything resumes as normal.  But this was like over 20 minutes, and involved police with light sabers on every street corner.

To me, only one man in the whole world could be behind this:  President Obama.

I checked it out, and sure enough, Obama is here in town for the ASEAN talks.  This is the first time a US president has visited Cambodia since 1970, before the Khmer Rouge, so this is sort of a big deal.  People were gathering on the sidewalks to watch.

And lo and behold, I saw his cavalcade flying down the street just past 10 pm this evening...yeah, I actually stood there for hours and waited.  I'm kind of a "huge international events junkie", so things like this excite me.

This marks the 5th time I have directly crossed paths with Barack Obama, in cities all over the world.

• Before he was president, he came to my college campus to campaign.  I climbed up to a balcony, aimed my camera at him, and got a shot right as he looked up at me and waved.  We made eye contact, and I waved back.  I'll never forget that.
• When I went to the G-20 in Pittsburgh in 2009 as an activist (not one of "those" activists), I was walking though a back alley with my friend Kyle when suddenly, Obama's cavalcade drove right past us on the other end.  We were like, Holy crap, the President of the United States just drove past.
• At the COP15 climate talks in Copenhagen, Obama dropped in at the last minute to try to broker an agreement.  I was standing outside in the cold with protest signs at the time.
• In the summer of 2008, when he was still "Senator Obama", we petitioned him directly in his Washington DC office to aid refugees in Darfur.  I went along as "support" (I'm not from Illinois) and didn't say that much.  There may even have been another time, too, that I'm forgetting...I was in and out of DC all of 2008 and 2009.
• And just now.

How does this keep happening to me?  Many more happy returns, President Obama!!

Obnoxious Cat Lover on the Loose!

I'm really glad I got those kittens.  I'm finding them rewarding so far.  They depend on me for everything, and each day I go get them some fish.  I clean their litter box.  I play with them and watch them wrestle.  Whenever I get home, they come over seeking love and attention.  Being Asians (the breed), they're highly vocal and seek lots of high-spirited interaction.  At night, they sleep on my head.

And they're clever--I didn't even know how bright and curious cats really were till I watched them carefully explore and study every object they came across in my apartment.  They don't interact and take cues the way that dogs do, but they are attentive and learn quickly.  The recognize me and feel safe with me...I find them very therapeutic.  It's like they give my life meaning!

If you've never had to kitten-proof your home, though, you've never lived.  It's like living with wild ferrets!  I spend so much time cleaning up after them; I think my house has been consistently the cleanest its ever been. They're helping me keep discipline, that's for sure.

They're good for me.

The Week From ... Somewhere

Well, it's been one of "those" weeks.

I missed 3/5 Khmer lessons because I couldn't get to the school in time.  I don't know if it's because of high-tourism at this time of the year, or if it's because of the ASEAN talks going on this week, or if I'm just nuts...but there didn't seem to be that many motodops around this week.  The guys at the usual corner were gone, and I walked halfway across town on Tuesday before just giving up.  I was like, "Wow, this is so unlike Phnom Penh."

Also, I get to look after a co-worker's cat.  It's actually the mother of the two kittens I just adopted.  He's going away for term break, so I offered to keep her at my place.  The only problem is that she now hates her kittens and attacks them if they come within a certain radius of her.  Does anyone know why that would happen?  I guess they're "competition" now that they've been separated.  Damn, I'm so ignorant of cats...I could tell you anything you want to know about dogs, rats, or pigs...but not cats.  I assumed they'd be like dogs, somehow.

The final exam was intended to be on Wednesday this term, but due to the King's death and the consequent cancellation of classes, it had been moved to Thursday.  But then, because of the ASEAN talks I mentioned, it was moved back to Wednesday, on Tuesday morning.  So the students were notified of the change 24 hours in advance (some of them weren't even in class) and for some reason, everyone still had to come in on Thursday.

Y'all are going to tell me I'm a negative complainer again, I know.  All my adventures are.  But, I'm really not complaining.  Hardly any students showed up on Thursday, plus one who wasn't notified of the change in schedule, and hadn't taken the exam.  I sent everyone home, gave her a copy of the exam, and moved the Mother Cat into my apartment.  Then I picked up my renewed visa (I'm staying another year) just in time to collect her finished exam and turn in the attendance sheets.  Not bad for a paid hour on Thursday morning!  I love last minute changes for this reason.

Then I bought fish at market.  For the cats.

In all, it's been an interesting week.  And I'm not complaining so stfu.

I Can Haz Kitteh!

Throughout my childhood, I wanted a pet cat.  My mother, however, had severe allergies and so I remained catless for the last 30 years.  All that changes today with the adoption of two grey kittens, which I will hold prisoner in my apartment to compensate for my lost childhood.

 They are cute.

KITTEZ

they r awesom

They freak my hedgehog out, and one day, hopefully, they'll learn to catch the mice and cockroaches that have colonized my apartment.  Anyway, that's the highlight of the year (other than the incident on the first day, and the day I bought the hedgehog).

And thus, I continue to indulge all my childhood fantasies before the age of 30.

Language Skills

I've finally started on the second book in my Khmer lessons (there are 5 total).

I've so far got the basics down, which means not actually all that much.  I've somehow acquired the probably-annoying habit of repeating the last few words anyone says to me--mostly because I can't really process that fast.  Also because it makes me look attentive (I'm usually less attentive than I appear...or more attentive than I appear.  Let's put it like this, my mind's not usually doing what you'd expect).  If I repeat words, my teacher thinks I'm "listening".  :)

I've also got the word "No" down.  I can't necessarily agree with you or add any comments to what you say in Khmer, but at least I can express my dissent.

I'm also completely unintelligeable to native speakers of Khmer, meaning I have to repeat myself multiple times when trying to engage in simple conversation (such as "go to the bank").  I find it insanely disheartening, but maybe I just need to practice more outside class.

In all, you could say I've got the linguistic skills of a two year old--I can understand basic things, communicate at a level no one but those who already know me can understand, and shout NO.

So, at the end of book 2, I should have the skills of a FOUR year old! :D