The Weekend Happenings Oct. 8, 9,10
Pchum Ben Festival was an excellent reason to go to Battambang to get much needed rest and relaxation- meaning less stress, seeing I already do a ton of R&R already at site, but more so to speak English, order from English menus, take warm showers-real showers, sleep in AC, and use endless free wifi, along with seeing PC friends. Our first adventure was to a pool at a fancy hotel where we could swim all day for $3. Sounded great to me, and my friend who has lived here for a year painted it to be the escape I needed. The problem was that 1. I shouldn’t already need an escape for being at site for 1 week, or Cambodia in general for only 3 months 2. We all had too much riding on this to be blissful 3. The inevitable happened: screaming, too old to be naked Khmer children were there and fully enjoying the pool. I don’t blame them when I was 10 I wanted to do cannon balls, run and jump off things (still usually do) and splash strangers. Yet having said naked fat boy creep up behind me in the pool while I was reading at the edge, wasn’t exactly restful but more so me spouting obscenities to my friend as he got closer. He wasn’t doing it as harm; I think he was just a prankster that happened to care-less that he was butt naked in a public pool. I just wanted to get the kid some shorts and call it a day. Over all it was a good experience at the pool, getting lots of rays to hopefully have some what of a tan return. In the end of the day, I really was just fried, but happy. Then the next day we went on the Bamboo train which was a cool experience. I have a video however I have doubts in anyone actually seeing that on the Internet, so I advise looking it up on youtube to get a full sense of the scene. Oh and when we got there I jumped out of the tuk tuk (also google, if you don’t know) and jumped directly into a straw/tin roof. It was the same height as the height of the tuk tuk so I didn’t see it but I did feel it…and still do a few days later. Anyways the ride was a lot of fun and seemed like the nature channel by how many bugs landed in my lap. Or we also classified it as a rollercoaster with no seatbelts, however the actual danger was very low. (Don’t freak out dad!) I also met a girl, who is working in Phnom Penh for a few months doing leadership that happens to know a good friend of mine from middle school. Small world. After the bamboo train, we soaked up a few more hours of Internet and ate yummy quesadillas then headed back to site. I waited for an hour at the taxi stand chatting with a grandma until our taxi actually wanted to leave. By the time we got to my town it was pouring, like really pouring. I was not looking forward to escaping the cab of the truck and walking half a kilometer to my house. Due to my delay in action by standing under the porch of a restaurant with the rest of the passengers, some of which were soaked because they sat in the bed of the truck, my uncle came by to offer me a ride. I was so excited! I ran through the rain to his truck and ate it hard right as I reached the door. Purse down, only pair of lounge pants covered in mud. (And still not washed due to the unceasing rain.) Rainbow sandals were not made for mud, rain or Cambodia’s wet season. One knee was seriously bleeding. After I got home I whipped out the PC medical box. Literally dumping the contents on our bed/table. Only to realize, I have no idea what to do and no idea what all the pills and ointments are in my box, besides band-aids of course. All I really remember from medical seminars besides all the diseases we can get is that the smallest cut could turn into a big problem. Great. But thank God I’m friends with the RN, Taylor, on our team and called her up. She calmed me down, and said stuff in the bottle won’t hurt (unlike that brown bottle back at home my mom always said never hurt, which was and is a complete lie) and to wash my cut with it. Then bandage it up. So three days later it still hurts and I’m nervous to start running again. I say Cambodia 4, Leslie 0. (I’m really not sure how to gain points by hurt the country itself) Anyways Cambodia is at 4 because… I also hit my head on the roof of a tuk tuk in Phnom Penh during Swear-in, because one night on the way back to our hotel the driver hit a speed bump at full speed rocketing me into the ceiling, directly into a crossbar. Luckily my friend Matt was there to handle tears and superfluous cursing. Side note: It is more of a shocker there was a speed bump at all. And Cambodia received 2 points for the fall in the rain because I still can’t go running or fully extend my knee without pain.
This was quite the random entry but it is ending because I have a serious need to watch Scrubs and tune out the loud tv from my house, even though my head phones broke. One ear phone is better than listening to a dubbed Korean soap opera, or Khmer music videos (I don’t recommend youtubing that, sorry Cambodia).
Even though this was a lot of unfortunate events, I don’t hate my life here. Just learning how to adjust to the new life I’m living, and trying to laugh it off along the way.
