Winter has arrived

     It's Sunday morning, and we are wearing socks and sweatshirts and fleece. Every morning for the past few days, the temperature has been 3-4 degrees colder than the day before. Until this week, the average morning temperature was about 80 degrees. When it hit 74, I put on socks. Today, it's 68 and I have goosebumps.

     Of course, if we woke up in Vermont on the last day of October to 68 degrees, we would throw open the windows and run outside barefoot to marvel at the heat, because everything is relative. We were here last year at this same time and I have no memory of it being this cool, though it has been pointed out to me that perhaps our thermostats were still set to "Vermont."  Here, 68 feels downright chilly - though in a perfectly delightful way. Assuming the trends of the last few days continue, the day will warm up nicely and we will be as happy as ever in T-shirts, shorts, and sandals, at least until the sun sets at 6pm and the temperature drops again.

     At this moment, Steve is in our living room watching game three of the World Series while I sit on the balcony (as always) drinking coffee, checking email, and listening to monks chanting at the pagoda down the street. Jaz is still sleeping. Sovann woke up and did his usual morning disappearing act - I suspect he goes out for something to eat and often looking for work if he doesn't already have something lined up. Someday I really should write about the life of a tuktuk driver; it's been pretty interesting to see it from his perspective.

     Last night we went out for a quick cheap dinner and had what we tend to think of as a Khmertastic experience. Jaz was eager to try a a little local place that's been recently renovated because they had what looked like actual couches for seating - and if there's one thing she misses, it's a couch. So off we went to give it a try.

     The new decor was pretty interesting - the walls are painted a deep lavender and there are an impressive number of fake flowers and greenery woven together and dangling from the ceiling. A large flat-screen TV was playing a Khmer program - in the usual style, it was quite melodramatic, involving tears, lovers being torn apart, an idealized Cambodian countryside background with absolutely no garbage, and as an added touch, a long scene involving a lovely young woman vomiting blood and collapsing. The other nice touch were the three clocks on the wall: the clocks were similar sizes but different styles, and each marked with a different place and time. "Phnom Penh: 7:25." "Paris 1:25." "New York: 6:10." Well, the New York clock was off by a bit, but it was a lovely effort. The other wall decor included animal pictures that looked like they might have been ripped from an old calendar, arranged in a row at the top of the wall, snug against the 15-foot ceilings. (At least I think they were animal pictures - at that height, they were quite difficult to see.)

     But the most interesting thing was the ordering. The waitress put two menus on the table, and only after a few minutes did we realize that they were two completely different menus (both marked "Lunch") rather than two of the same menu. After passing them around a bit and feeling pleased about the prices (almost every dish was 8000 Riel, or $2), we made our decisions and waved the waitress back to take our order. I ordered first. "No have." Oh, OK. Tried again, pointing at my second choice. "No have." Really? Eventually, she took the menu from me and scanned through it, pointing out "Have" for about three items out of 20. Well, now that my choices were narrowed down, I chose from the "have" menu, as did everyone else. Within a few minutes, two of the four of us were informed, "No more have" and allowed to choose again. Food eventually arrived, though two of the dishes were nothing we had ordered, one was the worst example I've ever seen of a traditional Khmer dish called loklak, and Jaz's sophisticated palate found the rice to be substandard. Well, we consoled ourselves, at least it was a cheap meal.

     Except that the bill came to $15, which made no sense. Thanks to having our ever-helpful housemate and translator, we were able to get an explanation: "The menu has the wrong price." We laughed (as one does here), paid the bill, and vowed not to return. Jaz and I mourned the changes, as the place previously had the best iced coffee and cashew chicken dish in town. I would trade knowing the current time in Paris anytime for that iced coffee...

     By contrast, we've had some excellent meals this week - steak and pork-stuffed squid at "Mr. Grill", fried spicy duck with lemongrass cooked for us right in our own kitchen, and various noodle and rice dishes here and there. Now and then Steve creates delicious stir-fries from fresh local ingredients and whatever is left over from the previous day's lunch, and when we need a taste of home, we make nachos or a good old peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Grilled frog stuffed with pork...

   On my list of things to do this week:

• Learn three new Khmer words every day and actually remember them 
• Take my computer in to see if the keyboard can be fixed (wish me luck)
• Spend some time every day in the hammock with my book (I'm getting pretty good at this)
• Maintain newfound healthy perspective on "work"
• Hide the Pledge before the housekeeper comes so she won't use it on the windows any more
• Buy marshmallows so as to be prepared the next time the neighbors start burning the trash 

    

What's on your list this week?