Barely 'barang'

I can almost get away with being local here... not a 'barang'. Maybe at first sight anyways :) Actually, when I've been doing the project visits for the interviews and Ly introduces me that I'm visiting from Canada, I'd say 4 out of 5 times, they'll say, OH but you look Khmer! It's kind of nice! No more Mzungu! every where I go like in East Africa, or Gringa/Chinita! like in Latin America!

So, I can almost slip through the streets and markets unnoticed... it's just when I open my mouth (or, stare a little blankly with a big plastered smile when someone talks to me) that I'm given away.

I'm trying to learn more Khmer... after a while, how do you do, please and thank you stops being fun enough to get to know people!

On the bright side, for now, I always get to have a bit of a surprise from the time I order to see what's actually going to end up on my table, if I'm not with Ly. Most people don't actually order off the menu, but just tell the waiter what they want to eat and they'll make it.... Yesterday I did pretty good. I ended up with some rice noodles in soup, with cooked cabbage and some chicken that was pretty tasty. Today, I thought I ordered noodles with some veggies and mushrooms (what I was going for yesterday, actually, but got flustered and so looked at a menu and pointed to the cabbage and chicken and asked for some noodles) - and I did get noodles (stir fried), did get some veggies, no mushrooms, but some beef and a fried patty of some kind which turned out to be an egg inside. Not bad. :)

Tonight's dinner was less successful. I tried to order some rice, with veggies and mushrooms... and got a bowl of beef balls in broth with some spring onion pieces. Dang - something got lost in translation. Oh well. At least Chinese food has similar beef balls that I grew up having every now and then, so the floating squishy greyness didn't throw me off too much. :)

I haven't tried the Edible aquatic plant bong fish