kids' songs and food

Well it's been a fun week.  We had a great kickoff for the week on Sat.  We went to 60 Road, 1st time for me.  Picture a stretch of highway with a median, jam packed with people, vehicles, people cooking cows on spits.  Actually it's quite hard to picture and even explain but I'll try.  Background 1st.  We decided to take some of the Cambodian staff from the guest house, tuk tuk guys, drivers etc..and their families and Jaz of course. They are Jaz's friends also.  So all came to our house to meet, 4 guys 3 wifes and 5 little kids.  Had a quick beer, only the guys of course and off to 60 Road in two tuk tuks and a moto.

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  Wow when we got there, all kinds of roadside activity,  makeshift 'restaurants' (using that term loosely), motos, bikes, tuk tuks, cars, kids and in the short distance a ferris wheel.  Yes there is some sort of fair/amusement thing going on, didn't visit that, though I believe Jess and Jaz have in the past.  So we put together a long table and the guys start ordering food and beer.  Pretty soon food starts arriving, 1st plates of the condiments:  greens, basil, hot peppers, a sauce and more.  Then plates of beef, cut into bite size pieces.  I follow the lead of Chamnan, our main man.  Get the sauce in a bowl add the greens etc.. and then the beef.  Oh did I mention rice, it's at every meal.  It was delicious and then the beer pitchers arrived.  So we are eating, drinking, laughing, talking and not always understanding each other.  It was great, I got to know the guys better and even got to talk to the wives a bit.  And a couple of their friends also joined us intermittendly so we got to meet and talk with more Khmer folk.

   Food and beer just kept coming.  At one point Rithy asked me if I like tripe.  I said yes because when I was growing up an Italian pizza joint used to serve it in a spicy tomato sauce, loved it.  And though no tomatoes it was good.  Now there was something else on the plate that didn't look like tripe and as Jess was eating it Rithy told her it was colon.  Well that tasted good also, whether it was colon or not I don't want to know.  Every time I thought that was the last pitcher of beer another would arrive and I can't tell you how many times we clicked glasses and said "cha moi" or something like that.  It's a good thing everyone drives slow in this town.  It was a wonderful time and the 'whopping' bill for all of us was $46.  I'm sure the woman was thrilled when Jess gave her a 50 and indicated she keep it.  

  Ok I'm not done with food talk.  I have a new favorite beer snack, fried crickets, they are tasty.  Yes I was originally foolishly fearful to try them but now I have to search them out.  And I very much like sauteed morning glory.  Both items I tried at the training restaurant. I also am excited because they sell leeks here and they are so cheap, 75 cents for about 1/2 dozen, not as thick as ones I grew but very decent.  And the little green/white golf ball size eggplants are so much better looking/tasting than what I found at home.  I'll be searching for more and different veggies/greens!

along with the crickets there's eel and snake

   This week I cooked with Marina, a sister from the guest house family.  Sunday we cooked Asian food and Tuesday we cooked Western food.  Actually Sunday I showed her how to make a hamburger.  It was interesting because she brought over a small slab of beef, not ground.  How would she know?  So we chopped it until it was ground beef.  And after we cooked it she said "that's easy".  I had the same thought when she showed me how to cook Khmer fish cakes, and fish soup, should have known.  What was great though is that she took me to the Khmer 'farmers market' Sunday.  I have always been a bit overwhelmed there.

  But she showed me the foods, introduced me to the folks she goes to and told me what certain foods were.  Like these mounds of fish, kinda like ground beef, ground fish I guess.  She bought some, there are many varieties.  And we used them in the soup, little fish balls, and made these delicious fish cakes.  They are a bit salted and herbed but she added to the fish cakes a lemongrass mixture she bought.  All was very good.

ground fish

  So besides the burger the Western food included mushroom risotto, (oh they have some great looking 'shrooms!) and garlic shrimp pasta.  And there are many sizes of shrimp and some good looking, fresh calamari.  Oh yeah Marina also bought 2 different kinds of fish and fried them up.  Yum!  I ventured to the market myself and bought the shrimp and some veggies from the sellers I met.  One woman threw in some chilis for free.  Got to know your market people.  Needless to say I am looking forward to diving into some culinary delights.

the shrimp/calamari lady

  I have to mention the conversation about hamburgers and sandwiches with Marina.  She wanted to know what kind of bread to use and what can be put on them.  Hmmm burgers, I told her the basics lettuce, tomato , onion, cheese (of course melted on at the last minute) and "I like mustard, but Jess likes mustard and ketchup and some people like mayonaise".   But nowadays people put anything on it , bacon, avocado, salsa, the list goes on. And chicken sandwich, "chop it like the beef?"  "Well no", just a thick breast slice and grill or cold in diced chunks and mix w/ mayo.  "And the same to put on as burgers?"   "Well kinda the same."  Whew who knew sandwiches are so complicated.  We'll visit the market and be cooking again Sunday and with the young British doctor Jess works with.  Should be interesting.

  I have had a great week at the school.  We got more tables and chairs and the kids are a bit more manageable.  I wasn't able to bring some of the less knowledgeable kids out of the classroom.  I tried but was told it would look bad to govt. people that there is not enough classroom space for all the kids.  Ok I don't know the politics so well, so I will work with the limitations.  The Khmer teacher (Retha) is great he is patient and we are able to work well together. I am lucky his English is good.  We checked today which kids can count to ten in English, probably half at best , maybe closer to a third.   So we know what we're working with.  We're doing colors this week, to learn them and to improve English.  We used clay I brought in and the kids seemed to love it. Well the reality is they would like anything to play with.  The kids are bright and energetic, I love it.

the 'classroom' aka as a hut

 I introduced some new songs.  They seem to like Wheels on the Bus and to especially like Open Shut Them, asking by holding their palms out to sing it.  They giggle and scream with laughter at the last part, "but do not let them in" though they know what's coming now.  We did math by adding and subtracting kids.  Yes I know they can't count but Retha likes to stick to the schedule and it was better than him trying to get them to add 30 and 5.  Retha does a great job translating, the songs/rhymes, book reading etc...  Man are they hungry for books/stories.   Today toys was on the schedule.  I asked what that meant since we barely have pencils or anything really.  He told me they have some in the office.  What we had were large legos and that was it and not many for 28 kids.  So we passed those out, and the kids went nuts for them.  Of course they could only build so much.  So I suggested to Retha that after a few minutes we'll have some of the kids give theirs to other kids and they can play with the clay I brought.  This worked out as kids were able to build bigger, more creatively and the clay kids were happy with this interesting stuff we gave them.  The work has been challenging and of course much more has happened than what I've talked about.  But it's making me really think and I am so looking forward to working with these kids.

wow! rapt attention, oh yeah they're watching a cartoon

  The restaurant training program is fun but at this point I'm not doing much.  I'll eventually do what Ron the Aussie bloke does, manage and talk up New Hope with the tourists who come for the meal.  He needs breaks and will be gone for a bit in a month or two.  I am going out on a home visit tomorrow to observe what that entails. I am hoping this will lead to more of that type of work in their outreach program.

  There is other stuff to talk about like the family who invited us to lunch, the 'coconut family'.  Jaz used to stop and get their coconut drink when she was teaching at Chey school.  It was fabulous, the food and the family, esp. the kids.  And I've only blathered on about what I'm doing when there is so much to say about the people here and the difference in sensibilities.  And even the noodle stands and restaurants.  Perhaps next time.

lunch w/ the 'coconut family'

  Otherwise we are just enjoying life here and living on the balcony.