Recent Changes

I’m back, and I’m writing. The past week has been fairly hectic, so I’ll just pick out parts to describe. I moved into a new apartment. This one is very close to Linda and her family. It’s a block away from the Russian market, and I really like it. The bedroom has AC, which is quite the luxury, and the rest of the house gets a nice breeze through it when I open up the doors and windows. It’s on the third floor, so it’s very quiet, despite its proximity to the popular market. And it has a huge balcony with a metal roof, which is perfect for when it rains. It’s also behind a locked gate and on a well-lighted street, so I feel much safer at night. Finally, Linda’s mother offered for me to be able to go to their house (a block away) for dinner every day if I want. It’s a great compromise: the independence I want by living in my own place but close to people who care about me and want to help.

I also resolved the Tol issue; I just had to say explicitly that I am not in love with her (how can you be in love with someone you can’t communicate with?) and that I do not want to marry her. I am happy to help her to get to the US by other means, though (which is a primary goal in marrying an American). Basically, things are going very well for me right now.

At Linda’s house, there was a child (I think the younger brother of her friend Sros) who was playing while I was there yesterday. Interestingly, he was playing “kitchen” with plastic pots and pans. The catch was, he was “cooking” plastic soldiers. Talk about a mix of gender roles – I loved it. In western culture, playing kitchen is usually typical of girls, while toy soldiers are for boys. Screw that, this boy was doing both at the same time.

It’s interesting to me that my frustrations of being here and not speaking Khmer are not unique to me. The people around me are also frustrated that they can’t speak with me. Many times I’m told that someone really wants to talk to me but can’t. I’m learning though. Last night I managed to explain that the electricity in my house was out, and then when I got home, I explained that I had the wrong set of keys, so I couldn’t get into my house (which uses padlocks to lock the doors). We found the spare key at precisely the same time as I managed to knock the (unlocked) padlock off the backdoor by using a pole through the barred window (see pictures soon). Then today, I explained that I was going with my birth parents to their house to spend the night (where I am now) and that I would be back the next day. Good job, David. But I have a long way to go still. It’s my goal to be able to speak with Linda’s family by the time she moves to the US (which will be in about four months).

Anyway, that’s about it. The nights are getting cooler, and I’m hoping to start writing some fiction soon.