4 Things

1. There is a big national election gearing up over here, just like in the U.S. The two big parties are the San Ramsey (spelling?) Party and the CCP. The CCP sends trucks all over town loaded up with people and blaring music and speeches over loudspeakers. It's pretty crazy, and I'd like it more if it weren't for the fact that one of the CCP offices is right near my apartment, so I often get to hear the stuff whether I like it or not. Another truck was loaded with people playing bongos and dancing (editors note: Senator McCain, if for some unknown reason you're reading my blog, THIS is what you have to do to get me to jump the Obama ship. Pick up a bongo and play it like you mean it.)


2. Cambodian kids are the most adorable kids I've ever seen; I totally understand Angelina Jolie's decision to adopt a child from here. While most people over here quietly (yet often overtly) notice that you're a Westerner, they don't make a big deal out of it. But the kids will run up and say "hello! hello!" One time when I replied in both English and Cambodian, they started dancing around yelling "Hello! Hello!" over and over. It was awesome.


3. I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields this past weekend. I don't plan to write about it.


4. If anybody is curious about what the traffic is like in Phnom Penh, I suggest listening to the song "I Love A Magician" by the Dismemberment Plan (those classmates of mine new to DC should take note, as this is the best band to ever come out of DC). The song is frenetic and chaotic, abnormal and atonal, yet at the same time the musicians know what they're doing and beneath the chaos is a musical pulse with a very deliberate direction. You have to get used to it to see the method to the madness, and you have to listen to it a lot to appreciate it. Yep, that's Cambodia.