Bacon served crispy…

Our last week and a half has revolved around meals. We broke bread with a Korean delegation from NPIC, a couple who have given birth in Southeast Asia, our French roommate, various ELI staffers, and one very enthusiastic Star Wars fan.

Our first big meal for the week was a welcome dinner for all the new teachers at our university. It was a pleasant enough evening. We ate Korean barbeque (surprise—it’s a Korean university) of which pork is, apparently, the main entrée. However, imagine pork sushi. They really didn’t cook the pork thoroughly (by that I mean at all), which provided a strange sensation on the palate, but the Korean sauces were amazing. Food aside, it was a wonderfully good evening. We had some fun conversation with our Korean liaison Mr. Cho, and were also able to meet some new teachers that had just arrived in Cambodia from Korea.

Our next meal was a twofer. One of the ELI staffers we are working with is a huge Star Wars fan, and really wanted to throw down a Star Wars episode one through six marathon. Obviously, this wasn’t going to happen, and so we compromised. Basically, we decided to go over to his house once a week to eat home cooked food while simultaneously partaking in the splendid universe of George Lucas. I really don’t think Andrea is a big fan of Luke Skywalker and company, but a genuinely home cooked meal is rare thing in Cambodia so she’s willing to put up with it.

Next, we met a really nice couple from a local church we are attending. They invited us over for dinner and conversation. They made us a real American chicken pot-pie. It was awesome! We also got to pick their brains on giving birth in Thailand, and raising kids in Cambodia as they have two of their own.

On Saturday, we grabbed a quick dinner with our French roommate, and then headed to the Gasolina. Now, for those who don’t know, the Gasolina is a local restaurant that serves great food, but also sponsors the soccer team I play on. Anyway, this particular night we headed to the Gasolina because our French roommate was in a Khmer fashion show! Yes, you read that correctly, a Cambodian fashion show. It was…an interesting experience, and still proves to be fodder aplenty for our relationship with Alex.

We have had many other meals these last few weeks that have been memorable, but in the interest of space I will wind it down. On Monday we headed out to NPIC for a monthly English department meeting. It went well, and we are really looking forward to starting classes in November. In other news, we leave next week for Sihanouk Ville where we will be teaching a one week class at Life University on public speaking. This should break up our schedule nicely. Classroom time in Asia (at least in our experience) is greatly coveted. Also, Andrea has been under-the-weather a bit lately, and is just now beginning to recover from a minor cold. Despite a runny nose and a cough, she is as graceful as ever, and busy reading all of the baby books she can get her hands on.

We love you all, and will keep you posted. Hopefully our next blog will have something to say about the Cambodian classroom.

Ben and Andrea