First week of school

After sweating it out…literally…we have started teaching at Pannasastra. It has been a pretty interesting first week and we are looking forward to see what happens the rest of the term.

At 5pm on Monday night we FINALLY received our class schedules, only to learn that we would only have two classes for the first two weeks. It’s a bit frustrating but we are dealing with it. After picking up our schedules and dry erase markers we looked over our teaching manuals and began to plan our lessons.

On Tuesday we went to pick up our textbooks and then made our way to our classes at another campus. Fortunately we can walk to campus in about 15 minutes. We are relying on our legs until we can afford to buy a bicycle. Our first classes were pretty slim, as many of the students were still trying to figure out which campus had classes available to fit their schedules. My class only had 2 students and Keith’s had about 20. After all students are finished enrolling we are supposed to have an average of 30 students in each class.

Since neither of us had a full class and many students still needed to pick up their textbooks we didn’t complete our first lessons until Wednesday. My class is learning about kiwis (the bird) and camels with a focus on understanding how to use singular and plural nouns as well as differentiate nouns, verbs, and adjectives. It’s so weird to go back and break down everything that I say, because on a daily basis I don’t think, I just speak. Thank goodness I had good teachers and a persistent mother with an English degree.

Thursday I had two classes, one with students who are college aged and the other with high school students. The college aged students are the one’s I mentioned previously who are learning about kiwis and camels. These students meet M-F for 1.5 hours. The high school students only meet M/Th for 1.5 hours. They are learning about different types of addictions such as caffeine and gambling. The interesting thing is that the high school lessons seem more advanced, but what I think the difference is, is that the high school lessons introduce topics and the college lessons refine the grammar…who knows really. We haven’t been given any instruction on how to run the classes, we are given complete trust and control. Hopefully we don’t totally screw up!

Friday was pretty easy. We both only had one class so we had most of the day to do what we wanted. My class played a game using the vocabulary that they had learned during the week and had them practice determining the words that were nouns and adjectives. It went pretty well and the students seemed to enjoy it.

This weekend we gave our apartment a deep clean and watched some new movies that we bought from a local dvd shop. We have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off for a holiday, but since we aren’t making very much money we are stuck hanging out in our apartment and touring the area by foot. It’s not exactly how we had envisioned our time here, but we are trying to make the best of it. Hopefully this coming week we will be given more English classes. On October 12 I will begin teaching Environmental Science at another campus. I am pretty excited for this since it is more like what I was expecting. I am supposed to be teaching health science next semester, but since things have been off to a bit of a rocky start I’m not so sure that this will happen. We will give you all an update when we hear more news. For now cross your fingers and wish us good luck…if not, we may be seeing you sooner than April J…

Xo,

Chantelle and Keith

Food Glorious Food

Before we left the great ol’ US of A many people were very curious about Cambodian culture and a common question that was asked was, “what do they eat there”? So today Keith and I thought it would be fun to share a few of the meals that we have eaten in restaurants and then made at home.

First let me tell you that NO, they DO NOT eat dogs or cats! Maybe in other Asian countries, but not from we have seen in Cambodia. They do however eat cockroaches, snake, spiders, pigs, chicken, ox, fish and an array of other protein sources. Since we “know” too much about foodborne disease Keith and I have been pretty careful about what and where we eat, but have been able to try several local cuisines and neither of us have gotten sick…yet!

When we go out to restaurants we look for places that have a good variety, good prices, and loads of customers. We only order bottled water, beer, wine, or tea and we tend to be a bit skeptical of the ice, even though we are told it is safe. Some of our new friends have been taking us to some really good places and others we have found on our own. Some of our favorite courses include Shrimp Spring Rolls (fried only because fresh are not safe to eat), Khmer Curry, Beef Lok Lak, and Fried Rice. Since Cambodia is bordered by Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos many restaurants offer dishes from these countries. We have made almost all of these meals at home and have been pretty successful so we thought that we would share the recipes so that you can try them at home!

Fried rice is a great way to use up left over steamed rice, so we have been eating it whenever we need to clean out the fridge. It’s very easy to make and doesn’t really need a recipe. You can try adding different types of veggies and protein to make it more filling. We have made it with chicken, beef and tofu and it always tastes great. We usually make it like this...

1. put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan and get it hot.

2. fry 2 eggs and scramble

3. add chopped veggies (carrots, onion, mushroom, etc) and stir fry for a few minutes

4. add rice and mix well in pan breaking up any large bits

5. sprinkle with a little salt and stir fry for a few more minutes

6. EAT!

Beef Lok Lak is kind of like small chunks of beef with an Asian style bbq sauce served over rice with lettuce and tomato on the side (we skip the fresh veggies since it can cause sickness) We have been using the recipe found on the following link. I usually triple the recipe so that Keith gets enough and we can have leftovers. You can also make this dish with chicken or shrimp, but our favorite is the classic beef recipe.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/CAMBODIAN-LOK-LAK-50012663

Khmer Curry is great for those who want something savory and sweet in one dish. The coconut milk in the recipe adds the sweetness and the chili powder adds a bite. This dish is very hearty and can feed a number of people with one potful. The sauce is very flavorful so it can be stretched when served over rice to feed more people or if you want to have left overs. We made this last night and have three containers filled with sauce for dinner tonight and probably tomorrow. This is not the “healthiest” dish because it is calorie dense, but if you have with rice and go easy on the sauce it’s a good filling meal. Check out the link below to see how it’s made.

http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-curry-cambodian-245936

Spring Rolls are great for a snack or as an appetizer. These ones are deep fried, so don’t eat too many! When we were living in California, our friend Jenny had a graduation party and served these. Her family is Cambodian and her mom is an awesome cook! We had these once since living in Phnom Penh and Keith cannot stop talking about them! Like I said, since they are deep fried, you should only have them in small amounts and not very often. I bought the ingredients for these Shrimp and Crab Spring rolls and plan to make them later this week. I love the fresh ones and eat them all the time in the U.S, but since I DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT want to get sick I have been very disciplined and have avoided them. Check out the next recipe if you think you might like to try them.

http://sundaynitedinner.com/vietnamese-crispy-spring-rolls-cha-gio/

Also, for those of you who are gluten free by choice or by necessity you can substitute tamari which is soy sauce that doesn’t contain wheat. I was a little concerned when we first moved here that Keith would have a hard time eating, but since they don’t use soy sauce in many of their recipes and rice is a huge part of their diet it has been really easy! Some of the other foods that we have been enjoying are all of the delicious fruits! Yes, you can eat fresh fruit here as long as you can peel it such as my favorite Mango. Keith has been going crazy for dragon fruit and the bananas are so tiny and sweet that we can’t stop eating them. Don’t worry moms we are getting our fruits and veggies in daily! We hope that you try out some of these recipes and tell us what you think. I know at least a few of you who enjoy cooking (josh Chaudoin and Melissa curry)!

Kickin' it Royally

The other day we took a little tourist trip to the Royal Palace to get our culture on. The palace is amazingly peaceful the second you walk in the front door. The gardens are lined with statues and the only healthy looking vegetation in the city. We tried to take pictures of everything we could, unfortunately in a lot of the buildings photography is prohibited. That included the Silver Pagoda AND the Royal Throne Room.

The first building that we entered was the Throne Room, only after removing our shoes. The inside of the building made it obvious we were in prestigious quarters. Picture a ceiling similar to the Sistine Chapel in terms of intricate paintings and height in a building filled with gold statues, gold furniture and gold offering tables. The throne in the center of the back of the room looked like it was solid gold and sat about 4 to 5 feet from the ground. The center of the building was roped off. We were only allowed to cruise around the perimeter in the front of the building. After the Throne Room we walked over to a smaller building next door. In this room they kept some of traditional clothing, pottery, and other royal heirlooms. Some of which included a gold covered his and hers outfits, gold teapots, and other gold covered figurines and statues. Another building in the main garden area was a pavilion used for traditional ceremony and dances. We were not allowed to enter this building, but I was able to take several photos from the outside of the amazing detail of some of the statues that were at the top of every pillar on this building. On the way out we saw a large iron structure covered by scaffolding and blue tarp. This building was apparently donated by Napolean Bonaparte. It stuck out like a sore thumb because the design of the building was completely different from those surrounding it. The building looked like the plucked it straight out of France and dropped it in the middle of the courtyard. From here we shimmied on over to the second garden area. In this area, the main attractions were the statue of King Norodom as well as the Silver Pagoda. Other incredible features of this area included numerous massive, grey offering pillars, shrines to several different deities (a cow for one), and an extremely detailed and impressive miniaturized statue of Angkor Wat. The offering pillars were roughly the height of a 3 story building and each uniquely engraved with gods. The statue of the King stood in front of the Silver Pagoda, it appeared to be constructed during the French Occupation because the name of the King was carved in French. The miniature Angkor Wat was one of the coolest parts of our self tour. A scale model of Angkor Wat, apparently perfectly identical, which made me even more excited to see the real thing than before. This model sat right behind the Silver Pagoda, our next stop on the tour. The Silver Pagoda is another building that allows no pictures to be taken, as well as no shoes worn. The floors of this building are covered by thousands of silver tiles, hence the name “Silver Pagoda.” It appeared to be damaged or aging as the majority of the floor was covered with carpets exposing only small portions of silver tiling. As you walk across it you can feel some of the tiles shift beneath your feet. Also housed in this building were glass cases containing hundreds of figurines, statues, and very interesting decorations for shrines. Most of these were made of gold or silver and many of the figurines have been decapitated. These beheadings occurred during the Khmer Rouge massacres. Another incredible feature within the Silver Pagoda is an extremely large shrine for offerings, located in the center of the room, reaching nearly to the roof of the building. The Silver Pagoda basically concluded our trip to the Royal Palace.

Some of the other smaller features of our trip included showcases in modern buildings (with air conditioning) that showed typical clothing worn by royalty, the different styles of “howda”, which were basically elephant saddles, used by past kings and royalty, and a room of glass cases filled to the edges with carvings of elephants in different mediums (marble, wood, and precious metals). Since many of the main attractions are for eyes only, not cameras, it is truly a place requiring more than just our words to describe.

(More pics coming soon!)

Uh Babe... There's a lizard in the sugar...

Seeing lizards around town in the local restaurants and shops is not out of the norm around here. The size we typically see are around 3 inches long (including the tail). Yesterday, we were out relaxing in a local restaurant/bar called “FCC” when out from behind a large sign of specials crawls this massive lizard, approximately the length of my forearm. We were already impressed by the sheer amount of smaller ones scaling the inside of the building (literally 40+ little lizards). I was able to snag a photo of the big guy, so I figured I’d post him too. However; the excitement of the night did not end there…

We walked home and Chantelle decided to start dinner, I was having a rest after our long day out. After about 5 minutes of relaxing in front of the TV, I hear from the kitchen, “Uh babe… There’s a lizard in the sugar…” One of those little guys I had mentioned earlier must have had a sweet tooth. He actually got himself stuck inside of our plastic bag of sugar. We also snagged a picture AND video clip of this for you all to enjoy.

Fortunately for the lizard, we are both humane and not Batrachophobic (Big word for Amphibian Phobia). We let him outside and convinced him to leave our sugar bag… The sugar was promptly discarded. Until next time, see you later lizard lovers.