Khmer aerobics

Twice a day, everyday the khmae people take to the streets for exercise. In the mornings people are often walking and doing calisthenics before the sun comes up. In the evening there is more exercise often including badminton rackets and wiffle balls.

Hands down my favorite place to exercise is Olympic Stadium. If you are thinking, when did Cambodia host the Olympics? They haven't. But, some decades back they built a stadium just in case. It is currently used to host local sporting events and by the locals for exercise.

There is a phenomena called Khmae aerobics. My mom sent me an email about it. She had found a post on someonelse's blog and said I should check it out. The basic idea is that someone sets up with a speaker and microphone. They start leading an aerobics class and others follow. At Olympic park there are hundreds of people and dozens of classes going on simultaneously. Pick one and join in the fun.

This is a photo of my first visit. Notice the sunrise. I have been back a few times since. For me, the problem is timing. On weekdays, though I am up I am not likely to leave the house at 5:30am. I also am not likely to be out of work by 5:30pm. So, I try to make it on Saturday morning or at least catch the end of a weekday class.

I wonder what would happen if a 'barang' (foreigner) was to show up with a speaker and microphone to lead a class? Would anyone follow? My mom is an aerobics instructor in the States. When she comes to visit I really want her to try this experiment. I'll let you know the results.

Game night at the Warren's

A few weeks ago we hosted game night at our place. We ordered pizza from the pizza place up the street. It is owned by a khmae lady who lived in the States many years. She knows Kenyon and I by name, she knows about our schedules, she recognizes our voices on the phone - obviously we like her restaurant! So, we ordered pizza for game night and I made rice krispy treats for dessert.

We played Balderdash and I learned quite a bit about those sitting around the table. They can come up with some of the craziest things! We laughed and laughed and laughed some more. This is a mix of some of the people I work with and some of the people I've just met around town.

Since I've failed to post photos of our apartment so far, this is also our dining table with the kitchen behind.

Wayne, who recently moved here from the States and is in the front of this picture, prayed over dinner for us. In his prayer he said, "thank you God for the opportunity to be in a room with people who speak English." I can tell you it is still exhausting to get through my daily routines - trying to find my way around town, trying to remember the language, and struggling in the heat. At the end of the day I often just want to fall in to bed exhausted, but usually I still need to make dinner and spend a couple of hours on email for work since I had spent most of the work day in meetings. I understood his gratitude, to just be in a room with people who come from a similar culture and speak the same language.

cotton candy?!

Since moving overseas, I seem to post a lot about food. Food seems to be a bigger part of my life now. It takes up many hours of my week - shopping for and preparing food is an event. When living in the States, I would just grab something and go - grab something from a fast food restaurant, grab something out of the freezer and stick it in the microwave. Not anymore. There really is no such thing as fast food here. We have two hour lunches and most of the time, if I eat out, it takes that long just to order and eat - much of the time is spent waiting. There are microwaves, but they are crazy expensive. Gone are the days of stacked microwaves or cheap kitchen appliances purchased from Wal-mart (though ironically those appliances are made in this part of the world and exported there).

I have learned a very important word in Khmae; the word for to-go, take-out or take-away. It is kh-jop. Saying I'd like my meal to-go seems to reduce the time waiting, on work days I then take it back to my desk and use the extra time for work.

One day as Kenyon and I were exploring on a Saturday afternoon, we found something we hadn't seen before or since. There was a street cart roaming the streets. These are a common site, usually they have things like roasted corn, french baguettes, fried bananas, or something unrecognizable to the foreign eye. On this particular day. one of the street carts was selling cotton candy (known to Australians as fairy floss). It was $0.25 for a bag. It was so good. When Kenyon had finished eating it, he wanted more, but we had already moved on and there were no more carts carrying this treat...the mirage had melted away.

Kenyon refused to take a picture with the cotton candy because he knew it would end up on my blog. So, this is a posed picture with me and the spun sugar to prove that it existed...at least it did on that day.

iBaked

Kenyon loves apple desserts. His favorite is made by Sue Jones. She makes an apple crumble pie that is yummy. She gave me the recipe and I've yet to try it. However, I did look up the recipe for apple crisp online recently thinking that might be a bit easier since it is sans the pie crust.

There is a kind of apple in Cambodia that is absolutely fabulous. It has become one of my favorite snacks. I don't know what type of apple it is, but the skin is yellow and red. What's inside is soooo tasty...it's a good sweet fix when I am craving sugar.

Here is the result of my first attempt at apple crisp.

Kenyon loved it. He loved it so much I've made three in less than a month and while I was gone he attempted to make one on his own. He didn't like his own as well as mine, he couldn't get the crisp right. That is the hardest part here. Why? Because we don't have a mixer. The recipe calls for mixing in cold butter. Doing that by hand is grueling. I definitely work up a sweat!

I read an article recently that housewives of the 50's stayed in shape through their housework. It was all manual - few kitchenaid's, dishwashers or clothes washing machines. After making apple crisp with nothing but the strength in my arm and a hand whisk; I believe the author. I burn some serious calories mixing up this sweet treat, which I guess then justifies my indulging in eating it later.

Technical Difficulties

I am having computer and internet problems. I will spend some time working on these over the weekend. Expect new posts next week.