I got up "very early" one morning (at 5:30 I was out the door) to see what I could in my neighborhood at that hour. Down toward the riverside what did I see? A crowd of 50 year olds and senior citizens doing their morning aerobics. I had heard that there was a morning falung dan activity at the Olympic Stadium about three miles from my house. But I never knew that these folks worked out to Khmer pop music every morning at six directly in front of the Royal Palace (to the right and out of the picture) and next to the Royal reviewing stand for the annual Water Festival on the river. Most of these folks are Vietnamese and Chinese seniors and some of them don't just dance to pop music, but also practice chi gong for health.
Back towards my house I turned the corner and ran into Mit Samlanh (Street Friends) the school for street kids whose playground and assembly yard is directly beneath my bedroom window. They provide schooling and job training for kids who otherwise are unable to attend public school because they don't have a permanent address. High school age Deaf students at the school copied a pair of pants three times in three different materials so I could have appropriate work pants. So now I have two pair of black pants and a pair of brown pants that go withmy white and pastel dress shirts that I can wear to Deaf Development. Deaf Development provides the interpreters for Mit Samlanh so Deaf students can take sewing, motorcycle repair, cosmetology, massage and manicure/pedicure classes.
Around the corner I almost collided with the ice man. At this hour of the morning, a truck filled with block ice drives through the neighborhood filling the coolers for local businesses. Since electricity is never consistent here and since most businesses have a streetside service there are mini-fridge sized coolers on the sidewalk so sodas, fish and veggies can be served on demand. Each block is cut with a handsaw to size and dropped with huge pincers into the coolers.
Further around the corner, near the back entrance to the Royal Palace is a small branch of the city's most American eatery... USA Donuts No. 2. Just as the American embassy cannot escape the local custom of building and maintaining a spirit house for the land spirits displaced by the construction of the mammoth building, neither can an American business escape the local custom of offering food and incense to the statue of the female bodhisattva who protects this business. Coffee and doughnuts anyone?
Turning back towards my house, I see some guys playing a game of volleyball, second only in popularity to badminton. They are playing on the sidewalk surrounding the park that fronts the National Museum and rolls up next to the Royal Palace (the tower in the background.) Note that they don't have a net, so their stingray substitutes.
I got up "very early" one morning (at 5:30 I was out the door) to see what I could in my neighborhood at that hour. Down toward the riverside what did I see? A crowd of 50 year olds and senior citizens doing their morning aerobics. I had heard that there was a morning falung dan activity at the Olympic Stadium about three miles from my house. But I never knew that these folks worked out to Khmer pop music every morning at six directly in front of the Royal Palace (to the right and out of the picture) and next to the Royal reviewing stand for the annual Water Festival on the river. Most of these folks are Vietnamese and Chinese seniors and some of them don't just dance to pop music, but also practice chi gong for health.
Back towards my house I turned the corner and ran into Mit Samlanh (Street Friends) the school for street kids whose playground and assembly yard is directly beneath my bedroom window. They provide schooling and job training for kids who otherwise are unable to attend public school because they don't have a permanent address. High school age Deaf students at the school copied a pair of pants three times in three different materials so I could have appropriate work pants. So now I have two pair of black pants and a pair of brown pants that go withmy white and pastel dress shirts that I can wear to Deaf Development. Deaf Development provides the interpreters for Mit Samlanh so Deaf students can take sewing, motorcycle repair, cosmetology, massage and manicure/pedicure classes.
Around the corner I almost collided with the ice man. At this hour of the morning, a truck filled with block ice drives through the neighborhood filling the coolers for local businesses. Since electricity is never consistent here and since most businesses have a streetside service there are mini-fridge sized coolers on the sidewalk so sodas, fish and veggies can be served on demand. Each block is cut with a handsaw to size and dropped with huge pincers into the coolers.
Further around the corner, near the back entrance to the Royal Palace is a small branch of the city's most American eatery... USA Donuts No. 2. Just as the American embassy cannot escape the local custom of building and maintaining a spirit house for the land spirits displaced by the construction of the mammoth building, neither can an American business escape the local custom of offering food and incense to the statue of the female bodhisattva who protects this business. Coffee and doughnuts anyone?
Turning back towards my house, I see some guys playing a game of volleyball, second only in popularity to badminton. They are playing on the sidewalk surrounding the park that fronts the National Museum and rolls up next to the Royal Palace (the tower in the background.) Note that they don't have a net, so their stingray substitutes.
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