Settled In

Parker departed to the States yesterday, and Beau will also be leaving in the next five days, so I'm now trying to figure things out on my own. I beginning to know the city well enough to get around, and I'm also becoming more adept at finding out which Khmer food is meat- and dairy-free. I now feel settled in the apartment where I will be staying for the next month--I'll probably move into a home-stay with a Cambodian family after that. Below is a photo of what the kitchen looks like (it's way more than adequate!).

The room where I'm sleeping looks something like this:

I am continuing to practice Khmer on my own, although I am meeting with a teacher tomorrow to arrange some lessons. I am finding it much easier to learn a language in the country where it is spoken, because it can be used all the time. Below is some writing I've been working on (colors inverted just for fun).

On Monday, I plan to make my first trip out of the city to visit the smot masters in Takeo province. In the meantime, I will be helping as much as I can with the CD project, which is a great learning experience for me. It is only now dawning on me that I am going to be spending such a long time in this country, which is both daunting and comforting. I hope that over the next month I will have a much better idea of what I will be focusing on this year.