2011

Happy New Year! What is this “2011” stuff? I still think it’s the 90s and now the 90s are more than decade gone. I welcomed the New Year in style with a near-death experience from being about 20 feet away from fireworks that were being launched outside of the Naga Casino in Phnom Penh. The other celebrating volunteers and I were rained on by small debris from the directly-overhead explosions. Talk about starting with a bang!

I spent my Christmas in a more Khmer way by dancing (or, actually, walking around in a circle with small arm movements) for four hours at a housewarming party. Once I started saying yes when people asked me to dance, I felt like I couldn’t say no, so I danced until the very end. There is even some photographic evidence. As a note, it is not at all appropriate to show that much leg except in this sort of situation. My host mom wouldn’t let me wear the traditional Khmer party clothes I had tailored and instead insisted on this risque knee-and-shoulder-showing number. It was a good time, even if I missed all my Peace Corps friends who spent the holiday at the beach...those jerks.