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August 05, 2004
Setting up my apartment
2nd – This morning I moved into my apartment – very exciting! It took a couple of trips on the moto to get my gear there – even then there were a couple of things still at Monica’s. I didn’t realise how many ‘things’ are needed for an apartment to set up. I’ve moved into an apartment before, but it seemed different this time, possibly because I did this all by myself, and finding shops to buy things I need is more difficult here. You can’t just go to a supermarket and buy all the household items you need. I went to buy some stuff, including some 2 minute noodles…. But realised I don’t have any way to boil water here yet! After moving I treated myself to morning tea at Trung Nguyen, a Vietnamese coffee shop chain, apparently trying to do the Starbucks thing. It reminded me more of a food hall than a Starbucks, but at least it was clean. They had 8 different types of coffee available, some for iced coffee, some only for hot coffee. I ordered some food, but it took three goes to get something they actually had (how can a shop in Cambodia NOT have ANY noodles??) I also expected to get espresso at such a magnanimous establishment, but no. Ok, so maybe I should have expected them to serve it Viet-style… it is a Viet chain after all… But they still gave condensed milk instead of fresh milk! Anyway, I wasn’t very impressed with the coffee, the food or the service. I won’t be rushing back there. I had lunch with Lydia at Le Rit’s, which was pretty expensive, but good quality. I met my new cleaner Srey Puv with Dara (Kit’s Khmer teacher) this afternoon, and organised for her to clean twice a week (including laundry) for $25 per month. After class, I went back to Monica’s place to get the rest of my things. I stayed and chatted with Monica and Hane, who were also very generous and gave me a few kitchen things to set my place up. I ended up staying there that night also.
3rd – I had organised for my cleaner Srey Puv to meet me at 8am (with Dara’s wife) in order to go shopping for cleaning things, so I had to get up early to get back to my place before then. I got there before 8am, but the girls were already there! Apart from mop/etc I asked them to buy my some kitchen things (so that I get them at Khmer, not barang prices) as well as to get a set of keys cut. I was going to go shopping with Monica in the morning, but the girls didn’t get back with my keys (and purchases) until almost 12! I didn’t expect them to take 3 hours shopping, but this is Cambodia, and they did buy a heap of things (see the list below). Again, I had lunch with Lydia (at Baan Thai - $1 lunch specials), and spent the afternoon trying to help her get her moto fixed (we couldn’t find the right mechanic, with various language and instructional difficulties), followed by excellent espresso at ‘The Shop’ on Street 240. Monica helped me get some sheets, cushions and towels from the Russian market (thanks Mon!), then I got some more gear from a supermarket. By the time I’d finished all this, I had only a few minutes to shower and get to class. Unfortunately I had the business subject today, which meant still no textbook, and no time to prepare! I think the students mostly enjoyed 90 minutes of hangman, even though it wasn’t terribly productive…
4th – Had lunch with Vinh and Neil at the Khmer Restaurant today, the Luk Lak (pieces of beef in gravy with fries and a little salad) was pretty good. I found out about Pencil’s today. I can’t believe nobody told me about it earlier! It’s a huge supermarket on the ground floor with a couple of other floors above it with various other departments. It’s the only place I’ve found that sells Beer Lao apart from Pubs & Restaurants, so I bought a slab :) . Started a new class today – Intermediate English, using the Cutting Edge series books, as part of the PET program (I don’t know what that stands for). I’m taking over this class for Sean, who is away. Because its on at 5:30, my 5:30 classes have had to switch with the 7pm ones. So now I’m teaching MWF 5:30-8:30, and still at 5:30-7:00 on T & T.
I cooked my first ‘real’ meal tonight… I cooked spaghetti with a Thai-style pasta sauce (and a couple of Beer Laos). At home I’ve been eating 2 minute noodles, which are pretty good, but not really the most nutritious and varied meals available. It was very satisfying to have a home-cooked meal in my own apartment, chilling in front of the TV with a beer. Mmmm.
5th – It was pretty warm last night, and I woke up at about 2am, so I turned on the AC to see how well it works. I eventually turned it off a few hours later. Unfortunately I didn’t realise where the water drain for the AC is -> They have it pointed at the kitchen floor right under the sink, my guess is that they wanted it to flow into the drain. This would be fine if there was a drain under the sink, or somewhere in the kitchen! I did my best with the mop to clean it up – good thing the cleaner comes tomorrow morning!
Anyway, I’ve been filling out the last few day’s logs this morning, and its now just gone midday, so I’d better go and prepare for class tonight, as I don’t think it would do ANYONE any good to have another class playing hangman.
Posted by Dan at August 5, 2004 06:48 AM
Comments
You lazy poo! Do your own cleaning! ; )
Posted by: taffles at August 5, 2004 07:40 AM