Against the best wishes of anyone who ever loved me...... (sorry mom)

I’m sporting a new hair do these days—the promised restyling has been successfully achieved, probably to the surprise of most everyone. I don’t think people believed that I would actually do it. But, emboldened by my new surroundings and far away from my mother, who would probably have corrected my adventurous new look with a pair of scissors in the dead of night, I actually did the deed. And it doesn’t look half bad.

Life has settled into something that resembles normality. The sun rises around five fifteen and we get up with the rest of the family—thanks to traits inherited from my father, I actually enjoy being up in the morning because the day always seems so much more productive. Plus, you can see the sunrise, gold framed by palm trees and dark rooftops.

The roof is my favorite part of the house—I could sit there for hours just watching. The sea of rooftops is punctuated by little green tufts, the upper edges of palm fronds, evidence of life below. The part of that life that I can see in the ally below is endlessly amusing—four boys can be seen there at any hour of the day playing soccer and forcing the motos to swerve around their game, people move in and out carrying produce in baskets balanced on their heads, and children run around barefoot and smiling.

Nobody seems to notice that the soccer ball is hand woven from plastic strips, that the barefoot children are running through piles of trash and rancid water, or that the people emerge from houses made of cracking wood and corrugated tin, with barred windows and barbed wire fences. Maybe they notice, but no one complains.

The road to my house is small, not even on the map. The house itself is fairly average—long and narrow, like most houses here, with all tile floors and a rooftop balcony. It is small but clean and well kept, though we do share our bathroom with a family of ants who seem reluctant to leave their current residence. Ashley and I inhabit the only room in the house with an air conditioner, which makes sleeping much more comfortable, though I hate the idea of inconveniencing the room’s previous occupant, probably our host mom.

(toilet paper in the bathroom.....those are ants. there are more crawling around the bottom and inbetween the sheets, but they appear to be camera shy)

At night, I stay up talking with my new family—brother speaks English quite well, but mama and sister don’t, so communicating involves a lot of sign language and even more un-knowing smiles, the tacit sign that we had better give up while we are ahead. I am trying to learn Kmer quickly, but this is one instance where time is required more than anything else, and it seems that there is little I can do to change that.

I start work on wednesday--we had a meeting today and it looks like the perfect place for me. A combination of plenty of hands on field work and a great opportunity for research. I think I've found a topic for my honors thesis! I remain fully convinced that this is going to be an amazing summer. keep me updated on your lives though--I'd rather not fall off the edge of the earth, even if I am on the other side of it!