Frangipani

We arrived late last night after a surprise visit to Korea—some tourist firm took us on a two-hour jaunt to a mountain temple and, of all unlikely places (it being freezing cold in Korea right now), the beach, which was great but meant we had to cross back two times zones again in order to find purchase in Phnom Penh. Anyway, all has now been resolved. We are in our cute little villa. We have eaten breakfast at the appropriate time. We have had coffee, which my traveling companion, Mo., has deemed delightful. And it smells good here.

So after our international jaunts and final arrival, I introduced Mo. to the wonders of Beer Lao poolside at the fancy villa where we're staying for the first two nights, and we passed a few minutes giggling at the scurrying rats and their good pals, the gigantic cockroaches. We were the only ones up and to be honest I wasn't sure anyone else was even here at 11 p.m. when we arrived; now here at breakfast it's clear that the lace was jam packed, our neighbors have simply adapted to the Cambodian bedtimes of "a decent hour." No such luck for us—for now we're at the whims of jetlag.

I suppose you're right to expect that I introduce you to Mo., who will be blogging occasionally here at Camb(l)o(g)dia. You're also right, however, to expect that I continue to write herein primarily on my area of interest in Southeast Asia, namely: how cute are these girls? Sure, we spruce it up a bit with political commentary, notes toward economic significance, governmental watch-dogging, and food writing, but basically, let's face it. My beat is Giggling in Southeast Asia.

Mo., therefore: he is younger than I (32!), German, and lives in Berlin. His English is pretty good, although he occasionally calls me things like "annoying" and "exacerbating" which are not synonyms for "beautiful" or "intelligent" so I don't know who taught him some of this stuff. He is a cultural anthropologist working toward a PhD in cultural anthropology. He likes sour foods. We've been dating for a little less than a year, although the majority of that has not been conducted on the same continent so why did I even let him come here with me? I guess we'll see soon enough.

I introduced Mo. to one of the Harspwell girls already via Facebook, the sociologist. They seemed to get along fine. As I later told the girls at Harpswell, "I have a friend who will be coming with [to Cambodia] . . . . . You can ask Tevy is he is nice or not, but I think he is nice."

Mo. thanked me for the sweet introduction, and I said, "If 'I think he's nice, but what do I know' is sweet to you, we'll get along fine."

Anyway: I must lounge, poolside, and prepare for the imminent return to dorm. Do expect more soon.

Packing

Our flight to Phnom Penh via Seoul leaves tomorrow p.m. from Frankfurt—more on the "we" bit later—and I finally have a moment to go through, read, and pack the various gifts I have been entrusted to bring the girls. Among them, the following zines from Shannon Stratton 's Fall 2009 Why Make Art Now class at SAIC.

A. Smith's "Thank You Cambodia for Rice," December, 2009. Inspired by Samouy's zine "All About the Plant of Rice," January 2008.

Melissa Weber's "A Happy Response to Dany," December 2009. Inspired by Nimh Dany's "A Great and Lovely Place," January 2008.

Anna Gorman's "How to Cook an Omelette," December 2009.

Annalemma's Holiday in Cambodia

Rad lit mag Annalemma is holding an exciting benefit project, namely, collecting your personal holiday tales of woe for publication. Editor Christopher Heavener has decided to match all funds, which is cool, but not nearly as cool as the hilarious string of jokes he's come up with to describe the fundraiser.

Read it, write your story down, and submit. Because, as Chris says, he's perfectly willing to go to the poorhouse for this. (And since I may well be there too, it will be fun to have a writerly pal!)

Old World Bake & Buy: A Fundraiser (this weekend!)

The Women’s Media Group of Chicago is hosting a bake sale to benefit my work in Cambodia. YUM:

ANNOUNCING
“A veritable Christmas basket overflowing with musical treats”

The Jamie and Anne (Hills) Christmas Concert with Paul Amandes
AND
Women’s Media’s Old World “Bake & Buy” Holiday Bake Sale
December 13, 7 PM
SPACE, 1245 Chicago, Evanston
PH (847) 492-8860
Tickets $20 Adv. $25 Door
GROUP RATES.
www.evanstonspace.com

Bring Your Party & Celebrate With Us. Great Musical Ensemble. Great Venue. Good Cheer. Yuletide Favs. Caroling. Bake. Buy. Order Treats Ahead.

BAKERS, ARE YOU IN?
-Bake & Donate Your Homemade Treats.
-Write the name of the recipe, country of origin and/or a memory on a card. Please also indicate if your baked good contains nuts!
-Bring your baked goods to SPACE at 6 PM, on Sunday Dec. 13.

OR

-Can’t be there? We’ll pick up your baked goods,
-Buy. And/or let us choose treats for you to buy, and we’ll deliver next day.
E-mail jamiejoan@aol.com