Greetings from the Other Side of the World

Much to report in the last few days! After a crazy day 1, days 2 and 3 were dedicated to apartment searching. All told, i think we looked at twenty apartments (maybe a little over the top), but it was a good way to get a sense of Phnom Penh (and for free). On Sunday, we chose our favorite, a two bedroom apartment in a central location. It's got a huge balcony, big living room with wicker/bamboo furniture, two full bathroom and two half bathrooms, a cute little kitchen, an "office," and a room for storage (pictures soon!).

Our "host family"is awesome - it feels like we've been adopted! There's a lot of kids around and the dad (maybe a little sketchy) is a member of the National Assembly and has a driver, who has already fixed stuff in our apartment and driven us around. After moving stuff in on Sunday, we went to one of the traditional markets, the Russian market, and got sheets, towels, a hammock, and some stuff for the kitchen. As we were leaving, it poured...our first monsoon-like rains since arrival. I think this was our true introduction to Southeast Asia.

Shanti started work yesterday (her co-workers are really cool and, yes, adorable). I wandered around the city a bunch, opened a bank account, and just hung out. Work stuff for me is coming together, albeit a bit slowly (several of the people I want to meet with are out of the country for the next two weeks). So we'll see what happens!

Lastly, the food. So far it has been fantastic. Fried banana, the best pineapple I've ever had, a do-it-yourself Cambodian style melting pot-type dinner, delicious baked goods and cheap wine (thanks to the French), and pretty much anything else you could want.

I suppose that's more than enough for now. Hopefully we'll have internet at our apartment soon. Please keep me up to date on what's going on with you all and hopefully we can g-chat or skype soon!