NGO Assignments

Hey guys!

Thanks for the comments, they really made us laugh!

Yesterday we got a Tuktuk to drop us off at the Royal Palace, which is right along the river (i don't know the name of it). Oh, it's Tonle Sap River, according to the map on the wall at the internet cafe.

We didn't go into the Palace because it was closed until two, and we got there around 11.
So we walked along the bank, which was really a broken sidewalk way above the river, separated by a downward cement slope. There people selling lots and lots of birds, and we wondered why. We thought it was a sacrifice, but later we found out that people buy them, hold them in their hand, say a prayer, and then let them go. We wanted to get one but then decided that touching a live animal (or dead for that matter) probably wasn't a good idea. There were also vendors along the way selling flowers that were sticking out of coconuts that had been peeled, so they were like a light green color. I'm not sure what the flowers were, but they were pretty. some where white and others were pinkish and purplish. There were women and children peeling the coconuts with their teeth. All of this was both touristy and local people, more so local along the bank and vendors.

Then we decided to go down to the Central Market, which we read in a guide book to be less touristy than the Russian Market, and has some different things. OUr tuktuk driver that took us there said parts were under construction so we'd only want to walk around for like 40 minutes, and he agreed to pick us up after that. Once inside, we realized we could have spent a lot more time there. They had more jewelry and fake Rolexes and Chanel watches and all of that, and more silver vases and plates and wall hangings. We didn't buy anything, and we started getting hungry. We could'nt find good things to eat in the Market (which doesn't mean there weren't any, as you can tell from the description of the Russian Market, it should be maze not market). So we walked down a road and found a trendy touristy cafe, but they had mostly sandwiches and American stuff and it was expensive, so Jordan just got an iced tea because we felt that we had to buy something after staring at the menu for so long. It was a dollar, a total rip-off.

Then we met up with our tuktuk driver, who we asked to take us to a local place. It was expensive.
There is more we did yesterday, but we'd rather spend the time writing about today so far.

Today at 8:30, after breakfast at the hotel, we went to the university to pair up for the NGOs and unload the art supplies.
It was quite a mess to work out who was working with who and where, and Jordan and I were not able to work together, which is disappointing. But we aren't going to dwell on it and I'm sure that we will have a good experience with the people we are with wherever we are.
Jordan is working with Jessica, a comm major, and working every day of the week at two different NGOs. We don't really know what they are yet, but we will let you know.
Raina is working with Carol with the girls rescued from sex trafficing and another place.

We are off to eat at the Boat Noodle again, our favorite restaurant so far.

Later!