Saturday
Before movie night, I went with a five of the girls to Sorya shopping center. It is a big, new mall in town and has a really large Lucky Market connected to it. That definitely was different compared to the rest of town, and I am pretty sure I was the only non-Cambodian in the mall! There certainly is a growing middle and upper-class population in Phnom Penh, and I think the mall is where many of them spend some time on Saturday nights. It was packed! There was a food court on one floor and an arcade on another. Just about everything a mall in the US has to offer, but each floor was smaller and there were no stores that you would recognize! The mall was right across from KFC - the first and still only fast food (or Western chain at all) in the country. It was a happening part of town for sure.
The mall (also called sophana):
The view from the front of the mall. Can you spot the KFC?
On the drive back to the dorm we drove past a lot of hostess bars. Although I at least often think of these as set up for foreigners and visitors, all of the ones we saw were directed at Cambodian men - no white people in sight. It was very interesting. Although you often see families sitting together, it also is quite common to see groups of men (almost always without shirts) hanging out together, usually just sitting around. You never see groups of women doing this, which is very interesting. No wonder the people in the neighborhood didn't think it was possible for 34 girls to live together without fighting! Women in Cambodia are never really given a chance to talk with each other and just be together as friends.
After getting home from the mall experience, we had the much anticipated movie night. I showed the Fantastic Four, and it was a big hit. Everyone loved it, and now they want to see the second one. I am guessing there is one, but I don't think I've ever seen it. I'll see if I can find it...and hope that it is just as PG rated as the first one.
Sunday
One of my roommates had her birthday on Sunday, so the night before I made her a quick little card/note that said "happy birthday." The next morning some of the girls in the dorm gave her some flowers. The dorm manager is sick with the flu, so the girls had lots of free time before the talk in the afternoon. I went with Savada (the birthday girl!) and Leaphea to a coffee shop, which was pretty much like the Cambodian Starbucks - Cafe Sentiment. I had a chocolate croissant and some watermelon juice - very yummy. I am feeling spoiled because on Saturday or Friday I went to a different coffee shop and got a mango lassi (I LOVE those!), then Saturday night I got a yogurt drink at the grocery store in the mall when I picked up snacks for the movie, and then on Sunday I had another fancy drink!
After the coffee shop, where we stayed for a while, we decided to go to the mall (they had not gone when I went the night before). At the mall, Savada and I arrived first and looked at a used book stand - all the books were in English. I found a big book of LSAT practice tests for $6 and bought it for the dorm since so many of them are hoping to study law in the US. Unfortunately, they will need to take the LSAT in addition to the English language test. I have started working with Dany and Savada, two of my roommates, on the LSAT and how to prepare. They are then going to help the other girls learn about it, and so on, until everyone who is interested knows.
When Leaphea got to the mall, we decided to go have ice cream (at a Swenson's in the mall, no less - how strange!). We got a sundae with a berry yogurt, strawberry, and macadamia nut ice cream and with a special candle on top for Savada's birthday. After we finished that, the people who worked there came out with a cake and started singing happy birthday! Apparently Leaphea snuck off between the coffee shop and mall to order a birthday cake for Savada - it was so sweet! I tried to clean off the candles and bring them back to the dorm so that there would be some candles for someone else's birthday, and they made fun of me. How crazy is it that I am stingier and more of a saver than people in Cambodia. The things grad school has done to me.... I have lost all of my American capitalist drive! :)
The birthday cake! We were not sure what was on it. Maybe dogs??
Savada, the birthday girl, and Leaphea with the fancy ice cream we got. The macadamia nut ice cream was very tasty.
After the ice cream and cake and coke, we went upstairs to the arcade and played a few games before heading home. We got there with just enough time for the girls to go see some visitors to the dorm. A professor from a university in Illinois was in town and talking to the girls about some scholarships. While that was going on, I had to leave with one of the girls (Menghun) to go to Monument Bookstore to get ready for the Women's Empowerment Lecture Series. She came along to help translate from English to Khmer for some of the students just beginning in English.
Well, this post is already pretty long, so I think I will add information and pictures from the lectures series later. You will just have to wait to find out who all of the speakers were for the first day!!
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