Things Cambodia Does Better...

So most of my blogs to date have been either random stories or updates on the daily occurrences of my life, or sarcastic musings about the ridiculous things I have encountered in this country. Thus, I think it is time that I provide a little insight into those things which Cambodia does better.

1)Fruit: Not only does Cambodia have a wealth of fruit variety unheard of in America, but the fruits we have in common are better here (with the exception of apples). Oranges are sweeter here. Bananas come in like 800 varieties and all of them are better than anything you can buy in America. Most significant, to me, is watermelon. I do not like watermelon in America. I think it is a nasty gritty substance that tastes like water trying to be something else. In Cambodia watermelons are about a 3rd of the size of watermelons in America and it is as though you took all of the flavor in a big American watermelon, multiplied it by 2, and jammed it into the tiny watermelon. When they go out of season I will be very sad (my host family has had a bowl of watermelon with lunch and dinner every day for a good two weeks now).
2)Naptime: In my experience, and it varies from family to family I am sure, Cambodians nap (in hammocks generally) every afternoon, usually during the heat of the day. It is really nice to come home from work and have a couple hours of relaxation before going back to work.
3)Rice: While eating it 3 times a day every day is maybe not better, the rice itself tastes better.
4)Bathroom floors: Ok so I would most definitely prefer to have running water, and no mosquitos, and a variety of other bathroom features. However, the bathroom floor design in Cambodia (and many other countries) is in my opinion, better. All of the floors are tile or concrete with a drain. This is convenient for many purposes (not just the obvious one of needing somewhere for the water from you bucket showers to go) that are as follows: 1) When ill you can vomit on the floor with easy cleanup, this is my most appreciated advantage to the floor drain 2) If you spill anything on the floor in general, no prob. 3) When you brush your teeth you can spit on the floor. I know this is not necessary if you have a sink, but it is still kind of satisfying in a weird way. 4) You no longer need things like floor mats to keep your floor dry. It’s not supposed to be dry. It’s a bathroom. A room for bathing.
5)Wedding clothes: Not only are they way better for making one feel like an 80’s rock star, but you also get to wear like 8 different dresses for your wedding. That is the feature I like best. When you get married (a 2 or 3 day affair here) you don’t have to pick that one perfect dress, you get to pick like 8 perfect dresses and play makeover for 3 days. Sweet.
6)Text messages: They are just better. As a whole, way more entertaining and they make far less sense. For that matter, use of english is better here in many ways. Or more comical at least. Like when my co-teacher asks me if he can say "rub it out" in place of "erase the chalk board" or when one of the female teachers at my school tells me that my hair looks "especially" today. And on that note the text of the week goes to either:

1) In response to a text I sent about rats in my bed.... "Just your Cambodian snuggle buddies... You know, compliments of the Peace Corps."
2) OR "I want to ask you some questions. The sentence 'this is the color yellow,' and this is the yellow color. Which one is correct or both are correct?" This is only funny because I got it from my co-teacher at about 10:00 at night and then again from another co-teacher the following morning around 5:45am.