It's the Little Things

Today was one of those days. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, certainly not. It was just one of those days that happens once in a while, filled with occurrences that make you laugh and make you sigh when you’re recounting them in your head a few days later. What was it about today? Oh well it was lots of things.

I fell. Twice. Once going up the stairs after breakfast with laptop in hand, and once in the mud. The serious mud. The mud that covers your whole leg, and bike, and jacket. Oh yes, I wiped out about 50 meters from the entrance to the Amelio School while rocking out to Katy Perry on my Shuffle. Who knew that the sides of giant puddles are slick and don’t hold traction of little pushbike tires? At the school gate a chorus of children greeted my mud-covered self in the “hello!!!” fashion per usual, which quickly erupted into a chorus of chuckles. As much as I like to think they were laughing with me, I’m almost positive their laughter was directed at me. No worries, though… a little bit of dirt only adds character, right? Even if the mud permanently added nice brown stains down the sides of my sole pair of pants, I guess it is what it is.

When I went to town during lunch searching for a book and a flash drive and things seemed to be looking up. I mean, after you fall in the mud you can only go up from being that low, at least to the ground, right? Besides the morning had gone well; Kim Chhoeurn and I had worked together proctoring the Rosetta Stone progress tests, and although some of the students were really struggling, our cooperation made me really excited for the weeks to come. Back in town everything was smooth until a stranger told me that I smelled. After he saw my look of astonishment he clarified his assertion, explaining that I was smelly because I rode a bike instead of taking a tuk-tuk; he was, of course, a tuk tuk driver himself. I told him that it wasn’t nice to tell complete strangers that they smell, but thanks anyway and I rode off on my orange bike.

At the next corner another tuk-tuk driver greeted me and started speaking to me in French. After about thirty seconds of conversation I joked that his French was way better than mine, which it was, but he did not hesitate to whole-heartedly agree. In fact, he wondered why it was so bad? Looks like I’m not catching a break after all. On my way home I stopped at every internet café I saw in search of a flash drive, and at last my search had ended: flash drive spotted. The only problem was I knew that the man at the store jacked up the price as soon as I pulled up. He didn’t have a price listed to begin with so he could conceivably charge almost anything depending upon who pulled up. After a few minutes of failed bargaining I paid the $10 and went on my merry way back to the guesthouse for a quick lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwich. After guzzling the sandwich I made another failed attempt, this time at washing out my pants. In my haste to get back to school, I threw on a pair of shorts sans bug spray. Much to my dismay I forgot about the fact that shorts don’t protect you from mosquitoes like pants do; I now have six bites the size of quarters to remind me not to do that again.

It might sound as if I was having a pretty bad morning, or perhaps even a bad day. And while I don’t know if I’d choose to fall in the mud every day, I have to admit that yesterday was a pretty fantastic. In fact, it might be one of the best days that I’ve had since I’ve been here in Siem Reap. Why? Because of the little things. I went to the bookstore over lunch and bought a “Colloquial Cambodian” book, as well as a book about the Khmer Rouge written by a Frenchman. It’s the little things like knowing that even though the tuk-tuk driver said I was smelly, biking for almost an hour every day means that I’m getting some exercise and gaining some independence. And although his French was better than mine, the French-speaking tuk-tuk driver started speaking to me in French because he thought I was from France. Sounds like the good old days. Another little treat was finding out that there’s no school tomorrow. It’s actually the King’s birthday and a state holiday, so students and teachers get the day off. I’m certainly not complaining because now I’ve got double the weekend! At the end of the day I joined some of my fellow teachers for a celebratory can of Crown Beer before hopping onto my bike and heading into town for dinner.

For dinner I enjoyed some pasta primavera. It was pretty good, and service seemed to be pretty smooth so I didn’t anticipate any problems with paying the bill. Not so, however, especially since it was just one of those days. The restaurant refused my $20 bill because a piece of one of the corners was missing. Seriously? Even my money isn’t good enough around here? But instead of going off annoyed I asked he server why and found out that here that’s just the way it is here in Cambodia. Fair enough, and I’m just glad that I asked so that I know to watch out next time. Before heading home I made a few stops. First I went to Boom Boom Music, and then I stopped at the Ivy Bar and Guesthouse to say hello to my Australian friend Megan while she was working. We made plans to take advantage of the day off and go to some galleries around town. As I was getting on my bike, the French tuk-tuk driver spotted me and we started chatting once again en français. On my way home I discovered that Hotel de la Paix has some fantastic pastries, and after 8pm they’re half price. After chatting with a really nice Khmer girl behind the counter, I took my croissant aux amandes chez moi and enjoyed it thoroughly while watching TV5Monde, the French TV station.

Was today really great because of the savory taste of the almond croissant, or the fact that I purchased a few books at the bookstore? Yes, but not exactly. It’s more like today was great because it made me realize that noticing all of the really good things in life, no matter how small, really make all of the difference. The little things give you something to be excited about; the little things are the ones that make you smile to yourself so that when people look at you, they wonder what you’re smiling about. The little things are the pick-me-ups after you fall in the mud, and the falls in the mud are things that you look back on and laugh. The falls in the mud also make the little things more savory themselves. Considering the day’s events, I regret only one thing: I have no pictures that can attest to my mud bath because frankly, I think it would give you quite a laugh.  I mean, I’m still chuckling about it.