Things I've Learned

So in the past couple of weeks, I started to write down some things that I'm learning while I'm here.  Some of them are simply funny.  Just quirky things that happen here that are so opposite of what I know at home.  Other things are closer to my heart and are becoming things that are impacting me stronger.

A lot of them are fragments and very "note like" because I would try and write them down quickly before I forgot them.  I thought maybe I'd ellaborate on them, but then I figured that I think it gives a simpler, more raw perspective of what I was thinking.  I don't think everything needs complex words.

- Stop lights are mere suggestions

- A little Khmer can go a long way

- Honking on the street is more of a, "Hey, I'm coming up next to you" and is never followed by the middle finger

- On the road, if your bigger..... you win..... bottom line

- Always get off a moto on the left side of the bike in order to avoid a burn on your leg from the muffler

- You don't really NEED hot water to take a shower

- It is perfectly acceptable to have the shower and toilet completely unseperated

- Even though they do drive on the right side of the road, you are really not limited to that

- Culture influences those who grow up in it in ways that you couldn't imagine, both good and bad

- It's easy to find things very normal here, even though in America the same thing might be absurd

- A more broad world view.... in general and in very specific ways

- There is so much about people's character that is just the same as the people back home.  It's easy to look at people here as very different, but overall there are so many similarities.

- When something becomes so familiar, it is easy to become numb to it.  There are things that go on here that people don't even flinch at anymore.  It's become an everyday thing to them, and little do they know how it effects them.

Some things might need more explaining so feel free to ask.  I always enjoy emails ;) hint hint!