The Adventure Continues

I have again left the comforts of my American life* to visit the country of Cambodia. It is there that I will be doing research for my thesis on the Modern Khmer Architecture Movement. I have yet to make it to Cambodia, but the chaos of "Claire's Travels" has already begun. The adventure began on Friday when I caught a ride with my good friend L, her husband, and her three children to Washington, Missouri, to attend the wedding of an old friend. Our ride was abrubtly challenged once we hit I-70 and started to hear a sound like the front tire was flat. This, of course, happend close to Danville where there was no car repair shop. After spending an hour trying to locate a shop that could check the wheels out, we decided to just take back roads and drive super slow (note that after 45 minutes the sound had gone away)....this caused our trip to take around 5 1/2 to 6 hours.....but to my surprise the children (two 17 month-olds and a four year old) never acted up. On Saturday morning L left her husband and me to watch the three kids while she went to the car repair shop and within 15 minutes of her leaving, the twins had managed to start swimming in one large mud puddle (This was probably due to Aunt Claire making a rookie mistake and showing the four-year-old how to use a stick and make mud soup)! At first I was mortified that I was allowing these adorable babies destroy their clothes...but they were having so much fun that we allowed them to continue splashing around for another hour. Thankfully, we were able to clean them up and wash the clothing before L returned (I believe with the earlier events of that weekend that she might have lost it!). The rest of the weekend was great. We had a blast at the wedding and then I caught a flight to Chicago on Sunday morning.

(After Aunt Claire allowed the kids to make mud soup)

(Chiwoo and the kids playing in the cabin we rented...I think the deer head is a nice touch)

(Apparently the ceremony was exhausting, becase L's daughter took a nap)

On Monday I left Chicago on a flight bound for Manchester, England. If you are questioning my path of travel, you are right to think that Manchester seems rather out of the way for a girl who is trying to get to Cambodia....but in the persuit of saving 1000 dollars, I opted for the longer route, which included Manchester, Helsinki, and Singapore.

The first flight can most definantly be classified as great. I am unclear about what made my first flight soooo impressive, but have narrowed down the following factors that helped to shape the awesomeness:

A) That the original airplane was broken, so they stuffed us on a much smaller plane. (Think 787 to a 747.)

B) That I was the lucky individual who got the middle seat.

C) That the women on my left had a 9 month-old baby in her lap (and then three children in front of me under the age of 6)....

D) that her four year-old puked when we landed.

The second flight was somewhat better. I sat next to Margaret, a self-proclaimed radical evangelist. At the end of the flight she gave me a Gideons Bible, which was great because I have lots of baggage room. Helsinki was great even though I was exhausted. I would define it as a hipster's heaven filled with tight jeans, bike messengers and thick rimmed glasses. I had enough time to read in Hesperian Park, walk the boardwalk that looks out over the Baltic Sea, and spend an unfortunate amount of time trying to locate gluten-free items to fill my empty belly. My next stop will be Singapore where I hope to shop in the Chinese market and lounge in Marina Bay Sands.

(Helsinki)

Send all my love,

Square

*Although "comforts of American life" might be an overstatement because I was recently left in charge of finding a new apartment for Leslie and me in Charlottesville. Well, I thought I had done an excellent job, but I aparently forgot to ask if there was air-conditioning....and the fact that there is not is fine with me because I will not be returning until August, though Lafa is not sooo lucky.