First - before even a toothbrush or water or anything - a phone - by definition the newest most fashionable phone - one which will be mentioned in the first sentence of every subsequent conversation with friends and family back home - in this case an iPhone5 (the ultimate in the Khmer mind right now - tried to persuade her into a Galaxy S3 - to make her's the same as mine - technological homogeneity being a good thing - but no luck - had to be "eyeponefi")- then second most important is Skype and a calling card - I swear a call was made to at least 60% of the entire population of Cambodia on the first evening - yet with that combination it cost me <$3

Being a handbook for when space aliens eventually arrive - they will need to know stuff - there is probably no more alien being on Earth than a Khmer girl introduced into big-city USA having never set foot outside of Cambodia/Thailand/Vietnam - she will be the model upon which we the spoiled westerners can experiment and learn how to appease our eventual overlords - these will be observations regarding things we will need to know - in no way poking fun at her - mostly poking fun at our differences while being non-judgmental - I will continue to post until either she gets wise and object or else gets wise and there is a dearth of material.