Flight was an uneventful 19 hours including the Singapore stop-off. Shockingly I did not do my usual romp through the inflight movies but instead repeated a leisurely eat-sleep-eat cycle. This seemed to work as the flight didn't seem that long.
This is possibly down to the fact that the majority of my time was spent wondering whether the man to my left was Robbie Williams or not. It looked like him, it sounded like him - he had a very distinctive quasi mancunian nasal twang - but somehow being cattle class, I guessed it wasn't.
Before the flight I had considered doing the "starvation to avoid jet lag diet ". I changed my mind though when the stress of having to pack and unpack my suitcase to reach the miserly 20kg weight limit kicked in. Just ask Cath.
As a result, the bags under my eyes are virtually the size of my suitcase. Only the multiple mosquito bites I have acquired over the last few days equal the bags as to outstanding physical features.
House
My room is a much needed oasis of cool. PP is very hot and I arrive at work, after only a ten-minute cycle looking as if I have just stepped out of the shower. Rosie tells me that when a woman gives birth, she loses any sense of personal dignity and vanity. It would appear that the same is true of long-term living in non-first world countries. Grossly general I know, but vanity is not something you can have here, as it would be a full time job. My hair looks very much like Beethoven's and my clothes 100% function. Sorry this was about the house......large, cool, it's got a kitchen, a fridge freezer, free water and a tv and DVD, AND I get my laundry done. What more can I say. Relative luxury.
Transport
I imagine the Khmer people have the one of the most bizarre transport systems in the world. At first I grappled to find the constants, but it would appear that there aren't any. There are no laws (at least written ones) as to how to drive, even down to the side of the road. Crossing the road therefore is initially terrifying. You have to have faith that walking in front of a vroom of motos is fine and that they will all stop to let you pass. You then realise that they do not drive fast and just aim to move out of your way. In a way it is in all their interests to drive like this and they have nothing to rebel against and so there are no "boy racers" - you just have to check your moto driver isn't drunk. Failing that you have to accept that you can take a more expensive tuk-tuk everywhere or cycle. Walking is an option but a bit irregular to the Cambodians...and when in Rome..
Characters
I live with 4 gap-year girls and a career-break physiotherapist called Des. Amirtha is an in-country Outreach coordinator who will at the end of July be replaced by Simon. Ben is my predecessor and someone who I managed to meet in the Gym Bar on Saturday night. He's now in Dubai but I am meeting new people on a daily basis - either Khmer or English. Kathy an American 6-monther will be arriving at the end of the month, and is my age.
Work
My first week was more eventful than anticipated. On days 2&3 I was sent to a conference on the plight of domestic workers in Cambodia who fall prey to human trafficking. I managed to get myself into a debate with Agnes from the Ministry of Justice as to the legal definition of a domestic worker - but I think it was greeted with respect. Picture the scene, me with a pair of wifi headphones listening to Khmer presentations which are simultaneously translated to me via the headphones. If you've seen "The Interpreter" you'll be able to envisage how it works.
Plans are also afoot for me to go a-conferencing in Bali in August, which is not too unappealing a prospect!
I have also put in place a teaching course for the LSCW staff - which starts this week. I plan to do two hours a week and the first session will simply be a brainstorming session to see what they want. Education is sorely lacking amongst the masses here and that is no exaggeration, so giving free English tuition is actually valuable in a very real way. I am going to try and put something in place which allows continuity after I leave at the end of the year. This involves my liasing with local ESOL/TFL schools to see if anyone wants to hone their skills whilst being really useful.
Tourism
NGO workers amongst others do like to think they are working in unchartered territory. Whilst I am not here as a typical tourist, that does not mean that I will not be going anywhere where the Brits go. Not going to the S21 museum would have been the equivalent of not bothering going to London if you are in the UK for the first time.
Food
Post plane food has been a mix of bland yet functional self created dishes a la Outreach house, or dining out. The plan is of course is to cover as many restaurants in PP as possible over a 6 month time frame with a pin-sized budget. My first meal in PP itself was a Khmer home cooked vegetarian curry which went down well. Two of the already incumbent vols were however laid low by abdominal cramps and sickness the next day, so I may just have chosen wisely going with the veggie option.
That's the thing in Cambodia - you don't know where a bug might come from, and you just have to ride it out - could it have been dirty water off the street, or one of the snacks from a food stall kindly delivered with a crescent moon grin and a stare that remains until you have demolished every morsel, or maybe you just cleaned your teeth with unfiltered water. Believe me, my face is neither smug or self-righteous when I tell you that as a self-confessed hypochondriac slash health-freak (ask anyone who knows me) I am wolfing down my travel probiotics on a daily basis. If those 10 bilion positive bacteria per tablet go even some way to minimise the potential for the inevitable gut problems. Living here is a bit like being at altitude in that hardly a meal goes by without someone mentioning the state of their intestines.
Restaurants have proven to be varied and tasty. After my Tuol Sleng visit, I went out for dinner with two of the then house-mates to the Boddhi-Tree. It is a very popular restaurant with the tourists who get waylaid as I did, given its convenient location directly opposite Tuol Sleng - it must have been cheap to buy but ironically must be in Cambodian terms making an absolute mint now as it doubles up as a guesthouse.
Last Saturday night I went out "into town" to meet Desi for a drink and dinner. Desi is of Irish descent and had found one of two Irish bars on the Riverside, called Rorys, owned not so inventively by a guy called Rory - ex Linklaters accountant and now ex-Pat with Cambodian wife in tow. Actually, "in tow" isn't quite right. She clearly knows how to keep him on his toes, as Rory described how she one evening just for a "larf" brought two baby crocs home, taped their mouths up and put them in bed next to her hungover husband, to relish his reaction, which of course was a combination of expletives and self-protection. That'll be one to tell the grandchildren! Had I heard this anywhere else I may not have believed it but somehow it seems credible here. I have a pet gecko in my bathroom after all.
Desi and I then stumbled on to the Happy Pizza for dinner. This restaurant is famous for its rather choice selection of pizza toppings - and for those oblivious to the connection between the green herbs and the happy of "Happy" pizza, let me help you - what you think is spinach on the pizza is not. Anyhow Desi and I went for the fried chicken and ginger and rice and pad thai respectively and tasty they were too. As you eat, Cambodian children come in - they look about 10 but you can quite safely double your guess to get the real age. They try to sell you photocopied books - rough guides or books on Cambodia's colourful past. They are neither aggressive nor pushy but given a tiny bit of rope they reel you in. I am reluctant, particularly doing the work I am do to buy from them because you don't know where the money goes (i.e to their "employer" or what will happen if they keep the money to themselves). It does not mean very much that they work for someone they call their father. They are after all walking the streets semi-naked at 10pm hoping to get a few extra dollars. One girl who approched us told us she works 7 days a week to help her 6 sibling family. Ever felt like a slacker?
Last night the final two gap-yearers left and so we had a final farewell meal at the Friends restaurant. This is reminiscent of Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" in that all the staff are former street kids. Three courses later and a Tuk-Tuk ride with a gentle breeze rounded off the weekend nicely.
Friendship club
I have made a friend at work called Soren, she looks about 12, so you can work out her real age. She invited me to what is known as the Friendship club, which is in essence a group of Khmer and NGO/ gap year/ placement workers who congregate every Sunday to "hang-out". Before I turned up at FC, I had envisaged a casual gathering of young people snacking and chatting away about their Cambodian experience. However, nothing could quite have prepared me for the just how incredibly twee the whole thing would be. Before you chastise me for being a tad harsh, just hear me out....Even before I entered the FC I could hear the gentle strumming of an embarrasingly familiar song. MMMMM what is that? Shoes off, mangosteen, pringles and iced water in hand (to drink or not to drink? ice is notoriously bad), I joined the circle of "friends", who were sat cross-legged (naturally) looking up at a white board, where the words of "Way back into love" were emblazened. Please youtube this - then you will realise, if you don't already, just how exceptionally cheesy this was. Don't get me wrong, without exception, I doubt if I would be able to fault the intentions of anyone (non-Khmer) in the room. However, what I found so unappealing was the saccharine dumbing-down of every aspect of the event, from the children's games, choice of songs and "I'm here to make a difference" introductions. Khmer people are not idiots they have just lived through or are living the aftermath of something I will never be able to understand.
Anyhow, just to prove I am not as cynical as the previous paragraph might suggest, I returned for a second helping and visited an orphanage with the FC yesterday. There are too many orphanages in Cambodia, or there are too few, depending on your perspective. My paltry mult-pack of pork noodles seemed a bit pathetic as a gift, but cumulatively the FC redeemed itself by its actions.
My bike finally conked out en route to Lucky (local supermarket). The only working brake snapped on the same day as my first bout of tummy troubles. These two events plus what seemed like an unusually hot day constituted my worst day so far in PP. However, back on form, I have bought three books today in preparation for my first English lesson with beginners tomorrow and am really looking forward to that tomorrow. Soren has taken to calling me "Madame Mangosteen" in honour of my love of the local fruit. Perhaps she does not realise that they are a preference over the fried ball of lard caked potato dipped in sewage that quite possible gave me the tummy tingles! Watch out for maggots though.
Khmer
Finally, before I change format to a date entry, let me tell you about my Khmer lessons which I started last week. Given that I at least in theory have a bent towards language learning, I thought that Khmer would be easy-ish as there are no tenses, BUT ...pronounciation is virtually impossible. They have sounds that we just don't use and so I find myself inadvertently jutting my chin back and forth to say slow down, when I am on a moto, which amuses Soren no end. It's good fun though.
Date entries from now on. so you don't have to wade through too much of blurb. Note the pics and excuse the lack of editing - my editing programme isn't working and my harddrive has next to no space so can't even down load one of the freebie programs.
Bye for now....x
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