Home, Sweet Home???

This is a photo of the large landing area. It is very big and spacious and with some furniture and a little imagination will become my sitting room. All the rooms come off this main area. The door you can see in the picture is the bathroom door and to the right are more stairs leading up to the roof and the stairs which lead back down to the first floor.

Each of the four bedrooms looks roughly like this. Big windows and room for 2 good sized beds. One of these rooms will be turned into a kitchen and dining area for me, one will be my bedroom, one will be an office/study/ironing room and the last will be a spare room for visitors.

The bathroom is rather horrid at the moment but the landlord has promised to put in a Western toilet (phew!) and put a cover over the water tank – oh joy! There might be a chance of the landlord installing a running water system into the house so until then I will dream of a flushing toilet and shower!

A small balcony comes off the living area too and overlooks the front of the guesthouse and the street but what I’m most excited about is the roof... The stairs leading up from the living area, lead up onto the roof which is huge, completely private and has amazing views. The landlord said I could do whatever I liked up with the space like use it for exercising (yeah right!) so I might find some friends who can build me a little lean too, set up a hammock, buy some plants and have me a jolly old roof terrace garden! Woohoo!

Apart from the prospective roof garden, the whole idea of living in this guesthouse filled me with dread as it looks very bare and not very cosy at all. However, in true Cambodian style (and with 3 months rent in his pocket!), the landlord was ready to bend over backwards for me and agreed to lots of suggested changes so that when I rock up at the end of the month the place will be unrecognisable!

Welcome to Phnom Srok

Monday 1st October

First 2 photos show the current DOE office where I will start working on 1st November and the NEW DOE office which should be ready for use in December. Spot the difference! The main similarity is the cow outside the front entrance in each picture!

After a 6 hour taxi drive from Phnom Penh to Sisaphon, a night at a guest house and then another 2 ½ bumpy hours in a truck, I finally arrived at Phnom Srok for my placement visit. I officially start living and working here on 1st November so the purpose of this visit was to find a house and meet my future colleagues. I was chaperoned by Carly (current VSO volunteer) and Sokwin (soon to become my translator/assistant).

We dumped our bags at a friendly guesthouse in the village and were taken to the District Education Office round the corner (my future work place! - see pic above) where we met the Director and Deputy Director of Education, Mr. Sophan and Mr Saey (my future employers!). They gave us a quick tour of the office and the NEW office! and then we went out to lunch – a short motorbike journey and a table by the lake – beautiful!! Apparently the lake was one of many dug by forced labour camps during the Khmer Rouge regime and one of the few which was successful. It was weird taking in its beauty while thinking of how it came to be but the locals certainly enjoy it. It is a tourist attraction in the area and has become a bird sanctuary too – home to the almost extinct Sarus Crane. As we ate lunch (fresh fish and rice), some children played near by with a rubber ring and the water did look inviting!

The village is centred around a main crossroads, and by road, I mean dirt road. It has a market (cleaner than some!), a few restaurants serving breakfast and lunch but not an evening meal as we found out, an ice seller (no electricity means no fridges so most people have an icebox and use ice to store or cool things!) a pagoda or two, a few mobile phone shops (and by shop, I mean shack) and a petrol station (and by petrol station, I mean guy selling old Coke bottles of petrol at the side of the road. The guesthouse (which was suggested as the only place suitable for me to rent) is a few buildings down from the crossroads so really feels in the hub of the village. It’s ground floor is a shop run by the landlord, selling canned and packet food (I’ll never run out of instant noodles), toiletries (I’ll also never run out of toilet paper or toothpaste – phew!) and beer (thank goodness that’ll always be close at hand!).

The first and second floor of the guesthouse look exactly the same and comprise of a big open landing space, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom (and by bathroom, I mean tiled room with a squat toilet and a huge rain water tank from which you scoop water in order to wash with – did I mention there was no running water in this village?!

The Ambassador's Reception

This afternoon, my companions and I were cordially invited to the British Ambassador's home in Phnom Penh for an informal talk on the state of security in Cambodia. It was incredibly interesting and we all felt terribly important - even the Dutch, Irish and Americans with us were impressed! We also had a gorgeous lunch and just enough wine to enquire whether there would be a Christmas Party in December. The Ambassador (David, to us!) assured us there would certainly be a carol and mince pie evening and that we would all be very welcome. Although we didn't get to explore the whole house, we were all very awestruck at the general decor, the artefacts from around the world, impressive pictures of London and a very inviting swimming pool in the back garden. No pictures I'm afraid as any recording devices were strictly prohibited. And would you believe it, there was not a Ferrero Rocher in sight - how disappointing!

Khnom rien paesa Khmer

I am learning Khmer

Well, sort of! (The pictures above show me practicing with fellow volunteers - Sabine and Charlene).

We have had a daily 4-hour language lesson while staying in Kampong Cham. They have been very good lessons and I can now (in theory) say lots about myself, my family and my job as well as buy a whole range of items at the market and direct a tuk tuk driver to my house. I can successfully write the language down but in its Romanised form which is absolutely useless apart for a Western learner. The problem comes when I try and use all this newly acquired language with the Khmer people. Even after practicing my sentence thoroughly before trying it out on an unsuspecting local, I am usually responded to with a sympathetic smile and blank look to which I return to the universal language of pointing, nodding and shaking my head. Some of the group have really taken to it (it’s all in the accent apparently) and are excellent already. I, on the other hand, am far from fluent and feeling slightly frustrated that the language doesn’t just automatically absorb into my brain without requiring any effort. Isn’t that what immersion means?! I feel like I have some SEN (Special Education Needs) but maybe I should just dedicate more time to study.

The local corner shop!

It is Sunday today and three of the group fancied checking out Kampong Cham’s local Methodist church. So, we cycled off for the 9 o’clock start, were welcomed warmly, handed a copy of the Bible in English and sat through a very entertaining (but completely incomprehensible!) service. The service followed a familiar format of songs, welcome, more songs, bible reading, prayer, sermon, songs but instead of coffee and tea afterwards, we were offered a banana and a coconut to drink. At the welcome part of the service everyone stood, respectfully bowed their heads and said "Chum Reap Sua" (the formal ‘hello’) and then as we settled in our seats, I was suddenly aware that everyone was looking at us (the only foreigners in the building) and shock horror, someone was heading our way with a microphone! Luckily for my two friends, guess who was sitting on the end of the aisle and therefore the first to face the microphone - yes yours truely. I suppressed the urge to take hold of the microphone and burst into singing ‘I’m an Alien in Cambodia’ (a song the group have adapted from The Police’s hit). Instead, I half translated and half guessed what was asked of me and replied in stereo "Khnom chmouy Anna. Khnom mok pei prorteis Anglais" (My name is Anna. I am from England) and thankfully received a round of applause from the congregation. My companions breathed a huge sigh of relief, followed suit and also received applause after which we sank into our chairs but with a certain amount of pride that we had been understood!

We have our last language lesson (for now) on Monday which is probably when this entry will readh the blog, and then head back to Phnom Penh for more briefings about HIV/AIDS in Cambodia as well as advice on house hunting. Then, on Sunday (a week today) we split up and travel in smaller groups to our future home provinces. I’ll be going with Corine and Pam to Banteay Meanchey where we’ll then split again to go to our future home towns!! I will be accompanied by a few VSO people who will help me find my accommodation in Phnom Srok, visit the office where I’ll be working and meet the people I’ll be working with. And then I will finally get a taste for what life will really be like over the coming two years - and probably cry!
We have been so protected and so well looked after since arriving in the country. A few of us (me included) even think we have been putting on weight - imagine that - living in a third world country and putting weight ON - that is just WRONG!). I think the culture shock is just around the corner...

Photos show the upstairs and downstairs of our compound in Kampong Cham

Introducing Bob

Once upon a time, about a week ago, a Khmer mosquito decided to attack. He chose his time carefully so as to ambush me at my most vulnerable and enjoy his long thirst quenching drink from my blood without interruption. In consequence to this uninvited drain from my personal blood supply, my body decided to defend itself and begin the natural healing process by creating a sensible blister over the scene of attack.

I noticed the appearance of said blister and, after saying a silent prayer that it wasn’t due to the insect being a malaria or dengue fever carrier, I was thankful that my skin had this amazing ability to create a force field around an open wound in order to protect it from infection. I have been happily going about my business as usual, occasionally stoking the blister in order to check it and have found myself introducing it to my new friends and colleagues as if it were a small puppy following me around or a plant that I have lovingly cultivated from seed. (I haven’t noticed the same fondness in those who have been lucky enough to be introduced.) In fact, I have become so attached to this blister that I have named it Bob. Bob sits on my left ankle, perfectly circular and slightly raised from my skin. He is dark pink in colour and a little smaller than the size of a 5 pence piece. I know that Bob won’t be around for long (in fact I’m slightly worried he has survived this long with all the fluid he is carrying around inside him) but I want to enjoy the time we have together before the inevitable occurs and he bursts. He doesn’t hurt or itch, he just sits quietly on my left ankle, always there when I look down to check, always there when my hand reaches down to give him a gentle stroke.

And what I should be doing right now is learning my new Khmer words from language training today... it's really hard!!!!!

Turning 29

Sunday 16th September

Turning 29 was not nearly as bad as I had expected and despite being millions of miles away from my family and friends, I think it's safe to say I had one of the best birthdays ever!

As luck would have it my birthday fell on a Sunday this year which happened to be the group’s day off from language training. It’s actually quite amazing how well and how quickly everyone in the group has bonded. We all come from quite different walks of life and countries and within days of meeting, we seem to know each other really well. I mean, you don’t often get to hang up people’s underwear on the washing line after only a matter of days of meeting them. Needless to say, they seem to have got to know me quite well too. Not without creatively dropped hints during the 10 short days I have known them, my new friends managed to organise a whole day of fun and surprises for me! I think it’s important for everyone’s well being and general mental health to enjoy at least one day per year which is totally dedicated to me! The birthday started at midnight with ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in four different languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch.

When I woke up in the morning I opened cards in bed and received a bilingual dawn chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ again (this time English and Gaelic! - we are such a diverse multicultural group!). Then it was pancakes and coffee for breakfast and a tuk tuk down to the Mekong River. It was surprise followed by surprise the whole day. I imagined we were all meeting at the river to have lunch or go for a walk but when I arrived there, everyone was sat aboard a huge boat singing 'Happy Birthday’ (again) ready to be taken down the Mekong and then up one of its tributaries. We spent the whole day on the boat; enjoying the beautiful scenery we passed, waving at the people fishing or bathing and stopping off to visit a Buddhist pagoda and later on a community of silk weavers. We had lunch on the boat, played games, took a nap, and took lots of photos and luckily for us it did not rain at all (it is rainy season so usually the heavens open for a down pour for an hour or so every day). Near the end of our journey we even stopped at a ‘safe’ place to swim so most of us piled into the muddy brown water still fully clothed. It was so refreshing and all thoughts of our health and safety briefings about contact with water in Cambodia and the various diseases and infections we might contract went flying out the window!

But that was not all - when we got back to the house and had all showered and scrubbed the mud out of our toe nails, the evening party began. We had dinner, made speeches and danced the night away. ‘Happy Birthday’ was sung at least twice more and the guys had organised a birthday cake, flowers and a treasure hunt in the Khmer language to find my presents! It was a really wonderful day and my new friends made me feel very special!

Missed you all heaps tho’ xx

Photos on the way...

I need to work out how to compress my photos because it's taking forever (and about 2000Riel) to upload the bloody things!) Photos soon - promise!! xxx