There is so much to say
about the first day... In the morning, I opened the curtains and got my
first real look at the city.... :) second moment of childlike excitement. It
was like I had been traveling for a whole day (which I had) and then finally
ARRIVED somewhere. We got street food in the morning (Tracy not happy about our
food choices but feeling great so far... knock on wood); (via notes
from Shelby): "Started our day with the intention of going on a
walk to find some breakfast and coffee- all of you that have been here know
that the morning spicy noodles and iced coffee from the street vendors are
absolutely killer! That being said, I was set on getting some delish iced
coffee- done and DONE! It was really great to have street food and only
spend 75 cents on everything."(Shelby
continued): "I realized after breakfast that there were a few things
at the pharmacy that I needed. So while I am at the pharmacy, I was like,
you know, perhaps we should buy some cipro for whenever one of us gets sick-
better safe than sorry, eh? As I ask the lady how much, she looks at me
and points to the monks medicine next to us and makes a motion with her hands
saying "all of it". You know me, I love helping people out, but
seriously? So I shake my head and tell her "no." The monk
and her have an exchange and he sayd, "she wants to know if you will buy
me this?" Again, I shake my head only this time verbally say
"no." Michael's like, well how much is it Shelby? (It was $1.50) and he's like,
I'll just give you a $1 ( which is 4,000 riehl- my breakfast was 2500- it's all
relative;) So, I basically bought the monk's meds...I have no idea what
he was buying, could have bought him valium for all I know! I was still
stunned when we were walking over to our guesthouse after that basically just
cracking up thinking, ok,yeah, I'm definitely in Asia
now:) "
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| My apartment (and roomie) |
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| Room with a view |
We met up with Tracy and met her friend
Dori who is here working with the students at the Social Work Department (SWD
from now on). Then we met with a local woman who is working with WorldVision -
2 hours of chat about social issues in the country and some great discussion
about community organizing for health system improvement. I think I might try
to visit with one of their program directors in a community near here to learn
more about it. (Shelby): "We
then met our other colleague Sothida to meet Tracy at a cafe. I order another iced coffee (only this one is $2.50 US:( ) and wait for
our next meeting. As Sothida and I are both interested in maternal and
child health and that is a project we will both be doing, she has set us up
with Pheromnh, a woman who works at WorldVision. We proceed to talk to
her for a good 2 hours about their projects they have set up to try to mitigate
malnutrition, infant and maternal mortality or stunting in children. Her
passion just shined through when she was telling us about it all...when I asked
her why she does it, she replied, "I do it for Cambodia. My people."
Talk about emotional alert! I was on the verge of tears and had to
look away. Her and Sothida proceed to have a conversation in Khmer about
how she is happy Sothida has returned to work in Cambodia with her people.
When Pheromnh walks away, we ask Sothida what she said because it looked
like an intense conversation. She explained and then her and I explained
I had this crazy emotional reaction and Sothida began tearing up a bit.
Here we were, standing in the middle of an expat cafe surrounded by
foreigners in WAY too short of shorts and tank tops, having this surreal moment
of connection...it really just solidified why I am here. While I am not
Cambodian, I realized that I am also here and do what I do for my country.
While I have never attributed it to being American, the fact that I am a
woman and can choose what I want to do, who I want to date is a huge part of
who I am and something i am super appreciative of, especially when I travel..."
Tracy ran off
to get her hair cut so we went to a couple of the bigger local markets... so
much stuff... everywhere... I bought a scarf... are you surprised? I thought
not. It's locally made and a common style for here. Seems funny to wear a scarf
in such a warm climate but it's great for wiping sweat away and for staying
warm in air-con places. As we step outside there is a torrential
downpour going on. Gorgeous storm, out of nowhere, thunder cracklin.
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| Tuk Tuks by our house... wanna ride? |
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| At the market |
We met up with Tracy again for dinner
and took a tuk tuk through the center of town (I live very close to the palace,
central park, waterfront... OH: LINK) I am actually address 4A but
close enough :) We met another of Tracy's
friends for dinner - she works as an adviser to a leadership development
organization for local youth... pretty cool. The restaurant is run by a local
NGO that supports helps to rehabilitate street children by teaching them
how to work in the service industry - the staff are all
"clients" who are getting job training. They have a shop next door
where youth make gift goods from recycled products. I got a cool bracelet made
from recycled leather and car tires :) I think a lot of my gifts for folk will
come from there... you want a tire bracelet?! :) We came home, and Shelby and I
grabbed a drink at a place on our block - we found ourselves sitting
outside, listening to live traditional Cambodian music, watching 2 young local
teens perform traditional dancing...yeah, it was definitely intended for
travelers, but yeah, it was spectacular, I found myself immersed in the
gracefulness of their fingers, the complete control of their bodies and their
content expressions strewn across their faces. it as the perfect end to
my first day in Cambodia.
it is amazing how much we really crammed in there..
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| Hungry??? |
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| Dinner! |
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