These are all half started never finished entries to my blog. I have decided to share them because they all have really cool pieces to them . However, I am sorry that they are sporadic and unfinished but, hey thats me!!
Cursing down the road in a tuk tuk after a full day of traveling is one of the best feeling in the world. It maybe have been 102 degrees but, the way the wind hit my face and the sound of the city takes my mind off the heat. Phnom Pehn is alive in a 1,000 different ways. It was the sunday after the new year and I was told most people were still out of town. If this was empty I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle the city at its normal capacity. On the way to my hotel I quickly learn that in Cambodia the road has no rules. Watching people wiz past each other is terrifying. Its a tangle of motor bikes, tuk tuks, bicycles and Range Rovers. The way people can weave in and out of traffic is amazing to see, that is if you can manage not to close your eyes at all the close calls. After a long drive I arrive at the Green House, where I will be staying only two nights before getting sent on to my placement. I am here in Phnom Pehn only for orientation to my volunteer program. I had decided months ago to cut my New Zealand trip short in order to volunteer in Cambodia. I will be working with kids for 3 weeks in a small province town called Pursat. Im still unsure why I decided to do this. Even being here now I am terrified and unsure. I am hoping that it will come to me and during my stay I will realize what I'm actually doing here. On the way to orientation I realize that Cambodia has little to no middle class. The corruption is obvious, the rich keep gaining while the poor are left in the dust. The last few years large international companies have started investing in Cambodia. Taking land right from under people due to the loss of records during the Khmer Rouge. People have lost homes, land, farms and are displaced to small villages far outside the city center. However, the people of Cambodia along side the company of countless volunteers and NGO's are fighting back. A common thread I have seen through out this country is that people are really developing. They are looking at what is wrong and fixing it at the source. Considering that the youth under 25 makes up over half the population and they want more for themselves, I believe that the country with vastly change over the next 10 years.
His name was January, simply because that was the month he was born in. We had hired him to tour us around Battambang for the day. He was the true definition of Cambodia. Hard working, good humored and struggling. He has lived in Cambodia his whole life. His dream is to learn English at a university, purchase a tuk tuk and create his own business. January is 24years old and currently living in a pagoda because he can not afford to rent. The monks allow him to stay for free as well as teach him english. In return he washes their clothes and cooks. In his spare time he drives a tuk tuk and studies. He is trying to save $500 so that he can attend university. Cambodia has had extreme hardships but, the attitudes of the people are constantly optimistic. I have currently been in Cambodia for 3 weeks, most of that time was spent in the Pursat a providential town 4 hours north of Phnom Phen. I have been volunteering in an orphanage helping children learn english and what I have learned in return is more then I could have ever imagined. I could tell you a million times that those kids taught me more that I have taught them. But, thats not as fun. Just know that whatever you may be going though it could be worse.
Tonight I found my self doing aerobics on a cement incased island thats shaped like a boat. Its 90 degrees outside and I'm on the west side of Cambodia, in a small provincial city called Pursat. I am having a "What am I doing here", moment. One of many I have had in the past dew weeks. I am working as a volunteer teacher in an orphanage for 3 weeks. Im am just at the start of my third week and starting to feel normal. Im shaking off that overly cautious traveler feeling. I have battled spiders, lizards and cows. I am getting used to life here, just in time to leave again. Things here are slow in the best way. Every little task has become a battle and a challenge. Very few people speak english and even fewer speak it well. There are no proper food stores or drug stores. There are mom and pop shops or a busy market. A list of things can be found at the petrol station or the hotel gift shop. Beyond that you have to venture into the market. A hot complex maze of seamstress, food vendor, gold dealers and barbers. Thousands of smells overwhelm you and everyone is selling something extremely similar to the person in the next booth. This is not a place that many tourist will ever see or hear of. This to many people is a bathroom stop on the trip from Phnom Phen to Siem Reap and i love it.
