Yesterday a third housemate moved in. His name is Georges (pronounced "George", he doesn't speak French). He is Lebanese, from Saudi Arabia, but grew up in Montreal. Seems like a really nice guy. He'll just be here until the end of August, because he's doing a short-term volunteer project with an NGO, doing some sort of environmental testing.
Unfortunately today has been one of those special days when things just don't go right. It started off fine, with a 5:30am run to the Independence Monument. On my way back I was chased by a few little dogs who probably though my legs looked juicy, and that was the beginning of it! Next, I was supposed to go to a conference about a new online database of NGOs in Cambodia. However, when I showed up, it turned out it had been cancelled and they had sent an email (not to me, but to my boss,last night after working hours). So I called my moto driver (one of the only ones who can speak English well, and the only person who knows how to drive me to my obscure work location), but he was going to be busy for an hour, so I went to a little cafe and got an iced coffee and used their wifi. I was crossing my fingers that I could upload all of my photos on facebook while I was there, so I eagerly selected them all and clicked "upload". An hour and a half later, the upload failed! However, some photos seem to have made their way onto Facebook in a haphazard way (in no particular order), and you can see them if you go to the link at the bottom of this post. Around the time the upload failed, I received a call from my moto driver saying that he was stopped by the police for having no helmet and no mirror (like practically everyone else in this country). So I waited for a while longer. Once he was released, Thy picked me up and just a couple of minutes after we took off, he got a flat tire. So I sat (in the shade, luckily, but in the blaring midday heat) while he got hire tire changed. I finally made it back to work and now things seem to be shaping up!
Here's my photo album (you can access it even if you don't have Facebook): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2272355&id=21003581&l=1ef48b3d84
I'll be adding more photos when I get a chance.
Hope you are all doing well back home and around the world!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Monkeying Around
James' Arrival
On Monday and Tuesday this week I had work and did some chores around the house. Then on Wednesday I woke up at 5am for an early morning run. It was a nice time to go out – less traffic and less heat, although I did get overheated. People were staring at me as I ran over to the Independence Monument and around a park there, where there were many Khmer people walking, running, and playing badminton. After my workday I went for dinner at Veo Tonle, the restaurant that supports orphans, for the welcoming party for James, a friend of my friend Dan. James arrived for a 3-week holiday in Cambodia.
Queen's Birthday
Thursday was Queen Norodom’s birthday, a national holiday, so I had the day off. Went with some friends to receive a prayer bracelet from Buddhist monks, but after waiting an hour it seemed that the monks weren’t going to be around – they must have been out celebrating. We started walking through the city and saw two kids, a boy and girl, who sold books to us near the river. They are so sweet. Unfortunately, they are also poor and would not be able to go to school if my friend Dan did not pay $100 for each child’s yearly education. When we ran into the kids, they had no shoes on and I asked them why not. They explained that they don’t have enough money to buy any. So James and I, being the suckers we are, bought shoes for them. The kids were so delighted. Then we walked over to Wat Phnom, the “mountain” in the middle of the city. It’s really just a small hill, but by Cambodian standards is considered a mountain. Phnom actually means mountain in Khmer. When we got to Wat Phnom, we saw the resident elephant eating some leaves off of a tree and watched him for a while. When he wandered off down the street, we decided to explore the temple at the middle of the park. It was nice to see. As we walked around it, Zhenia bought some water lilies to decorate our apartment, and then we came across some monkeys. The monkeys were so cute at first, just wandering around. But when Zhenia leaned forward to look closer, the monkeys moved towards her, and suddenly the biggest one grabbed hold of a couple of Zhenia’s waterlilies! Even though she tried to save them, the monkey had a tighter grip and managed to pull a couple of flowers off. Two of the monkeys the proceeded to eat them. When they started to leave, I had a curious urge to see what a monkey’s tail felt like, so I leaned down to one. But before I could touch it, the monkey sensed my presence and spun around, bared its fangs, and charged at me!!! I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from it. My friends were laughing but I was pretty frightened of getting bitten, so thank goodness that didn’t happen. Curiousity almost killed the Kat! I’ve learned my lesson and will not touch any more wild animals here in the future. After this, we walked back into the Riverside region and saw the two street selling kids, with no shoes on again! I asked them where their shoes were and they sheepishly explained that their mom had them. Their mom, the lady who sits around all day while her children walk around selling books. James and I were suspicious that the kids’ mom was going to try to sell the shoes for some extra cash, so we went over to her and asked her to let the children wear their shoes. The kids put their shoes back on and seemed happy again. When we sat down for drinks I was playing with the little girl and had a sneaky idea. I asked her if I could sign her shoes, and she eagerly agreed. I drew some pictures on them, on the side, and then passed the pen over to her. I figure that if the shoes look well worn, her mom will have more difficulty selling them for a worthwhile amount. Hope it works! Later James, Zhenia and I went back to our place and made some noodles with veggies and fried potatoes on the side. Really delicious. Then watched a movie that I don’t remember, I was falling asleep during it, I was so exhausted!
Hanging Out
On Friday there was a power outage at work so I got to go home early. Then I went and met up with my friends Max, Dan and James, and hopped around to a few different places: first a nice bar for drinks and a game of pool, then an Indonesian place for dinner, then a Lebanese shisha bar, and finally over to a bar called Equinox for more drinks and fun with more of our friends. I also took the opportunity to wish my boyfriend Ryan a happy birthday – missing him lots and can’t wait until he comes to visit!
Party Time
On Saturday I rode my bike to the bank (very scary, so much traffic!), then set up for our “Ice Age” Housewarming Party. Zhenia and I decided on a “cold” theme since we’re both from northern countries, Russia and Canada. We prepared a PowerPoint trivia game with Canadian and Russian trivia questions, decorated the place with “ice” (paper icicles from the ceilings, snowflakes, and polar animals including a polar bear drinking and Anchor beer), and put of photos of our countries. I made a fruit punch, we provided vodka, we chopped up some fruit, and also cooked up French fries and put out other nibblies. The party went really well – people were very into the trivia game and after that Zhenia put on karaoke (including songs “girls just wanna have fun” and some from the Lion King). About 30 people (Khmers and expats) came and everyone seemed to have a great time!
Kickboxing
On Sunday I slept in until 11am, then Zhenia and I had some tea/coffee and ice cream on our rooftop terrace. We went for lunch at a cute café called The Shop with our friends Jess (Canary Islands), Jui (USA), Tamara and Kaitlin (Canada). I had a passion fruit and pineapple smoothie – mmmm!!! After that a bunch of us went to watch kickboxing at a local tv station, Cambodia Television. We were expecting to have to pay but we walked in and found ourselves being let up onto the VIP section, where only rich-looking Khmers were sitting. It was neat to see the kickboxing, the fighters are so strong and I loved the tribal drum music played in the background. It had a grand finale when one of the kickboxers couldn’t stand up after being hit. The winner did a victory dance and push ups and the crowd roared with applause. Then we got a photo with the winner! I'm planning to take some kickboxing lessons at the Olympic Stadium here - it looks like a great workout and lots of fun!
On Monday and Tuesday this week I had work and did some chores around the house. Then on Wednesday I woke up at 5am for an early morning run. It was a nice time to go out – less traffic and less heat, although I did get overheated. People were staring at me as I ran over to the Independence Monument and around a park there, where there were many Khmer people walking, running, and playing badminton. After my workday I went for dinner at Veo Tonle, the restaurant that supports orphans, for the welcoming party for James, a friend of my friend Dan. James arrived for a 3-week holiday in Cambodia.
Queen's Birthday
Thursday was Queen Norodom’s birthday, a national holiday, so I had the day off. Went with some friends to receive a prayer bracelet from Buddhist monks, but after waiting an hour it seemed that the monks weren’t going to be around – they must have been out celebrating. We started walking through the city and saw two kids, a boy and girl, who sold books to us near the river. They are so sweet. Unfortunately, they are also poor and would not be able to go to school if my friend Dan did not pay $100 for each child’s yearly education. When we ran into the kids, they had no shoes on and I asked them why not. They explained that they don’t have enough money to buy any. So James and I, being the suckers we are, bought shoes for them. The kids were so delighted. Then we walked over to Wat Phnom, the “mountain” in the middle of the city. It’s really just a small hill, but by Cambodian standards is considered a mountain. Phnom actually means mountain in Khmer. When we got to Wat Phnom, we saw the resident elephant eating some leaves off of a tree and watched him for a while. When he wandered off down the street, we decided to explore the temple at the middle of the park. It was nice to see. As we walked around it, Zhenia bought some water lilies to decorate our apartment, and then we came across some monkeys. The monkeys were so cute at first, just wandering around. But when Zhenia leaned forward to look closer, the monkeys moved towards her, and suddenly the biggest one grabbed hold of a couple of Zhenia’s waterlilies! Even though she tried to save them, the monkey had a tighter grip and managed to pull a couple of flowers off. Two of the monkeys the proceeded to eat them. When they started to leave, I had a curious urge to see what a monkey’s tail felt like, so I leaned down to one. But before I could touch it, the monkey sensed my presence and spun around, bared its fangs, and charged at me!!! I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from it. My friends were laughing but I was pretty frightened of getting bitten, so thank goodness that didn’t happen. Curiousity almost killed the Kat! I’ve learned my lesson and will not touch any more wild animals here in the future. After this, we walked back into the Riverside region and saw the two street selling kids, with no shoes on again! I asked them where their shoes were and they sheepishly explained that their mom had them. Their mom, the lady who sits around all day while her children walk around selling books. James and I were suspicious that the kids’ mom was going to try to sell the shoes for some extra cash, so we went over to her and asked her to let the children wear their shoes. The kids put their shoes back on and seemed happy again. When we sat down for drinks I was playing with the little girl and had a sneaky idea. I asked her if I could sign her shoes, and she eagerly agreed. I drew some pictures on them, on the side, and then passed the pen over to her. I figure that if the shoes look well worn, her mom will have more difficulty selling them for a worthwhile amount. Hope it works! Later James, Zhenia and I went back to our place and made some noodles with veggies and fried potatoes on the side. Really delicious. Then watched a movie that I don’t remember, I was falling asleep during it, I was so exhausted!
Hanging Out
On Friday there was a power outage at work so I got to go home early. Then I went and met up with my friends Max, Dan and James, and hopped around to a few different places: first a nice bar for drinks and a game of pool, then an Indonesian place for dinner, then a Lebanese shisha bar, and finally over to a bar called Equinox for more drinks and fun with more of our friends. I also took the opportunity to wish my boyfriend Ryan a happy birthday – missing him lots and can’t wait until he comes to visit!
Party Time
On Saturday I rode my bike to the bank (very scary, so much traffic!), then set up for our “Ice Age” Housewarming Party. Zhenia and I decided on a “cold” theme since we’re both from northern countries, Russia and Canada. We prepared a PowerPoint trivia game with Canadian and Russian trivia questions, decorated the place with “ice” (paper icicles from the ceilings, snowflakes, and polar animals including a polar bear drinking and Anchor beer), and put of photos of our countries. I made a fruit punch, we provided vodka, we chopped up some fruit, and also cooked up French fries and put out other nibblies. The party went really well – people were very into the trivia game and after that Zhenia put on karaoke (including songs “girls just wanna have fun” and some from the Lion King). About 30 people (Khmers and expats) came and everyone seemed to have a great time!
Kickboxing
On Sunday I slept in until 11am, then Zhenia and I had some tea/coffee and ice cream on our rooftop terrace. We went for lunch at a cute café called The Shop with our friends Jess (Canary Islands), Jui (USA), Tamara and Kaitlin (Canada). I had a passion fruit and pineapple smoothie – mmmm!!! After that a bunch of us went to watch kickboxing at a local tv station, Cambodia Television. We were expecting to have to pay but we walked in and found ourselves being let up onto the VIP section, where only rich-looking Khmers were sitting. It was neat to see the kickboxing, the fighters are so strong and I loved the tribal drum music played in the background. It had a grand finale when one of the kickboxers couldn’t stand up after being hit. The winner did a victory dance and push ups and the crowd roared with applause. Then we got a photo with the winner! I'm planning to take some kickboxing lessons at the Olympic Stadium here - it looks like a great workout and lots of fun!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Weekend #2
On Friday night Zhenia and I went to our friends’, Jui & Nick’s, housewarming party. On the way there we became a bit lost, at first because of the lack of street signs, and another time because two houses had the exact same address. We eventually found the correct apartment and had a great time. They have a spacious place with a big living room that opens onto a large terrace – perfect for hosting parties.
The next day (Saturday) I woke up and did some errands/housework. Walked to the bank, met Zhenia and went to a garage sale where I bought a road bicycle, two bungee cords, and a yoga mat all for $28 USD. You can find amazing deals here. I really wanted a bike so that I can learn to navigate my way around the city myself. Motos are faster, but the moto drivers take so many shortcuts and different routes that I lose track of the path we took to get somewhere.
In the afternoon I returned home to find a disgusting smell and mini flood in the bathroom connected to the kitchen. Our sink is a portable one it drains into the shower drain in the bathroom. We had been letting too much food down the drain and it got stuck. Managed to unclog it & clean it up… no we’re more careful about our solid food waste. After that, Zhenia and I met up at the National Museum. We saw a lot of ancient Hindu and Buddhist statues. Much more conservative than western statues – no nudes. Then we walked into the gardens and found some monks taking photos. They happily agreed to be in photos with us, and after that, they asked to take a picture with me. I’m sure they find my blue eyes and blonde hair as fascinating as I do their orange robes! Next we went grocery shopping at Lucky Supermarket, and then came back home to cook. We ended the day by watching Across the Universe on our new DVD player that we picked up from the garage sale.
On Sunday I got up at 5am to get ready for teaching English in a rural school, an opportunity that I found out about from my friend Chris, who went to university with the AIESEC Cambodia co-founders. The bus was about 35 min late, and it took us 3.5 hours to get to the school because of a flat tire, so we were 1.5 hours late. When the flat tire happened we all got out and walked part way until the bus caught up. It was exciting walking past the rural homes. The villagers were very friendly and eager to have their photos taken. When we arrived at the school all of the children (about 250 of them) were standing on field waiting for us, looking very eager. Each of us teachers (a number of Khmer teachers, a couple from the Czech Republic, and me) introduced ourselves. After that we went for lunch at a coordinator’s family’s home. It was a traditional Khmer farmhouse with lots of family and animals around. They fed us a yummy meal that consisted of rice, vegetables, and some other “sauce”. After taking a few bites one of the teachers commented “did you know we’re eating ants?” Sure enough, I looked at my plate and saw that the “sauce” was actually a type of fairly large, red ant. Mmmm…. the villagers said that they buy them from the village market. Extra protein, I suppose.
After lunch, we went back to the school. Each teacher was given their own class to teach for an hour before the students wrote an English placement exam. My class was very quiet/shy, but sweet. I tried to teach them how to say “th” - that didn’t work very well, but they thought it was hilarious when I tried to show them how to put their tongue on their two front teeth to form the sound. Then during the English assessment test almost EVERY student tried to cheat, even though the test was just to determine their level of English so they could be placed in the correct class. I kicked one boy out because he kept cheating, and then the others started to take it (and me) more seriously. After the exam, the students said goodbye to us and all of us teachers took the bus back to Phnom Penh. When I got back dinner was waiting for me (thanks to Zhenia!) The two of us watched Accidental Marriage and then I fell deeply asleep until 6am Monday morning for work.
Another fantastic weekend in Cambodia!
The next day (Saturday) I woke up and did some errands/housework. Walked to the bank, met Zhenia and went to a garage sale where I bought a road bicycle, two bungee cords, and a yoga mat all for $28 USD. You can find amazing deals here. I really wanted a bike so that I can learn to navigate my way around the city myself. Motos are faster, but the moto drivers take so many shortcuts and different routes that I lose track of the path we took to get somewhere.
In the afternoon I returned home to find a disgusting smell and mini flood in the bathroom connected to the kitchen. Our sink is a portable one it drains into the shower drain in the bathroom. We had been letting too much food down the drain and it got stuck. Managed to unclog it & clean it up… no we’re more careful about our solid food waste. After that, Zhenia and I met up at the National Museum. We saw a lot of ancient Hindu and Buddhist statues. Much more conservative than western statues – no nudes. Then we walked into the gardens and found some monks taking photos. They happily agreed to be in photos with us, and after that, they asked to take a picture with me. I’m sure they find my blue eyes and blonde hair as fascinating as I do their orange robes! Next we went grocery shopping at Lucky Supermarket, and then came back home to cook. We ended the day by watching Across the Universe on our new DVD player that we picked up from the garage sale.
On Sunday I got up at 5am to get ready for teaching English in a rural school, an opportunity that I found out about from my friend Chris, who went to university with the AIESEC Cambodia co-founders. The bus was about 35 min late, and it took us 3.5 hours to get to the school because of a flat tire, so we were 1.5 hours late. When the flat tire happened we all got out and walked part way until the bus caught up. It was exciting walking past the rural homes. The villagers were very friendly and eager to have their photos taken. When we arrived at the school all of the children (about 250 of them) were standing on field waiting for us, looking very eager. Each of us teachers (a number of Khmer teachers, a couple from the Czech Republic, and me) introduced ourselves. After that we went for lunch at a coordinator’s family’s home. It was a traditional Khmer farmhouse with lots of family and animals around. They fed us a yummy meal that consisted of rice, vegetables, and some other “sauce”. After taking a few bites one of the teachers commented “did you know we’re eating ants?” Sure enough, I looked at my plate and saw that the “sauce” was actually a type of fairly large, red ant. Mmmm…. the villagers said that they buy them from the village market. Extra protein, I suppose.
After lunch, we went back to the school. Each teacher was given their own class to teach for an hour before the students wrote an English placement exam. My class was very quiet/shy, but sweet. I tried to teach them how to say “th” - that didn’t work very well, but they thought it was hilarious when I tried to show them how to put their tongue on their two front teeth to form the sound. Then during the English assessment test almost EVERY student tried to cheat, even though the test was just to determine their level of English so they could be placed in the correct class. I kicked one boy out because he kept cheating, and then the others started to take it (and me) more seriously. After the exam, the students said goodbye to us and all of us teachers took the bus back to Phnom Penh. When I got back dinner was waiting for me (thanks to Zhenia!) The two of us watched Accidental Marriage and then I fell deeply asleep until 6am Monday morning for work.
Another fantastic weekend in Cambodia!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Life in Phnom Penh
Life is going well here in Phnom Penh. So much has happened since my last blog post. My official title at work is now “Program Coordinator” (changed so that I can be paid as a full-time staff, rather than simply a consultant), Evgenia (a girl from Russia working in a one-year marketing internship) and I found a beautiful apartment for $300/month + utilities, I now ride a moto to work every day and have a regular moto driver named Thy who speaks good English and studies Electrical Engineering at university here, and I have eaten a tarantula leg despite my intense fear of spiders. Yes, it has turned out to be quite the adventure!
On my first day of work it took me one hour to find my workplace. The street system in Cambodia is completely counterintuitive. Say, for example, you want to find street 9. Obviously, you would look on a map, find a street number, and work backwards numerically until you find street 9 (it would be between streets 8 and 10)…. right? Not in Cambodia! It seems that people just chose random street numbers…. maybe lucky ones?... in a haphazard way. When I arrived at work I pulled out my map and asked my coworkers to try to point out CfD’s office. After about 15 minutes of discussion, they came to the conclusion that it was somewhere within a 10-block radius on the map. That’s the way things work here. But usually people on the streets are very friendly and willing to help out a lost moto driver and passenger. And, now that Thy knows how to get to my work, it only takes us 20 minutes to get here – much more reasonable!
Last week I attended the government/NGO conference on water & sanitation – the one I was initially supposed to give a presentation at on behalf of CfD, my employer. However, the day before the workshop we found out that a number of government officials had met for dinner and decided to cut sanitation from the agenda altogether, so I was off the hook for that presentation. Instead, I sat back, listened and learned. It was very interesting hearing about how the different organizations work together to achieve a common goal. Obviously difficult at times. But I was happy to find that the government provided a translator and headphones for all participants, so that we could understand regardless of the language being spoken (Khmer or English).
This week my internet connection was set up at work and I was given a report to prepare, which I just finished. The report was based on consumer research conducted in peri-urban areas to determine their sanitation needs and current habits. My organization helps implement the hardware (sanitation systems) and software (social awareness and education programs) for sanitation projects. I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to visit one of the projects in action at some point. On Tuesday of this week I also attended a second government/NGO conference on water/sanitation, and afterwards went on a tour of the Phnom Penh Water Treatment Plant. Really neat to see how the water is filtered and made safe for drinking. Believe it or not, the water that flows through the city pipes in Cambodia is of an internationally approved drinking standard. The problem is the rusty/dirty pipes that it flows through, which make it wise to use a water filter.
As for my social life, Evgenia (who we all call Zhenia) and I hang out and go to events together a lot. We get along very well, and it is nice to have someone to stick with at night – there are a lot of strange things that happen at night in this city. We have also become good friends with the AIESEC Cambodia expansion team (Jess, Jan, Dan, and Chrissy) and have met a number of other expats through them. On one of my first night in Phnom Penh a few of us went for traditional Khmer massage with oil – fantastic! Then last Saturday Jess organized a boat cruise on the river. We traveled up and down the Mekong for four hours, enjoying the cool breeze, beverages, and good company. After that we went for dinner at this little restaurant that donates its profits to an orphanage. A number of the orphans work in the restaurant, and some were playing guitar and singing while we were there. It seemed like a wonderful business and had a fantastic atmosphere about it.
Speaking of food, I am really enjoying the mixture of foods here. Have gone out for Thai, Indian, and a lot of Cambodian. All are very delicious. Although, I have to admit, I did make myself hotdogs for dinner afew nights ago because I was craving western food. Gotta give in to the craving every so often. :) During the week I eat lunch with my coworkers at our office building. There are two cooks here – one girl who is 18 years old and dropped out of school after grade 10 so that she could work to support her family in the countryside, and one boy who is mute so apparently cannot go to school anymore, and was sent to the city to keep him occupied. Both are lovely people. I am learning both of their languages: sign language and Khmer. It is a lot of fun trying to communicate – there is much confusion, but also a lot of smiles and laughter. They usually cook white rice with fish, vegetables, and some sort of dipping sauce. We also eat lots of exotic fruit (my favourite is the “orang” – sp?) and drink a lot of Khmer tea.
At work I have my own office in the second floor, where I have a large window overlooking the entrance to our building. It is nice because I can watch all of the people coming-and-going. I also have my own fan – very important! No AC here – electricity is extremely expensive (the most expensive in SE Asia), and all of the people I work with are Khmer, so they are used to the heat. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. Definitely need at least 2 showers every day, though!
At home I have my own bedroom which I have adorned with some photos from home, a Vancouver calendar, and “Charmy Kitty”sheets I bought at the market (it’s a knock-off of “Hello Kitty”). I also have my own en-suite bathroom with a showerhead built into the wall. That’s the way showers are made here – you basically close the door and shower with all the water spraying everywhere. Because it’s so hot things dry out pretty quickly, and maybe it saves $ too, I’m not sure.
Zhenia and I also have a large kitchen with oven (uncommon in apartments here, so we were lucky!), fridge, freezer, sink, and washing machine; a living room/dining room with beautiful wooden table and chairs as well as TV (currently have cable but most channels are in asian languages so we might get rid of it); a little balcony over the street outside of our living room; an office room that we are hoping to rent out as a third bedroom; and a large rooftop terrace with a little garden. There are 4 bathrooms overall since each bedroom/office has one attached, and there is one more in the main apartment. I’m very happy with it. Even the daily power outages are tolerable. Our landlady is very sweet and brought us some candles yesterday when the power went out.
This weekend I am going to go to a housewarming party on Friday, do some errands (banking, grocery shopping, and other miscellaneous shopping) on Saturday, and then teach English at a new rural school on Sunday. Looking forward to what is in store. Hope all is well,
Kat
On my first day of work it took me one hour to find my workplace. The street system in Cambodia is completely counterintuitive. Say, for example, you want to find street 9. Obviously, you would look on a map, find a street number, and work backwards numerically until you find street 9 (it would be between streets 8 and 10)…. right? Not in Cambodia! It seems that people just chose random street numbers…. maybe lucky ones?... in a haphazard way. When I arrived at work I pulled out my map and asked my coworkers to try to point out CfD’s office. After about 15 minutes of discussion, they came to the conclusion that it was somewhere within a 10-block radius on the map. That’s the way things work here. But usually people on the streets are very friendly and willing to help out a lost moto driver and passenger. And, now that Thy knows how to get to my work, it only takes us 20 minutes to get here – much more reasonable!
Last week I attended the government/NGO conference on water & sanitation – the one I was initially supposed to give a presentation at on behalf of CfD, my employer. However, the day before the workshop we found out that a number of government officials had met for dinner and decided to cut sanitation from the agenda altogether, so I was off the hook for that presentation. Instead, I sat back, listened and learned. It was very interesting hearing about how the different organizations work together to achieve a common goal. Obviously difficult at times. But I was happy to find that the government provided a translator and headphones for all participants, so that we could understand regardless of the language being spoken (Khmer or English).
This week my internet connection was set up at work and I was given a report to prepare, which I just finished. The report was based on consumer research conducted in peri-urban areas to determine their sanitation needs and current habits. My organization helps implement the hardware (sanitation systems) and software (social awareness and education programs) for sanitation projects. I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to visit one of the projects in action at some point. On Tuesday of this week I also attended a second government/NGO conference on water/sanitation, and afterwards went on a tour of the Phnom Penh Water Treatment Plant. Really neat to see how the water is filtered and made safe for drinking. Believe it or not, the water that flows through the city pipes in Cambodia is of an internationally approved drinking standard. The problem is the rusty/dirty pipes that it flows through, which make it wise to use a water filter.
As for my social life, Evgenia (who we all call Zhenia) and I hang out and go to events together a lot. We get along very well, and it is nice to have someone to stick with at night – there are a lot of strange things that happen at night in this city. We have also become good friends with the AIESEC Cambodia expansion team (Jess, Jan, Dan, and Chrissy) and have met a number of other expats through them. On one of my first night in Phnom Penh a few of us went for traditional Khmer massage with oil – fantastic! Then last Saturday Jess organized a boat cruise on the river. We traveled up and down the Mekong for four hours, enjoying the cool breeze, beverages, and good company. After that we went for dinner at this little restaurant that donates its profits to an orphanage. A number of the orphans work in the restaurant, and some were playing guitar and singing while we were there. It seemed like a wonderful business and had a fantastic atmosphere about it.
Speaking of food, I am really enjoying the mixture of foods here. Have gone out for Thai, Indian, and a lot of Cambodian. All are very delicious. Although, I have to admit, I did make myself hotdogs for dinner afew nights ago because I was craving western food. Gotta give in to the craving every so often. :) During the week I eat lunch with my coworkers at our office building. There are two cooks here – one girl who is 18 years old and dropped out of school after grade 10 so that she could work to support her family in the countryside, and one boy who is mute so apparently cannot go to school anymore, and was sent to the city to keep him occupied. Both are lovely people. I am learning both of their languages: sign language and Khmer. It is a lot of fun trying to communicate – there is much confusion, but also a lot of smiles and laughter. They usually cook white rice with fish, vegetables, and some sort of dipping sauce. We also eat lots of exotic fruit (my favourite is the “orang” – sp?) and drink a lot of Khmer tea.
At work I have my own office in the second floor, where I have a large window overlooking the entrance to our building. It is nice because I can watch all of the people coming-and-going. I also have my own fan – very important! No AC here – electricity is extremely expensive (the most expensive in SE Asia), and all of the people I work with are Khmer, so they are used to the heat. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. Definitely need at least 2 showers every day, though!
At home I have my own bedroom which I have adorned with some photos from home, a Vancouver calendar, and “Charmy Kitty”sheets I bought at the market (it’s a knock-off of “Hello Kitty”). I also have my own en-suite bathroom with a showerhead built into the wall. That’s the way showers are made here – you basically close the door and shower with all the water spraying everywhere. Because it’s so hot things dry out pretty quickly, and maybe it saves $ too, I’m not sure.
Zhenia and I also have a large kitchen with oven (uncommon in apartments here, so we were lucky!), fridge, freezer, sink, and washing machine; a living room/dining room with beautiful wooden table and chairs as well as TV (currently have cable but most channels are in asian languages so we might get rid of it); a little balcony over the street outside of our living room; an office room that we are hoping to rent out as a third bedroom; and a large rooftop terrace with a little garden. There are 4 bathrooms overall since each bedroom/office has one attached, and there is one more in the main apartment. I’m very happy with it. Even the daily power outages are tolerable. Our landlady is very sweet and brought us some candles yesterday when the power went out.
This weekend I am going to go to a housewarming party on Friday, do some errands (banking, grocery shopping, and other miscellaneous shopping) on Saturday, and then teach English at a new rural school on Sunday. Looking forward to what is in store. Hope all is well,
Kat
Monday, June 1, 2009
Arrival
Today I arrived in Phnom Penh. Flew Cathay Pacific from Vancouver to Hong Kong, and then Dragonair Hong Kong to Phnom Penh. My first flight was delayed an hour and a half because of Prince Harry's flight from New York (apparently they shut down the skies for him), so it was a close stopover - I arrived at my departure gate in HK just one minute before boarding began. But I made it!
I was met at the airport by 3 of the AIESEC Cambodia Co-Founders: Jess, Jan and Chrissy, as well as one of the CfD employees. They took me to my workplace where I met my boss (Narak) and the other employees of CfD. They all seem like very friendly people and I am looking forward to learning from and working with them. We work in a multi-level building, and my office (I have my own room!) is overlooking the road/building entrance, so I can watch the hustle and bustly of the city from my desk.
Apparently we have a meeting with the World Bank on Wednesday and I will be making a presentation to them, so I will be putting something together tomorrow. They usually start work at 7:30am but Narak was sympathetic to my jet-lag, so I'm starting at 9am tomorrow. Whew!
After stopping in at CfD, Jess (from Canary Islands). Jan (from England/Germany) and Chrissy (from Ireland) took me to Chrissy's place where I had a much needed shower. Then we went to lunch where I met Evgenia, the Russian intern who I will be living with. Currently sitting in a little expat hang out cafe, drinking a cold chocolate drink and typing away on Jess' laptop while her and Jan work on AIESEC things. A group of four of them weren't sure what to do after grad so they decided to start up an AIESEC chapter in Cambodia last November - such a great idea! And it seems to be going very well so far.
Going to see 2 apartments with Evgenia this evening, and start work at 9am tomorrow so I'll be back at Chrissy''s and sleeping like a baby pretty early I expect.
I love the energy in this city. Everyone seems so friendly. I'm going to need to get used to the traffic and chaos here but it is quite the adventure!
Off for now,
Kat
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