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