Ups and Downs...

I successfully made it through my first week in Cambodia. It actually feels like I've been here longer but I've been told the first few weeks go slow and then the rest just flies by! Overall its been great, although there have definitely been ups and downs while trying to adjust and realizing that I'm not just traveling or residing here for a few weeks, but I'm far from home for almost half a year.

Wednesday we headed away from Phnom Penh for the start of our language training in a province a little over 2 hours away, Kampong Cham. Its along the Mekong River which gives a nice little breeze every once in a while. On our bus ride here, besides the fact that it was by far the scariest trip I've ever had because the driver was in both lanes, honking at motos and bicycles coming towards us, it really opened my eyes to how under developed this country is. Huts on the sides of the roads with their livestock living underneath, individuals (children and adults) walking barefoot, or dragging anything behind them on a moto or bicycle to get to a market to sell and made due for the day. The animals looked dreadfully sick. Cows completely malnourished and chickens just look terrible. I've decided that I'm going be vegetarian while I'm in Cambodia and have been eating tofu on the regular to try and get enough protein. When we got here, I noticed I felt quite depressed after the drive and was also in a new unknown city. We received our bug net, first aid kit and a bucket to wash our clothes in!!! I'm almost thankful that nobody called me from home to ask how I was doing because I probably would have broken down into tears. Thankfully, after waking up the next morning I felt refreshed and much happier thinking that these people are happy the way things are because they don't know any different. And you honestly can tell when they talk to you or smile back that it is a very happy culture.

I've made some other great friends, mainly from the UK. Two couples, Richard and Melanie (a tad older than me), Jeff and Carol (my parents age) and also Julie and Erika (my roommate in the province). We've all bonded very well. Julie is my parents age with a daughter close to my age so we had a fun little bond right away. Sadly, the first morning of language training, Julie was mentioning that it was very unlike her ''other half'' (what she calls her longtime boyfriend but they aren't married) to not call her for 2 days. They recently bought a home together on the coast of Greece (so jealous) after his retirement, spent a few months there and decided to both do something they loved for a year and then meet up again. She chose volunteering and he chose fitness training. She got a call from her boyfriends son to let her know that he passed away in his sleep! This moment really brought me back to reality thinking how far I am from home if a situation occurred where I needed to be home quickly and felt so distant. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her but plan on sending an email or card to send my sympathy.

Since then, everything has been better. I really enjoy learning the language and my teacher Dara, who is by far the best language teacher I've ever had, told me he was bummed I couldn't be in the whole course cause I'm doing very well (literally his words :) Luckily, he lives in Phnom Penh and might give me lessons when he gets back so I can keep up with what I've learned and build on it even more. I will be leaving Kampong Cham already on Sunday to head back to Phnom Penh to meet my colleagues and start work! Also, I'll be searching for a place to live and get settled. I'm looking forward to getting into more of a routine, not living out of a suitcase, cooking some food and able to plan some travels.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy at home!

Cheers (yup, you can tell I've been hanging out with UK'rs)

Megs