The first week!!

So I have been in Cambodia for almost a week now and have a reliable internet connection and a little time to actually write about my experience this far!

I looked up the definition of relative online and was given several definitions, but the one I think is most useful here is:
            'consider in comparison with something else;dependent on or interconnected with something else, not    absolute'

I think this has been key to my last week. After a day and half of flights and many hours trying to get comfortable on planes and airport chairs I touch down in Phnom Penh International airport, its about 10pm local time and there are not many people around.  I'm told the visa process in easy and compared to the many visas I have acquired for the USA this truly is a piece of cake, the only slight disturbing part was the immigration guy behind the counter who is picking his nose the entire time I'm waiting for my passport to be processed!

So next I meet my mentor for the week, Molly who has been a godsend showing me the ropes and getting to grips with daily life as volunteer teacher in Cambodia.  The first few days are spent at the orphanage where I shall be living for the next three months, its about an hour outside Phnom Penh to the west, rural and undeveloped the local village/market for buying essentials is about a 10-15 min ride on my new bicycle.

Ok so that's the facts out of the way....now for the interesting stuff!!  So life in Cambodia is sort of as you might expect, slower than back home, unreliable in many ways, and often what is said is not really meant!!  This is a country that is emerging after one of the most horrific mascareers of recent times, during the time Pol Pot was in power nearly one fifth of the population was killed, this makes the country so very young and there are many people with missing relatives.  But the country is far more stable than a decade ago and people are visiting  tourism increasing and gradually life is improving.  I;m constantly impressed with the resourcefulness of these people and also their ability to ride a bicycle/moto with all kinds of things attached and the sheer number of people on the one vehicle!!

After settling in meeting the staff and director of the orphanage, getting my first taste of the local market, both literally and metaphorically, a few bike rides through the local roads and paddy fields,it's back to Phnom Penh for a couple of days.  First the 'Raddy taxi' this guy and his son drive a van to and from the city daily and this is my escape route when I feel the need to get away or need school supplies, or just some junk food!!  This van picks up everyone along the way and as you might imagine has no AC, can fit as many people as needed (anywhere from a very comfortable 10 to a crammed in 45!), but for $1.5 each way who can complain!  The drive there is fairly uneventful, I have a small girl sitting next to me who is probably around 7 years old, but stares at me for almost the entire ride, I wonder what she is thinking, who is this crazy white girl in this van with me. I also wonder is this her first trip to the city too??  what does he think of me, we sit in silence with the in-van entertainment blaring khmer karaoke.

Arriving in Phnom Penh is a world away from the APCA orphanage it's noisy, busy, and much as I would imagine from a rapidly growing city.  The next two days are action packed Molly my mentor shows me all my essentials, the best burger joint in the city, where to buy my western essentials, school supplies etc and I see some of the sights as we rush around from tuk-tuk to tuk-tuk!! I also get the chance to visit two other orphanages that EGBOK mission works with in Phnom Penh, as well as accompany some current EGBOK students who were visiting from Siem reap as they tour a the Sofhotel and S-21 (a converted museum from what used to be base for the Khmer Rouge.  It was just great to see these students soak it all up and the looks on their faces when they walk into a 5* hotel!!  Although the AC seemed to be an issue for some of the girls as they kept wanting to be sick!!  I guess growing up in a tropical climate with no fans or AC is not a good mix when you enter a fully air-conditioned building!!

OK so now I'm back at APCA (the orphanage where I live)  I've indulged in burgers, ice-cream, pasta, cheese, an AC room and hot running water in PP and now the teaching begins tomorrow.  I'm very excited to get started and get to know the children.  Lets get this show on the road!!