The Worst is Behind Me

Hello hello.

Ok, sorry for the delay in posting, just trying to get here and get settled. A quick update of the last few days: Traveling went well, had a slight delay at Ohare, but managed to make my connecting flight in Seoul, so it was all good. Actually made three new friends in the Seoul airport, 3 small Korean children came up to me and started chatting at the gate, no doubt because I was the only non Asian on the flight from Seoul to Cambodia. Made it through customs and passed the multitudes of non smiling army guards holding machine guns in the Phnom Penh airport without incident. Met my contact outside the airport and got my first experience in a 'tuk tuk', or an open air carriage type thing pulled by a motorbike. I'll post a picture later so you can all see, but needless to say that showing up with a year's worth of luggage going on 45 min of sleep and 22 hours of flight in the last 30 hours, I was convinced someone was playing a big joke on me.

But a half an hour ride later and my driver pulled up at my guesthouse. Now when I signed up, they told me I would be placed in the Language Corps Villa, so when my driver stopped at this shady looking hostel in the dark, threw me and my humongus suitcase off and drove away, I could feel the tears welling up. The guy at the desk looked at me, didn't say a word, just grabbed a room key and walked away. I hurried after him, trying to cart my luggage after him, and having to make two trips for each flight going up to my room on the third floor. I was shown into my 7' by 9' room, with my shower located directly above the toilet and my, um, spray faucet, instead of a roll of toilet paper.

Despite not having slept in over a day, it still took me quite a while to fall asleep. Here I am, laying in a bed, I have no internet in my room, so I can't even let anyone know I'm alive. I'm all alone in a country were I know not a single person, cant even speak to anyone and am most likely going to get murdered in my sleep or mugged if I even step outside. Well, amidst the cursing myself and trying to figure out why I ever thought it was a good idea to leave everything I know and everyone I have ever cared for, I fell asleep. I was still feeling pretty melancholy in the morning when I woke up. We had a tour of the city arraigned for us, but not until 12:30, so I had quite a few hours to kill, which I spent trying not to cry in my room. Time came, I took a deep breath and headed down to the front gate to find the tuk tuk of the tour.

Well, like most stories like this, things turned around rather quickly. I found the tour and quickly made friends with the girls in it, including 3 who were living in the guesthouse with me instead of the villa. We proceeded to the temple for which the city is named after, and took a tour of the royal palace. My new friends had been there a few days longer than I had, and we chatted as we walked home. Had a welcome dinner that night and we all went out for ice cream on the way home. Nothing to make me feel better like a vanilla ice cream cone with chocolate on it. :) The four of us in the guesthouse (3 girls and myself: two 27 year olds who were friends in Dubai who decided to quit their jobs and do this, one originally from South Africa and one from Scotland, and the 3rd girl, a 25 year old from Ontario) played some Uno before we went to bed at a reasonable hour to prepare for our first day of classes.

So whats the moral of the story? Pretty simple, hang in there and things get better. I had thought a lot about coming here and knew I was going to have some tough moments, so I had tried to mentally prepare myself for something like this, and I think that helped a lot. And as I sit here in a cafe with my two brand new friends from South Africa and Scotland and making plans to visit them in Sri Lanka in 6 months, I am reminded why I ever had this crazy idea in the first place. And life is good. :)

Hope everyone at home is doing well. Walked around in basketball shorts and a t-shirt today and felt great. I'll try and keep my updates shorter and more frequent from now on, and I'll stop being lazy and post some pictures soon, of the city, tuk tuks, my new friends, my room, etc. New update coming soon about classes, etc. Take care of yourselves.

TPWWLT: Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson