Hello again from the last leg of the journey! As many of you know, a few years ago I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a some time to get my English teaching certification. I really enjoyed it there and last January I learned that my high school girlfriend Katherine was now living there! Of course I couldn’t stay away...
Katherine picked me up at the airport when I arrived and we went straight to have our nails done and then to dinner at her co-workers apartment. The next morning Kat took me to work with her, where I got a tour of the whole facility and hung out in her air-conditioned office while she was a busy busy bee.
Katherine has a very interesting job with an organization called AIM. In a nutshell, AIM rescues and rehabilitates trafficked women and children in what used to be Phnom Penh’s primary child prostitution zone, Svay Pak. After their rescue, some of the girls are taught seamstress skills and employed in AIM’s garment factory, where they receive a living wage, child care, holidays, a daily meal, language skills and basically just treated like human beings. Kat is in charge of product design and order fulfillment for this garment factory and it is really a wonder to see her in action. It’s a handful for sure, but she deals with it like champ!
AIM conducts many other activities in Svay Pak in the name of breaking the trafficking cycle all the way from a kids club to a boxing club for the community’s male population, to a school up to 5th grade and much more. Although the founders are American, much of the organization is now fully Khmer run. In the last 13 years AIM has seen all child brothels in the area shut down (that they are aware of), converting the buildings into offices, class rooms, sewing rooms and halfway houses. I must say I was very much in awe of the whole operation and of the people who run it. What an experience. You guys are truly inspiring! If you’re interested in knowing more, here is the website with more detail of all the cool stuff AIM does!
Over the weekend we played tourist and ran all over the city doing errands and exploring the city’s markets, which of course I loved! We tried fried banana, fried sweet potato, fried rice and few other snacks (all fried!). I must admit, for as much as I appreciate Cambodia, its cuisine is something to be desired for the most part. Vegetarianism is a rough go and most dishes involve a lot of rice...and grease...
On Saturday, I go to meet up with this guy for lunch! Matt and I took the teaching training course together back in the day. After I left to teach in China, Matt found himself a job at an English school here in Phnom Penh, where he has stayed ever since. It was great to catch up and chat about what has been going on in life the last few years. Congrats on the “new” job Matt! I wish you the very best in everything and hope to keep in touch! :D
On Monday I accompanied Kat back to work, which turned out to be quite a hectic day (as sometimes all work can be), exacerbated by a torrential down pour which stranded us at the garment factory for a few hours while water filled the back kitchen and bathrooms. It was hectic for a while, but no real damage was done and when it let up enough to drive, Kat and I bailed out to finish up some deliveries before dark. What a day!!
On my last day in Phnom Penh, Kat and I had lunch in the city and took another visit to Independence Monument as there was one more thing on my to do list. I wanted to leave some of Neil’s ashes on the promenade there. I know that perhaps this seems like an odd place to leave a bit of Spud (certainly not as beautiful as Australia or New Zealand), but allow me to explain. This was my selfish spread. Previously I have left his ashes in places I believed he would have loved, but this time Phnom Penh’s Independence Boulevard is someplace I love. It is not quiet or peaceful or even that lovely. Rather it is a tumultuous place constantly surrounded by traffic and chaos; however, you just can’t beat the view of the monument at the end of the boulevard. It sits in the heart of the capital city of one of the heartiest and perseverant country’s I can name. Cambodia has come a long way since its dark history with the Khmer Rouge. It has even come a long way since I visited 4 years ago! So from now on, in his spare time, Neil can watch a country, so different from his own, rebuild and hopefully thrive, because I want him to witness something as amazing as that. Cheers Spud and let me know how it's going over there. ;)
Thanks Kat for having me and allowing me to invade your little slice of paradise this week! Thanks for driving me around on your cute little moto and letting me see the world through your eyes. I am so proud of you girl for what you do and how you do it and just for being you! Keep it up. You amaze me. Like for reals. A big thanks also to Avery and Rachel for welcoming in a stranger and making me feel so at home! It was so fun getting to know you girls and I hope to see you again at some point!
The next morning I caught a tuk tuk to the airport where I began my journey back to The Netherlands and to these two adorable guys!
I decided while siting in the Bangkok airport on my layover that traveling is really the best and worst thing a person can do. Some places make you home sick and pleased as punch to when you walk into the departures terminal on your way out. Places where you double and triple check that all your travel documents are in order because heaven forbid you are trapped there another moment! China left me with this feeling.
Other places captivate and draw you into some enchanting dream making you want to lap up every second of your stay there. It is these places where you dread the thought of leaving and wrack your brain over and over again how you could possibly manage to prolong your stay. The Netherlands is like this for me.
Still some countries are neutral, leaving you glad you came but also glad to go with little pull either way. Many places are like this.
But there is a fourth category (and likely many more I have yet to discover!). The places in this fourth category are like an abusive relationship. They absolutely sweep you off your feet the moment you arrive in them while simultaneously stifling you with outlandish behaviors. They make you curious and defiant and brave and afraid and angry and proud all at the same time, but most of all they make you and crazy. Crazy because no matter how much the heat and humidity and mosquitos and stench and chaos assaults you time and again, you cannot get enough. You cannot leave it alone. You want to be there because it grows on you until the place and you need and become lost in each other. It is these places where missionaries get burnt out and or expats retire to escape “normal” life. Cambodia is like this. India is like this. No matter how uncomfortable I seem to be there, no matter how much I sweat and itch and burn, I know I would return in an instant if the opportunity arose. Odd how that works…..I guess I should just be thankful they are places not people!
I won’t go into all the wonders of traveling as they are uttered by many and those who do it already know the drill, but I will say that I never ever feel more alive or more invigorated than when I am headed to the airport. This is undeniable.
Sending love to you all! xoxo
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