Cambodia

After a little over a week enjoying the company of friends and family in Colorado, I arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last Tuesday. Hanna greeted me at the airport and we took a ‘tuk tuk’ to the apartment Hanna moved into recently, where we will be living the next few months. I knew it was a bit foolish but before I arrived in Cambodia, I had this idea in my head of Cambodia looking similar to Bangkok, Thailand. I knew that Cambodia is not as developed as Thailand but I was still surprised by the lack of massive skyscrapers, freeways, and the impressive infrastructure that amazed me during my time in Bangkok. I still found the sites, sounds and smell of the city to be very interesting as we made the half hour ride to the apartment.

Through emails and Hanna’s descriptions I had an idea of what our apartment was like before I arrived but I was pleasantly surprised when I first entered the apartment. It’s very nice, spacious and comfortable. It’s close to twice the size of my apartment in Olgii and a very different style. Everything is ‘open’, which is a bit hard to explain, so I’ll put up some pictures (asap). The apartment is on the third floor and has a main living area with some chairs, stools, tables, a bed which we use as a couch and a television. Ahh yes, television: that amazing marvel of technology which I have been living without for almost two years. I didn’t watch a lot of TV when I was back in the U.S. but after living without one for so long, I have to admit that it’s hard not to lose a couple hours watching one of three (THREE!) National Geographic channels, especially since I haven’t started working yet.

My impression of Cambodia and the Khmer (pronounced Kuhmai) people has been very good thus far. I find the people here to be absolutely wonderful. Everyone seems to have a happy disposition and the Khmer people, young and old are quick to greet you with a big, warm smile. This does wonders for my own disposition and I find myself frequently in a happy mood as I wander the streets of Phnom Penh, even with the ridiculous heat. ;) All of the people I’ve met through Hanna, both Khmer and foreigners, have been friendly and fun to interact with. I went to Hanna’s school a few times and spent time observing her class, helping whenever I could and her first grade students are incredible. They are cute, sweet, smart, and fun to be around. I was blown away at the fact that these children, aged six to ten, could understand pretty much everything Hanna and I said, and responded accordingly in excellent English. The kids refer to me as ‘teacher Matthew’ and always seem excited when they see me. Hanna seems to really enjoy teaching them and she has a great relationship with her students.

Although it’s been nice to relax, enjoy Cambodia and enjoy time with Hanna, I came here to work. I made contacts with a few organizations before I arrived in Phnom Penh and I’ve turned in my resume at a few places over the past few days. I am in contact with a small Canadian run NGO called ‘Action to End Exploitation’ and if things go as planned I should be doing some volunteering with them over the next few months. They work to help women and children who’ve been victim sex trafficking or who’ve come from brothels. It’s a small organization that currently has some local staff and one American volunteer, who I will hopefully be meeting with this week to see how things work. I also recently found out about an internship opening for the UN, working in human rights, starting in June or July. I submitted my resume for that position, which is something I’d really love to do, but I also need to finish filling out an application form and submit that. I’ll be finishing that up tonight. I made contact with an organization called ‘New World Institute’(NWI) which is a private English learning and TOEFL test prep organization. Hanna is friends with the director of studies and I ended up already teaching a substitute class last night, then got a job offer to teach in the evenings. Today I had an interview with a private school and ended up getting a job offer to teach young adults in the mornings and afternoons, starting part time. The hours are really convenient, the pay is pretty darn good, and it seems like a great school. I am going to take the job and I will start the day after tomorrow. I am excited about this great opportunity and I am looking forward to beginning work. I think with the hours at this job, I’ll still be able to do volunteer work and keep myself very busy and productive. The private school, named ‘Sovannaphumi School’ (I’ll refer to it in future blog posts as SPS to make things easier), also asked me to teach a extra hours in the late afternoons/early evenings so now I need to decide if I’m going to take those extra hours or take the evening classes at NWI. I have to figure things out in the next few days and I will do my best to keep the blog updated regularly as things progress. My internet access is currently limited to whenever I have time to visit the internet café and Hanna and I are looking into whether or not getting internet for the apartment is worthwhile. Stay tuned for updates and pictures. :)