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Published: December 22nd 2011
Two of my fav countries
Friends gave me the Aussie flag, so I bought a Cambodian one and gave them to the schoolWell, I’ve done it!!! I’ve left Cambodia (insert really sad, tear-stained face). I’m now in transit at Changi Airport, Singapore ........I feel a bit shell-shocked to be honest, ok, really shell-shocked. Last time I was here was the 18
thSeptember and I was so excited about the adventure I was embarking on. Today I should be excited about heading to Europe and the next adventure, but ....sigh...
(I feel like I’m on the set of Love Actually ...Christmas carols are playing and people arriving and departing etc).........
What a big week I’ve had since I last wrote.......
Anyone that’s kept up with my blogs knows that while I enjoyed being at the school in Siem Reap, I was only acting as a teacher’s aide and so I didn’t get really close to the students, only a handful. I was also the first volunteer they’d had, so it also took them time to get used to having me around, and they did this in the last week. So I rocked up to school on Friday, knowing that I would be a little sad to say my farewells, but nowhere near as sad as when
I left my school in PP. Well, that was until they got me up in front of the class and sang me a farewell song and gave me a gift...it was all it took to bring on some tears.....I didn’t realise I’d had such an impact on them and truly thought I would just quietly slip out the “door” at the end of the day....but it wasn’t to be and it was harder than I thought to say goodbye...probably because also as it signified the end of my time in the country. Another thing that made me sad, was that one of the older girls that had become quite attached to me, left without saying goodbye......thankfully I’d given her one of my friendship bracelets earlier in the afternoon....I think the reason she didn’t say goodbye was because she’s already had so much loss in her life, and she probably wanted to have a bit of denial and ignore the fact that I was leaving. Sadly, she lost both parents to AIDS, and also has fully blown AIDS herself, and often gets quite ill, and we’re not sure how long she’ll survive...but she’s strong minded and on meds, so let’s hope
that she’s here for a long time.
That night I went out for drinks with Aly, the tuk tuk driver for Chris & Doug (the sponsors of the school). He and I became friends during my time there. We went to a “local” beer garden away from town and I was the only westerner there, so grabbed a bit of attention... We then came back into town and went to the Temple Club (night club)....very, very interesting place, full of very unusual and potentially interesting people (lady-boys for example). It’s always entertaining watching people’s behaviour when they’re drunk...I watched one very drunk, older western woman, groping and trying to shove her tongue down every young Cambodian guy’s throat – it was awful to watch and I had to accept that it’s not just the old western guys that try to pick up the locals...ugghhh.
Saturday, Aly picked me up again and we headed to the Angkor Children's Hospital to donate blood – actually, Aly and I first got to know each other when he turned up at school in a t-shirt that indicated he’d given blood at the Kantha Bopha hospital – which is
the same hospital I’d given at 3 years ago. Turns out he’s one of the rare Cambodians that doesn’t have a fear of donating blood. The reason we went to the Angkor hospital this time is that I wanted a different t-shirt, as I already have the KB one.... I saw a chart on the wall about the blood donation stats for 2010.....a total of 1037 people donated blood – 800+ foreigners and just over 200+ Cambodians. If anyone ever comes up this way, please, please donate blood – they really need it. It’s really interesting, at home my blood type is only 8 – 9% of the population, yet over here, around 70% have my blood type....no wonder I feel so at home here.
That afternoon I went to an Aussie hairdresser (that has been in SR 2 years), and had a much-needed haircut......woohoo, I am neat and tidy again...and my hair is much shorter. I love it, and hope that once I get away from the high mineral content of the water in Cambodia, that my hair condition is restored, as it’s really dried out over the last 3 months, despite my best efforts.
Saturday night, a group of us went out for my farewell dinner (Moon receptionist-extraordinaire at the guest house, her boyfriend Tom (kiwi), Indy (fellow house guest and volunteer), Alan (guest house owner), a new long-term guest that I’ve forgotten the name of (oops), and Sina (one of the teachers from my school)......we went to a great Khmer bbq......there was so much food on the buffet to choose from (meats, vegetables, noodles and lots of mystery items that I have no idea what they were because they weren’t labelled. I paid for the seven of us, which included beer and soft drinks and it was $38.00..........gosh I’m going to miss these prices.
Sunday I was up bright and early as Aly was playing driver/tour guide etc for me that day and we headed to Knolen Mountain. It’s a couple of hours out of SR and is famous for the 1000 lingas (carvings for want of a better description) in the river bed.....plus also a giant Buddha carved into the top of the mountain........and a fantastic waterfall. I’m so pleased we went there, though my butt didn’t love being pillion on a bike for such a long
time (we left at 9am and got back at 6pm)... It was so great to get out and see some of the country side, and the waterfall was great to see, though not sure my photos do it justice (despite the recent photography course). There was also an amazing water hole in the middle of the forest, and mud, that was amazing clear, with a sandy bottom where the underground water was bubbling up from. There were many Khmer people there washing themselves (splashing it up over faces etc) and also bottling it to take home as they consider it holy water. Aly has promised that when I come back (no one thinks that I will stay away for too long) that he will take me to another similar place, so that will be awesome. I will really miss his company – he’s great fun, interesting, intelligent and all-round good guy.........he was telling me his grandfather was murdered by the Khmer Rouge for stealing ONE sweet potato - barbarians !!
Oh yuk, a lady has just sat down beside me and is eating durian. I need to log off and move... it stinks ....back soon.
Lunch ?
I recall that in Vietnam, the head was the prized part of the animal and kept for the senior members of the family....the kids got to chew on the tail....not sure if it's the same here. Then it was Monday and I had to head to the airport.........but of course I had to have one last pedicure at my usual place. Because I’m heading to the snow and cold weather, she painted snowmen on my big toes, and the rest look like tinsel.....they’re so much fun. Then it was back to the guest house for a final farewell to everyone and off to the airport with tears in my eyes – didn’t help that Moon and Aly were texting to tell me they’ll miss me, then Siva rang to tell me how much he respects and appreciates me.....I was a mess after that.
The best thing about the plane trip down from SR to PP, was that I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Beat Richer (Beatocello) – I’ve mentioned him in a previous blog. He was sitting across the aisle from me, and he stands out because he’s very eccentric looking.......anyway, when we landed I decided that I should speak to him, and so introduced myself and thanked him for the work that he does for the community and children in Cambodia. I told him that I’d given blood at his
My "street" in SR....destroyed by the floods
and currently being further destroyed, prior to repair ??, by the govt hospital (Kantha Bopha) and also been to his concert etc etc, and he in turn thanked me for my support. He’s an awesome guy and I’m chuffed to have met him. He gave up having a personal life in order to raise funds and build the hospitals up here.....amazing.
Monday afternoon I went to the Projects Abroad apartments and caught up with the few volunteers that are still there that I know, plus the cooks and cleaners – it was so great to see them. I was also really lucky to meet the couple (Bo and Charlotte) that have started volunteering at my school – yea....nice young couple from Denmark. It was really funny (for me), when I was introduced to them....their response was “oh, you’re Robyn, we’ve heard all about you”....(said in a positive tone).
Ahhhh, Tuesday, a day I’d happily anticipated....I headed back to school to see my teachers and students....yea, woohoo, yippee. Ok, and now I know how a rock star feels.....as soon as the security guard opened the gate for me, the kids jumped out of their seats and started yelling hello. Poor Bo and Charlotte were still teaching and
had about 10 minutes to go, but they both raised their hands in defeat and dismissed the class..........the students swarmed all around me and were hugging and greeting me with all the English I’d taught them, and that was it........there were more tears from me. I love them, and know that many of them love me, but I was truly overwhelmed by their excitement!! After things died down, many of the students started producing gifts for me for Christmas...oh wow I certainly never expected that, even one of the teachers gave me a beautiful scarf to take with me to Europe. Anyway, we played games, talked and just enjoyed each others’ company until I had to leave.
In between leaving and going back in the afternoon to see the students that were away at the public schools in the morning, Chann (my moto driver from when I was here) took me around to see parts of PP that I’ve never seen – ie. across the Japanese bridge and mighty Mekong to the other side of PP. It’s certainly a wealthy area of the town – some of the houses are huge.... Sadly, as we were going over
the bridge, we could see a lot of commotion, and it turns out that someone had jumped and suicided.... Morbidly, there was a huge crowd of people watching from the bridge and the side of the river....
Then, it was back to see more of my gorgeous students....they were just as excited as the morning ones, and we had a fantastic afternoon of games and laughter, and lots of hugs (boys & girls – the nun wasn’t around – teehee). When it came for me to leave, a few of the students absolutely fell apart......they were sobbing, it was so hard for us all – gosh I wish I could stay. The teachers told me that when I left the first time (November), that Ly (I’ve mentioned him before) was almost inconsolable... Makes me cry typing about it... These kids have such tough lives.....they have so little....I’m glad I could share their lives and give them love and happiness for a couple of months, and teach them some stuff in the meantime.....
Tuesday night was my final farewell.......gosh, was it only last night? Seems like forever ago.... Tabea (German volunteer with the organisation that
runs my school) organised a karaoke night and about 16 of us from the organisation, including my three teachers, all had a very, very fun night.........gosh, the Cambodians sure know how to party and they love singing karaoke ... I will miss them so much, and naturally the conversation as we said our farewells was all about “when you come back...”
One of the guys gave me a lift back to my hotel – my third time in a car in three months.....haha, cracks me up....it felt so weird. On the way back, I saw a shocking accident occur between two tuk tuks – I’m surprised actually that it’s the first accident I’ve actually witnessed there as the traffic is insane. Anyway, we had a tuk tuk in front of us (a few car lengths), and another came towards us on the “wrong” side of the road (if there is such a thing in Cambodia), so the guy in front of us swerved to the other side of the road to avoid the oncoming tuk tuk, at the same time the other guy corrected, and they collided. The guy in front of us was thrown out of
the tuk tuk and landed on the road – back of his head first........ We stopped, and a number of other people came running to help the guy, so we decided we’d go........but not before I saw him sit up and saw the blood running down his face. I so hope he’s ok. The law is that tuk tuk drivers have to wear helmets, but they normally don’t (unless they know that they’re approaching police checkpoints), and this guy didn’t have a helmet on. It was an awful way to finish the night...
And this brings me to today......a very, very, very sad day indeed. I had breakfast with Seang (Projects Abroad) and then headed to the airport.....Seang also popped out to say a final farewell, ahhh, I’d been holding it together until we hugged goodbye...
So onto an amusing note to finish all my sob stories......I went to the toilet after I checked my luggage in....I hear you saying “thanks for sharing that info Rob”..........well, I had my passport and boarding pass under my arm, and the silk shirt I have on was slippery and well, yeah, you guessed it, my passport ended
Aly with some local kids
at Knolen (spelling ??) Mountain up in the toilet.......after I’d used it and before I flushed it !!! I did a very hasty retrieval and thankfully only a couple of the corners were wet (but that included all pages on those corners etc) and then I did my best to dry them quickly, before washing them in the sink and then trying to dry them with paper towel etc. I was quite miffed and felt a bit sorry for myself, and embarrassed for being so stupid........but I quickly got over it when I got upstairs to the customs area and the guy processing my passport etc was rude and ignored me for ages after he took it....he actually sat there with it in his hand for awhile, as he added up some figures he was working on.....oh if only he knew what he was holding !!!! He made me stand there for nearly 5 minutes (pompass pratt), so by the time he processed me through, I was well and truly over my embarrassment and "guilt" at handing over the wet passport, and almost pleased about the earlier events ....tsch tsch tsch.
I didn’t manage to get an aisle seat on the flight
Great ladder....
as a safety advisor, I just have to close my eyes...often to Singapore, and as you know I hate feeling trapped.......I wasn’t too concerned as I knew the flight was full of Singaporeans and they’re small, so I felt sure I’d be fine..........nah, I got two of the largest Singaporeans I’ve ever seen sitting either side of me..... I asked the lady in the aisle seat if she’d swap, but she was like me and hates being confined, but did go up and ask her hubby that was sitting further up, if he’d swap with me, and he did....awww, how nice. It turns out, they were from an Islamic school in Singapore and a large group had been in Cambodia for the last two weeks building a school....I got to sit with a couple of the students and they were great company.
So that’s it, here I am in Singapore, with about two hours before I head to France and then Prague....it’s been a long day with an 8 hour stopover and I still have about 15 hours of flying time....and I’m sure my body clock is going to be stuffed by the time I get there, but there is light snow forecast for Thursday, so that’s exciting....
I wonder how long it will take me to stop saying thank you in Khmer? And when I’ll accept that it’s ok to pay $6 for a pot of tea.......and, and, and.....when will I finally stop wanting to cry over leaving my beloved Cambodia? I loved my time there, the good and the bad.....it was truly awesome and I feel so blessed that I had the opportunity to volunteer there – it was the most amazing experience. I’ve made some brilliant friendships along the way with so many interesting and wonderful people. I’ve seen and done so much. I’ve seen things that make me laugh, cry and stare at in wonderment...... I will never be the same, I am different. For a long time I’ve been a relatively confident person, but now I have a true, and deep confidence in who I am, and I like it.......but nothing will ever be the same as it was – it can’t. Finally - I wonder when I will have an answer to the question I’ve been asked many times “when will you come back – a year, less??” At the moment “who knows”......I don’t, but I still think part
of the puzzle is waiting for me in Europe...
Bye from Singapore......hugs
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