The blisters and bug bites on my feet are proof that I walked home from school today. Nursing the wounds and munching the hottest ever wasabi peas (with a thorough handwashing between), I watch Khmer TV in my air-con room. Walking is an art in Phnom Penh. The sidewalks are usually too crowed—ironically, with parked cars and motos—so instead, you walk against traffic in hopes that you will see your assailant before you are roadkill. I tried to walk to school, but I only made it to the big roundabout intersection, eyed the swarming ant farm of traffic and hailed a moto to take me the rest of the way. On the way home, I avoided that intersection and had a relatively pleasant walk to the guest house to change shoes. Then, I walked to a western-style cafe called Jars of Clay. The air-con space was perfect for a light lunch (smoothie, croissant) and a heavy-duty study session. No one ever said that learning Khmer consonants was easy.
An entire pot of tea later, I was ready to venture into the touristy part of town to stop at the post office and stroll the touristy main-drag. Okay, “stroll” is a stretch. I shuffled through a mob of tuk tuk and moto drivers for five blocks. That's the downfall of the tourist area. Drivers know that they can make money off of westerners, and westerners congregate in this part of town.
Bewildered, sweating and wishing I had different shoes, I gave in to a tuk tuk driver with particularly good English. On the drive home, a sign announcing “Asian Driving School” made me laugh. I had to stop at the ATM (scariest thing I've done yet) near the Russian Market. I never like to have a lot of bills in my wallet, and for a few minutes, I had enough money for the average Khmer to live on for a year dangling from my shoulder.
Money safely tucked away at the guest house, I'm starting to accept Phnom Penh as my place of residence for the next several months.
The director of CWF sent me an e-mail today that helped remind me of my purpose here. At the end of the list of things that he would like me to help with before my semester starts, he wrote, “Thank you for doing something to help Cambodia.” It's pretty simple, but it made me feel like I was really contributing.
By the way, the TV in my guest house gets CNN, and I was watching the coverage of the massive earthquake in Haiti this morning. Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, will need incredible international support, and I encourage everyone to donate even a small amount to help.
Check out Wyclef Jean's website Yele.org to make a donation.
I think it's a karma thing--never miss an opportunity to improve it.
The blisters?! I hope you will get your adorenalin going and have time to get a foot massage before their coming to senses. From now on, every roadkill I see will in Nebraska will remind me of phnom penh traffic... and I don't this this is a good idea! But I laughed so hard with your expression of "seeing you assailnat" and remind me of your in PP. Besides, "Asian Drive School" sounds more like going to a cilinic run by Dr. Jenkie. Don't make us smile when we are driving!
ReplyDeleteI like that sense of contributing some good to others when I'm working. I still struggle sometimes with teaching Philosophy and often wonder if I want to do this for the rest of my life but a simple conversation with a student who is just interested in the topic of our class discussions or wanting to learn something from my class can save me from despair. It's REALLY amazing that you travel so far away to see the world and also helping out people with teaching how to use gerund.(teaching of gerund is very important!)
I know a few students who went to Haiti for a mission trip (ten days) and what we see on TV resembles almost nothing of what they told me about. Buddhist says that we should do a random act of kindness since it will go around the world and someday it will help you in the way you never imagined. Let's see what we can do!!!