Surprises and Challenges

We have been told that living life abroad means a life time of learning.Having just been here a few days, we have realized there is so much we don't know. There have been some surprises, good and bad as well as various challenges presented to us.

Surprises

Cambodia does not stink! This is an excellent surprise. As soon as you touch down at the airport in Dhaka, you smell it. The indescribable stench of mixed body odor, urine, feces and rotting garbage assaults your senses.This is not the case with Phnom Penh. Once in a while,deeper into the city there might be a quick whiff of offensive odor, but all in all, it smells just fine. In Dhaka's defence, Phnom Penh has 2 million people, Dhaka 17 million. In fact, in our little area, which surrounds a Buddhist Temple, many homes have beautiful flowers growing that produce a perfume like scent as we walk at dusk. Having spent some time downtown Toronto this summer I would say that it smells more than Phnom Penh.

The fruits taste amazing, although I am not a fan of the dragon fruit. We even have passion fruit growing from our 2nd floor balcony! The oranges currently available are fresher and juicer than anything I've ever had at home and apparently, smaller clementines will soon be available. The lychee fruit are in season and my favourite. I cannot wait for mango season!

The average Cambodian eats out regularly. Obviously those living in extreme poverty are not eating out but the side stalls are regularly frequented with street food grilling. People are out and about! We will easily be able to afford an eating out lifestyle because the prices are so reasonable. I cannot imagine cooking regularly in this heat.

There is wild dog roasting on a spit just outside my community. I can't even look. Ugh. The deep fried bugs are also not for the faint of heart.

There is a wildly successful restaurant (1 of 2) close to our home called Jars of Clay. It began as a project by foreigners to help exploited woman find meaningful work and a life out the industry and eventually was handed over to Cambodians to run. It only improved from there and has made a huge impact of restoring the lives of marginalized women. The menu is varied, with both Western and local fare, safe, staffed by rescued women, decorated with art pieces for sale and is very affordable. ($4 - $6 for a main meal) We went there for our welcome lunch yesterday. 

Every staff member at Ratanak is treated with dignity and respect and is included in things like the Welcome lunch, as it should be. In Bangladesh, the driver would have sat outside and not joined us for lunch. Both meals, the drivers have joined us and it's been fun to have their advice on what to order. It is beautiful to see expat staff and Khmer employees learning from one another, respecting one another and working together to restore hope.

The church we will attend has 500 people in attendance! That's the largest church we've ever been apart of. It is Assemblies of God in denomination, so it will be a new and welcome experience. 

The vehicles we see most on the roads are Lexus SUV's, Land Rovers and Toyota Prius. It is shocking to see these high end SUV's alongside the poverty. 

Challenges

We have known hot weather. We know that Niagara is hot and humid in the summer but it just does not compare to this, even if the numbers say it does. I can't explain it; you would just have to experience it. Walking to my friend's house this morning at 7am, both of my arms and hands had a layer of sweat that did not move or drip until I wiped it with a towel. That does not happen to me in Canada, even back in my summer running days. The challenge for us is, we are almost in the cool season! We can't imagine when it's 43.

The learning curve is huge for Greg but most welcome. Language learning will be a challenge and we are inspired by expats who are fluent already. It will be hard work, but necessary to be as effective as possible.

Getting our house set up is a huge challenge, although we've had amazing help. Taara had gone into the house and made the bed, had sheets and a comforter made, lamps purchased, set up a make shift table and chairs for us and stalked the refrigerator with some essentials. Ratanak has been very helpful in providing us an English speaking Khmer colleague to help us learn where to shop etc as we set up our home. The challenge is there is no one stop shop to get everything. Our clothes are still not hung up as we haven't purchased hangers yet. Our laundry needs to be washed but we need a clothes line. Some of the basics are a challenge at this point but we will feel more settled as our house becomes home. Literally as I wrote this, we were told to take some extra time and the driver to get set up. 

Missing our children is also a challenge but we've been able to Skype everyday, if not twice a day. We asked Jahred what he missed about us most and his answer was, "Your money. You paying for everything". Nice. We are praying our Internet is installed at home before the holiday weekend coming up.

All in all, we are humbled and grateful to be here. It is an honour to give our lives to people who have suffered unspeakable tragedy within our lifetime. Those who survived Khmer Rouge are our age; our peers. The orphans are our children's age. How come we in Canada do not know more about this tragedy and this country? Ratanak has been working in Cambodia since the 1970's and is a NGO of impeccable integrity. It is amazing for Greg to work for an organization where the founder is not only alive, but involved. We feel nothing but respected and valued. It's a good and peaceful feeling to know you're exactly where you're supposed to be.