Leaving the land of Sunshine, Smiles and Suprises
on Sarah G in Cambodia (Cambodia), 02/Apr/2010 01:54, 34 days ago
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mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}Leaving the land of smiles, sunshine and surprises....I haven’t written my blog for a while and I feel this entry will be more about me than Cambodia; that’s ok it makes me feel like the Carrie Bradshaw of Ban Lung but less ‘Sex in the City’ and more ‘Dust in the Village’ (thought the official title is Ban Lung City...), I’ve replaced the JimmyChoo’s with 50cents flip flops and the New York taxi with the oldest motorbike you have ever seen...but hey ho, it has its own special sort of glamour!It gets harder to write about differences as time goes on but in the last few weeks I have started seeing things with new eyes again....Arriving home from a lovely week in the capital, Phnom Pehn, it has just hit me that a week today I will be preparing to leave and return to the home land, on the journey back I started to think what I will miss.As soon as I got home it was obvious– sitting in the sun with great view over the lake, within 5 minutes my landlady’s daughter was inviting me to eat mango with her and her friends, i have been invited to a wedding this evening, people here are just so welcoming and friendly.I will miss my Khmer friends so much they are true optimists, always ready with a smile and a compliment.In many ways I will miss the slower pace of life, the space and ---Reading back over the blogs I wrote in my first weeks here so much has changed - I felt so uneasy about the jungle noises, now it’s just a comforting backdrop of sound, I was shocked by how dark it got, now I appreciate it’s just a better chance to see the stars, I didn’t understand the language and culture, I still don’t, but I have learnt so much and really come to appreciate the Cambodia way.So in the true spirit (clichéd and cheesy) of VSO I have started to reflect and thinking about what I have learned…How to ride a motorbike– ok so I wouldn’t hop on any bike back in theUKbut never once fell off driving down Sals road in the wet season after too many B52’s with both feet on the floor sliding along in the mud.How to speak Khmer– my khmer is still much worse than most of my VSO colleagues and I still always get I, you, we, her/him which is pretty basic but here it doesn’t seem to matter so much, if you say 3 words people are impressed and claim ‘ches khmer’ – ‘you can speak Cambodian’.So its official!Patience– So I am still not the most patience person on earth and never will but I did think I knew that given time, encouragement and patience amazing things can come from unexpected corners, but until you until you ask the same question 5 times getting a complete different answer each time and then takethe time to understand that ever answer was actually right for its own reasons, I think that shows me I have learnt more patience.If you keep hitting your head against a brick wall it’s going to hurt – The wisdom of Tania…there’s just no more to say…except I don’t know what I would have done without it.What else, errr…There is no limit the things you can get on a moto or number of people you can get in a car, mosquitoes are the most annoying creature on earth, you can still like really loud techo music even if you live in a remote village in Cambodia, there are some things that it will never seem right to eat, big spiders might not be my friends but generally they don’t eat you, dust is dusty,Obviously I have learnt more than I can mention professionally and if I haven’t already I would bore you by talking about it here, I could write another ten pages about the world of ‘development’ but I am not going to because what I have realised is that when you come here it is easy to feel self important as it feels like such a big life move but on leaving I understand what I tiny weeny part I had in this massive industry, I have my opinion thought and they are not all good ones but what largely there are lots of people working in development particularly Cambodian people who really want to see positive change.So, I am coming home: Sarah G is famous for have a plan– and right now, I the only plans I have is to return to this land of smiles, sunshine and surprises and to carry the memoires and inspiration of all the amazing people I have been privileged to meet into the next part of my life.What will I do now?Answers on a postcard please.What’s my address?I will let you know when I find one!