First Week in Cambodia

Hello Friends and Family!  Greetings from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  I have finally arrived and am starting to get my bearings, mind you slow but surely.  Time to update you on all that has happened in the last week.

I left Lexington early on Wednesday, June 25.  It was pretty tough.  I had spent the previous days saying goodbye to best friends then spent the last evening my mom and dad.  We made a lot of last minute Target runs as well as stuffed in last minute items into my already overpacked suitcases.  Bright and early on Wednesday, we headed to the airport.  We enjoyed some Starbucks coffee and time as a family.  It was pretty tough saying goodbye to my parents; I've been working with my Dad and am incredibly close with my Mom so the idea of not seeing them with any kind of frequency was sad.  There were lots of tears, lot of promises to email/Skype/text, and finally I left their warm embraces and headed into the security line.

The flight over was LONG.  I think it was my longest flight to date.  I went from Cincinnati to Chicago, to Seoul, then finally Phnom Penh.  I watched approximately 7 movies (none of which were particularly good unfortunately) and got maybe two hour of combined sleep.  I arrived in Phnom Penh on Thursday, June 26, at 10:30 pm.  After getting my luggage, applying for my visa and going through customs, I was greeting by three co-workers from the office.  It was a sight for sore eyes seeing some familiar faces (well semi-familiar, from FaceBook at least).  We quickly loaded up my bags and hit the road because they were in a hurry to get to one of the local sports bars to watch the US play Germany in the World Cup.  I tried to jump right in which kept me from being overwhelmed and homesick.  I got to meet some other people from the office and other NGO's in PP so it was an nice time.  When I finally got back to the apartment, it was around 1 am, and I was EXHAUSTED.

I slept in the next day, then headed into the office late afternoon to meet everyone and tour the office. The office is amazing, both the Cambodian national staff and ex-pats working in the office have been so welcoming.  I only stayed for about a hour, then it was off to Kep for the weekend with about a dozen girls.  Another intern from the office had emailed prior to my arrival asking if I'd be interested in going to the coast for a weekend trip immediately after arriving.  Since I definitely want to travel as much as possible while in SE Asia, I decided it would be fun as well as a great opportunity to meet the girls from the office as well as friends from other organizations who would be joining too.  Kep is located on the coast, and it is beautiful.  It's very lush and tropical.  We got great a great deal on some bungalows, and just relaxed the whole weekend.  We went on a beautiful hike Saturday morning, laid by the pool, ate some amazing seafood, and watched the sunset go down at a quaint little restaurant called "Sailing Club."

Here are some pictures from the weekend.



Our Hotel



The bungalow we stayed in complete with AC.  So important!



The hotel had 8 bungalows surrounded by lush greenery.  So gorgeous. 



Lounge area overlooking the hotel and bungalows.



Our view.  That's the ocean in the distance.  Swoon.



Again, the view. 



Swanky pool.  Very refreshing and much needed after our hike. 

Hiking in Kep National Park.

A view from the hike, you could see forever.

Lime Soda.  Tonic water, fresh lime, and simple syrup.  My favorite Cambodian food item so far.  It's the most refreshing thing in the whole entire world and I will drink this for the rest of my life.  Seriously, for the rest of my life.

The local food consists primarily of fresh seafood, and in particular, crab.  They season it will local pepper which is grown in a town close to Kep called Kampot.  It's delicious and amazing and fresh and I could eat it all day.

"Sailing Club" lounge area.  We enjoyed some drinks as the sun went down.

The incredibly beautiful pier and wild sea.  

After returning from Kep, I settled down into my apartment and prepared for my first week of work.  I am currently living with 3 other interns from work, and will be at least staying here until September.  They leave throughout the next few weeks, so my living situation is going to change in September.  I'm just going to wait and learn the area to decide what I want to do when that time comes.  I'd like to stay in this apartment because it's incredibly cheap but that also means I'd have to find 3 new roommates which could be challenging.  I also might want to move to a more "western" apartment that feels a bit brighter and more like home.  But for right now, this works and it's cheap so I'll take it.   Work is also going really good, although I haven't really done anything except listen to training sessions and read research.  The research is pretty disgusting and eye-opening but vital to the work our office does in Cambodia so it is good to start getting familiar with the culture.  But really other than reading, I didn't do much with respect to work.  I'm sure that will change as I get settled, but I'm happy to take it slow and soak it all up.

It's also rainy season here which means a few times a day we experience absolutely torrential downpours.  Yesterday was my first experience with flooding streets.  It was crazy.  Literally, streets turned into rivers, and there was at least 6 inches of standing water for about an hour.  The traffic still flies through it as though there isn't 6 inches of water.  It's crazy.

Tuk Tuk ride through a downpour.  

Anyways, Happy 4th of July.  Tomorrow I will be going to the US Embassy for the 4th of July Party so I should have more to blog later this week.