The adventure begins...CAMBODIA!
I read my last post and laugheddd. I did NONE of those things, seriously none, except board a plane in PDX one early (EARLY!) morning, pop a sleeping pill, and wake up in Phnom Penh some...36 hours later. I am, of course, exaggerating a bit and leaving some things out (I do that sometimes) but the adventure of the endless trip over here sort of pales in comparison to what happened shortly after my arrival.
(Though I should mention that I shared a wonderful breakfast with Rodri at the LAX airport during my four hour layover and also that I fell asleep in the Seoul airport and was woken up about 30 seconds before my flight took off by a funny French lady, who I ended up running into two days later and had drinks with at a random ex-pat bar, where we each concluded, within ten minutes, that the other was totally insane...more on that later, but god is this city SMALL)
Like I said, all that is irrelevant because, to quote one of my favorite movies, "this story is not about taking off..." (<---said in French. Name the movie!! Anyone? Anyone?)
For those of you who just suddenly stumbled upon this journal or were coerced into reading for some reason, let me give a sentence of context:
I just moved to Cambodia to work for a fair-trade social enterprise called KeoKjay, which employs HIV positive women and trains them to make clothing and accessories out of recycled materials (explained more articulately at www.keokjay.org, I hope you will check it out. I contribute (or at least WILL contribute) to the KeoKjay blog on Wordpress, as well)). My job here doesn't have a concrete, concise description (has any job I've ever had had that?) but it will involve international sales and marketing and program development and teaching English.
In the last few months since Rachel told me I was hired (Rachel being the founder and fearless leader of this organization), I've explained this to friends, co-workers, and family. The reactions I've gotten have been something like this:
"Uh...Cambodia? Why?"
"Cambodia? Uh...why?"
"Why, uh...Cambodia?"
I also got:
"ohmygod, Sasha, congratulations! This sounds like your dream job. It combines your interest in sustainable economic development with your experience in the fashion industry, all while bringing you to CAMBODIA, the very country you wrote your senior thesis on and the one you've been talking about since you worked on a documentary there just two years ago!"
(Thank you Sancha, Andres, Rodri, my twin sister, Dr. John Hall, and Joni)
All I have to say to that is, "hell yah."
(Lets not talk about the things I said to the other people right now.)
So now everyone is up to date and I HOPE inspired to go with me on this journey.
All of your comments, emails, and support of KeoKjay will be very, very much appreciated.
I don't have much time to write before my computer overheats and shuts down again or the internet cuts out, but I do want to quickly summarize my first three days, for my memory and for your entertainment (and perhaps mine, because all of these things seem funnier in retrospect).
So my first night in Cambodia, I spent tossing and turning and sweating and not being able to sleep, because we had no fans or AC due to a power outage in our neighborhood.
My first morning in Cambodia, I spent lying on the floor of the workshop, tossing and turning and sweating, clutching my stomach and crying from pain due to food poisoning and having my insides cooked the night before.
My second night in Cambodia, I spent clutching my stomach and crying from pain due to food poisoning, wading through the streets of Phnom Penh in knee-deep water as a huge monsoon-like storm took over the whole city, trying desperately to get home, which still had no fans or AC, but NOT due to some obscure power outage in the neighborhood like I had originally thought, but actually due to the fact that the landlord had turned it off because someone else wanted to rent the apartment and she needed me and Rachel out as soon as possible.
My second morning in Cambodia, I helped Rachel move all of our stuff out of the apartment and into Genny's apartment, but was too faint from having tossed and turned and sweated and cried and waded, and ended up passing out on Genny's bed after two tuk tuk trips.
The third night in Cambodia, I ended up at a crazy night club full of people I didn't know, listening to music I had once known (maybe from a high school dance) and feeling genuinely culture shocked. There I met a guy who knows Ivonne. What a small freakin world.
My third morning in Cambodia, I spent sleeping.
And here I am, my fourth night in Cambodia, and all seems to be settling down.
I start work tomorrowwww! WOOT!
(Though I should mention that I shared a wonderful breakfast with Rodri at the LAX airport during my four hour layover and also that I fell asleep in the Seoul airport and was woken up about 30 seconds before my flight took off by a funny French lady, who I ended up running into two days later and had drinks with at a random ex-pat bar, where we each concluded, within ten minutes, that the other was totally insane...more on that later, but god is this city SMALL)
Like I said, all that is irrelevant because, to quote one of my favorite movies, "this story is not about taking off..." (<---said in French. Name the movie!! Anyone? Anyone?)
For those of you who just suddenly stumbled upon this journal or were coerced into reading for some reason, let me give a sentence of context:
I just moved to Cambodia to work for a fair-trade social enterprise called KeoKjay, which employs HIV positive women and trains them to make clothing and accessories out of recycled materials (explained more articulately at www.keokjay.org, I hope you will check it out. I contribute (or at least WILL contribute) to the KeoKjay blog on Wordpress, as well)). My job here doesn't have a concrete, concise description (has any job I've ever had had that?) but it will involve international sales and marketing and program development and teaching English.
In the last few months since Rachel told me I was hired (Rachel being the founder and fearless leader of this organization), I've explained this to friends, co-workers, and family. The reactions I've gotten have been something like this:
"Uh...Cambodia? Why?"
"Cambodia? Uh...why?"
"Why, uh...Cambodia?"
I also got:
"ohmygod, Sasha, congratulations! This sounds like your dream job. It combines your interest in sustainable economic development with your experience in the fashion industry, all while bringing you to CAMBODIA, the very country you wrote your senior thesis on and the one you've been talking about since you worked on a documentary there just two years ago!"
(Thank you Sancha, Andres, Rodri, my twin sister, Dr. John Hall, and Joni)
All I have to say to that is, "hell yah."
(Lets not talk about the things I said to the other people right now.)
So now everyone is up to date and I HOPE inspired to go with me on this journey.
All of your comments, emails, and support of KeoKjay will be very, very much appreciated.
I don't have much time to write before my computer overheats and shuts down again or the internet cuts out, but I do want to quickly summarize my first three days, for my memory and for your entertainment (and perhaps mine, because all of these things seem funnier in retrospect).
So my first night in Cambodia, I spent tossing and turning and sweating and not being able to sleep, because we had no fans or AC due to a power outage in our neighborhood.
My first morning in Cambodia, I spent lying on the floor of the workshop, tossing and turning and sweating, clutching my stomach and crying from pain due to food poisoning and having my insides cooked the night before.
My second night in Cambodia, I spent clutching my stomach and crying from pain due to food poisoning, wading through the streets of Phnom Penh in knee-deep water as a huge monsoon-like storm took over the whole city, trying desperately to get home, which still had no fans or AC, but NOT due to some obscure power outage in the neighborhood like I had originally thought, but actually due to the fact that the landlord had turned it off because someone else wanted to rent the apartment and she needed me and Rachel out as soon as possible.
My second morning in Cambodia, I helped Rachel move all of our stuff out of the apartment and into Genny's apartment, but was too faint from having tossed and turned and sweated and cried and waded, and ended up passing out on Genny's bed after two tuk tuk trips.
The third night in Cambodia, I ended up at a crazy night club full of people I didn't know, listening to music I had once known (maybe from a high school dance) and feeling genuinely culture shocked. There I met a guy who knows Ivonne. What a small freakin world.
My third morning in Cambodia, I spent sleeping.
And here I am, my fourth night in Cambodia, and all seems to be settling down.
I start work tomorrowwww! WOOT!