I have been in country for two months, and in some aspects I
feel like I landed yesterday and in others, I feel completely at home.
I have a great little apartment in
the Village. When I say little, it isn’t
that little, it is actually bigger then my old house in OKC. It is the upstairs of a house right down the
street from work and directly across the road from my little coffee shop. It has one living space, my bedroom and
bathroom on the lower level and up three little steps is where I spend most of
my time. I have started calling it the
loft, but in all actuality it is a giant multipurpose room. The kitchen is in
one corner, lounge space in the middle and my washer and clothes line in
another corner. I have spent the past weeks, buying things and making it my
space. When I moved in, there was really
no kitchen. I had a sink, shelf and a
large dorm style fridge. After a few weeks
of sandwiches and stuff that did not have to be cooked to be eaten, I did some
appliance shopping. I bought a cook top,
fridge, microwave and a toaster oven. I
have really been enjoyed being able to cook some simple things for myself and
feel a little more normal. The best thing about my house… the view ---
I
have affectionately begun calling it my backyard, and it is absolutely breath
taking. I also have a great little
balcony on the front of the house, that on days when I lose power, I drag a
chair out there and read. It is nice, I
can watch what is going on in the village and I am sure it amuses some of the
people around me.
Daily life is pretty simple, and
very similar to the states. Wake up in
the morning, far to earlier for my taste… the village seems to start waking up
around and since I sleep with windows open, I usually wake up around 4:30,
don’t worry, I do not get out of bed at that time, but do the toss and turn and
light sleep for another hour or so. Then
I finally give up and get up. Start the
day, surprisingly I have no coffee pot in my house, so I get up, get ready and
then spend some time with the Lord. If I
have a skype date with someone at home, those usually happen in the morning. So
maybe I skype maybe I don’t. I usually
head to the coffee shop for breakfast around 7:30, walk across the road and
settle in. Sometimes I eat alone, and
sometimes friends are there. I am making
friends with the little kids that are there.
It is amazing how a smart phone can make them all like you. Order breakfast in the open air coffee shop,
I usually have fried egg and an iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Every now and then I will get egg noodles
with pork, just depends. I spend
breakfast laughing with friends and listening to the language around me, trying
desperately to pick out words or phrases that I may know and of course a good
portion of this time is spent giving Da a hard time. At 8:30 I walk down the street to work. I usually have language in the morning and
then spend the rest of my time reviewing, working on media, newsletters, and
giving Da a hard time. I have had the
chance to go to a few meetings, and let me just say… I really have to fight my
adult A.D.D. and pay attention, because of the ever present language barrier. It is getting better though; I am getting
better at hearing the sounds and am picking up on the missing ending
consonants. I usually eat lunch at home
or sometimes I do lunch at the dining hall at work. I am building relationships with my office
mates and I am loving it. Getting to the
point that I can joke around and get them to laugh, they all speak English to
some level. They all want to help me
with my Khmer and my heart is happy when I can grasp enough words, or better
yet, can participate in conversations.
Still have a very long way to go, but am feeling a lot better about the
language.
Evenings are usually pretty quiet. Sometimes I visit friends, but most often I am at home, just relaxing and studying. Go to bed around 9, but that is a victory, since usually when the sun sets, it feels like it is midnight, and it is usually only 6:30!!!
Weekends, are usually about the same, minus work. I tend to head into the city on Saturday with some friends. Do any errand running that needs to be done and hit up Lucky. Lucky is the grocery store and Iet me just say, grocery shopping in Asia, is a task. I usually try to make a list… but there is no consistency to what is at the store. Just because I was able to buy something last week, that does not mean I will be able to get it this week. It is always an adventure, and just like home, I have found my favorite Lucky, and if it all possible, I try to go to that store.
I have had the chance to attend a church, in town, one time. It was good to have the corporate worship time, but unfortunately the message was not all that theological sound. I plan to visit a few other churches and see if I can find a place that I can attend semi-regularly.
Hope that you have enjoyed getting to read a little about my everyday life. I still wake up in the morning and kind of shake my head that this is my new normal. It is very easy to get distracted and homesick and wonder if I can really do this… so for now… I am trying to embrace the new normal and the Goodness of the Lord.
by grace and with much love, sarah
