I know my time in Cambodia isn't actually over but I leave Phnom Penh (aka "home" for the past 8 weeks) to head to Siem Reap tomorrow. Just like with all transitions, there are a lot of mixed emotions- excitement, sadness, nostalgia, anticipation, uncertainty, I could keep going forever. To be honest, I've had a hard time working out my own feelings about this whole situation. I want to share them with you, I do. But my attempt to put it all into words has not been successful thus far. Since such is the case, I will simply update you on my life and hope that within the next few days I can sort out my mind a bit.
Living with a family is still going well. My host mom's sister-in-law moved in with her baby who is the absolute cutest thing I've ever seen. (Sorry if such a claim offends anyone). She laughs every time she sees me and she even knows how to greet- she puts her little hands together and leans forward. I tried to record it but she decided to be camera shy so maybe I'll get in another attempt before tomorrow morning. Panna, the little girl, has been studying for a Spelling Bee so dinner usually consists of a lot of us giving her words and her guessing random letters pretending to spell. Talk about patience- now I know why I decided to give up that dream of being a teacher.
Grandma and I still communicate through a dictionary, limiting our sentences to a few words. We aren't always successful and sometimes spend ten minutes scanning the dictionary, doing charades and talking around the words in a language the other one doesn't understand only to deem it a lost cause. Those instances always end in a shrug and a huge smile from both of us, which bring me about as much joy as does actually figuring out what she is trying to tell me. Last night my host mom said that I was leaving too soon. She said that they had finally figured out what I like- ain't that the truth! (You can only sneak the fried rice they give you for breakfast into your lunch container so many times before you get caught. And I'm ready to eat meat that I know what animal it came from and which parts of it are supposed to be edible.) But new volunteers will take my place and unpack their stuff in the room I've inhabited a mere day after my bus pulls out of Phnom Penh. Then the family will have a whole new set of dietary preferences to get used to. You don't get long to move on around here.
I finished up my big project at work- a Training Program for the Emergency Foster Care Families. Project number 2 (A Foster Care Crises Manual) was finished up today. I think that's enough to deem this a success, by Cambodian standards anyways. Work that I could have and would have been expected to complete in 3, maybe 4 weeks at home, took up 8 and my boss was thrilled about it. I guess I'm just too used to the high-achieving and result-driven American society. The time I didn't spend working on my projects, I was invited to join my team at meetings and training sessions and family visits. It was great to see the behind-the-scenes planning that goes into all of their work and then see it all put into action. I could have never asked for a more fitting placement that allowed me to make a number of networking connections and experience so many incredible things.
Ava Michelle (my travel buddy) returned to America two weeks ago. It has definitely been different without someone to share my room or talk about the goings-on back home or trade inside jokes about the past 4 months. But the time to reflect, or try to reflect, on everything has been nice. Plus I am excited travel alone. It will be a new challenge navigating and exploring Siem Reap on my own, and I am all for a challenge (sorry, Mom). Maybe spending some time in such a reverent place (when you get away from all the tourists) will lead to a better blog post within the next couple days...
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