First time out of the country! Initial Reactions to Cambodia
Later Sunday and or Monday sometime somewhere over the date/time changes:
We are traveling with Starkey Hearing Foundation to the capital of Cambodia- Phonm Penh- where the native language is Khumer, its monsoon season, with probably like 100% humidity. We are expected to provide hearing health care to approx 1500 people with in 4 days. Thankfully I was able to catch a flight from Boise to SLC this morning at 6 am, where I met the rest of my cohort members that were also going on the trip. That flight was so short thankfully cuz I was not feeling good at all… I think the 2.5 sleep did more damage than help but hey I got from Boise to SLC in the time everyone else drove from Logan to SLC which I was totally okay with. I am currently over some Russian ice masses or somewhere like that right now. We first flew to Seattle which was only like 1.5 hours but this flight from Seattle to Seoul Korea is 12 hours haha Thankfully I was able to find a few movies that had closed captioning- as I can not hear clearly out our ear buds and they didn't have Bluetooth to connect my HA wirelessly- Finding Dory being one of them- Granted this means I watched the whole movie without sound, but I did have the captions BOOYAH!! #deafgirlprobs #captionforthewin Oh it was so so cute! Someday maybe I'll get around to watching it with the sounds so I can hear the music and see how closely my approximations of what the adorable beluga whale sounded like. She was my favorite! Totally reminded me of Emily without her glasses :) Oh my I am a little too good at sitting on my right bum cheek… my leg keeps going numb…. #firstworldprobs. But hey thankfully my knee is doing ok so far!! I was worried it would be really stiff after 20 hours of flying-that might be different when I actually get off the plane and have to walk. Sitting here I feel like I can literally feel my leg muscles continue to atrophy more than they already have since my surgery in January. Praise the heavens I am sitting in an aisle.
I am so happy right now, the flight attendant per request as I hate drinking things and having the ice hit me in the face, but two cubes I can handle. I should have tipped the guy it was so fabulous. #simple joys. Dinner was not too bad! I was expecting it to be quite disgusting but we had a cute little salad with two wedges of tomatoes that consisted of two little chopped pieces of lettuce with a generous amount of shredded cheese. Pouring the Caesar dressing was a struggle, I got it by just cracking the container and spilling half of it on the tray which was great. Ha along with our side salad there was chicken in marinara sauce with mushrooms which was actually quality good and a good refreshing boost of protein as frozen yogurt was my staple last night haha After we reach Korea, we have one more 5 hour flight into Cambodia where we will arrive there at about 11 pm their time which is like 12 noon Boise time- I'm excited to see how this jet lag thing plays out!
Monday night May 8th:
Walking out of the airport my initial reaction-as I looked at the crowd of Cambodians waiting to pick up their friends, and family- was "This feels like home." Cambodia doesn't seem so foreign as I envisioned it to be. these people are going through life just like I am, they have social lives, unfortunately the drama of trying to find a sweetheart, figuring out school, and or a future job - maybe and probably their priorities are different in the sense that they live day to day where we live to retire comfortably or something like that- I don't know why but it just felt comfortable and it was surprisingly calming.
As I was pondering all of this while waiting outside the airport for our charter bus for about 20 minutes, it was then that I realized how stiflingly humid it was there. But it gave me the chance to just stand and observe at the exit of the airport where a crowd of several people were waiting for their friends and family. As I stood there two men came and stood by the garbage can that was right next to me and as they started smoking, I realized that I could hardly smell it, partly probably because the air already smells like cigarette smoke.
As we pulled out of the airport looking at the "homes" and business that lined the streets almost too perfectly, I felt like it was a set I was walking through at Disneyland. And not in the fancy Main Street Disney way, like a Pirates of the Caribbean, set feel with out all the disgusting pirates people. (it was dark outside) I don't know how else to describe it, it just was so fascinating. They were just rows and rows of garages which I am assuming are where the people live or open up their shops out of. all lined up in a row, all of them at this time, gated and covered with riveted metal sheets. This is everywhere, and then out of the blue, you will see a super nice nice hotel or store. It feels like going from complete shanty towns to luxury. I realize now that that one garbage can is more of a rarity here. Piles of trash line the sidewalks and gutters waiting for the "garbage men" to drive around in their trucks at 11:15pm at nights and scoop it up with their flat head shovels. This is of course after it has been completely picked through by the locals.
Our hotel has a gate with industrial barbed wire wrapped around the top of it. The bed rooms, especially the bathrooms, smell like the Indiana Jones ride at Disney land haha (I don't know what it is about me and the Disney connections, maybe I'm still wondering if this is real life) but we have a kitchen, and two beds, a view of the Mekong river and a beautiful tennis court down below!! Oh, I can't for get the washer/dryer that is the same machine and is in one of our bathrooms, you have to flip a switch to turn the hot water on ect. The warm air and plethora of palm trees oh my it all just makes my soul soar. Maybe this really is home.
We are traveling with Starkey Hearing Foundation to the capital of Cambodia- Phonm Penh- where the native language is Khumer, its monsoon season, with probably like 100% humidity. We are expected to provide hearing health care to approx 1500 people with in 4 days. Thankfully I was able to catch a flight from Boise to SLC this morning at 6 am, where I met the rest of my cohort members that were also going on the trip. That flight was so short thankfully cuz I was not feeling good at all… I think the 2.5 sleep did more damage than help but hey I got from Boise to SLC in the time everyone else drove from Logan to SLC which I was totally okay with. I am currently over some Russian ice masses or somewhere like that right now. We first flew to Seattle which was only like 1.5 hours but this flight from Seattle to Seoul Korea is 12 hours haha Thankfully I was able to find a few movies that had closed captioning- as I can not hear clearly out our ear buds and they didn't have Bluetooth to connect my HA wirelessly- Finding Dory being one of them- Granted this means I watched the whole movie without sound, but I did have the captions BOOYAH!! #deafgirlprobs #captionforthewin Oh it was so so cute! Someday maybe I'll get around to watching it with the sounds so I can hear the music and see how closely my approximations of what the adorable beluga whale sounded like. She was my favorite! Totally reminded me of Emily without her glasses :) Oh my I am a little too good at sitting on my right bum cheek… my leg keeps going numb…. #firstworldprobs. But hey thankfully my knee is doing ok so far!! I was worried it would be really stiff after 20 hours of flying-that might be different when I actually get off the plane and have to walk. Sitting here I feel like I can literally feel my leg muscles continue to atrophy more than they already have since my surgery in January. Praise the heavens I am sitting in an aisle.
I am so happy right now, the flight attendant per request as I hate drinking things and having the ice hit me in the face, but two cubes I can handle. I should have tipped the guy it was so fabulous. #simple joys. Dinner was not too bad! I was expecting it to be quite disgusting but we had a cute little salad with two wedges of tomatoes that consisted of two little chopped pieces of lettuce with a generous amount of shredded cheese. Pouring the Caesar dressing was a struggle, I got it by just cracking the container and spilling half of it on the tray which was great. Ha along with our side salad there was chicken in marinara sauce with mushrooms which was actually quality good and a good refreshing boost of protein as frozen yogurt was my staple last night haha After we reach Korea, we have one more 5 hour flight into Cambodia where we will arrive there at about 11 pm their time which is like 12 noon Boise time- I'm excited to see how this jet lag thing plays out!
Monday night May 8th:
Walking out of the airport my initial reaction-as I looked at the crowd of Cambodians waiting to pick up their friends, and family- was "This feels like home." Cambodia doesn't seem so foreign as I envisioned it to be. these people are going through life just like I am, they have social lives, unfortunately the drama of trying to find a sweetheart, figuring out school, and or a future job - maybe and probably their priorities are different in the sense that they live day to day where we live to retire comfortably or something like that- I don't know why but it just felt comfortable and it was surprisingly calming.
As I was pondering all of this while waiting outside the airport for our charter bus for about 20 minutes, it was then that I realized how stiflingly humid it was there. But it gave me the chance to just stand and observe at the exit of the airport where a crowd of several people were waiting for their friends and family. As I stood there two men came and stood by the garbage can that was right next to me and as they started smoking, I realized that I could hardly smell it, partly probably because the air already smells like cigarette smoke.
As we pulled out of the airport looking at the "homes" and business that lined the streets almost too perfectly, I felt like it was a set I was walking through at Disneyland. And not in the fancy Main Street Disney way, like a Pirates of the Caribbean, set feel with out all the disgusting pirates people. (it was dark outside) I don't know how else to describe it, it just was so fascinating. They were just rows and rows of garages which I am assuming are where the people live or open up their shops out of. all lined up in a row, all of them at this time, gated and covered with riveted metal sheets. This is everywhere, and then out of the blue, you will see a super nice nice hotel or store. It feels like going from complete shanty towns to luxury. I realize now that that one garbage can is more of a rarity here. Piles of trash line the sidewalks and gutters waiting for the "garbage men" to drive around in their trucks at 11:15pm at nights and scoop it up with their flat head shovels. This is of course after it has been completely picked through by the locals.
Our hotel has a gate with industrial barbed wire wrapped around the top of it. The bed rooms, especially the bathrooms, smell like the Indiana Jones ride at Disney land haha (I don't know what it is about me and the Disney connections, maybe I'm still wondering if this is real life) but we have a kitchen, and two beds, a view of the Mekong river and a beautiful tennis court down below!! Oh, I can't for get the washer/dryer that is the same machine and is in one of our bathrooms, you have to flip a switch to turn the hot water on ect. The warm air and plethora of palm trees oh my it all just makes my soul soar. Maybe this really is home.
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