"We Wait"

Being in Cambodia can be a challenge. Daily frustrations that just don't happen in the Western world are common place. And the different reactions to them (i.e. mine, versus the local staff) really accentuates how much I have to learn. I'm coming off a bout of food poisoning, so this might have a pessimistic edge to it, colored by a lack of food and general miserable exhaustion. 

Anyways, the one and only example that I plan on using to back up my whole challenge/daily frustrations generalization is POWER - i.e. electricity. In Khmer: PLUUUUN. The last week or so, attempting to actually get anything DONE at work has proven near impossible. A typical day: arrive at office, somewhere in the vicinity of 9am, struggle to get online, about 9:15am finally get gmail to open, then at roughly 9:35am... DARKNESS. And the casual proclamation "ooh. aht mien plun." ("huh. we have no power"). A typical reaction back home would be to attempt to determine WHY we have no power, and WHEN it will come back on. Here it just isnt even relevant. We have no power because the power went out. And it will come back on when it comes back on. Cut to conversation with Khmer staff in lobby of BAB office, where everyone has gathered to sit on the couch and wait:

Me: So, no power huh. Again.

Sem: Mmm. Yes. 

Me: So, what are we going to do. We can't get any work done. 

Sem: (Blank stare) 

Me: Well, I think I'm going to go to the Living Room. Try to get some work done. What are you guys doing?

Sem: We wait. 

Me: Oh. Right. 

PERIOD. Its all too simple. We wait. Sit yourself down. We are WAITIN. It isnt a concept that sits well with me. Perhaps it is the unknown. Well - we could wait, but what if it NEVER comes back on, and we WAIT here for 8 hours? Patience is a virtue, and one I apparently need to work on. 

Moving on. This last two weeks have been great in many ways, being back in Phnom Penh, going out, brushing up on my (non) Khmer, trekking down to Kep (more about that when I have photos). I also had the opportunity to visit a school here called Sovann Komar (Golden Children). It is actually a village/orphanage/school that takes in kids that were working on the dump here, or were in other desperate circumstances. Each child becomes part of a family of 6 kids and two parents. They parents are couples who commit to being mom and dad to the kids at the village until the kids reach 18. It is an amazing set-up. The kids were great. Smiling and fighting over my blue sunglasses (which have since disappeared - tragic), building blocks and taking gleeful joy in throttling them to the ground. The aim of the school at Sovann Komar is to be a teacher training school. There is a desperate need here for well-trained teachers, and the school is working towards becoming a place where aspiring or actual teachers can go for training. Very cool place. 

I also visited a village called New Hope for Cambodian Children (NHCC), which is a village for HIV positive children. It has the same kind of set-up as Sovann Komar, with the children grouped into families with a couple taking on the role of parents. The village also grows fruit and vegetables, raises pigs to sell, and will have a soccer field, dance studio, art studio... Another really inspiring place.