Settling Into Life on a Different Continent

 

There is such a difference between travelling in a place, and living and working in a place. There are benefits and disadvantages to both. If you are travelling, you are constantly having new experiences, and the excitement is continual. When you live and work somewhere, you develop a routine fairly quickly, and the experiences stop being novel. But with routine, you have the opportunity to get to know people better, and hopefully understand a place better.  I haven't written much on the blog because I haven't had any grand new experiences. But I recently read a comment that a blog isn't so much about exciting events, as day-to-day experiences. 

Everyone I meet tells me I'm paying too much rent for my 26th floor two-bedroom apartment ($1200). But right now I'm sitting on the wide windowsill in my bedroom, looking out over the lights on the road and on the banks of the Mekong. . I spend a lot of time sitting in this spot, watching the activity so far below me. Every single morning I watch the sun rise over the Mekong. Every single morning, as I was leave the complex to walk to work, the security guard smiles at me, and we exchange pleasantries in Khmer. Every day when I return from school, he is still there, and we engage pleasantries again. If it looks like I'm having trouble crossing the busy street, he will WALK into the middle of the street, and STOP TRAFFIC so I can cross. 

My sweet Sammy (aka the Cambodian Princess), also enjoys the vista offered by the bedroom windowsill. 

One night, I was getting ready for bed, and I was annoyed by flashing lights outside my bedroom window. When I investigated, I saw that the horizon was being lit by lightning. An entire horizontal swath of sky, just above the river, would be momentarily illuminated in yellow or purple, showing off the beautiful storm cloud formations. It was as if someone was randomly turning the lights on and off. 

My schedule at school is crazy, but this is the nature of the beast. School schedules are always crazy. This one may be a little crazier than my past experiences, because I'm travelling a lot between the elementary and high school campuses. However, the children are lovely and sweet, and I'm falling in love on a daily basis. My elementary Art room is literally on the roof of the school. When it rains, as it does almost every late afternoon right now, it is like being in a ship on the sea. It's very dramatic. 

One day I was alone in my Art room, and I saw two Myna birds land near the window. I grabbed my camera and approached the window slowly. Through the window, I managed to take a series of photos of this Myna bird performing his toilette. 

In the 'Welcome Garden' in the elementary school, there is a small fish pond with a little bridge. I have firmly established myself as the CRAZY Art teacher, because I have also fallen in love with the koi. I talk to them every day, and have even been caught singing to them...