June June but no sand Dunes
- Elena
- Jul 5, 2018
- 9 min read
JUNE JUNE BUT NO SAND DUNES! This month has been a bit of a strange month. It’s that in between month before the leaving month but also you still have quite a bit of time to go before you are home. The nice thing about this month is that I am completely and utterly settled and content with life in Cambodia I know the community very well so jokes swing back and forth during dinner, mass every Sunday leading to my weekly chats with Fr Eugene about the Chinese invasion in Sihanoukville as I sit in the front with him managing to call “shot gun” every time and watching football in the evening with the Vietnamese brothers, becoming overly passionate about the success of south Korea and japan. Life is good here, it’s structured and not too stressful and there is always someone around to have fun with. One thing about me that not many know is that I HATE being alone and I HATE being bored. I can’t seem to just be content with doing things on my own. I just end up having conversations with myself in my head. Isn’t life so much better and more fun when you have someone to share it with?! That’s why this community has saved my life. There is rarely a moment when I am on my own and they never fail to make me smile or laugh.
The not so great thing about this month is that Maryam and I are running out of money, fast. Therefore, in the desperate need to save money so that we can actually leave our house when we get back to England, has led to us not leaving the house of Don Bosco very much. The weather has also affected this as it is the rainy season so whenever we do make the decision to go outside of the compound we soon make a U turn and come back in as the rains begin. This means we have barely been to the beach at all this week which is hence why I have called this blog “June, June but no sand Dunes”. We find ways to entertain ourselves after work like playing cards, going over to see the German girls in the hotel and playing piano but honestly it also involves a lot of sleeping. It’s not boring it’s just a bit repetitive. However, on the weekends we always make sure we have something to do.
The first weekend after my family left two of my friends, Kate and Luke arrived in Sihanoukville. They had previously been hiking in the Himalayan mountains so it was cool to hear all about that. Being the host I had planned for us to go away to one of the Islands for the weekend. So I met them after work on Friday and we headed to the ferry port. Cambodia being Cambodia it took us over an hour just to get on the boat and by this time it was starting to get dark. The sea also looked very choppy, but having done the boat journey twice before I was confident I didn’t get sea sick and that I would be fine. Whilst still docked even though the boat was rocking a fair amount, I felt fine. You could say that this was the, calm before the storm. Soon after the boat started at full speed my appetite was completely gone. The waves were big and the small boat was no match. Every time it hit a wave it was thrust up to what felt like a 90 degree angle and then nosedived back down. Soon all the passengers were grabbing life jackets I however was too busy holding onto the side of the boat for dear life. Suddenly the boat stopped and the anchor went down. Worried I asked what was going on. With no reply my heart sunk. This was going to be a horribly long journey. The next thing that occurred was the actual storm. This meant the boat team frantically pulled the waterproof curtains down however, I was not having it. To stop myself from panicking, I needed the air. Then I spent the next half hour praying for Jesus to calm the storm. This meant I was showered with rain water and sea water barely being able to see. The next thing I knew was that we were being taken back onto the mainland and honestly it was music to my ears. As soon as we docked we jumped straight into a taxi and drove back to Don Bosco. I put my friends up in the hotel for the night and vowed I would never get on another boat in Cambodia. Lucas made us all a cup of tea and listened to me rant about my horrible experience.
During the week it was Ede. If you don’t know what that is, it is a Muslim festival celebrating the end of the fasting season. Maryam is Muslim so she wanted to celebrate by cooking the community a semi traditional meal. I was up for it as I have so missed cooking. So one afternoon we went over to the hotel and with the help of the staff created the most delicious meal. I cracked a few jokes Indian jokes with Fr Eugene (who is originally from India) as it tasted very like an Indian curry from a takeaway back home. Honestly it tasted so good I could have cried. This has for sure been my proudest partner moment with Maryam. The community also enjoyed it. So much so there was nothing left!
The next weekend was rather a quiet one. Maryam and Paul had gone to Siem Reap so I was by myself all weekend. All the Brothers still work in the day so if Maryam and Paul are not around, honestly there isn’t that much to do. So I spent the time tidying my room, doing washing and I can’t really remember what else I did. Then Paul and Maryam got back and it was all good. The next weekend we three decided we would take a trip to Kampot. Kampot is the next nearest town to us, I have had so many chances to go but have always found I couldn’t make it. There is also tons to do there, the food is great and the scenery is stunning so you could say I was pretty excited. Also, it was the first time that Paul Maryam and I had gone away together on a trip. The day before we got a message from Katie (volunteer in Kep) and she asked if she could come along seeing as her partner was busy. Of course we said yes, so that made four of us.
This was one of the best weekends I have had here. The weather was amazingly sunny and we were all in such high spirits. It started with us taking the train from Sihnaoukville which was a very pleasant experience. Paul and I spent the time playing word association, which we can safely say we have now completely nailed – Maryam slept. Then we met Katie, had some breakfast before sailing off up Kampot Mountain. It took about an hour to travel the whole way up and it was a very pretty journey. Along the way there were environmental signs which said things like, “pick up your rubbish” and “save the natural environment” being the tree hugger I am and Paul taking the piss out of me as usual, we let out a happy “wahooo” every time we saw one of the signs. And believe me it works because we saw hardly any rubbish. When we arrived at the top we were immersed in clouds. We explored old abandoned churches and buildings, scowled at Chinese casinos being built and stood on cliff edges pretending we were in avatar.
Then we headed back down grabbed some lunch and headed back out again to see the waterfalls. This was a drive up into the countryside which was equally as beautiful with red dusty roads contrasting bright green farmland. Then we trekked up what felt like a hundred steps before reaching the waterfall. It was huge and we were all bursting to get underneath it. Then we had a photo shoot with some Khmer people, had a swim in the naturally made pool before making our way back to our hotel room.
I wish I could give everyone the feeling I felt when we were soaring up the mountain. Nothing could touch us we were free! Imagine feeling nothing but happiness, and the idea of any other feeling was absurd, that is what it felt like. I know I’m getting deep and gapyery but seriously, life is so short we have to enjoy every moment we have with the people we are with and the area we are in. Nothing is more important than the very moment that we are in. If you can make the effort to enjoy the time with the people you are with, and really spend time finding out about them, learning from them and living to enjoy life with them I don’t think it’s possible to say that you have wasted your life. Stop thinking about what “could happen” or “who else” you could be with. The people you are with are amazing. Don’t ever think that one person is, “boring” everyone is interesting. You will get to meet hundreds of people but if you don’t put in the time to find out about them you may as well meet no one. Even if you have known someone for years there is always something new to find out. Be grateful you get to know someone aswell as you do but don’t take it for granted. Experiences are what you make them. Stop obsessing over what you think you “should” do and just live to learn about others and believe me you will learn about yourself too. Honestly I believe that lost friendships is due to a lack of effort to find out about each other. Also, maybe try to stop hiding your feelings so much. If you want to live honestly and purely then you will live with your heart and soul upon your sleeve. What is the point of wasting your feelings? If you are sad, tell someone. If you are happy tell someone. If you love someone flipping tell them. My gosh we only have now why not live for now. Not for the future. Not for the past. Not for what could be. That doesn’t make sense. If you are living in the past and the future, how are you living? I don’t want to hide who I am or what I feel. I want to share it I want to feel everything. I’m not scared. Don’t live in fear.
Wow well that’s that. Maybe that will give you a thought maybe not but there it is. Anyway – back to my blog.
After a quick shower we went out to watch a film, the best thing about Kampot is that you can order food from anywhere and they will deliver it to you for free. So we all ordered burgers and chips and went in to watch our film. The next day we pretty much just spent eating and did a little bit of shopping. Paul went early so he could go to mass and then Maryam, Katie and I met our country coordinator for a last goodbye before we left which was very sad.
THE POLISH LEAVE. So this is probably the most sad I have felt here. The Polish have made every day of work lead to me crying with laughter. I feel so lucky to have met them and got to spend as much time with them as I did. I definitely could not have done my job without them. It also means that luckily I will always have a place to stay in Poland. So next summer we have arranged for me to visit them. Not too long away. On their last evening they decided to cook us a traditional polish meal and flip was it tasty but flip was it filling. Polish meal = potatoes, meat, onions, sauce. Practically no vegetables.
The last weekend of June was based upon our international day. As part of project trust it is required that each partnership performs an international day with their school or community. It needs to be relevant to your country or area. Therefore, Maryam and I decided to do, “World Ocean day”. I have never seen so much rubbish in and around the sea. Honestly you cannot go swimming without swimming into at least 5 bits of rubbish. It is also very hard to find any fish. They just don’t exist. Therefore, we thought this international day was extremely fitting. This Saturday Br Mony helped us to organise a group of students to come to the beach and collect rubbish which will go towards our project next week (Which is in July so I won’t talk about it now). We stocked up on snacks and fizzy drinks on the way, bundled everyone in the back of the van and got the huge speakers for the journey. You can’t do anything without music here. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to translate to them that when you pick the rubbish up, you don’t the chuck it away on a different part of the beach. So lesson learnt there, make sure everyone definitely knows what to do. Then we went to Otres beach, had a bit of a party and went swimming.
June has also been filled with football. Obviously. Before the Polish left there were 16 members of our community. This meant that we could have exactly 2 teams each. So we all have put in three dollars and picked teams out of a hat. I got Nigeria and Russia. Which I wasn’t too displeased with seeing as Russia definitely will have the support of the crowd. And luckily for me they are doing pretty well.
Also let’s take a moment to appreciate England.
It’s coming home.
See you next month in Enland.
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