Slice of Life

Monsoon has begun! We have cycled home in knee-deep water in our ponchos - 2 days down and about 5 months to go.  I am just really hoping that the smelly canal at the end of our road does not overflow! We are blessed that we have found a haven in our apartment. We enjoy coming home to it and even cooking in our limited kitchen. Well, I do anyway J It’s like camping! We even managed to have a couple of my newly found friends (Catherine and Tash) over for dinner. There was no self-saucing chocolate pudding on the menu but it was a good meal regardless J

We have met some wonderful people from all over the world: Canada, USA, Australia, Hong Kong and of course NZ. A social life-line for us has been a weekly lifegroup connected to ICA church. There are about 30 people between 25 and 35 that meet together for a meal and a bible study. They are predominantly NGO workers with big hearts and incredible stories so we are enjoying those connections. We’d appreciate prayer for these friendships to grow and also for continued good health. We are thankful (and somewhat surprised!) that we haven’t been really ill.

We have visited a few churches but haven’t settled anywhere – we go between the English speaking, western style church (ICA or ICF) and the lively Khmer church where we can sing along in English while everyone else sings in Khmer and listen to the sermon in English on a transistor radio via an interpreter. 

We enjoy connecting with our landlords and neighbours (despite the fact that one attempted to take Logan’s wallet but gave it back when he caught her…) Below is a picture of me with Amina from next door. She often pops her head in the door and says hello and runs away. She’s very cute.

Work is challenging and growing us both. We work for Hagar International at the head office of Hagar Cambodia. Hagar Cambodia has a staff of about 180 people (including counselors, case managers and so on). There are about 35 people working for Hagar International and Hagar Cambodia at main office, 10 of which are expats from Canada, Australia, NZ, the Philippines and the US. For the benefit of those who are new to our adventure – Logan is working on marketing strategy for Hagar International, and I am working with the CEO and board of Hagar International. My main project while I’m here is establishing a governance and accountability framework for Hagar globally, as well as supporting Hagar International’s property owning companies and Hagar's Social Enterprise company. I’m also assisting with setting up a new support office in Hong Kong. So while we are not working at the grass roots level with Hagar’s clients, we are using our skills to grow Hagar’s capacity so it can deliver more services to more clients.

Every day brings new sights and experiences for us still. I’m expecting our honeymoon with Phnom Penh to end sometime but long may it last!

Seven things I love about Phnom Penh, in no particular order:

1. Mangos – fresh, dried, in a smoothie, in salads, any way they come!

2. Ordering food where no one speaks English and the menu is in Khmer – last time I ordered I ended up with a whole fish. It was tasty.

3. It’s sunny almost ALL the time.

4. Coffee at Brown– picture below. (Thank you Fitzmaurice family!) It always tastes best on a Monday morning if it’s hard to get going for the week J

5. Cambodian people – they are so friendly, always smiling and happy to help. Even our Khmer teacher Dara when Logan hasn’t done his homework.

6. Amazing thunder and lightning storms.

7.  For $0.60 you can buy a can of beer - even if you are not that keen on beer, you can’t help it at this price or (2) bike up the road from work to a stall where I pick a small coconut, a woman will make a hole in it for me, I drink it dry and then she cracks it open so I can eat the flesh.

-Karen