While I"m typing I'm sitting in a cafe/restaurant called Jacob's Well. It is a place that is run by Frank Woods, who set it up to empower local people through employment, there are so many places like this all around PP. I've just been sitting here quietly with Jacqui and Vijay. Irena was here before me and Bek is supposed to drop by soon. We've all been catching up on news from home, Jacqui has been scouring the options for housing.
All of us are trying to sort out accommodation, although I'm not too stressed about this yet, because I can't do much until I get to Siem Reap. Today we met a VIDA who is working at Marie Stopes in PP and has lived in Cambodia previously. Her name is Emily and her sister, Sophie is based in SR as an AYAD. It was great to have a chat to her and get a 'real life' perspective from someone in our position. She mentioned that it is really easy to purchase western foods, which was reinforced when Bek and I visited the supermarket again today, to restock my mangosteen and water supply, and we had to pry ourselves away from the lindt chocolate and pringles!
On the first night we ate a meal at Ban Ban restaurant, right next to our hotel. I had stir fried beef, vegetables and noodles which was lovely. Everything here comes with a chilli sauce on the side, which is kind of like ABC chilli sauce at home but not as hot. We were all so tired that we piled into bed pretty early that evening.
Early Tuesday morning we visited the Australian Embassy, this is located right next to the National Assembly. It's a very fancy and modern building that looks out of place, but makes you feel at home, you could see the remnants of an ANZAC day celebration, with wreaths laid beside a memorial as we entered the building. We met with Penny, the Ambassador who has previously worked in China and Japan, she is such a knowledgeable lady. She has only been in the job for six months, but has such a great understanding of the relationship between Australia and Cambodia, as well as a great way of explaining the information that we may need to know about in regards to living in Cambodia. Jennifer and Thea (a khmer lady) were very friendly and explained about Ausaid's role in Cambodia, and the programs that it is involved in. We also met with Shelley, who gave us a security briefing and Brian, the embassy's doctor. Brian sent me an email earlier outlining who I should see in SR if I have any medical concerns.
The rest of the day was spent with Bek, Vijay and Guy visiting their Host Organisations. They all had such positive experiences, which I think bodes well for the rest of us. Irena, Jacqui and myself went exploring the city and the main sights in PP which we followed up with a visit to Seeing Hands, a massage clinic where blind masseurs sorted out my aching feet and other other girls received full body massages. This only cost 7USD for feet and 6USD for whole body. By this stage we were running late to meet the others for dinner. We wanted to make it to FCC in time for sunset, as this is the time that the Elephant from Wat Phnom walks along the river to his humble abode. We made it in time for this and Happy Hour! It was Vijay's birthday so we decided to give him 50USD towards his motorbike, we were very disappointed that he wouldn't let us sing him Happy Birthday. I tried to start it up when his dessert arrived, but if looks could kill.... We had a great night chilling out on the roof top bar, eating dinner and playing 'dinner party' games.
We spent today with Hour and Sela talking about Khmer culture and expectations of us during our time in Cambodia. The sessions ended reasonably early and we were able to spend some down time doing as we pleased. Bek and I made a visit to Seeing Hands, I could get used to a daily massage!
Tomorrow we have a very similar day planned to today, expect we will be looking at land mines and the child protection policy. The day will end with a boat cruise and we will get to meet some of the other AYADs and VIDAs.
P.S. Seems as though Bek gave me a plug on her blog, for a different perspective you may like to check out her blog at http://notgoinggently.wordpress.com at the moment we are in the same place doing the same thing, but in just over a week and a half she will be staying in PP while I head off to SR.
Until next time,
Elysse
xoxox
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