If you know me, you know that I think of air travel as a necessary evil. I was dreading my 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Taipei. I never take any kind of drugs on a plane, as I want to know if I am going down (for some reason). This time, however, I decided I should try. The flight to Taipei took off around 1:30 am. As soon as we got on the flight, a meal was served. After that, I decided to take an Ativan. Apparently I woke up about 8 hours later. Both my seatmates were quite concerned that maybe I wasn’t breathing or something was wrong, but I had a great sleep! After that, a movie, breakfast was served, and we were in Taipei. Fastest long flight ever! Then an uneventful trip to Phnom Penh. Arrived at the Phnom Penh airport, got my work visa, through customs and to collect my luggage. No luggage. Filed a luggage claim, and was met by the Canadian International School staff and driven to Olympic City Hotel. Although the 1 bedroom apartment is a “serviced apartment”, there are only 2 of everything, like plates, bowls, forks, etc. But no tea towels, dish clothes,dish soap, can opener, toaster,or coffee maker. But it is cleaned 3 times a week. And only 4 clothes hangers in the closet. Not a problem at this point, as I had no clothes to put away. So, along with buying groceries from scratch, I have been shopping for some basic kitchen necessities in order to have a working kitchen and to be able to put clothes away, which thankfully arrived the next day. The 1 bedroom apartment I have is lovely but needs a few tweaks. For example, there are 2 sinks in the bathroom but no place to hang a towel, the bathroom shower doesn’t drain into the bathroom, but runs into the bedroom, there is a built-in nightstand in front of the closet, so it is difficult to access your clothes. All small things but a reminder you are in Cambodia This morning I woke up to hear the sounds of Buddhist monks chanting in the Wat across the street. Here is a view from my window. Again, it is hard to reconcile seeing a huge 7 story glitzy mall from one window, and a beautiful wat out the other. Today I also met up with a friend from the school who I originally met in Thailand. We went to a great restaurant and got caught up on all the latest. Today, coffee at Starbucks with another friend, then off to the school to get the rest of the paperwork done and my bank account set up. I feel like I have really hit the ground running! Preah Putt Mean Bon Pagoda
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Well, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go (isn't there a song like that) Another 3 days before I leave! When I last weighed my bags, I was underweight by 1.6 pounds of my alloted 50 pounds. Perfect! Then a friend asked if I could bring over a teaching manual for her. I am now 3.4 pounds overweight. Now the onerous task of finding 3 pounds of clothes or shoes to leave behind.
Although I am excited to go, I sometimes stop and wonder what I was thinking when I made the decision to go back to work in Cambodia! I mean, really, life as a retiree is pretty good and we love our place in Nanaimo. I was originally planning for a 3 month contract that got extended to 4 months, which seems just a bit long, but who knows! Duane will be staying behind in Canada with Toby. I know I will be seeing and messaging with Duane, but it is hard to get Toby to understand I will not be back for a while. Next thing is actually getting to Cambodia. My flight goes from Nanaimo to Vancouver with a 3 1/2 hours lay over. Then there will be a 12 hour flight from Vancouver to Taiwan, a 6 hour layover and then another 3 1/2 hour flight to Phnom Penh. Basically it will take me 2 days travel to get there. That's where the spa at the hotel will come in handy. I have already downloaded Netflix and Amazon Prime movies, audio and ebooks, and have my crochet hooks and yarn to help keep me busy. I have an array of food including beef jerky, cheese, rice cakes, salty snacks, gummy worms, and chocolate bars. I have all my paperwork ready to go. Now, it's hurry up and wait. And finding a way to get rid of that extra 3 pounds. I'm wondering how many clothes I can wear on the plane without anyone getting suspicious! |
BerniceAfter being retired for 4 years, an opportunity came up to go back to the Canadian International School Phnom Penh, where I had worked for 2 years before retiring. Of course, I jumped at the chance. Here is where I will be posting the everyday and often mundane events of going back to work and going back to Cambodia! Archives
April 2023
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