Take me home

To say this week has been a roller coaster of emotions would be a complete understatement. After a ten hour plane journey it was literally straight into training. As everyone's zombie eyes met mine I realised I wasn't the only one with a serious case of sleep deprivation. That night I found myself staring into the mirror, tears in my eyes, like why did I decide to do this. But it's amazing what a good nights sleep can do. 

I've made it to Cambodia.

The first thing that hits you when you walk off the plane is the heat. And then the smell. Cambodia has a very distinct smell. And there's me planing for rain everyday, and it's only rained once. No point in my swag waterproof that's taking up room and upping the weight of my rucksack. Then there's the traffic. It's ridiculous. No wonder road traffic accidents are the third biggest killer here, because the road is full of mopeds literally diving in all different directions. There isn't even a line in the middle of the road to separate the different lines of traffic, it's just a vehicle bundle. You take your own life into your hands when crossing and I seriously don't know how I've managed to survive until today. Between the cars, tuk tuks, food bikes and mopeds there really isn't much room for pedestrians.

We haven't had much time to explore but I did get to a market today and brought those cheap trousers that scream 'I'm travelling'.

Saturday I'm off to the community I will be volunteering in, Siem Bouk. After being informed today that our showering affairs will be a bucket in the middle of the street I'm taking like five showers a day to make up for the ones I'll be missing. I'm going to end up coming back to England a sweaty gorilla, especially considering it's like 40 degrees during the day here. Thank god for air conditioning. 

Everyone is so nice here. Both Cambodian and UK. There are the occasional emotional outbursts, particularly the other day when we visited the genocide museum. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but the history here is completely devastating and overlooked.

I'm still adjusting to life in Cambodia. Sometimes it feels like I'll be spending half my life here and other times I feel like it's not enough time at all. I feel like a chameleon that can't change colour. Yesterday I was so happy to be here, and today I was frantically looking up flights back to the UK this weekend. But I'm getting there.




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