Welcome to Cambodia, where the ants infiltrate your electronics, the haze of summer puts a laid back damper on the land, and everyone looks freshly showered, thanks to the sweat-inducing humidity.
There are two seasons here: hot and hotter. Or, “the days of hell” as the local like to call this time of year. With the humidity, each day feels like it’s in the 100s. The fans hint at a sense of relief when they rotate your way.
The first couple days here were hard, as we struggled to adjust to the weather. I went from drinking half a Nalgene a week to three in a day. Now that we’ve learned to control our dehydration headaches and knock back water, we’ve settled in quite nicely to this beautiful country.
Here in Phnom Penh, we’re working and living at a college and seminary. We have the top floor of the building to ourselves. The neighborhood dogs sleep on the first floor. We make our own meals each day, rather than eating out for every meal, like we did in Vietnam. My body is thankful to eat tons of vegetables again after consuming bread and noodles for a straight month.
Each day, we teach the students subjects such as grammar, public speaking, and ESL vocabulary. My teammate and I have taught grammar, which has caused a few late nights of relearning the grammar ourselves. Do you remember the last time you used an infinitive or a participle phrase? Well, probably every day, but you never realized it. The perks of being a native English speaker.
After classes, we spend time investing in the students here, sitting on benches by the lake or visiting a neighbor’s house to snack on some spring rolls. That day, our students tried to trick us into believing that we were eating dog meat, a delicacy around here.
Our first day here, we played soccer, ate dinner, and watched Mulan with the students. It was stellar.
This country has taught me to appreciate the small things: fans at full power, a delicious Mexican meal, competitive games of Dutch Blitz, and running through rainstorms just to feel something other than hot. It’s shown me how far my team has come since month one in India, knowing so little about one another.
Now, we’re family.
