Saturday 26 July 2014

Running for the Visa

Tomorrow my visa runs out. A one month tourist visa extended by another month. I need to change it to a business visa. As when I first entered the country I chose a tourist visa thinking I could change it to the renewable business visa whilst I was in the country. Alas it wasn't to be so I needed to leave the country to come back in and change it to business.

My first thought was to have a small holiday and go to Bangkok. Then I thought I can't do that as Bangkok is fairly expensive compared to Phnom Penh and isn't as beautiful. Although now some parts of Phnom Penh are strikingly similar to Bangkok. Aeon Shopping Mall, Diamond Island, Nagaworld and others as this city begins to develop for the western world. So then the plan was created to get a night bus, arrive, cross the border to turn around and come back again. All very exciting stuff to write home about.

Bought the ticket advertised as having free wifi, luxury legspace, a snack/water and a towel which cost ten dollars. I bought it way in advance on Wednesday ready for Friday 20:00 departure time 20:30. Eight hour journey time arriving at the border at 4 for the border to open at 6 with space for wiggle time. There was a lot of wiggle time. Probably didn't leave Phnom Penh till 21:00 due to folk arriving late then when we did get going stopping for them to buy supplies for the journey and what have you all whilst us 'barangs' are none the wiser to as to what was going on. Only hoping it was going in the right direction. As of the earlier promises, what was fulfilled:
Wifi: X
Legspace: My chair was above the stairwell so couldn't stretch out as I was afraid of hitting someone as they went downstairs.
Snack/Water: Perhaps the first stop I was meant to buy it for myself? Otherwise nothing doin'
Towel: Turned out to be enlarged wet wipe.     
So it was a great start as you can imagine. Trying to sleep whilst stopping every once in a while for people to get off and continue their own journeys. Whilst being on the stairwell this was brilliant as they bumped past you to get down and out. During that time I possibly slept for 45 minutes. Then eventually these other foreigners got off at Battambang 3/4 of the way in. I took the chance to nick their 'luxury seat' and slept contortedly for the last two or three hours.

We arrive in Poipet. A place I've only seen of through a car window mostly. Dropped off at 4am in pitch darkness and left to deal with it. My pride meant I wasn't going to get a Moto when I could walk it! Off I pop down the road, feeling really safe in this slightly dodgy, dark and shady areas of a city. No worries at all...I arrive to the unopen border crossing which has the feeling of a refugee camp as many locals waited for the chance to get through to Thailand. Whether it was to work or live I don't know. Many had some big bags. People do what they need to survive. I completely understand it. They give up so much to make sure their children has what it needs to grow up in a better environment. All for the better.

I sat and waited for an hour and a half till the foreigner part opened. Luckily I was front of the queue. Good choice by me for the bus I went with for all the times to line up. Everything was so seemless as it was just that early in the morning. No problems at all when it came to getting a business visa. It cost $30 rather than the $25 that was advertised. Ahem* say no more. As previously mentioned they do what they need to so they can survive.

Its now about 6:30 first time I have seen Poipet without being chaperoned because I have a sticker on my chest it was upto me to find a bus. Luckily due to my earlier walking I had spotted a rather swanky bus station so I swanned up to it after being harassed by motos to take me to their bus stations. Hoping I could just hope onto the next available bus. This wasn't so easy as it turns out they were full for the day... Swine! Who could dare take this quick minibus away from me...Never mind I carried on and sat down to have an overpriced breakfast because I was a foreigner. I say overpriced but $2 isn't bad...Its more the blatant discrimination against white face and Khmer face...do what they need to survive...

I finally gave in to a moto man and let him drive me to his bus station (where he gets money for taking me there). Its the same one I came to Poipet on. That's fine by me I know what to expect so i'm not bothered anymore. Ten dollars and sit and wait. Go barefoot to the dirtiest inhouse toilet ever. Luckily I have no cuts on my feet...I think.

The bus arrives, oh it's not the same? Never mind I can deal with this. I'm sure I can hook up with some foreigners to make the journey far more pleasurable. Air-con bust..sat on top of a wheel arch...sun in my eyes...filled with Khmer. Look on the bright side it will leave soon and you will be back with familiar faces in Phnom Penh 'catch up on some sleep' I think to myself. Two hours later I awaken to find that we haven't moved. They were waiting until more people bought tickets as the four of us on a big bus for the 7:30 departure wasn't enough (understandably) so they waited until they collected enough people from the 8:30 and 9:30 to fill it up and then we went. Great. Sweating like a pig now. Cramped in because a lady who was slightly above weight had squeezed herself in next to me. Journey starts finally.

First quick fag stop for the driver i'm busting for the toilet. The majority of people have only been on the bus for an hour or so, me? three hours!! So I quickly nipped off making sure I had my stuff with me. Toilet? is the question I ask. Out the back is the curt reply. I make my way down passing the two kids who are sat near me on the bus as they go back, then I quickly pop to the toilet. Come out and see a bus pass the front door and I think to myself a question I often ask my sister 'what would you do if that was your actual bus leaving without you?' I chuckle to myself, what an absurd thought. I haul myself out of the house and to the secretary's shock and horror he forgot I was on the bus. Hang on a minute that was my bus!! Luckily the secretary kept a cool head, picked his jaw off the floor and then rang the driver and told him to stop so we could catch up on moto and I could get on. Thank god the secretary hadn't gone otherwise that would have been it. No more internet, no more electricity that's how tiny this place was, I would have been lost to the mine-infested wilderness of Cambodia.

So we continue on in the newly christened sweat bus. We get to Battamabang after what feels like at least 5 hours. In retrospect it probably was for me. Pick some people up who are in the good political party who are coming to Phnom Penh to be apart of a big meeting for the party and an eventual demonstration. We chat a bit as one can speak English. We stop for lunch and they fix the air-con on the bus. In the meanwhile my new friend told me his friends story of what happened after they were liberated from the Pol Pot regime.

He had to walk from Battambang to the Thai border. It took him three months. Can you imagine that? The elation that this pure evil that has stolen everything you ever had, your innocence, your possessions, your family has been gotton rid of. The one that has had you working to a bone in the rice fields everyday but then to find out true salvation from it you needed to walk to the refugee camp many long miles away. Walking your way to your salvation with just the eerie silence as your companion; the soft patter of your tired barefeet trudging along knowing that every step takes you further away from the evil that was and closer into the unknown of the future.

He said he was a little bit hot on the bus but didn't mind as he wasn't repeating this feat. After this was mentioned to me , I said nothing more of complaints and annoyance as everything just seemed easy compared to that. I am now back in Phnom Penh safe and sound after a couple more rest stops. I'm now typing this tucked up in bed, all tuckered out from my mild exhaustion and sleep depravation but not any way near as much as that poor child who had to do what he did.

They do what they do to survive.

Link today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax6UXyAXSZo Walk-Foo Fighters because I'm so glad I didn't have to.

Monday 21 July 2014

Job Hunting and a Birthday

Well my first week of independent living is over. Pretty easy all in all. Slightly boring as well seeing as I haven't got a job but that's beside the point. 

I predominately email schools in the morning and then mid afternoon I go and play football for a couple of hours. Come back and find a place to eat for less than a dollar or two. Then go, sit and chat with the locals to improve my khmer. It's a simple life but I enjoy it. No stress, just general slow paced living. 

Everyday I'll spend around 6 dollars for food which ain't bad going for three meals and some snacks. Noodle soup in the morning, a kebab or a sandwich thing that I'm unsure to what it is has in it but it's spicy and has cucumber. Then fried rice and a meat in the evening. All washed down with water that I get free from my hotel. Then at dinner I drink ice tea which I don't particularly like but it's free so I might as well. As I said it's a simple life with not much to write home about. 

The other interesting thing this week is that I turned 19!! Only one more year mum and you won't have any grotty teenagers left. I didn't do much because it landed on a Thursday, did my usual routine and then one of my khmer friends took me out for some food and drink which was nice. However the thing that annoyed me most was that the little buttery cake I bought myself to celebrate with was eaten by ants but never mind I hope they enjoyed it! 

This weekend with the money my relatives gave me I have bought a bicycle and named it Floyd after the Pink Floyd song 'Bike' I didn't particularly want to call it 'Pink' or 'Bike' so Floyd fit best. Now I need a helmet and a lock for it and it's good to go. I did go on a tour with it around the city in a baptism of fire and everything went beautifully till I realised I went the wrong way down a one way street for about 10 blocks. Quickly scuttled off of that road. All in all fairly safe! 

As I say I haven't done much so can't write much. Have a little look at Floyd in all his blue beauty. 


Although in the time it has taken me to write this me and Floyd have had a falling out. The front wheel started to make some noise as I rode. Which was really irritating. So I stopped and checked it out to no avail. So later as I was riding along the noise still being made I thought the best course of action was to kick the front wheel. Whilst still on the bike. This went fantastically as you can imagine. My flip flop came off and got jammed in the spokes my toes still hurt. Then Floyd was on the floor. Get my flip flop back and it's all come undone, fix that then take a closer look at the front wheel it just turns out the guard had slipped and was catching it to make a noise. All sorted not without a small misunderstanding first. 

Friday 11 July 2014

Sorry is the hardest word?

That is completely untrue. Goodbye is the hardest word. I know some of my recent goodbyes are because of my choice. However when you leave these kids. The kids that just become an extension of your family however the difference with your real family is you can keep in touch and know their immediate future whereas with these guys you don't know what may happen next. What with some of the monstrosities that are going up in Phnom Penh these guys could suddenly be kicked out of there homes by the corrupt government. Such as what happened to the river people. All their lives they have lived on the Mekong and then suddenly some Koreans pay 180 million dollars to make an island on their homes. Well they say 180 million...really the sum was 90 million as the rest was paid to the prime minister to make sure it happened. 

However back to the issue at hand of saying goodbye. It was hard, I managed to not cry, just about. It's weird knowing that come Monday I will not be going back to them. One of the few constants i've had was of having my class and now it's gone and it's time to be an adult. An adult who has veered off of life's usual pre-determined path of school-uni-job. For me it's school-tefl-Cambodia! I always felt the way I was treated and others were treated by Chesham Grammar School was a little bit unfair when I said I wasn't coming back or others said they weren't going to uni. It was as if you'd hit them with a rotten fish. There is no forward thinking. It's as if everyone must go to Uni and it's not always the answer one wants to hear or should be hearing. In the modern day it's not necessarily practical with the fees you now have to pay. However people take the path and yes in a few years time I may be taking this back saying, I've hit a ceiling and am unable to go further. Whereas others who have a degree will be able to delve further into there field. However that is for a later date and by that time things may have had to change in England. 

For my last day sadly, it was a slight impromptu bank holiday so I didn't get to say goodbye to some of the other classes as they weren't there which is sad. On the other hand I had nearly full capacity for my class even though they knew they didn't have to come in. Whether it was because of my leaving or because of the food I had we'll never know.

There were upset kids. Some saying 'stay teacher.' I wish. One got his knickers in a twist because he was upset I was going. He was one of my favourites. A story one of the other teachers told me was that a child wanted to draw a picture of a lion (his nickname) and me. He got very upset when he couldn't draw one and had to go to this teacher for help. Which touched me. I was sad some people didn't manage to come in. Especially one kid who would come in on and off who I liked a lot and this last week I didn't see him at all so I hope he is okay.

 I don't know if they all say the same to every teacher but I certainly feel that I was able to get a bit closer with these guys due to slight similarities in age, speaking khmer and knowing cultural rules. One day I will go back certainly and see them again. They wanted me to come back around Christmas time as they have a party for all the kids. So that seems like a good target. It's not too bad for me because at least I am still in the same country for the time being. 

One of the hardest bits was saying goodbye to my morning class. Every day both classes will say 'Good morning/afternoon teacher' then at the end 'thank you teacher, see you tomorrow' just as a sign of respect. But this time they said 'Thank you teacher, see you again' And there it was, the hard lump in my throat, the sting in my eyes, the voice wavering. These children with their endless laughter at my stupid antics and their hope at me coming back. How many times a year do these guys become attached to someone and for that someone to say 'I'll be back' or 'Khgnom nu'ng mul ven' just for it to be a lie and for that person to go back to their life of comfort never to return. That's what tore me up nearly. Their childish hope, none of the seriousness of reality that an adult has. I miss that and I wouldn't want them to lose it but I feel as though it's too late as many have to look after their brothers and sisters whilst their parents are out begging/looking for money. It's just not fair. Then whilst in school all those responsibilities are gone and they get to be children again where the hope and glee returns whilst they are with their friends. I vow now that I will go back at some point this year so that hope doesn't fade into another 'oh he was just another teacher here.' 

Also saying goodbye to a friend I have been with for six weeks was just as hard. It should be made illegal sometimes how difficult it is to say goodbye. She has given me confidence and words of advice for the future and of living here. It has been very weird these past couple of days when I go out to walk somewhere for her to not be next to me. I wish Mel the best of luck in Vietnam and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. 

For now I must focus on myself and get somewhere to live which may just be sorted by the end of this weekend. Just in time for my birthday that I have no idea what to do for. Then to focus on getting myself a new school. With a new set of kids to teach and enjoy. Wish me luck. 

This week for my link is purely for the title as if you know anything about the Mac then it doesn't work: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ul-cZyuYq4

Below are the photos of my kids on the last day:
The kid I'm holding is the one that got upset I was going. 

I look like I have a really long arm in this one.
I love this photo
Sokhea, I gave him my football, lovely kid. Will miss him a lot.  
These two were great, always laughing. 
Not great grammar but I'll let it go. 
The other classes message. 
The letters the kids wrote for me. Now in a box labelled 'Memories' - always wanted one of those. 


Writing about these gave me a lump in my throat.