# 4: “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

Sua s'dei. Sohk sobai ? 

New challenge - trying to teach myself Khmer. So far I've only managed to cement about a dozen phases in my brain and I can count, pretty well indefinitely. The written language is a whole other story. Hopefully I can learn that when I'm there.
( and no, I'm not going to translate it for you. Do a little research & let me know if you work it out ☺)

Well, I'm heading into the 'home stretch' now... only 1 week to go !

Every step of the way to reach this point has felt like a part of the adventure. All the planning and organising, then the inevitable replanning and reorganising...I'm finding it hard to believe that I've actually got myself more or less ready to go. 
Still have to mow the weeds and drop some stuff off to my dear boy (mostly things I don't want to leave in a house that will only be occasionally & randomly occupied).
Of course there's some 'last minute' washing & cleaning to do (yes Jas, last-minute-cleaning...) 

Oh, yeh, I should probably pack...not a detail I want to forget but, dammit, it wasn't on the list !

I've spent the last few days finding all the music I wanted and downloading it to laptop and phone. Probably would have taken my kids an hour or 2, but it was an enjoyable way to fill my days and it kept me off the streets. I rediscovered a whole lot of favourites that I hadn't heard since the world was young and mobile phones, mp3s and the WWW were just a faraway fantasy. 

Packing for 6 months is actually not as much of a challenge as I thought it'd be. Having looked into the climate in Cambodia, it seems that I'll need lots of lightweight, easy-to-wash summer clothes and... well, that's it really.

Here's a rundown on the weather for all you fans of meteorology (I know you're out there..)

My first month will be at the end of the "Cool & Wet" season, when temperatures hover around 30°c during the day (don't know about you, but that's NOT 'cool' in my book - I'd call that summer.)

Nov - Feb is "Cool & Dry"; mid 20's during the day & can,apparently, 'plummet' to below 20° overnight! (hmmm...still not cool..autumny/summery..)

Mar - May it's "Hot & Dry; temperatures begin to rise again & by mid-April it's in the mid-high 30s ( oh, what do you reckon, let's call it...summer??)

Jun-Aug we're in the "Hot & Wet"; monsoons, soaring temperatures and high humidity (definitely still summer). Sounds really appealing don't you think?

I fully intend to be heading back home in early April. If I'm lucky and my contract does get extended, I plan to come home for a holiday and, if we don't get more funding to extend my contract, I'll be coming home to friends and family.

Either way I hope to avoid the hottest 6 weeks of the year in Cambodia..
Then again, if I do get to go back, I'll be able to experience a tropical monsoon season, oh goody..

I could totally be a weather forecaster in Cambodia:

From November to May: "..today will be warm to hot..that's it folks, don't forget your sunscreen.."
And from June to October: "..today will be warmer to hotter with a high possibility of showers/rain/storms/floods etc...that's it folks, don't forget your sunscreen. Oh, and for all the tourists out there, our mosquitoes are as big as fighter jets and seem to have a definite predilection for your chubby little bodies so, even more important than the sunscreen, don't forget your Bushman Plus..."

That's about it for this post friends so, until the next one... 

Leeah sen howee 

"so long" 

and

Deet ree-ah sua s'dei

 "Goodnight"

CCT update - Just received some wonderful news from CCT. One of the first 14 children who came to Tara's newly formed sanctuary was a beautiful girl named Sinet. Her story appears in "Children of a Lesser God" (the link is on this page).
Today she became the first of CCT's children to graduate from high school, a truly inspiring achievement! Her next step is university in Australia, where I have no doubt she will also shine. Congratulations Sinet !

   Sinet Chan

  

# 3: "If you're facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep on walking." - Zen Proverb

Finally, real progress - I have my flights booked for Friday 5th October.
Cash Passport topped up..
Foreign currency sorted..
I have my International Driving Permit - although I'm not sure that driving around the streets of Phnom Penh or Battambang will be very conducive to my health ( or questionable sanity...)

There are 'Post It' notes all over the house with lists of stuff I don't want to forget..hmmm better write a list that tells me where all my lists are...
You know, I've decide it's one of life's eternal mysteries, that as you cross each thing of the 'to do' list, something new comes along to add to it - it NEVER GETS ANY SHORTER!
eg :  My gorgeous girl suggested that, rather than jumping into a taxi for a 4-5hr drive to Battambang as soon as I land, after a 12hr flight, I might want to consider spending a night or 2 in a hotel in Phnom Penh - to 'freshen up', as she so delicately put it, before I meet my new employer. Thanx for the tip baby girl, I think...

So, time to search Trip Adviser for hotels ( ..hang on, I'll just add that to the list ).

Rather than finding this overwhelming, it just makes the whole process more exciting.
It seems a Zen like approach is needed here because, no matter how long that list is, on the 5th October I WILL be on that flight, so if I haven't ticked everything off my list, who cares !

The scores of books that have been bought for CCT by those wonderful friends & family, are coming in, one or two at a time. I hope most of them arrive before I leave, but if not, my dear Jay will just have to mail them to me.

Thanks to Malaysia Air, who have cooperated by increasing my baggage allowance, I'll be able to carry an extra 10kg of books.

Still frantically compiling lesson plans. I can't finalize any of them until I know what the class structure will be; how many of the kids speak English, how many kids in each class, what age groups will be together, how many classes per week etc.. etc..

One thing that's come as a pleasant surprise is the number of publications available for teaching Ethics & Philosophy to children. I've been downloading all of the better ones I can find.

It's been a while since I've felt so positive that what I'm doing is right.
Despite the assurances of my own children, of every child I've ever cared for and of all of their parents, I've never truly believed that I have any skills of value - sure, I know children enjoy my company & I can always get children to cheerfully cooperate, with me and with each other, but I always assumed that everyone could, if they really wanted to. I think I'm finally realising that isn't the case.

They called me Mary Poppins, Fairy Godmother, Angel, Bodhisattva and, my personal favourite, The Baby Whisperer.
( Not much to live up to there...)

So my challenge then is to remember not to let my own self-doubt be a stumbling block...

                            ...all I have to do is keep on walking...

# 2: To me, Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things...

Ok... 3 weeks to go and I'm nearly organised.
Passport... sorted,
Immunizations... sorted, 
Medical Insurance... sorted,
Mail redirection...sorted,
International Driver's licence...hmmm, better get that today.

At this point I really need to thank all the wonderful friends and family who have pulled together to fund the purchase of over 100 books that I needed for the course I'm preparing & to help me pursue this dream.
I couldn't have done it without your help and I'm truly grateful to you all;
To my dear brother, Hank, your contribution not only paid for the bulk of the books we needed but left a substantial amount for Tara to direct where it's most needed.
To my wonderful son, Alex & daughter-in-law, Melissa, who said: "send me a list", then filled it & sent it to me on the spot.
To Shell and Anita whose friendship I know I can always depend on and who also donated their own favourite books from the list.
And to another dear friend, Maggie, who also said " send me a list" then 'networked' among her own friends and, with the help of Carmen, Lily and Wendy, filled it and had it shipped to me.

Then there's my precious son, Jay. He's been a solid , unwavering rock of support , love and practical advice ( as always..), not to mention technical advice - phone, laptop & skype access all sorted. A never ending supplier of great hugs, words of encouragement and faith in me. You even make be believe in myself dear one - even if I haven't kicked my coffee addiction ...yet...

Then, of course, there's my exceptional daughter, Jasmine, without whom none of this would be happening at all. She took me on that first S.E.Asian adventure, when I really needed something to fill the void in my life after my husband died. She kept on eye on the CCT website, encouraged ( read "hassled-the-dickens-out-of-me" ) to apply for this position when it first appeared & has provided me with an endless source of  love & support. 

To all of my children, big & little, I'm so proud of you. I love you all, heart & soul and will miss you every day.

CCT update - thanks primarily to the proceeds from their shop, Juey Bazaar, CCT have arranged funding for 80 'street kids' to attend school for 12 months, including fees, books, uniforms, shoes, bags and anything else they need. These children have never had the opportunity to go to school before so it will be a wonderful opportunity for them.

 Hopefully the funding will continue, to keep them there for years to come...Hint, Hint people - please consider going to the Cambodian Children's Trust website ( the link is on this page) and donate what you can, so Tara can continue to expand her insightful programs with these children.

I guess it's time to book my flights...
   

# 1: Welcome! Why I started this blog..

Travel opens all kinds of doors and if you choose to step through them, it can lead to life changing moments. This happened for me 2½ years ago when I spent 4 glorious weeks travelling through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand with my gorgeous daughter. I returned to “real” life having peaked through the cracks in many newly opened doors, but not yet aware of how, or even if, I would ever step through one….

Cut to a month ago, I received a link from that amazing daughter of mine, to a job being advertised by an NGO in Battambang, Cambodia. When we first returned from our trip we, of course, wanted to watch every doco or travel show we could find, about the wonderful countries we had visited. One of these was an episode of a TV program called Australian Story. The episode, titled  “Children of A Lesser God”, followed the journey of an incredible young Australian woman, Tara Winkler, who, after a similar S.E.Asian holiday to the one we had just taken, did not immediately return home to her comfortable life, but rather decided to extend her stay and do what she could to help.

The link my daughter sent me was for a job at the NGO that was founded by this wonderful lady, the Cambodian Children's Trust, and she urged me to apply. The position was for an Ethics and Philosophy teacher for the 45 children in her care & over 80 'street kids' she'd taken under her wing. With a little prompting, a week later I sent off my application, excited that perhaps I was finally going to bust down one of those doors and take a step into a new dream.

A few days went by and then, quicker then I could have hoped, an email appeared in my inbox. They were impressed with my application and Tara wanted to do a skype interview with me. This occurred within days and I was offered the job before the interview was over.

It all happened so fast that I barely had time to register what I had agreed to do. I realised I would be giving up the comforts of home, saying goodbye to friends and family and heading off for a minimum 6 month contract in a country that was not only worlds away from Australia culturally, but was also the only South East Asian country to have known mass genocide and was still, more than 30 years later, struggling to rebuild, after losing over 20% of their population. That's when the nerves kicked in, but I was nervous with excitement more than anything.

With the support of my family and many wonderful friends, I am now in the throws of organising myself to embark on this new journey. I leave in about 4 weeks. I’m not prepared yet, but I will be. I’m excited, nervous, happy, sad, and emotional, but I know that I am going to gain so much from working with these children and all the amazing people that surround them.

I hope that this blog will not only allow me to document this journey for myself, but will also show others that ending up where you are meant to be is possible for all of us...