Thursday 27 September 2012

# 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 comments:

  1. Bill Hicks said it well...

    "...Los Angeles, every day, hot and sunny, today, hot and sunny, tomorrow, hot and... for the rest of the... hot and sunny, every single day, hot and sunny. And they love it. "Isn't great, every day, hot and sunny?" What are you, a fucking lizard? Only reptiles feel that way about this kind of weather. I'm a mammal, I can afford coats, scarves, cappuccino and rosy cheeked women."

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  2. lol Di, as jovial and entertaining as ever!!!!!! You sure chose the right time to commence your "six months" (I'm still italicising your term bcz I'm pretty sure they won't want to let you go!!!!!!!)!
    BTW, what a wonderful story to hear about Sinet - good works sure are being carried out ;)
    Have a safe flight and stopover, and looking forward to hearing all about it, post-touchdown xo xo xo xo xo

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