Let Go and Explore

It's taken two weeks. Two weeks to step outside of our front door and go somewhere in this city we're supposed to be calling home for the next 9 months. We take the same route to CAS and back everyday, and that's it. We were standing outside one night last week, watching the rain, letting the apartment air out after I burned a batch of popcorn, and I was trying to put into words how I felt about getting out and exploring. Normally, I'm the first one to jump on exploring and getting out into a new city. My adventurous side has even got me in quite a bit of trouble in other SE Asian cities in the past. Cambodia, however, has been completely different. It wasn't the fact that I didn't feel safe, which would be a huge factor to many to not go explore. Not feeling the safest usually makes me feel even more adventurous. Cambodia is different because I don't have to jam everything I want to see in a few days, or even a few weeks, but instead, I have nine months to do what I want. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet. Leaving our apartment and exploring, in my head, was when I was really going to have to let go and realize that I'm not in America and am not going to be any time soon. I kept thinking to myself "I don't think I'm ready to let that go."

For the past week, we'd been talking about walking to the nearby coffee shop/restaurant called The Shop, and everyday, we decided not to go. Friday eventually rolled around and school let out at noon. Friday night marked two weeks of being here in Cambodia, and we decided it was time to get out. We ate lunch at the school, rode our bikes home, and started walking to The Shop. It was weird to be on foot, walking the street we usually fly down on our bikes, and having more time to take in the sights and smells we ride through everyday. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to those smells. After only driving past The Shop once on one of our first days here two weeks ago, I was rather proud of myself when we found it just in the location I had hoped, and prayed, it would be. We got inside and the smell of coffee instantly hit us. We walked in to the air conditioned section of the restaurant and sat down on this big comfy couch and enjoyed the cold water and free wifi. As I looked around, I realized we were not the only white people eating there. Even more to my surprise, the majority of people there were white! American, Australian and British accents filled the room. Not something you hear everyday in Cambodia, that's for sure. The passion fruit and pineapple smoothie I got was wonderful and we ordered a margarita pizza with pesto and mozzarella that we took to go and ate for dinner. The Shop is no more than a mile from our apartment, if that, and we will be spending quite a bit of time there I'm sure in the weeks and months to come.

Today was the day we'd been planning on to really get out. Faye and Ruth, the mission president's wife, drove us to a grocery store deeper in Phnom Penh that we hadn't been to yet, pointed out our location on the map, explained the streets, took our groceries for us and then showed us where we'd want to spend the rest of the day. We were dropped off at Wat Phnom, the place the city is named after and just like that, we were on our own, and a long way from home. We spent the next hour and a half or so wondering around the monument and the temple, taking pictures, and looking more like tourists than we have so far this trip. Almost getting lost wondering the streets, we found the Central Market and the mall Serya (a small Cambodia version of Bangkok's MBK). The AC in the mall was a huge relief and we got bubble tea, frozen yogurt, and water. Realizing we were actually hungry, we went to the Pizza Company for lunch and got seated right next to the window, 8 floors above the street with a fantastic view of Phnom Penh. We did some shopping and tried to get as good of a bargain as we could at the Central Market. I got a pair of pants and, my two favorites, a shirt that says "No Tuk Tuk Today" and a "Same Same But Different" shirt. Score! One of the first tuk tuk drivers to come up to us as we were heading out knew the part of town where the mission is and offered us a fair price, which doesn't happen very often. We hopped in and hoped he knew what he was talking about. I started noticing monuments and other landmarks we had passed earlier that morning, much to my relief. We successfully pointed the driver in the right direction through Toul Kork (our part of town) and got home in one piece, even high fived once we got through the gate!

Getting out and into Phnom Penh did give me somewhat of a reality check, but also made me realize that I need to be my normal self and get out and explore if I want to survive and enjoy the upcoming months. Week three is here and it's time to let go of America, and instead, embrace and explore Cambodia.

-Alex