Today's been nice. John, Nicholas, and Nora came to the house at 9. John and Nicholas split to go to work, and Nora and I went around Nairobi all day. We checked out the area where the “whites” are (nothing like Siem Reap!!) and then took a bus to downtown to buy a cellphone, exchange my US dollars, and walk around to check things out.
We took some local transportation, too. Matatus are basically really cheap group taxis. They stop at specific stops like buses do, and if someone flags one down from the side of the road it'll stop to pick him up. The vehicles themselves resemble old VW vans and have graffiti all over them. It cost 30 shillings to go about 10 minutes worth of driving—that's less than 50 cents. It was really nice to go around with someone—had I been by myself, I would have been completely and utterly lost. Not only do I not know Swahili at all, but i'm not used to big cities!
That's another thing I noticed today: Nairobi has everything. It looks a little different from Atlanta, for example, but it has urban clothing stores, Coach purses, fast food, huge banks, huge hotels, city buses, cars, millions of people talking on cell phones or listening to ipods or playing on gameboys, and everyone (besides a couple Massai tribe people walking around) was basically modernly dressed—girls wearing tight jeans, heels, pretty tops, hair elaborately done; guys fly sneakers, baggy jeans, shirts with Obama or 50 Cent, bling watches. I guess I'm confused why Kenya needs all the help. Everyone I saw today seemed pretty well off. But then at the same time I realize that there's a huge jump from city people and slum people...it's just hard to be motivated when most people around you look like they could live in LA.
Today was nice and I have a much better bearing for my area and the areas around. And it was sunny today, which made a world of difference. I also learned a few funny facts about Kenyans:
Kenyans eat ketchup on everything
Kenyans can't act or sing, apparently
Kenyans speak a mixture of swahili and english. Lucy will say, “Jambo, John. I'm going swahiliswahiliswahiliswahili at 7. Could you swahiliswahiliswahili before you go?”
Kenans and Cambodians both call me Jenny, even though I never introduce myself that way
Kenyans have no problem telling a shop owner that their shop sucks
And my favorite, Kenyans call cross-walks “zebra stripes”
With Waltz, it's a tradition that current volunteers go to the airport to pick up new ones, so on Thursday I'll be going with John to the airport to pick up a couple from Canada who won't be teaching or living with me, but still they're potential friends to spend time with this weekend as opposed to sitting around alone. Then next week sometime there's a guy from NY who'll be living at Lucy's, too. So, I imagine he'll be like Val (not that anyone can match up to her!) in that we'll go to school together and hang out on the weekends with Lucy and other friends/volunteers.
I'm still feeling like 5 months is a long time. Maybe some places really do only really need financial support—it's great to visit the place to which you're donating a large sum of money, but living there and being there every day for nearly half a year....might be overkill. I hope not though..I think. As nice as today was,...I dunno.
PS- the internet is kinda tricky in Kenya and very unpredictable, so I often find myself writing these blogs on MSWord and then I'll just batch upload them, so scroll down to see others that I might have uploaded on the same day. Make sense?
Time to study some Swahili
I miss you all so much
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
I'm in Africa.
Whenever I blog, it's generally after something really great!
“hey guys this really awesome thing happened and i'm so happy about it!!”
There have been low points before, but they were always canceled out by the high ones. There have been only low points in Kenya. I think maybe I would feel more comfortable if I had known anything about what I'd be doing or where I'd be staying or the layout of the city...I can think of a million “if only”s:
if only I had known where I would be staying,
if only I had chosen a city with a big tourist draw so it would have a touristy area,
if only I had known that the biggest slum in Kenya would be in my backyard,
if only I had known that there is a guesthouse but no schools nearby so I won't be staying there,
if only I had known that where I'm staying there will be nearly no other volunteers.
And the list goes on...
There are other ways to see the world and to mature that don't involve 1500 dollar plane tickets and 8-12 hour time differences from your family. I think I've decided that going home for Christmas was the best thing ever, but also the worst. I never thought I'd be the homesick type. Cambodia—no problem ever. But this trip is just so different. I'm closer to the US than Cambodia, but I feel a million miles farther. I can't sit around and think about this all day, though, otherwise I go crazy—so, here's how I ended up here finally:
After an 8 hour layover in London, finally boarded a plane straight into Nairobi and conveniently had an unoccupied seat next to me so I had a bit of extra room. When I arrived, Tom picked me up. I think he's the airport pick-er-up-er for Waltz organization. He took me to Lucy's house, the lady who i'll be living with for the next who knows how long. She's really generous and pleasant to be around---and fluent in English. When Tom and I arrived at her house, she was at work but John was there to greet me. He and a friend finished setting up a bed in my room, meanwhile I took an 8 hour nap in Lucy's room and balled my eyes out trying to be as quiet as possible. Crying so isn't worth it when you can't make noise...kinda defeats the whole purpose of it. It's like suppressing a sneeze. When I woke up, she had come home from work and was chatting with John. We did brief introductions and then he headed home.
Lucy and I spent the evening together, made dinner, watched some Oprah and her favorite soap opera, and went to sleep relatively early. It was nice spending time with her, eating local food, literally living the life of a local Kenyan. And see nothing's wrong here: I have good food, my own bed, friendly people to chat with. But then I imagine myself doing it for 5 months...I have to shake off whatever's putting a gloom over this trip. Just because it's not Cambodia, doesn't mean that it can't be equally as fantastic.
“hey guys this really awesome thing happened and i'm so happy about it!!”
There have been low points before, but they were always canceled out by the high ones. There have been only low points in Kenya. I think maybe I would feel more comfortable if I had known anything about what I'd be doing or where I'd be staying or the layout of the city...I can think of a million “if only”s:
if only I had known where I would be staying,
if only I had chosen a city with a big tourist draw so it would have a touristy area,
if only I had known that the biggest slum in Kenya would be in my backyard,
if only I had known that there is a guesthouse but no schools nearby so I won't be staying there,
if only I had known that where I'm staying there will be nearly no other volunteers.
And the list goes on...
There are other ways to see the world and to mature that don't involve 1500 dollar plane tickets and 8-12 hour time differences from your family. I think I've decided that going home for Christmas was the best thing ever, but also the worst. I never thought I'd be the homesick type. Cambodia—no problem ever. But this trip is just so different. I'm closer to the US than Cambodia, but I feel a million miles farther. I can't sit around and think about this all day, though, otherwise I go crazy—so, here's how I ended up here finally:
After an 8 hour layover in London, finally boarded a plane straight into Nairobi and conveniently had an unoccupied seat next to me so I had a bit of extra room. When I arrived, Tom picked me up. I think he's the airport pick-er-up-er for Waltz organization. He took me to Lucy's house, the lady who i'll be living with for the next who knows how long. She's really generous and pleasant to be around---and fluent in English. When Tom and I arrived at her house, she was at work but John was there to greet me. He and a friend finished setting up a bed in my room, meanwhile I took an 8 hour nap in Lucy's room and balled my eyes out trying to be as quiet as possible. Crying so isn't worth it when you can't make noise...kinda defeats the whole purpose of it. It's like suppressing a sneeze. When I woke up, she had come home from work and was chatting with John. We did brief introductions and then he headed home.
Lucy and I spent the evening together, made dinner, watched some Oprah and her favorite soap opera, and went to sleep relatively early. It was nice spending time with her, eating local food, literally living the life of a local Kenyan. And see nothing's wrong here: I have good food, my own bed, friendly people to chat with. But then I imagine myself doing it for 5 months...I have to shake off whatever's putting a gloom over this trip. Just because it's not Cambodia, doesn't mean that it can't be equally as fantastic.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Airport Bloggin'
1) Oh here we go, here we go, here we go, oh here we go again...
Well, here now at my gate in the Atlanta airport for 3 hours waiting for my flight to Chicago. There was basically no line at security and my gate is so close to security that I can still see where my mom was waving bye to me. My flight schedule is Atl to Chi, Chi to Brussels, Brussels to Bujumbura, Bujumbura to Nairobi. The trip totals a modest 28 hours, 5 hours longer than the trip to Cambodia (which is farther away than Kenya is......? oh well) I'll be picked up in Nairobi at midnight tomorrow by John Pertet, the Kenyan project coordinator (same type of job as Meng in Cambodia) and taken to Lucy Mjili's house. I'll be living with her (and any potential family who she lives with?) until February when I move to the volunteer guesthouse. I've heard such fun awesome things about the guesthouse: that lots of people are in and out of there, that it's easy to make friends, that you generally work together. So, that'll be exciting whenever I get there. Also, Pertet told me that my school is about 300 meters away from where I'll be living! (not sure if he's talking about Lucy's house or the guesthouse) That's a really fantastic thing because (like Maura in India) I hope that the kids will feel comfortable coming over to the guesthouse to hang out and coming over for dinner and inviting us to dinner at their homes. In Cambodia, teaching was the main goal of my being there. In Kenya, I think it's going to be a lot more about the students and my relationships with them. In Cambodia, the kids were too poor to take time off from working to hang out and their English was so poor that (except for few exceptions) communication would be severely limited. In Kenya, though, I'll be teaching at a private school (meaning they have more money), which at first I was bummed about, but in second thought that means that the kids will have more free time!
Cambodia was so organized that I knew what I was doing every hour of every day from the MOMENT I arrived. In Kenya, I'm just gonna roll with the punches and figure it out: find an internet cafe, visit my school, meet other volunteers if there are any, find a good restaurant, buy groceries, and make a routine. I've done it once, I can do it again.
Apart from excitement and nerves about my trip, this morning has been shockingly awful for many people I know. I wish it didn't take something horrible happening for me to realize how precious life is. Each day could be your last, or could be your last with someone...so love your loved ones, and make sure that they know that you love them. I guess that's all I have to say about that.
I have over an hour more before my flight for Chicago, and once I arrive there I have a 4 hour layover (woo.) There should be some killer weather there! Talk to you all again soon.
PS – Still thinking of you. You're incredible.
2) HAH you call THAT snow?!
Well, just arrived in Chicago...I haven't gone crazy with the camera taking pictures except on the plane looking outside the window. It was literally white...everywhere! The flight was uneventful...slept, had some OJ, took pictures of snow, and studied Swahili...........which is very difficult. Atlanta snow has nothing on Chicago snow.
3) Broke sweat running in the Brussels airport
Flight out of Chicago to Brussels was around an hour late, which, in turn, made my arrival into Belgium late. So late, in fact, that my flight to Bujumbura and Nairobi had already left. So, after lots of running, stairs, and moving sidewalks, I've rescheduled the flight. Instead of leaving Brussels to Bujumbura at 10:40, I am now leaving Brussels to London at 1, then from London to Nairobi at 7pm to arrive in Nairobi at 6:30am. I've been running around with an American guy I met in the security line who was in the same boat as I, and earlier the two of us linked up with a group of 4 American women who were also trying to get to Africa. So, my second red eye flight in 24 hours...lol yay time changes. This whole situation merely echoes my motto of this trip: Go With The Flow.
Well, here now at my gate in the Atlanta airport for 3 hours waiting for my flight to Chicago. There was basically no line at security and my gate is so close to security that I can still see where my mom was waving bye to me. My flight schedule is Atl to Chi, Chi to Brussels, Brussels to Bujumbura, Bujumbura to Nairobi. The trip totals a modest 28 hours, 5 hours longer than the trip to Cambodia (which is farther away than Kenya is......? oh well) I'll be picked up in Nairobi at midnight tomorrow by John Pertet, the Kenyan project coordinator (same type of job as Meng in Cambodia) and taken to Lucy Mjili's house. I'll be living with her (and any potential family who she lives with?) until February when I move to the volunteer guesthouse. I've heard such fun awesome things about the guesthouse: that lots of people are in and out of there, that it's easy to make friends, that you generally work together. So, that'll be exciting whenever I get there. Also, Pertet told me that my school is about 300 meters away from where I'll be living! (not sure if he's talking about Lucy's house or the guesthouse) That's a really fantastic thing because (like Maura in India) I hope that the kids will feel comfortable coming over to the guesthouse to hang out and coming over for dinner and inviting us to dinner at their homes. In Cambodia, teaching was the main goal of my being there. In Kenya, I think it's going to be a lot more about the students and my relationships with them. In Cambodia, the kids were too poor to take time off from working to hang out and their English was so poor that (except for few exceptions) communication would be severely limited. In Kenya, though, I'll be teaching at a private school (meaning they have more money), which at first I was bummed about, but in second thought that means that the kids will have more free time!
Cambodia was so organized that I knew what I was doing every hour of every day from the MOMENT I arrived. In Kenya, I'm just gonna roll with the punches and figure it out: find an internet cafe, visit my school, meet other volunteers if there are any, find a good restaurant, buy groceries, and make a routine. I've done it once, I can do it again.
Apart from excitement and nerves about my trip, this morning has been shockingly awful for many people I know. I wish it didn't take something horrible happening for me to realize how precious life is. Each day could be your last, or could be your last with someone...so love your loved ones, and make sure that they know that you love them. I guess that's all I have to say about that.
I have over an hour more before my flight for Chicago, and once I arrive there I have a 4 hour layover (woo.) There should be some killer weather there! Talk to you all again soon.
PS – Still thinking of you. You're incredible.
2) HAH you call THAT snow?!
Well, just arrived in Chicago...I haven't gone crazy with the camera taking pictures except on the plane looking outside the window. It was literally white...everywhere! The flight was uneventful...slept, had some OJ, took pictures of snow, and studied Swahili...........which is very difficult. Atlanta snow has nothing on Chicago snow.
3) Broke sweat running in the Brussels airport
Flight out of Chicago to Brussels was around an hour late, which, in turn, made my arrival into Belgium late. So late, in fact, that my flight to Bujumbura and Nairobi had already left. So, after lots of running, stairs, and moving sidewalks, I've rescheduled the flight. Instead of leaving Brussels to Bujumbura at 10:40, I am now leaving Brussels to London at 1, then from London to Nairobi at 7pm to arrive in Nairobi at 6:30am. I've been running around with an American guy I met in the security line who was in the same boat as I, and earlier the two of us linked up with a group of 4 American women who were also trying to get to Africa. So, my second red eye flight in 24 hours...lol yay time changes. This whole situation merely echoes my motto of this trip: Go With The Flow.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
America The Beautiful!
I guess I've done my last two posts a bit out of order--to clarify, Thailand came first and then my last week in Cambodia. I was running out of free time when I could blog from Cambodia, so I wrote about my second to last day, and then since being home I've written about Thailand. Get it? So, this one will be about my last day in Cambodia: My last morning, afternoon, and the ride to the airport for my flight around 11pm.
I arrived back in Cambodia from Thailand with one week left of my trip--and it was the fastest week of my life.
At the beginning of my trip I would think fo myself "God I have 3 months here..." but by the end all I wanted was more time.
That last week, I went out for dinner most nights..I miss my 62 cent dinners and the to-go Ramen noodle stands. I came up with some extra fun CLFCA lesson plans that involved sports, music, and LOTS of picture-taking!
When it finally came down to second to last day, I was super busy running around saying goodbye to friends, coworkers, teachers, students--everyone. (I think I wrote a little about this in a previous post). I had bit a not-tearful farewell to CLFCA, and as I was leaving they asked if we could have class one more time the next day. It was kinda inconvenient to spend 2 hours of my last day at school when I needed to pack and run errands (to buy stuff for you guys who're reading this!!) But, how could I say no!? and of course, I wanted to go!
So, my very last day:
It was all very surreal. A place that had been such a huge part of my life..my home..where I met millions of new friends and had been completely immersed in a culture that's nothing like anything else I've experienced. Wow now I have to remember back...what did I do?? I woke up in the morning and ate my last dinner with Ta and Sa...and we had a photoshoot :)
After packing a bit in the morning and writing a letter for Bunleap, Thea, Ta, Kanara, and burning a CD for Sophannara, I went to an early lunch with Mr Pali at a delicious traditional resturau
nt. yummm. After lunch we went back to KHK so I could write something on the front wall that the students are decorating. AND luckily Thea was around on his moto so I got to say a final goodbye to him. We still e-mail almost every day :)
Then, bicycled over to CLFCA for a final goodbye..the day before had been stressful and rushed. We had ice cream and I gave them all my books and studying materials, but it wasn't very emotional. WELL. this time was different. We sang "You Are Not Alone"
without any music, several students gave me sweets and presents, and took more pictures together (I even took one with the always camera shy Heng! The whole afternoon....man... it was sad, trust me. So, teary eyed, I rushed home to pick up my toys and left over reading books to take to the orphanage (rushing because I had stayed WAAYYY later at CLFCA than I had planned).
Thank you for teaching me as much (if not more) than I taught you. I can never express how much you've given me. I think about you all every day and please keep e-mailing! I love each of you.
As always, the orphanage was incredible...they colored pictures for me and wrote me goodbye notes. I have no idea how they all know english so well...but they do! Better than most of my students who've been going to school for years!!
I miss and love you all. Good luck to all of you and remember that you can do anything your heart wants!
I must have looked like a basket case to everyone around. But ya know, you can think something's getting old after you've had it for a while, but once you realize that it's gone -- WOAH. Emotions hit you like a train. I spent the next 24ish hours waiting in airports, riding on airplanes, and eating delicious airplane food. When I finally set food on American ground, I was beaming ear to ear. lol and I was also being really stupid and ridiculous...I hadn't s
lept well on the flights and had had time to add up that I'd been awake for about 36 hours.
Disheveled, I walked up to the first American airline worker I could find to ask where baggage claim was. I walked up to her and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" and lol she said "Baby! Of course I speak English! You're in America now!" and later when I stopped in the bathroom to wash my face, I took a sip of water and said to the lady mopping the floors, "Excuse me, I just drank water out of a tap." She was like "ummmmm....cooooooolllll" haha it was really funny. I smiled at everyone and struck up a million awkward smalltalk type conversations 1) because I was so enthralled to be back and 2) because that's how I had been in Asia. Everyone I passed wanted to speak English with me, and I spoke back! One night a guy on a motobike (his basket was full of diapers and milk formula so I figured it was safe lol) stopped to ask about me and why I was in Cambodia. We sat on the curb outside my hotel for a half hour speaking English.
It sounds all so surreal...Americans are really friendly...but I can't imagine doing that IN America. In Bangkok, I stayed out my last night sitting in the middle of the downtown road until 7AM talking with expats and other travelers, sharing stories, speaking different languages! It was all so magical...weird, though, i know...but incredible. I think Americans are really obsessed with my stuff and my space and my feelings. We didn't set off fireworks on January 2nd because it would annoy neighbors....wtf? They're fireworks....they make noise for about half a second. Is that really such an inconvenience? And we care a lot about what people think about us..I'm not saying that I don't cause I still do...but the way we feel about ourselves seems so completely dependent on what everyone else is thinking. What about how YOU feel about YOURSELF? Isn't that the most important?
It's nearly 1:30 AM now as I'm finishing up this post...lol I can tell because I'm starting to ramble on about nothing inparticular. Cambodia was the best decision I've ever made. I feel like such a new person. People say that you're changed but "same at heart"..but I feel different at heart, too. I can barely remember things before...of course I do stuff the same, talk the same, blahblah and all that. But the important things. Opinions about the world, opinions about people in the world, opinions about me in the world--they're all different. And I like my new ones much better. Thanks, Mama Hicks, for allowing this all to happen.
Now it's early morning on January 6th. On the 9th, I'll wake up early in the morning, drive to the airport with mom, and board a plane just like I did 4 months ago except that this time I'm headed for Nairobi, Kenya. I have a 28 hour flight to Nairobi (..........) and lots to say. So much, in fact, that I'll save it all for another post. I'm gonna Swahili-ify my blog soon...if you didn't catch on, Suo Sudei means hello in Khmer and I think in Swahili it's something like Huijambo (luckily Swahili has English letters---YAY!! WAAAY easier than Khmer!) so i'll be changing the title soon. Thanks for reading for the past few months...Africa here I come!
4 days until my next adventure.
I arrived back in Cambodia from Thailand with one week left of my trip--and it was the fastest week of my life.
At the beginning of my trip I would think fo myself "God I have 3 months here..." but by the end all I wanted was more time.
That last week, I went out for dinner most nights..I miss my 62 cent dinners and the to-go Ramen noodle stands. I came up with some extra fun CLFCA lesson plans that involved sports, music, and LOTS of picture-taking!
When it finally came down to second to last day, I was super busy running around saying goodbye to friends, coworkers, teachers, students--everyone. (I think I wrote a little about this in a previous post). I had bit a not-tearful farewell to CLFCA, and as I was leaving they asked if we could have class one more time the next day. It was kinda inconvenient to spend 2 hours of my last day at school when I needed to pack and run errands (to buy stuff for you guys who're reading this!!) But, how could I say no!? and of course, I wanted to go!
So, my very last day:
It was all very surreal. A place that had been such a huge part of my life..my home..where I met millions of new friends and had been completely immersed in a culture that's nothing like anything else I've experienced. Wow now I have to remember back...what did I do?? I woke up in the morning and ate my last dinner with Ta and Sa...and we had a photoshoot :)
After packing a bit in the morning and writing a letter for Bunleap, Thea, Ta, Kanara, and burning a CD for Sophannara, I went to an early lunch with Mr Pali at a delicious traditional resturau
nt. yummm. After lunch we went back to KHK so I could write something on the front wall that the students are decorating. AND luckily Thea was around on his moto so I got to say a final goodbye to him. We still e-mail almost every day :)
Then, bicycled over to CLFCA for a final goodbye..the day before had been stressful and rushed. We had ice cream and I gave them all my books and studying materials, but it wasn't very emotional. WELL. this time was different. We sang "You Are Not Alone"
without any music, several students gave me sweets and presents, and took more pictures together (I even took one with the always camera shy Heng! The whole afternoon....man... it was sad, trust me. So, teary eyed, I rushed home to pick up my toys and left over reading books to take to the orphanage (rushing because I had stayed WAAYYY later at CLFCA than I had planned).
Thank you for teaching me as much (if not more) than I taught you. I can never express how much you've given me. I think about you all every day and please keep e-mailing! I love each of you.
As always, the orphanage was incredible...they colored pictures for me and wrote me goodbye notes. I have no idea how they all know english so well...but they do! Better than most of my students who've been going to school for years!!
I miss and love you all. Good luck to all of you and remember that you can do anything your heart wants!
I stayed at the orphanage until about 8.......and Meng was picking me up for the airport at 9.............and I hadn't packed. but I made the most of my day and god to say goodbye to everyone important to me. I packed for a little while, cleaned out my closet, folded clothes, did all your basic packing stuff...until I suddenly felt really nostalgic and miserable about leaving. SO with 30 minutes to spare I got on my bike and went searching desperately for one last roadside noodle dinner. and wouldn't you know I couldn't find one of those stupid stands (when you're not hungry they're everywhere and as soon as you want them they all disappear..of course) until I had biked all the way back to Pub Street. But, the ride was enjoyable..it was well dark by then and while I had already said goodbye to my friends, I hadn't yet said goodbye to Siem Reap. That all sounds really cheesy but...I felt really connected with my home. It was so safe..I can't remember one situation where I felt even in the slightest bit of danger. I mean, there were probably times when I should have been more on my guard, but what can I say? I never ever felt like I needed to. Everyone and everything in Siem Reap was perfect, and I needed that last bike ride to complete my trip.
Noodles in hand, I hurried back to the hotel and relinquished my bicycle lock keys (hah but i kept one key as a keepsake!!!), smooshed everything into my suitcases, zipped and locked them, ate my delicious noodle dinner, said teary goodbyes to Ta, Soda, and Mr Eeing, and took my last tuktuk ride to the airport with Meng. He talked pretty much the whole 30 minute tuktuk to the airport...none of which I remember...I stared at the hotels and home shops, at the people in cars and the people pushing seafood carts saying mental goodbyes to everything we passed.
The airport was no problem..it's about the size of Augusta's airport, so really easy to navigate and basically no lines. After I hugged I checked my bags, paid my departure fee, went through security, spoke khmer in the giftshop with one of the sales clerks, sat in a seat at my gate, and cried until my plane came.
I must have looked like a basket case to everyone around. But ya know, you can think something's getting old after you've had it for a while, but once you realize that it's gone -- WOAH. Emotions hit you like a train. I spent the next 24ish hours waiting in airports, riding on airplanes, and eating delicious airplane food. When I finally set food on American ground, I was beaming ear to ear. lol and I was also being really stupid and ridiculous...I hadn't s
lept well on the flights and had had time to add up that I'd been awake for about 36 hours.Disheveled, I walked up to the first American airline worker I could find to ask where baggage claim was. I walked up to her and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" and lol she said "Baby! Of course I speak English! You're in America now!" and later when I stopped in the bathroom to wash my face, I took a sip of water and said to the lady mopping the floors, "Excuse me, I just drank water out of a tap." She was like "ummmmm....cooooooolllll" haha it was really funny. I smiled at everyone and struck up a million awkward smalltalk type conversations 1) because I was so enthralled to be back and 2) because that's how I had been in Asia. Everyone I passed wanted to speak English with me, and I spoke back! One night a guy on a motobike (his basket was full of diapers and milk formula so I figured it was safe lol) stopped to ask about me and why I was in Cambodia. We sat on the curb outside my hotel for a half hour speaking English.
It sounds all so surreal...Americans are really friendly...but I can't imagine doing that IN America. In Bangkok, I stayed out my last night sitting in the middle of the downtown road until 7AM talking with expats and other travelers, sharing stories, speaking different languages! It was all so magical...weird, though, i know...but incredible. I think Americans are really obsessed with my stuff and my space and my feelings. We didn't set off fireworks on January 2nd because it would annoy neighbors....wtf? They're fireworks....they make noise for about half a second. Is that really such an inconvenience? And we care a lot about what people think about us..I'm not saying that I don't cause I still do...but the way we feel about ourselves seems so completely dependent on what everyone else is thinking. What about how YOU feel about YOURSELF? Isn't that the most important?
It's nearly 1:30 AM now as I'm finishing up this post...lol I can tell because I'm starting to ramble on about nothing inparticular. Cambodia was the best decision I've ever made. I feel like such a new person. People say that you're changed but "same at heart"..but I feel different at heart, too. I can barely remember things before...of course I do stuff the same, talk the same, blahblah and all that. But the important things. Opinions about the world, opinions about people in the world, opinions about me in the world--they're all different. And I like my new ones much better. Thanks, Mama Hicks, for allowing this all to happen.
Now it's early morning on January 6th. On the 9th, I'll wake up early in the morning, drive to the airport with mom, and board a plane just like I did 4 months ago except that this time I'm headed for Nairobi, Kenya. I have a 28 hour flight to Nairobi (..........) and lots to say. So much, in fact, that I'll save it all for another post. I'm gonna Swahili-ify my blog soon...if you didn't catch on, Suo Sudei means hello in Khmer and I think in Swahili it's something like Huijambo (luckily Swahili has English letters---YAY!! WAAAY easier than Khmer!) so i'll be changing the title soon. Thanks for reading for the past few months...Africa here I come!
4 days until my next adventure.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thailand 09!!
Thailand was INCREDIBLE. It was the best vacation I've ever had!
I usually try to organize my pictures to match my text, but there was just SO much that we did (and it's been about 3 weeks ago now...) so here are just a bunch of pictures from it! GAP was a great organization, AND oh duh! our TOUR GUIDE! He was awesome..his name was complicated so he had us call him Thai. Thai was a really nice guy..he could talk your ear off about Thailand and its history, but especially a couple days into the tour he really loosened up and came out with us! He was lots of fun!!
I was the only "Yank" (American) in the group--everyone was from England except for two from Columbia (who spoke mainly Spanish to each other), one from Scotland, and two from Canada who were the oldest in the group. I spent the first day and a half of the trip learning how to understand all their accents haha! The first night, I had a half hour conversation with Ian (from Scotland) and I have absolutely noooo idea what we talked about!! I would just respond, "Oh yeah!" "uh huh?" "Cool!" lol!
What was weird, too was that I kinda found myself speaking with a slight British accent by the end of the week.....I felt like they'd think I was just trying to fake my accent which, maybe I subconsciously was lol..but something about being surrounded by them for nearly a week really rubbed off on me! Also started to pick up on their sense of humor...it's pretty subtle but hilarious. It was just a great, great time being around them all! AND everyone added to the group...there were 14 of us total ranging age 18 to age 50 something. I'd say average age was around 27. IT WAS SO FUN!
So, I landed in Bangkok (one of my favorite cities in the world) and found myself a cab and took myself to Marcia's hotel. How random!?? We were both in Bangkok at the same time! So, she and I got to spend the day together (I made sure my flight arrived in the morning so we'd have all day together). We ate a delicious lunch and took a local boat ride (people in Bangkok take boats around like we take subways) to Wat Arun ("arun" in Khmer means morning, and Wat Arun was known for its great sunrise). Then we went back to her hotel, picked up my things, and I took another cab to my hotel where I met my Gap Tour group. :)
I guess I don't need to tell you that much about my trip. Basically it was just the best. Some noteable parts were:
Skipping out on more temple visiting with Pav and Rob to go BUNGY JUMPING!!! 150 feet, byiatch. Woooo!!
Our two day trek into the hilltribe villages and getting to spend time with the locals. That was fantastic.
Rafting on our homemade bamboo rafts!
Ian dropping the puppy (HAHA)
Getting my ear pierced!....and watching Leah get her neck pierced. Lord.
Good music at the Rooftop.
Delicious Thai food.
Disgusting Thai moonshine.
"This is the best train ever."
Bangkok pingpong show...not my favorite part.
Squat pots...surprisingly not bad!
The Reclining Buddha, huge and awesome.
Our pouring boat ride.
Waterfall.
That elephant song when we danced around in a circle.
Watching Johnny hit on Leah!
Elephant ride and drinking through our noses like the elephants.
Overnight trains to and from Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
Bubbles.
Frog Ladies.
I usually try to organize my pictures to match my text, but there was just SO much that we did (and it's been about 3 weeks ago now...) so here are just a bunch of pictures from it! GAP was a great organization, AND oh duh! our TOUR GUIDE! He was awesome..his name was complicated so he had us call him Thai. Thai was a really nice guy..he could talk your ear off about Thailand and its history, but especially a couple days into the tour he really loosened up and came out with us! He was lots of fun!!
These are only about 1/1000 of my Thailand pictures--it was fantastic and I miss my new friends but facebook and e-mail help! :) It's really great having friends all over the world!!
Yeah, I've been home for over a week...but I don't wanna get into that before I tell you all about my last day in Cambodia and my flights back and culture shock, etc...(it is great to be back, though)
Hope everyone's well! I've begun planning Kenya. My flight leaves January 9th...crazy. Happy holidays and I'll keep updating this over the next weeks!
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