Hey all its Sandy B. I'm one of two Northern Territory Open Education Centre students that were lucky enough to be apart of the Cambodia 2015 team. I say 'lucky enough' because a lot of people believe that when you do distance education, and especially from a cattle station in the middle of the Northern Territory you don't have any kind of social life or that we aren't provided with any opportunities to expand our comfort zones and learn. Distance education is actually the complete opposite and in fact I've been doing it for eleven years now. To say the least, I didn't want to come to Cambodia - but between mum and Dave they convinced me it would be fun so I put 100% trust into what they told me. I started out with my sisters opinion from the 2013 trip and that was 'you have to meet Sharon, she will look after you.' She wasn't wrong there.
Today marks our second last day in Cambodia, it was a casual laid back day. We slept in, once we all gathered downstairs at the Goldiana hotel we than went in buses to see the new hospital that Tabitha started building in 2013. To be honest, at first site it just looks like any other building site. But there is so much more to it- this hospital has been created entirely from one persons views to make Cambodia a better place, this same person also told me 'it's never about you,it's about them' I've started to personally live by this. Not only is this hospital someone's dreams but it will help people in the future and it's helping numerous people now by providing people with jobs each day working for approx $25 a week, this is enough to provide for their family. I'm pretty proud to say I've supported Tabitha with my $121 shopping spree - family and friends if you ever travel to Cambodia head to Tabitha for your gift needs!
After Tabitha we headed to the Russian markets, everyone spent an hour browsing and searching for Christmas presents for friends and family. As I come from a cattle station it is quite impressive to see their food stalls where they sell fresh meat hanging up for passers to buy. The markets range from small Cambodian mementos, jewellery, food, bags and almost any other gift you could think of.
We than went from the Goldiana hotel to the riverside where we were treated to a 'Cambo Cruise' dinner cruise. We spent the afternoon watching the sunset and sipping mocktails. Which was than followed by an amazing dinner of pork, steamed veggies, chicken, chicken skewers, burgers and more mocktails. A few of us had dance offs and learnt how to use the musical instruments.
As I said early I'm not one to stray far from my comfort zone. However; during my time here I've been anything but in my comfort zone. I've made friends with Victorian people I've never heard of, eaten a cricket, negotiated tuk tuk drivers, learnt how to speak a different language and culture rules, how to bargain for things I really want but most of all I've been somewhere where I would have never first chosen to go. Cambodia is definitely not your Bali, there is litter on the streets, odd smells, poor looking animals, pollution and the random cow or buffalo that stands in the middle of the road. To me that's a pretty huge privelage, if anything this trip has brought me back to earth and made me realise how fortunate we are to even have a solid roof over our heads and not having to make enough money to even eat that week. My standards for houses have gone from 'gosh that house is horrible' to 'that house is alright, I'd live there.'
The one thing I wasn't look forward to on our schedule was the killing fields and genocide museum. But I made myself go through the tour and try and understand what these people went through, even though I really will never understand. The methods that the Khmer Rouge were absolutely terrible and as I entered that room I wanted to leave straight away, but I stayed. I think the history is important as horrible as it is. I also believe that it is why these people are forever grateful and alway happy. As one green gecko girl said to me, 'everyday has a reason to be happy, we are ever sad.'
If I could live such a positive life as they do - which I'm going to try from now on. I'd be forever grateful.
I'm a little sad that we only have two days left but I know for a fact I've made friends, and that's going to make leaving hard enough - let alone leaving Cambodia!
-Sandy B
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