A Full Day

At 6:30am on Saturday, I awoke to the quotidian buzz of morning activity on the streets. Already accustomed to waking up far earlier here than I would at home, I stretched and lay on my mattress, in no hurry to get up and begin my day. Fifteen minutes later, I was jarred into consciousness by the shrill chime of a text message on my phone. It was my new friend Sanghak, informing me that he would arrive in twenty minutes to take me to breakfast. I knew that we planned to have breakfast, but I thought I said I woke up around 8. Fortunately, my morning routine does not take very long, so I was ready and waiting for him when he drove up.

I climbed on his motorcycle behind him, and off we went. This is the only place I ride motorcycles, and I love it. As you drive along, you feel so free and agile, almost like flying (even though we rarely break 30 mph). We didn’t go very far – just to the restaurant about 3 block away from my apartment. Per my request, he ordered for me. We talked over breakfast and spent what probably amounted to two hours just sitting and talking in the restaurant. He works for the UN here in Phnom Penh, but he worked his way up to that job over the last twelve years. He’s quite a success story. He says he wants to go to the US (his entire family is there, and he could quite easily), but only to get a higher degree (in addition to his two Masters’ from Cambodian universities) because it would be internationally recognized. Then he would move back here because he wants to serve the Cambodian people. I was very impressed.

For his mere thirty-one years, Sanghak is very wise. From talking with him, I can see that he takes a very pragmatic approach to many obstacles in life, and he has his success to show for it. He is well-traveled and makes more than almost any of his peers as a managing accountant for the UN.

After breakfast, he took me to see the house he is having built. It is in sort of a gated housing project (disassociate yourself from the negative connotations of the term) – one flat among many. It’s hardly flat though. It is quite narrow (in the style of apartments and houses here), but it spans at least three stories and has roof access as well. He said he was supposed to be able to move in by the end of the year, but that may be an optimistic estimate.

Then he took me to see his current apartment, which is very nice (albeit small). Since he doesn’t cook, it consists of a bedroom and a bathroom, with AC. It takes about five minutes for the AC to cool down the room, and it’s the perfect size for a single person who doesn’t cook. I may ask him about moving in when he moves to his new house.

After that, he took me to see his office, which is near the river on the other side of the city (which is actually very small – traffic makes it feel bigger). Nothing remarkable about the office, except very comfortable, well-furnished building and office. After the office, we went to lunch at a restaurant fairly close to my apartment and directly between the hospital and where I live (noted). All the while, we were talking and just generally having a good time. He offered some very good advice for me, both for specific situations and for life in general. After lunch, he dropped me off at my apartment again. And it was still only noon.

Then later, I talked to my friend Rith, whom I met the night I went to the Royal Palace. Rith works for a travel agency here in Phnom Penh, but he’s actually only an intern there (students who just graduate work for three months as an intern before anyone will hire them). He dropped by in the evening, and we just hung out and talked for a while. He speaks remarkably good English and is very western in attitude – valuing privacy and eating only pork, beef, and chicken (as he pointed out when I told him I had tried frog and snake) being among the ways he is very western. He wants to go to Europe and to the US, but again, not to stay. Only to see, and to get an education, and then to return to Cambodia. So after we talked for a while, we took his motorcycle out quite a ways to get some food. It wasn’t great, but the restaurant was floating on the water, so the ambience made up for the food. After dinner, we went back to my place and talked for a while longer, and then he went home.

I feel very fortunate to have met such great friends so quickly here (four weeks is pretty quick, right?). I have many friends at the hospital, as well, and I feel that everyone is looking out for me. My next task is to master the language, and Cambodia will me much less foreign to me.