Arts & Sports & the Lonelies

 I've done a couple interesting things since my last blog entry, so here's a recap. 

The first notable activity was an art tour organized by the Community Liaison Office and a local art aficionado, a woman named Shauna, originally from Ireland who came to Cambodia to teach English, found she didn't care for the education system after a few years, and switched over to the arts sector. She fell in love with the country and the job, and is in the process of becoming a Cambodian citizen. Wow! 

Shauna arranged a visit of seven artist's galleries or home studios for a group of about fifteen people. We hopped in a bevy (herd? bunch? group?) of tuktuks and zoomed around town for about four hours. It was lots of fun visiting each artist and hearing what each had to say about their lives and their art. There were men and women, well known and unknown, old, young, abled and differently-abled. And a variety of mediums, too. By the seventh studio I was quite worn out, but my brain was full of good imagery. 

Chhim Sothy: studied traditional Khmer painting
for two years at the Royal University of Fine Arts.
Then,under the Vietnamese occupying forces of the
time, he studied communist poster art. Finally, he
focused on modern art and found himself drawn to
drip painting and abstract expressionism. 

Chan Phoun: A young man who lost one forearm in
an accident while working in a brick factory as a
child. During his recovery he started to create art,
and has traveled an interesting route from painted
bricks and statement art to detailed, intricate drawings
from his imagination and musings. 

Leang Seckon: This artist creates elaborate
tapestries using a wide range of media
with photographs, fabrics, drawings, and
local organic materials. His works draw from
his experience growing up during the Khmer
Rouge regime and his wish to explore the past,
present, and future of Cambodia.

Chhan Dina: This artist told us a fascinating story of
being selected as one of just a few Cambodian artists 
to go to a demining site and paint whatever came to
their minds. However, it was her nature paintings that
really impressed me. My favorite is on the far left of 
this photo - a bird on a branch in the snow, with all black
and gold paint brushstrokes. 

After the art tour, life continued apace. My normal routine involves getting up early to take Jacques for a 30-45 minute walk, usually around the neighborhood or over to the long median park with a few green strips along it. Street dogs are always a potential problem, though I'd say we meet them less than half the time we're out nowadays. A loud "hah!" or "shoo" generally makes them go away; if not, Jacques' snarls warn them off. Though some are persistent followers, making for a frustrating walk with Jacques' lack of control, for the most part they just pass us by or turn around. I like walking in the early morning, during or just after sunrise, along with other early walkers, joggers, and exercisers, of which there are many. 

Often there are pretty street scenes that remind me this is a very different country. We do the same walk in the evening, getting to see the monuments lit up and the trees with their colorful lights. Sometimes Jacques poops out, walking slow as a snail with the heat, and we take a break to watch the foot- and street traffic. It's a lovely routine, at times broken up by street dogs forcing us to take u-turns or run away or cross a street. 

Another part of routine is building relationships at work. This means meeting my colleagues from other sections and agencies, sometimes for work meetings and sometimes for lunch. My friend, colleague, and fellow Khmer language student and I decided to have a nice lunch at Sombok, a woman-owned, woman-run, woman-staffed French-Cambodian restaurant in Phnom Penh. Yum! Networking can be fun!

After a few weeks of routine, though, it's time for a change! So a work trip takes me up to Siem Reap along with a contingent of various agencies and sections from the Embassy. The goal: to do some outreach! This means different things to different parts of the Embassy, and for me it meant doing hotel inspections and research to prepare for some big VIP visits expected later this year. Over the course of two and a half days - it takes about six hours to get from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap - I visited ten hotels, two transportation companies and the local airport to meet the authorities there, attended a reception, and spoke about U.S. government business practices at a "Meet the Embassy" event. I also went out to dinner with my team of nine Cambodians. There wasn't time for exploring Angkor Wat or other touristy things, but it was lots of fun just to see the reviving city. Here are a few shots from my work trip:

Swanky sample table setting at one hotel.

Before Covid, this hotel had jazz nights in their
fantastic lounge.

Cambodian hotels do pools right!

Lum Orng, a farm to table restaurant, serves 
beautiful, tasty food. 

The Embassy reception was at Phare, 
the circus! The performers were incredible.

Posing in the lobby of another lovely hotel.

Some hotels had grounds to take the breath away.

After my week of diplomat-ing, it was time to catch up on office work, housekeeping, and Jacques. He did fine with me out of town, because my dog walker is amazing and she stayed with him while I was gone. He seemed happy to see me, punishing me for my absence by waking me early on the weekend days. Ah, well... 

Finally, I'd like to share that sometimes the Foreign Service life, full of exciting trips and exotic locales and interesting work, can also be incredibly lonely. I can't speak to couples or kids, but as a single Foreign Service officer, I admit that there are times I wonder what the heck I'm doing. I'm 41, single, no kids, no dating life (because I don't make an effort at one). There are times it seems like a big mistake, to venture out into the world and uproot myself every few years. Beyond my family and some very good friends - who are supportive and loving and wonderful - there is no community waiting for me to come back. Whenever I decide to retire, there won't be a city I call home, a house with my things in it, or a partner to help figure it all out. 

At times, the loneliness can be suffocating. Can I walk out my door and see an amazing culture, beautiful architecture. delicious food, and people slowly becoming familiar? Yes. But when I'm in my temporary home, casting about for something to do, especially in this period of time before I've made close friends... it makes me sad, sometimes. What to do when loneliness presses in? Sometimes a nap, or a book, or a movie, can help me zone out and relax. Other times, chatting with family or friends via Zoom is the solution. Sometimes, I wallow in self pity. Others, I try to count all the wonderful things in my life. 

And sometimes, I try to form new relationships. Last weekend when "the lonelies" hit me, I decided (after a good bit of the other ways of coping) to join a group called the Hash House Harriers. This is often billed as a drinking club with a running problem. It's a group of people that goes out every week and does a long run. Luckily for me, there are others who detest running as much as I do, so there is a walking group as well. There are HHH groups around the world. There was one in Bamako, and Paris, and in most places there are embassies. It's a group of various nationalities, including the local one, and they have all kinds of end-of-run rituals involving beer and strange songs and camaraderie. 

So I went for a walk and, sure enough, it helped to chase the dark clouds away. 

Prayer houses are everywhere, sometimes large like
this one, sometimes small and less colorful. 

Hot, sweaty, and feeling good.

Walking through a grove of some sort.

This captures the day very well: hot, sunshiney,
with a path forward.

The overlook at the end of the walk.