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.

Getting Old

Halfway through January and thus far I've struggled a bit with a few health ailments. Before the new year, I woke up one morning with a sore, stiff neck and back. Several massages, two visits to a chiropractor, two sessions with an acupuncturist, and one MRI later... it's not quite resolved, although much better. Luckily the MRI didn't show anything underlying the problem, and luckily I've gotten a few nights decent sleep at last. 

There was also a night of intense sick, following a lovely dinner at a Western pizza joint here called Pizza 4P's. Too much cheese, perhaps, or a dirty fork? No idea, but it was a miserable twelve hours of sick. In between bouts of running to the bathroom, I lay groaning on my bed, unable to get comfortable because of my neck and back pain. Poor Jacques was quite concerned, often leaning over to check on me. 

But that was last week. This past weekend was a lovely lazy one for me, mostly, and on Monday - a U.S. federal holiday and so a day off for me - I had lunch at a local place with a friend: nom banh chok, with edible flowers and lots of fresh herbs sprinkled on top of a very mild curry and noodles. It was satisfying without being too heavy, cheap and near where I live. A win!

Later on Monday, I got myself a 90 minute Khmer/Thai massage at a new place I've been meaning to check out called Bodia Spa. Other than the fact that you clamber up three floors worth of stairs, it's got a lovely ambiance to it. And the massage was oh, so relaxing. A Khmer/Thai massage is one where they do stretching movements and press on acupressure points. It was glorious and I was surprised to find myself dozing off now and then, while the masseuse streeeetched and preeeeessed my limbs. Afterwards, I went around the block to a sky bar I'd been to once before, to watch the sunset while eating a pomelo-shrimp salad and drink a fruity iced tea for dinner. 

And finally, I seem to have hit on something that is helping my neck and back pain, which is acupuncture. It's an odd sort of experience for me: neither pleasurable nor unpleasant. The tiny little pin pricks don't hurt (and I'll admit to being a bit afraid of that) unless the muscles cramps, and even then it's just a few seconds. But after my first session on Friday, I slept much better and felt more relaxed. My second session was this evening, so next week I'll report back!

One last thought: my new year's resolutions included getting off social media, and I find that I don't miss it! Instead of scrolling through Facebook for lost chunks of time, I check out the news or read a book or look around me. And I'm posting here more often, too! 

So thus far, the new year is a mixed bag of good things, aches and pains, and yummy food. Fingers crossed the first and last continue on and leave the other behind!

Critters, Domestic and Otherwise

 

It was a nice busy week at work, with my neck/shoulder pain easing after a crackin' good time with a chiropractor. Unfortunately, the pain had almost faded when I woke up with it renewed in intensity, so it's back to the drawing board. New pillows, massages, and a chiropractor haven't resolved it, nor drinking more water, nor muscle relaxants. I'm considering acupuncture, though may give the chiropractor another try first. 

That doesn't explain the elephant butt above, does it... 

On Friday, which was a local holiday, I went out to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Center and saw rescued elephants, various types of bears, a pair of binturongs (also known as "bear-cats"), gibbons, tigers, mountain goats and deer. It's a lovely swathe of land about an hour and a half south of Phnom Penh. Wildlife Alliance runs tours there right now, so my friend Lisa and her family and I booked one and off we went. We met Lucky (whose butt is above) and Choukk, the latter of whom was rescued as a young elephant whose foot got stuck in razor wire, and had to be removed. They weren't sure he was going to make it, but then a national prosthetics center took on the challenge and made him a shoe, which he outgrows every six months or so, but which allows him to walk normally. We fed the female elephants -the males being deemed too aggressive - and wandered the park, learning about the various animals. It's a somewhat sprawling park, so that it doesn't feel like the same enclosed horror that many zoos do. I enjoyed it and would go again. 

The tour also included lunch, which was delicious Khmer food: fried rice, cooked vegetables, beef lok lak, and noodle salad, all with a small bowl of Kampot pepper mixed with lime juice as a spice/seasoning. Yum!

I also ventured to two new-to-me restaurants this weekend, one higher end Khmer food and the other French. Both were good and I'll definitely go back!

Arc de Triumph?!

Jacques had a good weekend, too: Saturday and Sunday mornings we went to the Embassy to run around, and he played decently well with a couple other dogs! Closely supervised, of course, but he did great. We also walked somewhere new: Diamond Island, which is a five minute drive from where I live and has the strangest French-inspired construction of shopfronts, apartments, and monuments, all completely empty. It also has a boardwalk which overlooks the river, which is lovely. We'll be back there, too. 

The weather is in the mid-80s, with no rain. The city feels more alive as businesses re-open from their Covid hiatus. (Omicron is not terrible here (yet), but most people mask, inside and out.) A weekend of outings and restaurants, rooftop pool dips and daytime naps, critters both wild and domestic: what a life!

Getting Control in 2022

It's surreal to say it out loud: 2022. Time flies!

On the second day of 2022, I'm spending quiet time getting myself in order. A stiff, sore neck from a week ago has yet to resolve, so I got a good long massage, which felt good but didn't fix the problem. I took myself out to lunch and read a book. I asked a friend to hunt down a medicated patch for the achy spot on my back. I brushed my shedding dog (and considered bathing him, but haven't ventured that just yet). 

This year, my main goal is to get control of myself. It sounds funny, because really, life is pretty darn good. Cambodia remains an interesting and engaging place to live. I continue to enjoy my work and colleagues. Achy back and sore neck aside, I'm in good health. 

However, for a long time it's felt near impossible to do the things I know would make life even better: get more (and better) sleep; stretch; exercise; eat healthier; host friends for a meal; and other things too. Even though these are all within my reach, it's been hard to flog myself into DOing them. I know I'm not alone in this, too. But I'd like to make a concerted effort this year, and to do so in a focused way without overwhelming myself with expectations. To that end, I made myself a poster that I put up on my wall at home, titled: 30 days, 3 goals, 3 good things. 

30 days - Gives me a finite timeframe, a finish line to look forward to. 

3 goals (that aren't absolute): More movement, less social media. More healthy food, less fried food. More meaningful connections, less gossip. I'm not trying to cut anything out, or only do certain things... just adjust my current actions to do better! I've suspended my Facebook account and managed to avoid fried food for two whole days so far. Hopefully some yoga or swimming will make its way into my days and I can take advantage of some of the wonderful people around me here. 

3 good things - This is a game I played with a friend when posted in Bamako, Mali. It was easy for us to bitch and moan about things all the time; it was a tough place to live and our work lives were incredibly stressful. One day, one of us said, "Ugh! I'm tired of talking about all the bad things. Tell me three good things that happened today." We both laughed, but then actually thought about it, and came up with three things each. Sometimes they were small: "Today I at a nice breakfast," or "Today I slept in." And sometimes they were bigger things, accomplishments or goals reached. Mostly they were small. Thinking about things in a positive light forced us past the glaringly obvious difficulties we faced. So, I will write three good things that happen each day, big or small, for thirty days. 

Do I have bigger goals? Yes, of course. But January is the start of a new year and so I'll approach my goals as the start of going in the right direction. 

And no matter what, successful or not, this face will be around to beg pets from me, so I really can't lose:

Thankful for Adventures!

As I type, the aromas of turkey and cranberries and apple crumble and pumpkin pie make my stomach rumble. We are preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, with parents in the kitchen, sister-in-law on the couch petting the dog, and brother relaxing in the guest room. We each have our dishes that we make, per tradition, which makes the day less of a scramble for one or two people, and a more calm, cooperative experience for all of us. 

I arrived in the U.S. a week ago and have almost kicked the jet lag. Last night I slept the night through, which is a good sign. Yesterday, my brother and sister-in-law arrived. It's such a pleasure catching up with everyone, all of us petting and complimenting Jacques when he behaves (or demands pets). The weather is cold - especially compared to Cambodia! - but with bright blue skies. 

Two weekends ago, I took a different kind of trip: a visit to Siem Reap and its surrounding temples and natural wonders. Below are some pictures from that trip. Enjoy!

Somewhere on National Road 6 between Phnom
Penh and Siem Reap.

We tried to catch sunset at Phnom Bakeng, but it 
was overcast. Still, very neat being atop an ancient
temple as the world darkened. 

At the bottom of Phnom Bakeng temple
ruins. 

Post-sunrise at the reflecting pools of Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat in all its glory. 

It's hard to believe the carvings in stone
at the Angkorian temples. So detailed!

The walkway up feels so ancient and
history-laden!

Lovely apsaras adorn stonework
everywhere.

Nagas come with five heads, or seven. 

The entrance to Angkor Thom is lined by gods and
(pictured here) demons. 

Angkor Thom sports many towers with
faces looking in the four cardinal
directions.

I love the dancing apsaras!

From the top of Bayon temple. 

Gate into the royal pavilion. 

Ta Keo and the great Banyan Tree roots.

Nature and manmade structures mix.

Looking up one of the towers from the inside. It's
said that jewels used to be in all those little holes.

Ta Prohm as the trees take over.

Recreating a photo from 11 years ago.

An incredible reconstruction... this was all piles of 
fallen stones not long ago!

Waterfall at Phnom Kulen, the mountain from
whence much of the stone for the Angkor temples
was quarried. Lovely waterfall, with an inexplicable
wooden swing. 

From the top of Kulen Mountain, where there is a 
temple with a reclining Buddha and a great view.

At the Kulen Mountain temple, there was a procession
with music, costumes, glowing golden parasols, and 
people of all ages dancing and singing!

Traditional homes on stilts in the Tonle
Sap lake. 

A little boat ride through the mangroves in the 

Tonle Sap.

The Tonle Sap in all it's glory!

Biking through small villages and rice fields on our
last morning in Siem Reap!