Yet Another Side of the Garment Industry...

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a fashion designer. By the age of seven, I was buying magazines like Vogue as soon as I had saved up enough change from doing my parents' laundry, washing my dad's car and other chores. My dad grew up in a household where there was always a maid to do these things, including cooking your meals, and even a "nurse" to help you with your homework. But in my house, "unless your arms and legs are broken," like my dad always liked to say, "you work like other Americans." It's probably a testament to my mom and dad's parenting style that they were always more concerned with the fact that I was spending money than what I was spending it on. Apparently they thought nothing of the inappropriateness of a seven year-old reading fashion magazines...

Press release describing me and my team's work and reason for the workshop:
http://www.asiafoundation.org/Locations/cambodia_srilanka_rc2006.html

i am sitting here at home now, busy with work and other projects and realized how ridiculous it was to write about a work trip to a place i've never been before and never describe the work i do. i could write a book on this project, the stakeholders in the industry, all its unintended consequences, and the but maybe i can leave that for grad school.

hhhhmmmmmm... that's actually not a bad idea... ;)

The Mekong River

My new hotel is on the river, which has a million shops and restaurants. I love it. So far this trip, I've eaten dinner or had drinks at an Italian restaurant, Chinese, Khmer, French (actually about three different French places), Nepalese, a pizza shop, more Khmer, a dumpling house, a Mexican place, an open air tropical cocktails bar, probably French-owned, and a Spanish tapas bar, which is still my favorite.

This is such a contrast to what I affectionately call "The Colonial Compound"that was my old hotel. I can walk out onto the street and do, see, buy and eat anything. And there's a ton of activity. When Sambath drives me from the office after work, there's a million people hanging out in front of the royal palace esplanade! Today, I saw folks playing soccer, volleyball, girls holding hands walking down the street. So sweet. It's really cool to see such a huge congregation of people and know they're not there to start a riot or waiting in line for work, for food, etc.

There's still not really a middle class in Cambodia - though I'm sure one in a few hundred would argue with me on that, but I stand my ground! - but you wouldn't know it by driving my way home in the late afternoon/early evening. It's a great sight to see.

The shop where I bought most of the souveniers for my girl friends is this fantastic little store right around the corner from the FCC. One of the girls who works there calls me "Sister." I was really flattered and a bit touched until I realized later that it's the polite Khmer custom to call other women that. I still thought it was cute, tho...

It's Thursday night and I'm set to take the morning off of work tomorrow to go to the genocide museum (the old prison here in town) and the killing fields later. I saved the heavy stuff for last for a reason, and now time's running out. Maybe I'll have a $10 facial afterward to cushion the blow and bring me back down a notch...

You have to do anything that requires physical labor and ambition here for early morning, to take advantage of the morning "cool." Bracing myself for that 6 am wake up call...

Sambath and Samnang

Those are the names of my drivers. I will take pictures of them before I leave. They're great guys, and it's nice to see them in the morning and after a long day and have people to make jokes with and not have to talk shop with all the time. They are kind and generous. Samnang, especially, and as his English is very good, our chats tend to have more depth and it's a relief to feel understood. I can't make this blog known to any coworkers here because they would discover that even the drivers are well aware of office politics, and Samnang is probably the most perceptive...

Yes, of course it is weird for me to have "drivers." I would much rather take motos and tuk tuks around town and to the office than be driven around like some VIP or something. It's extremely awkward for me and I loathe being started at while I'm in the Jeep. But due to the history of the country and our office's security concerns here, the senior staff hosting me insist on assigning me someone to pick me up for work in the morning and take me back to the hotel at night. Apparently, what I do and how I get there after I am dropped off at my hotel at night is wide open ;)

I will miss Sambath and Samnang when I leave.

the clouds have officially parted!

the optimist in me is fighting away the notion to say, "too bad it took so long!"

my second half of this trip is proving to be the most lovely, enjoyable and fulfilling experience abroad i can remember in this life. after my first two days of no work (!!!), my experience alone visiting the temples of angkor gave me a chance to finally clear my thoughts and focus on what's really important: the fact that no matter how excrutiating the pressure, relationships and weight of responsibility has been, that i will someday look back on these people, projects and experiences with affectionate nostalgia.

since we returned from bangkok, i began to feel the ease of tensions, and after my weekend, recognized myself as a renewed spirit completely.

and i finally took a few minutes to get to know our staff better. we have an expert in anti-trafficking, and i felt humbled and grateful to talk to her at a party tonight. her story is so interesting. and that of her colleagues in the same field is even more so. her friend left cambodia in 1975, and her father, the minister of justice at the time, was killed and "disappeared"by the khmer rouge. they never told her where or how he died. she only speaks french because her family was one of the elite families before the k.r. hers is similar to so many stories i've heard, yet it never becomes any less heartbreaking.

with three days left in the office and an overnight left in bangkok, i have saved the heaviest of sights to see for last: the killing fields, tuol sleng (the infamous prison), the national museum and the palace. and i'm really glad i did. i don't think i could have taken this much introspection at the beginning, when i was just trying to take it all in to beging with and was suffocated by the demands of too many tasks.

i'm very much looking forward to it. in the meantime, back to the geckos in my room and another fascinating day ahead...