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...