I arrived back to Cambodia from China after a mammoth 30 hour journey of planes, cars, buses, motos & tuk tuks and was met by J&G. They could see exactly what I needed so took me straight to happy hour at Eden & then to the noodle shop for dumplings.
The following day they came around to take me for breakfast knowing that I would be in an acute 'roomie' withdrawal state, their main purpose was to keep me occupied & the 'post-time-away-from-Cambodia-blues' slump at bay.
My bicycle back tyre was, as is normal after a week away, completely flat so I took full opportunity of the new moto repair place that has just set up business near my house. Foolishly, as I was there, I thought it would be reasonable to top up air in the front tyre as well. Error number one as it would subsequently turn out. The not so nice new bicycle repair man proceeded to screw up my front tyre valve & render my bicycle unrideable. His response was to demand 200 R for the privilege of breaking my bicycle, laugh, smile sheepishly & then shoo me away with the classic Cambodian dismissive hand flap (my all time favourite). To say I was less than impressed would be a mild understatement, but resigned I began pushing/dragging my useless bicycle towards the breakfast rendez vous in the increasing mid-morning heat.
After 10 minutes walking I came across another road side moto repair stop where the proprietor cheerfully told me he would replace my valve for $4, as I am quite confident that the whole bicycle wasn't worth much more I began to think about telling him what he could do with his valve when the price immediately reduced by half but I was already stomping off down the road - muttering about getting on the next plane out of here; the amazing, inspiring, reaffirming time in China erased by just another normal day of Cambodian frustrations.
After a further 10 minutes - now sweaty, thirsty & very irritable I stopped at one of my regular eating places & asked in khmer where the nearest bicycle repair shop was - I was given a menu & asked what I wanted to order for take out!
Finally I found a repair stall - the little old woman flapped her hand at me - I suppressed the urge to rip her arm off. I don't know why but the flappy, dismissive hand gesture really gets to me even when I haven't been walking with an incompetence induced flat tyre for half an hour in the tropics. But the flappy hand was deceptive - wordlessly & in seconds she replaced my valve, inflated my tyre & charged me 50 cents. If J&G hadn't been waiting for me at our breakfast destination I would have back tracked & told $4 man what a rip off merchant he was. Instead I recognised that most of my irritation & frustration was down to thirst & hunger so I headed for fried rice & a khmer coffee - it was the right choice.
We spent the afternoon with R's family at the swimming pool & eating ice cream, things seemed a little better.
The next day I headed to a hospital on the Thai border. The staff there are receptive & open, the syrup & evap milk has remarkable restorative effects & being the only barang (apart from J) had the strangely soothing & relaxing result that it also had in China. I swear living within an ex-pat community is often the biggest challenge to volunteering. Feeling odd, different, strange & an outsider is much easier when you at least look & speak differently.
Coming back home at the end of the week & interviewing for a new VA gave me a 4 day migraine that rendered me bed-sofa bound for the weekend when I should have been day tripping it to PNH for a leaving do. Just when the vice on my head was starting to ease I slipped on my wet kitchen floor & gave myself the first head injury I've had since I was 3 years old. I was bleeding, I was alone - I thought to myself WWJD? - so I called her & she came around with a bag of dressings, coals to Newcastle. Her & G sat with me for an hour whilst I became less grey & stopped bleeding - J reassured me that the Emergency hospital performed burr holes, I settled for doing my own neurological observations & taking my own head injury advice.
Using the universal medical measurement system of fruit for lump size - I now have a walnut on my right temple,
Today I have had post-concussion syndrome; my head hurts to think, all my thoughts are painfully slow, writing this make me giddy, I feel totally detached & very strange.
Today was also my first day back at the hospital for 3 weeks, it was very lucky that I was concussed as when I received the stroppy call from HS demanding to know where I was for 'the' meeting, I had never arranged, I was able to keep calm. Smashing my head on the cold, hard concrete & tiles of my kitchen wasn't as painful as my deputy director telling me that HS had arranged this meeting & if he said I knew about it then he must be right. I smiled sweetly, explained I had been in China & SLN for the last 3 weeks so couldn't have arranged this meeting with him, reasoned that I don't have a translator so wouldn't have arranged any meetings in this hiatus, apologised for any inconvenience caused, suggested that perhaps a more urgent meeting was that of agreeing on my work-plan, which incidentally they had all stood me up for before China. I then walked away from them all in a concussive fog.
I was fuming but I just couldn't quite connect my brain with my adrenal glands.
So it seems I am back home with a bump & unlike last weekend when I just wanted to get on the next plane out of here - now my refrain is 'get me to the border', if for nothing else for the syrup & evap milk which certainly eases the pain of the landing.
The following day they came around to take me for breakfast knowing that I would be in an acute 'roomie' withdrawal state, their main purpose was to keep me occupied & the 'post-time-away-from-Cambodia-blues' slump at bay.
My bicycle back tyre was, as is normal after a week away, completely flat so I took full opportunity of the new moto repair place that has just set up business near my house. Foolishly, as I was there, I thought it would be reasonable to top up air in the front tyre as well. Error number one as it would subsequently turn out. The not so nice new bicycle repair man proceeded to screw up my front tyre valve & render my bicycle unrideable. His response was to demand 200 R for the privilege of breaking my bicycle, laugh, smile sheepishly & then shoo me away with the classic Cambodian dismissive hand flap (my all time favourite). To say I was less than impressed would be a mild understatement, but resigned I began pushing/dragging my useless bicycle towards the breakfast rendez vous in the increasing mid-morning heat.
After 10 minutes walking I came across another road side moto repair stop where the proprietor cheerfully told me he would replace my valve for $4, as I am quite confident that the whole bicycle wasn't worth much more I began to think about telling him what he could do with his valve when the price immediately reduced by half but I was already stomping off down the road - muttering about getting on the next plane out of here; the amazing, inspiring, reaffirming time in China erased by just another normal day of Cambodian frustrations.
After a further 10 minutes - now sweaty, thirsty & very irritable I stopped at one of my regular eating places & asked in khmer where the nearest bicycle repair shop was - I was given a menu & asked what I wanted to order for take out!
Finally I found a repair stall - the little old woman flapped her hand at me - I suppressed the urge to rip her arm off. I don't know why but the flappy, dismissive hand gesture really gets to me even when I haven't been walking with an incompetence induced flat tyre for half an hour in the tropics. But the flappy hand was deceptive - wordlessly & in seconds she replaced my valve, inflated my tyre & charged me 50 cents. If J&G hadn't been waiting for me at our breakfast destination I would have back tracked & told $4 man what a rip off merchant he was. Instead I recognised that most of my irritation & frustration was down to thirst & hunger so I headed for fried rice & a khmer coffee - it was the right choice.
We spent the afternoon with R's family at the swimming pool & eating ice cream, things seemed a little better.
The next day I headed to a hospital on the Thai border. The staff there are receptive & open, the syrup & evap milk has remarkable restorative effects & being the only barang (apart from J) had the strangely soothing & relaxing result that it also had in China. I swear living within an ex-pat community is often the biggest challenge to volunteering. Feeling odd, different, strange & an outsider is much easier when you at least look & speak differently.
Coming back home at the end of the week & interviewing for a new VA gave me a 4 day migraine that rendered me bed-sofa bound for the weekend when I should have been day tripping it to PNH for a leaving do. Just when the vice on my head was starting to ease I slipped on my wet kitchen floor & gave myself the first head injury I've had since I was 3 years old. I was bleeding, I was alone - I thought to myself WWJD? - so I called her & she came around with a bag of dressings, coals to Newcastle. Her & G sat with me for an hour whilst I became less grey & stopped bleeding - J reassured me that the Emergency hospital performed burr holes, I settled for doing my own neurological observations & taking my own head injury advice.
Using the universal medical measurement system of fruit for lump size - I now have a walnut on my right temple,
Today I have had post-concussion syndrome; my head hurts to think, all my thoughts are painfully slow, writing this make me giddy, I feel totally detached & very strange.
Today was also my first day back at the hospital for 3 weeks, it was very lucky that I was concussed as when I received the stroppy call from HS demanding to know where I was for 'the' meeting, I had never arranged, I was able to keep calm. Smashing my head on the cold, hard concrete & tiles of my kitchen wasn't as painful as my deputy director telling me that HS had arranged this meeting & if he said I knew about it then he must be right. I smiled sweetly, explained I had been in China & SLN for the last 3 weeks so couldn't have arranged this meeting with him, reasoned that I don't have a translator so wouldn't have arranged any meetings in this hiatus, apologised for any inconvenience caused, suggested that perhaps a more urgent meeting was that of agreeing on my work-plan, which incidentally they had all stood me up for before China. I then walked away from them all in a concussive fog.
I was fuming but I just couldn't quite connect my brain with my adrenal glands.
So it seems I am back home with a bump & unlike last weekend when I just wanted to get on the next plane out of here - now my refrain is 'get me to the border', if for nothing else for the syrup & evap milk which certainly eases the pain of the landing.
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| WWJD? What would Janice drink??? |
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