We have hope. New Hope.

10 pm. 86 degrees. Crickets, frogs, geckoes and dog fights provide the soundtrack. It’s been quite a day.

     Not one photo was taken today. We were busy, and there’s much to say, but the experiences are still just swirling around in my head and not yet ready to organize into cohesive thoughts.

    Steve and I spent the morning at New Hope, where I think we will find our niche. They’d like Steve to teach  a K1 class (which is preschool) for a couple of hours in the morning, liaison with the social work outreach staff about which of those kids need further evaluation, and then work in the new restaurant training program helping to train waitstaff and maybe develop a cookbook to sell to tourists. They think I can coordinate the health clinic, develop systems for training and record-keeping, and improve connection and collaboration between the clinic and outreach social workers. This ought to be interesting. It looks like we will re-create our jobs from back home here in Cambodia  – and will still work at the same agency, as we have for the last 20 years. They can’t offer us any salary, but hope that it will be possible in the future.

     Are we really creating a new life if we end up doing similar jobs here? I think so, because the environment and culture and conditions are so different. We have so much to learn. And we start learning tomorrow. I plan to spend a week just observing everyone and everything in action, asking a million questions, and surveying the staff about what is working for them and what they think could work better. Maybe some of my coworkers would like to weigh in here about whether they think I’m up to this challenge.

     My Khmer lessons started last night. That will be another challenge. There will be slow but I hope steady progress – starting with the Khmer alphabet, all 30-odd consonants and another 40-ish dependent and independent vowels. Thankfully, Khmer is not a tonal language like some other Asian languages, but still, the sounds are different and difficult for me to say, let alone remember for more than 30 seconds. In addition to my nightly Khmer lesson from (formerly Venerable) Yeum, I try to learn a phrase a day that has practical application. Yesterday, I learned how to ask “How much (does it cost)?” which should be useful in the market – or will be, when I can understand the answer. Today I learned the Khmer word for “cilantro” because Steve needed some and I had to go out on a mission to find it. When I told Steve the word, which sounds sort of like “chivansuey,” he commented, “That’s a long word.” I had to point out that it has exactly the same number of syllables as "cilantro!"

     We had more guests tonight. Lori and her friend Lenore, who is visiting from the U.S., came over for margaritas and nachos. Such fun – and we hope to have more dinner gatherings on a regular basis. Almost every day, we meet other foreigners living and working here, each with their own fascinating tales to tell. But the stories often have a familiar ring: People came here on vacation or for short-term volunteer work, then went home and began thinking about how to come back long-term. For some of us, this country just grabs hold of our heart and doesn’t let go.

     The other reason no photos were taken is because I seem to have lost my camera. I can only assume that it fell out of my bag on one of our recent shopping excursions. I have a back-up camera, but it’s not as easy to use or to slip into my pocket and it works only intermittently. so perhaps I shall just give up photographing everything around me, unless someone wants to make a Costco run and ship me a new camera. It’s not like you’ll miss photos; I’ve hardly had the bandwidth to post any lately.

     This evening, we discovered that our “toaster oven” is actually just a toaster shaped like an oven.  It has a timer, but no temperature control, so it’s either on or off. So much for my fantasy about making banana bread. Oh well, toast is good.

     I really can’t wait to have internet at home. Then I can post short entries more frequently, rather than trying to condense so many thoughts into one entry. Meanwhile, suffer with me a little longer…