Big Orange Backpack

I leave tomorrow, I can't believe it! When I started googling "Volunteer in Cambodia" in my Soviet Russia class in February, I never thought it'd actually amount to me sitting in my room in Queens, surrounded by all my shit (it's totally a mess) making to do lists like "Pay Amex, buy plane food, take passport photos".

I've wanted to go to Cambodia since I did a 9th grade project on the Khmer Rouge. It began my fascination with Cambodia as well as with genocide as an academic field of study. It's the most interesting mix of the liberal arts: psychology, political science, history, sociology. I would like nothing less than to be an academic, but this is the one field I could see myself doing research in the rest of my life. Some call it a morbid fascination, but I see learning about the absolute lows of humanity helps one see and appreciate the norms as a gift from G-d. My other "morbid" fascination, cemeteries, is also one based upon an appreciation of life. I love to look at tombstones and think about all that that person witnessed first hand in history, what their lives were like, who they were and how they lived.

Death isn't the only reason I want to go to Cambodia, it's not even the largest. However, I felt the need to address it first, considering the two things people think of when they hear the name Cambodia are "child sex trafficking" and "Khmer Rouge". Cambodia, in my humble opinion, has the most diverse and interesting history of any nation in the world. In the 9th through 15th centuries the "Khmer Empire" ruled over the region, and in its time produced some AMAZING architectural feats. The idea of memory is so interesting in Cambodia, as it is in Jewish history. Remembering and celebrating the glories achievements of the past while appreciating the serious lows also. It's quite the dichotomy.

So, what am I doing in Cambodia? Where am I living?
I'm teaching conversational English with an NGO (non-governmental organization) called "Conversations with Foreigners" in the capital Phnom Penh. It is linked with another NGO called "Cambodian Rural Development Project", which provides aid to villages in the north of Cambodia. The funding from the school (we charge for hour long lessons) goes towards one village in particular, Kratie, which I will be visiting a few days after I arrive. I will be living in a house owned by the organization a few blocks from the school that I will be teaching at. I will be living with 7 other volunteers from Malaysia, Canada, the UK, the US, and Australia. We have our own live in cook and housekeeper, and there are six bedrooms, each with its own full bathroom.

I attached a map because a question I was often asked was "Cambodia? Is that in Africa?"
No, it's not; it's in Southeast Asia in between Thailand and Vietnam.

For more information, if you're interested I would consult http://www.volunteerincambodia.org/ to learn more about what I'll be doing in Cambodia. And also http://wikitravel.org/en/Cambodia for general info about Cambodia.

I will have internet access while I'm there and will continue to update this blog as often as possible (yes, with pictures Lori!).

This is my flight information (all times listed are local times):

Thai Airways 791
New York (JFK) to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Leaving 12:00pm; arriving 4:10pm (local time)

Thai Airways 698
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) to Phnom Penh, Cambodia (PNH)
Leaving 6:10pm; arriving 7:25pm


Cambodia is 12 hours ahead of New York (i.e. if it's 1pm in New York on Monday it's 1am in Cambodia on Tuesday).

I'll try to blog again from the airport in Bangkok during my layover if I can. Seventeen hour flight? Oy vey!