Daily Life

I'm officially stealing this idea from another SALTer. So thanks, Liz.

I thought I should give you some idea of what my daily life is like. Before coming here, when I thought about friends overseas, I imagined all sorts of adventures and constantly engaging and fascinating work. Now from experience I can say that I do have adventures and my work can be interesting, but in most ways living overseas is just doing life, just like at home. So here's a glimpse at my day to day schedule.

First, I wake up around 6:40, take a cold shower (no hot water), get ready (doesn't take long with no makeup and no hairdryer!), and catch a motodupe (a motobike taxi) for 2000 riel (50 cents) to work.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I stay at MCC til lunch. Usually I check email, read the newspaper, work on MCC-related paperwork, run any errands, etc. Then I eat lunch at MCC with coworkers and head to my partner organization, Peace Bridges, after lunch. (motodupe 5000 riel or $1.25) At Peace Bridges I work on my research project. (Next week I start administering my survey!) At 5, I head home.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, I still come to MCC in the morning to get breakfast, but then I head to Peace Bridges around 9. I work there all day and eat lunch with my coworkers there. I just started doing this, but I really like it. They are great people and its a great opportunity to practice my Khmer.

Usually I'm the first person home in my family. I'll watch TV or read for awhile til my youngest sister gets home from school. Then I chat with her while she makes dinner. We eat dinner sitting on the floor in the kitchen or living room, chatting and watching music videos. Some nights we watch TV all together, or sit in the kitchen and talk, or all go do our own thing, or go out to the mall or riverside. Then I head to bed around 9 or 10.

Pretty simple and routine. Most of the time I love it, but of course sometimes routine can get to you, no matter what continent you are on! I know my plan this year was to decide if I was interested in living overseas in the long term and although I already feel like I've learned a lot of lessons about living overseas, I am no where near deciding what I think about future plans. It shouldn't be a surprise that this experience creates as many questions as answers. So I guess I'll just be content living in the moment, enjoying this time.