New Things

Life takes you in strange directions I guess. I never thought when I moved to Cambodia that I would find myself in the position I'm in or that I would find this kind of opportunity for my future. Recently, the last month or so, I have started frequenting some of the local Guesthouse-Bars and I started going on a party boat on Sundays. Normally I wouldn't be so proud of going to a party or a bar, but what I have done with that time has been an incredible amount of networking: I now work as a promoter for the weekly boat party, and on occasion I run the BBQ or bartend on the boat. In addition to those jobs, I also have been hired by H2O Media as a salesman and an account manager. That means when I'm not teaching I have almost full time work. My most free day is saturday where my only job is to sell tickets to the boat. My artwork is going up on one of the walls at Mad Monkey guesthouse, its a cartoon monkey which hasn't been finished yet.

Time flies doesn’t it? I feel like I have been here a day, and it’s really going on 5 months. What is going on in my life, well, I’m still teaching English Monday to Friday, and my job at the media company is started coming together. I really like the work at H2O better than teaching but as a job based on commission it hasn’t come to pay off yet. Since I got this job it seems like everyone has an opinion about what I should be doing, not that I asked anyone. Things around my house aren't going so great. Our roommate Kim’s close friend from Ireland just moved in with us adding a fresh friendly face to the crowd, but even with Dave around things are looking like the house is still going to disband. It’s not like we aren't friends, and we aren’t gonna stop hanging out, it’s just that with the house, the time has come for us to go our separate ways. I’m thinking I’ll probably move into Mad Monkey guest house for a little while, which is much much more expensive than the current housing situation. The other side of that is that I will be able to cut out a lot of my expenses as far as getting around town goes, and I’ll be living right where my office is, so I should be able to crack down on my work and make more than I was before.  Still it’s a bit out of my price range as far as the long run goes. So the house hunt begins. I also badly need to rent a motorbike and teach myself to drive one. It’s just not practical here to not have one of my own.

This place is addictive and probably contagious as well. Half of my group of friends are people who arrived here on vacation and then decided not to leave. I feel the longer I stay here the less I want to leave, yet the little windows to homesickness are opening. I for some reason miss wearing my jacket. I miss the cold air, and the coffee shop so full of friends. I miss late night walks around the North Lake and the freedom of having my truck. I miss the people, how could I not?  Nostalgia is the saddest thing in the world. I guess I couldn't see it at the time, but the last 8 or so months I spent in California, were some of the best times of my life, times I would never want to forget. I was so caught up in the new direction I was trying to take my life, and I was so lost amongst the troubles and the stresses of trying to grow and deal with the hand I had played, I couldn't see how happy I was supposed to be.  Thinking back now, the countless sighs of the time, are forgotten and replaced by the moments that I still wish didn't end. Still I don’t want to return any time soon. I have some amazing friends out here, there’s this amazing thing about coming out here, you find people who actually understand your mindset. I mean, what I feel and think about my life and about the world, or society, it’s like people out here already understand where I’m coming from, or they have already come to some conclusion I’m waiting for the rest of my peers to come to. Occasionally I feel like it’s a "Carpe Diem" thing:  the people I meet here realize they are alive right now, and that life can be an adventure if you make it one. I’m not saying my friends back home lacked life, not at all, my homesickness should show that, but most people in California seemed to be happy watching other people live different and exciting lives as long as they can go to the most amazing parties or if they could live vicariously through the TV screen. I just feel like for the first time I'm finding people who really have my mindset, or worldview. 

Some pictures from around my life:

 One of my Classes during break time.

 My school.

On the Lime Party Boat

 The Office at H2O