Attempting Routines

Khmer New Year dinner with MCC Staff

 In the States, we really like schedules. We plan things well in advance- parties, meetings, other events. Last minute changes tend to make us stressed- or at least that's how I feel. This is a cultural difference that I've really had to confront here in Cambodia because things are much more likely to be planned last minute here- which makes trying to balance working at three different organizations and attending events for a forth kind of difficult. Thankfully, I've settled into a (very) general routine:

Motoing with one of the SALTers

Monday: I work at the Peace Institute of Cambodia (PIC). I leave my house around 7AM because with traffic it's about an hour of driving each way. Most day I'm there I have a meeting with the director to go over plans and the things that need to be done. I've been working on collecting contact information for potential international academic partners, and I'll start working on the website next week. I get home around 6PM and after a quick dinner, I meet up with some friends at one of the local movie theaters to watch one of my favorite TV shows.

Dinner with some WPM staff

Tuesday and Wednesday: I work at Women PeaceMakers (WPM). I write and edit reports and grant applications for funding organizations, and basically end up writing or editing anything that's needed in English. At least once a week I meet up with one or two of the SALTers for lunch since many of them work in offices near WPM. These are also the days that I run to MCC if I have anything I need to do there, because the WPM office is close to the MCC office.

RISC Staff

Thursday and Friday: I head on over to the Returnee Integration Support Center (RISC), and hang out and work with those guys. I'm currently working on updating their website and assisting with analyzing a survey they are conducting with the returnees to see how they are doing as an organization. I also get to go along on site visits with the other staff. Almost every month, I go visit some returnee's who are in prison near Phnom Penh. Prisons here provide very little, so RISC brings them toiletries and some money to buy food and water every month, along with just checking up on them and being smiling outside faces.

This schedule often gets interrupted though- by holidays (which all of the offices might take or only a few will), MCC events, and special events as well. I'm starting to relax more, and just go with the flow- even when I have mornings like today that just feel like disasters. I drove all the way out to PIC just to realize that it's a holiday for that office. I try to keep an open mind and to just be open to the new adventures that each day holds.