Time’s they are a - changin’ , and after a sudden influx of new volunteers the crossover is coming to an end. Now it’s time for some of the old hands to say goodbye, if they haven’t already left.
It’s quite sad. I’m excited to have new faces around, but I will really miss the people I’ve gotten to know over the last nine months. We’ve shared a lot and suddenly Sisophon doesn’t quite seem the same without them.
So, to the following people I hope they had a safe journey home:
Jan: VSO veteran after four years of service knew everything there is to know about life in Svay and made a particularly good Friday evening gin and tonic. All we needed to provide was a tube of Pringles and let the sunset do the rest.
Sophie: A new arrival, for a mixture of reasons has decided that Cambodia is not for her. A shame, she was becoming a great part of the team and is missed at our daily coffee.
Anne: My sanity in Sisophon and a great friend. Hopefully I’ll make it over to Australia to visit one day!!
It’s weird the friendship situation out here, the turnover is so high that people come and go within a matter of months. If you stay, you get used to it, deal with it and welcome in the new arrivals. Yet, you’re thrust into such an intense situation that you get to know each other really well really quickly and then suddenly it’s “See you, have a nice life in your country half way across the world from me!”. Without wanting to sound weird, I wonder sometimes how much of these friendships are really true and how much of it is circumstantial – will we really keep in touch? Well, to all of the above – I certainly hope so.
It felt very strange coming home on the bus on Sunday knowing that the people that welcomed me in have now gone. Now I’m the one that’s meant to know where stuff is.
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Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteJudging by the sparse number of comments, everyone over here is as short of time as you are over there! And I'm just as guilty of not commenting as anyone, so here I am catching up on three blogs with one comment! You're supposed to know where 'stuff' is - I presume that includes the intimate ants, the midnight mice and the demented cockrel. Or maybe they'd be more interested in where to find a washing machine (disguised as a bucket). At least you can tell them how to wee in a straight line.
Lots of love and hugs,
Mum xxx