Well here goes.
This time I have been in Cambodia for about 6 months from mid-March to now, 3 September, 2011. I have spent the entire time in this place, Sihanoukville. I have had a bewildering experience even when I am not involved in any kind of activity here in Cambodia. I have personal and private work that I do on my computer, but I think my personal privacy is severly compromised so that I will feel intimidated not to write down what is actually and historically happening. It seems the message is that the purpose of this time is to not do anything, which means not do anything helpful either. As a result of this existential situation, I feel that this visit has been almost bizarre from my point of view because I thought retirement is supposed to be about getting your thoughts together and putting them down on paper. So, I have decided to stick with my plans about writing.
I started spending my time during these months looking for an apartment and had asked 2 men from Sihanoukville who I thought were my friends. I was certainly wrong in this department and both of them deceived me into thinking that this is a friendlier place than it actually is. It is, actually, not a particularly friendly place for me. The only recognizable NGO is UNICEF and it is a brand new out station Office. There are other local NGO's, but there is no local paper; Camabodia Daily is published in Phnom Penh and covers the world. Everything is word of mouth and you never know what is truth and what is exagerration and what is lie. I have been told a lot of helf truths, half lies and hardly any real truth by these 2 "friends".
Peace Corps is in Cambodia and has a big endorsement from the Ambassador. The State Department provides the security which is actually pretty good. I have gone to a reception at the Embassy for a 50th Peace Corps get together which was real nice. So it is a way to let us feel comfortable with the Embassy; the Peace Corps Office is another thing. I have not been to the one here yet and I don't know why. Actually, the volunteers are pretty invisible and I have not met a single one from PC Cambodia.
I am going to stop now; and talk next about the swirling world around us.
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