Thursday, July 23, 2009

Arrived safe and sound

Arrived in Phnom Penh this morning. It's almost noon here, but almost 1am at home. I am pretty tired after all the flying, so hopefully this comes out concise and coherent. (Apologies in advance for the typos.)

Everything is good. The other volunteers (technically called trainees) are pretty cool. The flights went without incident for the most part. We caught all of our flights, I got some sleep, and I don't feel too terrible right now. The one annoying this that happened is that Thai Air messed up the Peace Corps reservation. They put about ten people (out of our group of 45ish) on stand by and supposedly we didn't pay the airport tax, so had to go to another booth and pay some crazy tax. It's all taken care of now and the Peace Corps will reimburse us, so no worries. And the standby people will get their later today.

I also got to eat some sushi in the Japan. It was cool to do, but airport sushi is pretty average.

Since arriving in Phnom Penh, we have gone to the hotel and walked over to this internet cafe. The staff and some volunteers who are already here met us at the airport and are taking pretty good care of us. Of note, so far, is just that it's really hot! Haven't really gotten a feel for Phnom Penh yet, but it looks like a developing city, with lots of chaotic traffic and crammed together markets.

I was joking around on the bus that Phnom Penh and I are in an arranged marriage. It's supposed to be my New York/Copenhagen/Prague equivalent for the next two years. Hopefully, we will get along.

My time is almost up and I want to enjoy the internet a little since I won't have it for a while. Today we are going to lunch, seeing the national museum and a boat cruise. It's mostly to fight the jet lag. I'll probably end up crashing pretty early.

Apparently things get pretty busy after today. Tomorrow, we have medical orientation and leave for our training site in Takeo Province. Everything has been real good and I expect it to continue that way.