Hey everyone, we’ve been in Cambodia for nearly three weeks now. Behind the Yak scenes we’ve been busy exploring, learning, and adapting to the weather (all over again). As we approach the end of our eight-week journey in southeast Asia we thought we’d give a little recap of what we’ve done in Cambodia between the posts!
After our time in Battambang, we loaded up the van and went to the village of Banteay Chmar. We knew from the very beginning of our trip that we’d be staying with home stay families, but it always felt far off into the program; out of sight, out of mind. Personally, I was incredibly nervous, I’m an introvert in an introverted family and was worried that I would be too apprehensive to approach my homestay family in a meaningful way. Knowing who I am, I didn’t want to awkwardly hide away in a room all day, interacting minimally because my anxiety got the better of me. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I dreaded it but… it was definitely an aspect of the trip I wasn’t looking forward to after learning about it.
So, I picked up a strategy. I wouldn’t think about the homestay portion of the trip, I would simply deal with it once we were there: if I didn’t think about it, my mind wouldn’t ruminate on all of the possibilities of me screwing up, ergo I wouldn’t end up needlessly spiraling. And honestly, it worked for the most part! I told myself I’d be fine, to just remain in the present and make sure my needs were being taken care of. Minutely, underneath the positive coaching, I was scared out of my mind. On the car ride over, I was caught up in a barrage of “what if” scenarios. However, the minute we were dropped off from the (word here for tractor car) we were immediately embraced, as if we really were relatives staying for a visit.
When we weren’t staying with our homestay families, we went off and explored the village. We explored the ruins of temples in the area; helped farm cassava roots; and attended an early new years celebration. Our time spent in the village was among the most challenging of out of our other locations, but that just made it all the more meaningful.
In Banteay Chhmar our instructors surprised us with two X-phase days. In X- phase, students plan, lead, and navigate the programs schedule. So, during our last days in Banteay Chhmar we were all assigned roles to help us get through X-phase as smoothly as possible. Even though we were all extremely excited to be able to lead the program for two whole days, we under estimated how difficult the planning would be.
After 3 days of planning, we decided that we wanted to make the most of our time in Siem Reap by seeing as much as we could in the little time we had. On X-phase day one we decided to explore Angkor Botanical Garden, Wake Park, and the Angkor Night Market. On day two we went to Themes Art Gallery, and Angkor National Museum.
Both days were extremely different but had a similar theme which I personally loved. Day one showed a variety of nature in Siem Reap and how the people maintain those environments. We seen the gardens, we swam and got to walk around the streets of Siem Reap. Day two focused on art in Siem Reap. At Themes art gallery the focus was perseverance of traditional Khmer art and lifestyle however, the Angkor National Museum was focused primarily around ancient art in Cambodia. Being in all these spaces in a two day time span was a little overwhelming like being at a buffet. There was a huge variety of activities that we got to enjoy and I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
