I am eating a Sandwich Now... in Phnom Penh

Everything is at once different, yet familiar, but still not quite right. Like the stationary store that also sells sports equipment. Or the half stocked pharmacy with things like "super floss" and "spasmo" medicine. Or from the very specifically named Mini Banana Restaurant to the infinite possibilities of the Do It All Pub. There's a thousand things to see and note, and I couldn't possibly begin to put them all down here. In that sense, living somewhere exotic is so different than traveling somewhere exotic. When you're traveling, everything's supposed to be different, that's the experience. When you live there, everything's different and you have to try to make it make sense to you so you can find your way through it on a daily basis. Crazy.

The school I work at is very nice and caters to the international and wealthy families. The kids are, of course, cute, as kids are pretty universally cute. But this is the kind of school where you hear "I learned that song when I lived in Hanoi" ("Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me") or "Teacher, do you speak Korean?"

And speaking of languages, things are a bit strange. Obviously Khmer would be useful to know, but Mandarin is used around the school a lot too (mostly among staff), and French pops up in odd ways here and there. For example, the street the school is on is labeled "Street 51 (Rue Pasteur)" on signs. (At least I get to teach in English.)

Speaking of streets, the one the school is on is vey nice, and in a nice part of town. By "nice", I mean the buildings are fancy/important and the shops and restaurants nicer. There's a huge, fancy house next door to the school, but when we asked who lives there the most extensive answer we could get was "His Excellency". (I have no idea who this is, but it's not the king or prime minister as they have official residences.) We're near a lot if UN agencies, big NGOs (like UNICEF), and International schools. A nice part of town. However, as this is still Cambodia, "nice" part of town means that all the buildings are behind walls and iron gates topped with curly barbed wire. Nice, yes. Inviting, no.

Not to mention I'm still a huge target for every tuk tuk tout, taxi driver, and begging child or amputee. Sigh, not that I ever won't be, I suppose, being so incredibly white.

I feel like my life is so ridiculous, so strange, so drastically different and all of a sudden so, that it's not like my life has been turned upside down, but rather that I waltzed in and took over someone else's life.