Cambodian Time

"So what have you been up to? Keepin' busy?"

Sometimes when I get asked these innocent questions by family and friends on Skype conversations, I occasionally go blank.  It's like I'm reliving my spelling bee days of 2^nd grade and have been asked to spell my favorite bonus word: perseverance. I could easily spell the word at the kitchen table a dozen times this morning, but the fact that I have twenty five pairs of eyes watching me causes my stress level to rise. Needless to say, conversing on Skype is much different and about ten thousand times more pleasurable than a spelling bee, but I get the same clueless feeling when I'm asked about the work that we're doing every day. It's not that EGBOK Mission volunteers are indolent - I can promise you that I have never worked with a group of such dedicated, enthusiastic, organized, and motivated people in my life. My challenge of recalling all the tasks, projects, and expansion that are being worked on spurs from the realization that there really is a monstrous amount of work that's being done here, and when you've lived in it for 91 days (or 2+ years if you're the EGBOK Mission founder, Ben Justus) it takes some effort to zoom out and see how each of the volunteer's daily accomplishments slowly add up. 

At this point there are 6 EGBOK Mission volunteers in Cambodia working with Ben to help continue, expand, improve, and run the day-to-day happenings that fall in the lap of an NGO that deals with 10 students who are about to graduate from hospitality school, 25 students who are about to move across the country to attend hospitality school, and 7 sites throughout Cambodia. Easy? I think not.

The 6 of us come from varied backgrounds, degrees, and experiences; some of us have volunteered in Cambodia before, others have never had the thrill of riding in a tuk-tuk or sipping on a 35 cent iced coffee before this month. With all of our combined degrees, we make for a varied resume - Economics, Finance, English, Social Work, Hospitality, Geography, and Health. Regardless of what and how much we've studied or our volunteer duration, all of us spend every day working with one another on the random tasks at hand. Personally, this is the reason I felt comfortable committing to six months with EGBOK Mission; every day is different and this crazy thing called Cambodian Time makes things scoot along inexplicably fast.

The thing I enjoy the most, besides working with my co-volunteers, is that there is no such thing as an average day as an EGBOK Mission volunteer. I have spent mornings on the computer, afternoons at the copy shop, and evenings at the student house. I have spent mornings sitting roadside along one of downtown Siem Reap's streets getting keys made - or, I should say, waiting for keys to get made. I have spent endless hours pacing the small, scorching hot copy shop as EGBOK Mission students' resumes gradually glide through the printer at an alarmingly sluggish speed. While I wait, I try to converse with the copy attendant, but every time I attempt this casual dialogue I remember my very first chat with him about why he no longer teaches computer classes at the high school - he got tired of talking.

The mindboggling and ironic thing is that for as fast as the overall duration in Cambodia goes, most of the necessary daily tasks take approximately three times as long as we're used to. Need ten copies? Plan for 15 minutes. Need 25 color prints? Plan to bring your lunch.

In one week, EGBOK Mission has gone from occupying 2 rooms to 4 rooms in the guesthouse where we live. Now, because our rooms stretch down the hall of the second floor, my dorm room days have reappeared. Unlike the dorms, where we'd rely on each door's whiteboard to inform the others of our whereabouts, EGBOK Mission volunteers rely on a quick call. Given the array of places we go, ways to get there, and the people we meet, some of our phone conversations produce surprised, confused, or Only In Cambodia reactions, "You're where? Why do you need to show her the coffee shop? OOOHHH. Copy shop. Got it." Or "I don't remember what aisle the crackers are in - get the shrimp-flavored banana chips instead." Or my favorite, "Gotta call you back. Cockroach on my bed."

At any one moment, the 6 of us could be organizing class lesson plans, documenting finances, meeting with hospitality school staff to discuss next year's EGBOK Mission students, meeting with a hotel's General Manager to educate them about EGBOK Mission, visiting the student house and helping the Front Office students perfect their guest relation skills by acting dramatically like an unhappy hotel guest, or visiting a student during their internship (or, as of this week, their JOB!). The later is my favorite task to accomplish - checking in at a hotel or restaurant to briefly visit one of the EGBOK Mission students in uniform. Whether behind the bar or behind the front desk, they are always happy to be visited. They are more than willing to pose for the camera as they pour a glass of wine or use the espresso machine to making my coffee.

For the sake of the students, during these visits I am reminded of my junior high choir concerts and every other experience that involves parents visiting their child in a public venue for an important event - it's good to have your parents there to see you perform, but as a student you are secretly crossing your fingers in hopes they won't embarrass you too much. Same idea during the student internship and job visits; as volunteers we let them know we're excited for them, we place our order, and then we proudly chat about them as we grab a table that's not too close, but within easy view of these successful EGBOK Mission scholars.

The days are long (especially when the neighbors are chain-sawing down a coconut tree at 6am), jam-packed, and exhausting. The heat, language barrier, and Cambodian pace of accomplishing things can be frustrating. But it's exciting. It's fun. It's unlike any position I could ever imagine having at home. I'm lucky to be with the other volunteers, and so thankful to spend the next 107 days continuing to work with them as we rapidly plough ahead into the whirlwind of Cambodian Time.