I made it to Cambodia and here's my story with photos!

As you recall, I had many gauntlets to get passed to enter Cambodia.

Friday, July 17: the day I'm supposed to leave for LAX at 9:30pm to make my first flight at 12:20am, Saturday, July 18.  Spent all day waiting for Covid-19 test results, pretty much resigned myself to NOT making the flight because results not in....

Friday, July 17, 4:15pm: results in and Negative (Yahoo!), but have 45 minutes to pick up results before they close; Stephanie and I fly down the freeway with 5 minutes to spare (I'm not making this up!)….
-we stop for dinner (are we crazy or what?), go back to house get luggage and leave for LAX
-we arrive in plenty of time to an empty Tom Bradley and I take a deep breath as Stephanie and I walk up to the Korean Air ticket counter (this is the moment...months in the making, do or die, you understand)….
-I have all my paperwork in a folder very organized:
$50,000 ins. CHECKED
Visa CHECKED
$3000 cash CHECKED
Covid-19 Negative results CHECKED
-The agent starts putting boarding passes together and I feel my body relaxing and I joke with her that I'm organized and ready to be checked in Seoul...she says the magic words, "Oh! no, you're fine, you're checked through to Cambodia.  You'll have to show the Cambodians everything, but you're fine."  I want to hug her, but I know it's not appropriate so I hug and start to cry with Stephanie....

 

 

 

I'm on the plane and it's a third full with the flight attendants in semi Hazmat suits with goggles.  When I can, I order a glass of wine!!!

 

 

Sunday, July 19: Incheon Airport, Seoul: I have flown into this airport many times when I was teaching in Mongolia.  I have never seen it this empty.  Mainly airport personnel walking around.  Many stores were open, but no customers.  Departure board virtually empty.  Planes just sitting on the tarmac.  I hope you can open up the video with the robot (mentioned in my last blog).

 

Sunday, July 19 at 10pm: arrive Phnom Penh Airport, Cambodia: I take a deep breath as I gather my belongings and head out to what I know will be a long ordeal.  The Cambodians have spent about two months perfecting this procedure, but it's still overwhelming (Cambodia has a pop. of 16,000,000 with 170 cases and NO deaths)...they are doing a great job:

-Covid-19 Negative results CHECKED

-$3000 cash CHECKED with receipt

-Visa and passport CHECKED and kept

*a note: I swear no one checked my $50,000 insurance???

-testing for Covid-19 throat swab and nose swab (I think it went into my brain), I'm gagging

-paperwork flying/stations everywhere and it seems like they all want to see my boarding pass and seat assignment (Oh! they're tracking...good job!)

-luggage recovered

-waiting in line for bus to take us to hotel until results come back (making friends with fellow passengers, trying to stay awake)

-arrive hotel and very nice...finally get up to my room...I think it's around 1am Monday:(

-we are told test results will come back on Tuesday and if everyone tests negative we can go to our own places, BUT still under self quarantine which means only go out for groceries

-OOPS...one person tested positive so we have to stay at this hotel for 13 days, Aug.1 and CANNOT leave and no visitors, our temperatures are taken twice a day by health workers...like I said the Cambodians are taking this seriously. 

-My principal delivers food to me:):):)

 

-Today is Saturday, July 25 and I think DAY 7 or could be 6...I guess I'll find out!

 

 

Please see photos below of the hotel.  The staff have been incredible, friendly and just so very nice.  Once August 1 comes and hopefully all test negative, then I'll go to my apt. which is in the Russian Market area and very nice. 

 

Rooftop pool

View from my room of the Royal Palace and the Mekong River

Pool closed just yesterday due to government regulation of Covid-19.  There are several families here with kids and I felt sorry for them because the pool was a great outlet.  Oh! we even have a dog under quarantine!  And speaking of all of us expats...truly everyone has a great attitude...it's wonderful to see:) 

Beautiful lobby of the Okay Boutique Hotel

I will be teaching 4th grade at East-West International School.  As it stands now, we will only be teaching online.  Apparently, that could change at any time and the school has come up with a very viable hybrid plan.  They care for the safety of children and teachers!!!

 

FINGERS CROSSED EVERYONE TESTS NEGATIVE!!!

PS Those flags are waving.................



 



 

 



 



 

 

 

I’m still going to Cambodia…and here’s my story:

 

 

Recently, I was up in Santa Barbara visiting my good friend Robbie and on her patio she has five flags blowing in the wind(see insert): peace, strength, courage, compassion, and wisdom.  She received them from a good friend of hers.  The idea is when the breeze comes up these traits are blowing to you, your neighbors and really the whole world.

 

The last time I left you via my blog was in February and I had gotten a teaching job in the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  I was very excited as many of you were for me.  I felt the calling again to teach and to teach overseas.

That was before we knew the names: social distancing, home-based learning, Zoom, Whulan, Dr. Fauci, curbside pickup, where’s the tp?  We discovered Venice Canal was actually beautiful. 

Something was in the air.  But I was busy, even though months away, putting my lists together for this new adventure. 

 

Then March came and LOCKDOWN.  The end of living as we knew it.

I think I need those traits!

Schools went to virtual learning, online teaching, distance learning--again terms that would become commonplace.  Teachers and students thrown into situations they were not familiar with and were sometimes scary.  This included my international school in Cambodia.  As things got worse, they were trying to figure out what to do and how to keep parents happy.  Would the school stay open, would we have jobs for the coming year, and if so, was it possible that I could be teaching Cambodian kids from my apt. in San Clemente via distance learning?

Then about mid-April I received an email from the director and quite honestly I was afraid to open it--did I have a job?  I think it’s one of those emails I read in the middle of the night!  There is a 14 hour difference in time. 

Alas! I had a job, but that’s all I really knew.  I was excited and grateful…but definitely still feeling the anxiety.

Around the same time, Cambodia decided to close its borders to America and five other countries.  “Okay”, I said to myself, “I still have months to go…I can do this!”(a mantra that would become commonplace).

I went back to list making even though I couldn’t do a lot because everything was closed.

Let me just add a side note: it’s so true that it is sometimes better not to know what lies ahead.

Mid-May comes and I’m still attached to my list(maybe too much, but hey what else am I going to do). 

News Flash(also mid-May): CAMBODIA OPENS UP ITS BORDERS TO AMERICANS AND FIVE OTHER COUNTRIES!!! 

I think I’m on a roll. 

But wait: borders are open, BUT no visas are being issued and I’m told to call back in a week or so.

Two months and counting to be in Cambodia mid-July.

Breathe.  I’ve done a lot of meditation…which is a good thing.

About two weeks later, they start issuing visas to get into the country…AND this is where the fun starts.  Note: remember what I said about not knowing too much into the future.

The list to get a visa was actually not bad for me, others, not so: send my passport to the Cambodian Embassy (I chose to overnight FedEx to Washington D.C. with a return) along with my teaching contract and introduction letter, etc. etc. etc.

Let me make another VERY IMPORTANT side note because I don’t want to bore you with ALL the minut details of how I finally ended up with my passport and visa, AND also the ADDITIONAL list of how to leave the U.S. and enter Cambodia (some of you have heard my story right from the beginning).

NOW THE VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: many times it’s the person on the other end of the phone who can make ALL the difference in the world.  Add the pandemic, very long waits on phone with listening to lots of different music, none of us knowing(even the experts?)what’s what…well, you get the message.  For instance, I thought my flights were set…then the cancellations started.  I did cry once on the phone.  Right now it looks like my flights are good to go!!!

Two weeks to leave.

The lists are starting to have a life of their own…black scratches everywhere!

BUT, I have learned or still learning through all of this, NOTHING IS SET IN STONE AND CHANGES OCCUR MORE THAN NOT!!!

I think about those five traits.

List to enter Cambodia:

Have documentation showing $50,000 medical insurance for foreign country…done

 

Have passport with visa...done

 

Covid-19 test required 72hrs. before arrival in Cambodia showing negative results.  Some information states 72hrs. before departure at LAX (all of this testing has caused me more than the average angst).  I’m going with the ARRIVAL, but that means I get tested Friday morning here, July 18 and leave Friday night at midnight.  Original documentation, NO copies!!!  All you’ve heard about testing is true, BUT….

I CAN DO THIS!!!  I am woman, hear me roar!

By the way, I still have a million more things to do.

I have three gauntlets to pass, LAX (my daughter-in-law is dropping me off, but knows not to leave until she gets the text saying it’s a go), Incheon Airport in South Korea (apparently the airport is empty except for a robot running around…I can hardly wait), and finally Phnom Penh.  When we land in Cambodia, we have to be tested and even if all passengers on the flight test negative, we still have to self-quarantine(I just got my apartment), AND if one person tests positive then we all have to go to a facility to be quarantined.

Onward and upward….

The director and the school have been incredible with their support.  I’m blessed!

I have connected with people around the world who are attempting to do what I’m doing and just that has been an incredible experience…all of us supporting each other.  One saying, “This is exhausting!”  I can relate.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “Why is she doing this?”

Well…at times I wonder if I’m Alice going down the rabbit hole and/or in the Twilight Zone listening for Rod Serling’s voice…or maybe both.  There have been times when I feel so confident and other times where I wake up at 2am wondering, “What am I doing?”

But I’ve thought about the pioneer women of yesteryear and what they had to put up with to cross the American plains, and it’s so much more than what I’m enduring.  I want to be like them.  I want to be like Isak Dinesen, Beryl Markham, Mary Kingsley, Alexander David-Neel, and the list goes on….check out these incredible women!

Recently, I asked a good friend, “And why am I doing this?”

Her response was, “You are doing this because you love an adventure and you are a great teacher.”

I’m going to leave you with that thought and the five flags--peace, strength, courage, compassion, and wisdom.….as always thanks for your support and love,

Diane

PS  I have actually finished a few lists and thrown them away!