Tuesday 17th September. This is it. First day at the new office.

I have come to realise that this humidity is intense (According to the internet it is 92%) This feels about right as it is constantly hot and sticky.

The air is thick and some times you can taste it.

The Air conditioning in the room works a treat and was on all night at 23degrees, nice and cool! Outside it is 30 and it is 20:18 right now.

Because of this heat it i impossible to move without breaking a sweat. It is most uncomfortable, I noow realise that the close I have a pretty much inappropriate given that they ae not loose enough.

Today I had a cotton shirt (shoulderless) and made my black cotton dress into a skirt. The shirt was not really appropriate for wok as it is supposed to be covering the shoulders but I idnt have much of an option.

I went down to breakfast arounf 8am. The choice was interesting. It cnsisted of items such as rice, noodles, soup and then some more western tradditional meals such as egg and bread, Right at the bottom above Fruit salad I discovered Pancake with Banana.

I was feeling more like fruit salad but given that I didn't eat much n my travels from Bangkok and I had a full day in the office - Pancake was the winner!

It was very good. From what I could tell the Banana wass in the mix of the pancake. It was a thick one, almost like a waffle with four corners, each heart shaped.

Towards the end of breakfast I was brought some pineapple. This was nice, less acidy than the ones we have back in the UK.

I went back to my room to brush my teeth. I did however find some form of but in my toothbrush. I couldnt work out what it was, but between the brissels was a little bug which looked kind of like a black slug? I threw the brush away and opened a nice fresh one. I am definately keeping the little toothbrish cover on it to keep it fresh.

Just bfore 9am I got a Tuk Tuk to the office. This cost $2.

The roads here are very very busy and dirty. Some times there is so much dust flying up you cannot breath. The air behind a gust of wind and the Tuk Tuk/Cars often makes my eyes pick.

The Office was a little furter than the map shows, so I will have to get a Tuk Tuk home.

I think it will be far to hot to rise a push bike from the hostel and I dont wsh to pay between $4-6 Dollars a day for a Tuk Tuk. I know that sunds cheap but over the course of 3 months it will add up and I need to watch the pennies and no one is paying me any.

The office is located down a small alley way,it is off the road and on a dirt track. It has the official logo nicely displayed at the front so I knew this was it.

I walked in (remembering to take off my shoes) and greeted the lady I saw. Chum Riep Sure (How do you do) and asked for Se. I actually said se as in C rather than Si, so she didnt actualy know what I was talking about for a moment, Didnt take long to sort that out though.

se greeted me and took me on a quick tour of the office,

The office is a typical Cambodian brick style houe. It has the entry steps for which one must take off his/her shoes. Then a entrance area. There are two offices down stairs, each with between 4-6 employees. They are the Project Co-ordinators. Today though most of them are out on site. I will meet them on monday.

Up stairs I was shown the toilet and then Billy's office (Billy is the Chairman) introduced to Rachael and Joeseph then shown the finance room where Erik, Lita, Se and BoRany work.

Joeseph currently works for Apple in Australia and is coming to the end of a 2 month internship.

Rachael is from Wales and has a couple months left. I didnt get to speak with Rachael to much so I am not sure what it is she is doing and for how much longer but Se did emailme before I came to cambodia to let me know that sh had a spare room and that this was an option if I wanted to share with her.

I may take this up as I am not to sure about the place I am at the moment - but more details on that later.

The morning was spent reading children protection policies, the contitution and This Life's portfolio. It is really nice to ger more of an idea of what the company does as it is one thing to read it at home and another see it here.

The team at TLC seem very friendly and I hope that this placement works.

Right now my biggest concern is the hygience or Lack of!

To many places dont have hot taps. This means that the washing of dishes is being done in cold water. A splash of hot water if we are lucky but going on what I have seen and conversations with other Foreigners (as we are called) this is the case.

Everything is direty. Everything you touch is rather unpleasant. I very much need to remember to use my hand wipes! I have been round the light switches and the oor handles in my room so far but Im not sure how long I will stay here. I am going to look for an alternative tonight.

If its a case of paying a little bit more for a hostel or hotel that is closer and cleaner then I think I will. As this place is cheap $11/$13 per nght but with the travel costs $4/$6 per day it is going to be between $15 and $19 per day. I think I can find something closer for less?

I spoke a little while with Joseph as we were both in the same room. Se put me with Joseph today in Billy's office as i) it was cooler in there ii) Billy was a way.

Tomorrow I am in the finance office with 5 other people. Hopefully se will let us put the aircon on as he often doesnt allow this. He maymake an exception for the Foreighner.

For lunch we went to a local on the road restaurant. I ate with part of the team so the Cambodians didnt try and over charge us ( every where you go and everything you do if you are a visitor you are charged 3 times as much. Unless you are with a Kmer then they will let you pay Kmer rates).

I had steamed rice and Vegetables.

Who said Thai people were healthy? cant speak for theThai food but the food here is terribly polluted. The Cambodians add 3-4 table sppons of MSG to everything. Absolutely everything! This really doesnt agree with me and I think it may explain hwhy I woke up feeling a bit rubbish last night? Additionally a large proportion of Cambodians suffer from high cholestral

I have started to ask for MSG not to be added to my food. I hope they don't. Often they try and persuade you to have it, telling you that it is good for you. They genuinely believe it is good for you so the more the better. definately not the case!

I have heard a few dd things today. The other was, whilst we were at lunch the cambodiam waitress saidn toLita (Cambodian also) in Kmer. Don't drink the ice, you will have a fat baby. How beyond ridiculous. something about it the baby is exposed to coldness it will make fat to keep warm?

This is just an example of how the ack of education affects Cambodians.

I am going to post another blog post later on with information about the Charity I am working for and the statistics of education in Cambodia. But it wiill need a whol post of its own!

This afternoon I read a few more bits of the policies and procedures and went through a few administration things with Se.

At 16:30 Se took me round the town to see a few places. It was the first time I had been on the back of a Bike... a scooter.

In the Cambodian traffic, this was an experience! It is very very busy and there is no particular order. Although I must say that the drivers are very consientious!

First stop was an alternative guest house. This guesthouse is the same cost as the one I am staying in but there is a pool. There is the option of a) a fan room for $8 or b) a air con room which would be either $5 excluding electricity or $13 including electiricity. This was confusing as she was talking about the electricity cutting of at a certain point. I didnt like the sound of this.

Next Se took me around the near town, old market and new market. He showed me the banks and where to buy snacks. Although as I was on the back of the bike I am not entirely sure where all these places are? But I will learn.

I managed to get myself around some ths evening from my guesthouse. It started to rain on me which was a bit unliucky. I didnt want to go back to the hostel to get my brolley as it is bright pibk. I dont want to draw any more attention to myself. The colour of my skin does that enough here.

I walk for 15 mins or so and found a couple clothesplaces. I needed to buy some more apprppriate work clothes today. The prices were not as low as I thought they might be. Bangkok is terribly cheap incomparison! think I might have to save some money up for there and buy my Christmas goodies. Sorry all- I dont mean to be cheap but they are 5 times the price (at least) gott srentch these pennies :-)

I was out a little late this evening. I should go out after dark alone but as the sun sets around 5:30-6:00 with almost no warning I did get caught. But I was fine :-)

I am quite vulnerable here, being white, female and alone. I expect someone will take advantage at some point, but atleast I am aware can can do my best to prevent this! The hussle and the bussle doesnt help as there are so many people around you all the time and I am not to sure how quick they would be to help and even if they did chancs are the damage will have been done. That is a terrible thing to say and I know that they are generally very friendly, thoughtful people, but thats just the vibe I get. I hope Karma doesnt come and bite me in the butt!!

I had noodle soup wit vegetables for dinner. this was nice, although the noodles look and taste like those packet poodles.