Good bye Stralians

     On Friday evenings, we four tourist/volunteers were transported into Sen Menorom for the weekend.  This gives the staff at the Project the weekend off and also facilitates visitor exchanges.  The three excellent Australian women I'd spent the week with--Jill, Asher, and Klara--had only signed up for one week at the Project and so were set to leave early Saturday morning.  I knew I would miss them.
     All three of them were so very gutsy.  They slept amongst the spiders and "muzzies" without complaint.   They packed excellent bug spray from home--called Bushman's, 80 % Deet--and were breezily unconcerned about malaria.  They worked hard when hard work was called for.  They loved the elephants.   AND they were great company--funny, cheerful, and supportive.

     Sometimes I think you can tell something about a person by what photos they took.  These are two of Jill's photos (wish I could claim them for my own!) 

   





This is Ry supervising us cultivating around the newly-planted banana plants.  She was clearly unimpressed by both our skills and our work ethic.









 
 And this is Ry and her little girl.











     Klara, whom you've seen in an earlier blog, amazed me by embarking on this trip to Cambodia pretty much on her own, despite being only about 21 years old and not at all the reckless type.  She'd spend a week and a half in Phnom Penh before coming here building houses for Habitat for Humanity, and she greatly impressed me by bravely attempting conversation with people who spoke NONE of her language and vice versa.  While I doubt if she was actually understood much, I'm sure the message she conveyed was always one of kindness and goodwill.
     I haven't had the occasion to meet many Australians in my lifetime, but if these women were at all representative of the national character, that's a country that's in good shape.
     We all checked into what seemed like a SUMPTUOUS hotel in Sen Menorom and each took showers of at least a half-hour in duration.  I thought I'd gotten the first suntan of my life, but be damned if it didn't wash off in a hot shower.  Then we all went to the Green House, which has to be the friendliest establishment in Cambodia, pounced on their free internet service to re-open communications with husbands and boyfriends, and had drinks and dinner.  Then we went back to the hotel and exchanged email addresses, and when I awoke in the morning, they were all gone.