A Kenyan in Cambodia

So I changed my hairstyle a week ago..I have it in a ponytail with an extension at the end,or at the top.I did not expect that my new hairstyle would be such a big deal..lol.I got even more people staring at me(I dint know it would be possible to have more people staring at me..am in shock!!) and my kids at school are asking me all sorts of questions..' Teacher how do you sleep?' ,' how do you shower?".."Does it hurt?" Did you do it by yourself?".."Is it real?"..."Can I please touch your hair teacher?"..Well I can totally understand why African hair is so weird to them,because we Africans are always doing different things to our hair all the time and most Cambodians easily get confused!!Well,I have a history of telling stupid little lies to the Cambodians..just tiny little lies that no one else would ever believe!Like one day I was with a group of Cambodian women and it was late evening and had started to get dark..so I pretended how ...

Its been ages since I last posted..blame it on my excitting social life,I barely have time to sit down and write.Anyway I recently moved out of my apartment for various reasons,and now I live alittle bit far from everything..it's crazy.In Cambodia everyone complains about the crazy traffic..and I never understood why because:    1) For two years my place of work was a 3 minute walk from my apartment!    2) The supermarket where I did all my shopping was a 5 minute motoride away.    3) If I needed fresh veggies..and stuff,there was a market like 5minute away(walking)    4) If I had to go out I did that later on in the night like after 9pm and there is usually no traffic at this time.                            So now you know why I never understood what everyone was complaining about...

So today was the official mourning day after the terrible stampede, and the mood is different here in Cambodia...well in Phnom Penh..well in my neighbourhood atleast. The Cambodians have a funny way of expressing themselves..they laugh at anything and everything (or am I the only one who has noticed this?) and I talked to some people,you know just to see their take on that many people dieing..and i was kinda surprised that some of them still used jokes to express their feelings.Well am sure i could detect some sadness in their voices so that's ok.  Now,one thing you need to know about Cambodians is that they are very,very,very superstitious people.When it comes to spirits,ghosts,death...trust me..its ridiculous.Since the stampede there have been stories and rumors allover.Some flayers have been photocopied and are being circulated everywhere...it's times like these i wish i could read Khmer. Today morning as i left my apartment to go to work,i noticed that my driver's m...

 Hey everyone,well i promised I was going to update you after experiencing the crazy Water Festival!!Well i have good news and bad news... The good news is...... This weekend has been magical!!like seriously i have had enough fun to last me a decade..My friends and i went down to the riverside to check out the huge crowds and to watch the boat races and oh yeah how can i forget the fireworks...it was amazing!!One of our friends has an amazing apartment at the riverfront and we all just hang out watching the events unfold from the balcony,it was really cool,especially when one of my Angolan friend and i just started waving at random Cambodians passing by...hahahaha that was goood.Most of them came from the villages and had never ever seen black people..so we gave them a story to take back home "We saw black people!!!and them black people are crazy...they were smiling and waving at us." "Did the black people have fingers like us??" "ummm am not so sure..you k...

Hey y'all,I have no idea what I want to write and i have already used the title Random before...so clearly am out of another cool title!!Oh well...so i have nothing in particular to talk about but yeah i just thought to check in lol.I have been enjoying myself at work really..which is kinda a weird feeling because in my other place of work i was just used to stress,deadlines and policies that did not make sense,designed specifically to make sure you had the worst time ever at work!!Wow am so liking my new job,relaxed and very very nice.My only problem at the moment is this annoying co worker i have..arrrgh!!its like someone please shoot him!!(Well that's a little strong..but seriously..)anyway ill figure out how to deal with him but in the meantime my mission is ignore him until further notice!! Ok so in Cambodia there is this very big and important festival called Water Festival...ooh its soo good because we get like 3days off work and that is just excellent!!!They hav...

 Hey everyone.Its been a long long time since my last post..i just kinda got too lazy to write..plus av been busy with work and stuff. So i have been feeling kind of down lately and yesterday i was rally sad for most part of the day.So there is this colleague of mine who will be travelling soon and so we decided to get together and just hang out for the last time probably.We all go to this place in Cambodia called Lakeside(well there is a lake so..)and its a really cool place and all the backpackers stay there because they have some cheap guesthouses (and weed).We are sitting around talking and just having fun,there was like 11 of us, and we realise that we all actually come from different places(i like it when that happens..am always representing Africa!!!)and it was so cool,really diverse..Kenyan,Brazilian,Australians,Irish,Americans,Dutch..it was really interesting.So this guy called Josh was probably the most interesting...you will know why in a minute.  One thing you sh...

I have nothing in particular to write about actually.I have been having so much fun almost everyday that i don't see the point of writing about it anymore.God blessed me with wonderful friends and at the moment am just happy.Alot is happening..time is moving so fast...makes me think about the future and one day i looked at my past and asked myself if there is anything i really regret and if i could,what would i change.Well there is only one thing i regret..and as much as i would like to tell you,its kinda personal,its the one mistake that i would turn back time to undo.But what is done is done,there is no need for crying over spilt milk(or water).But i chose to learn from that mistake and...i have learned..and i have moved on period.Am wiser now. Right now i really want to focus on things that matter.I want to surround myself with people who make me a better person...speaking of that,have you realised just how some people bring out the worst in you??Its kinda creepy really,when t...

  Hey everybody,wow so much has happened between now and the last post that i dont know where to start at all!!!Well ill just give you a lil something..last week we had a holiday on Thursday and Friday.making it a very long weekend.So my friends and i went to Kep Kampot..it is a small beach town outside the city...and we had so much fun,i met new people that are soo cool and we just enjoyed ourselves.We did not go the beach there though because it was a little crowded with Cambodians but we went to this wonderful island..OMG!!really beautiful,with clean water and we just liked it.The crab was soooo good.Am not a sea food kinda person but trust me that crab was goood!we call it the happy crab!!  Well alot happened,but am not in a writing mood really..there was this small incident involving a certain tipsy African girl with a certain tiny Chinese guy..that will make yall laugh but lets keep that a secret for now.Hilarious!!  Am having so much fun,really,am just happy!!A...

Hey everyone.Well well well,we had a holiday on Friday,so the weekend was pretty long and I was just wondering what to do with all that time,then my friend suggested we go to the zoo!Yeah there is actually a zoo in Cambodia!!And we had so much fun at the zoo,but in order to understand everything,there is one thing yall need to know.Before I came to Cambodia,my friends were very very helpful,telling me what to expect,what to bring...etc.Well i was made to understand that Cambodia is extremely hot(compared to Kenya)and yeeees it is.It is sooo hot sometimes that i get sooo angry coz it is just ridiculous!!I mean it is 5pm in the evening and the temperature is 32 degrees!!what the hell?am always sweating like a pig and (lets not get into the heat in this place...ill loose it)So  moving on...so everyone told me this helpful bits of advice,that i appreciated so much,but everybody failed to mention one of the most important things,which is CAMBODIANS HAVE NEVER SEEN BLACK PEOPLE!!!yes!the...

I was too quick to get excited about today's trip to the Royal Palace!!!lololol.This is what happened.I got to school,all the students scheduled to go to the Palace today came to school early and they were all excited and very eager to leave.I was too...so i dont blame them.So the assistants had to change them into school t shirts..(you know so that they look official and to make it easy for the teachers to identify them)And apparently we also had to change into the school t shirt too.So we all have breakfast in school as usual,and we are scheduled to leave after breakfast.After breakfast we are all ready and the students line up nicely waiting for the school bus.And am thinking wow so well behaved(little did i know!!!)The bus arrives and in the excitement they all rush towards it and am thinking oh well just kids being kids.So off we go.We get there and it starts drizzling a little so we have to wait.Then we actually get to go in(after paying).Once we got in all hell broke loose.....

Well I had a feeling this was going to be a not sooo good day,had received some pretty bad news yesterday and i had some weird dreams at night and i woke up feeling all moody,i even got angry at the alarm for ringing(poor alarm).Then i went to take a shower and water was cut off and i was soooo mad i just wrapped a towel around my body,opened the door and shouted at my landlord's worker to turn the freaking water back on!!(my landlord lives in the same compound)For some weird reason when am really angry i cant speak Khmer(cambodia's language)so i was just going on and on in english at this poor woman who doesn't understand a word am saying and she was wondering..this chic is always speaking to me in khmer so how come today she is speaking English??Then in her twisted Cambodian reasoning,she decided that probably am not talking to her...so she looked around for a second with a confused look on her face and continued to do whatever it is she was doing.That just made it worse ...

A couple of days ago I was thinking,I have good friends and all but my circle of friends is not as big and as diverse as i would like it to be.All my friends are either the kenyans living here in cambodia(and they are not soooo many)or my workmates!!So i want to make new friends.So am on a mission people...make new friends!!Lets see how that goes. Cheers everyone!

Have you ever had one of those days that you wake up and you feel like you are on cloud nine?You are feeling really good inside,really beautiful outside?And every step you make is like dang girl...well i woke up feeling like that today.Today was my Feel Beautiful Day!!Aaaaaah had a very nice weekend.Am happy!!There was a party yesterday night...thats the 9th weekend in a row there is a party to attend-wow!Alot of people are sure hosting parties,maybe I should host a party too..mmmh soon!It was my friend's daughter's birthday.My friend K went out of her way to make sure it was a really nice party.K is one of the nicest people I have personally met in Cambodia.We went over to help out with the cooking in the afternoon-so much fun.(Note to self:Cooking while tipsy=bad idea)We left at 1am,and one of the best things i love about Cambodia is the security.You can go anywhere at wherever time and no one will ask you anything.Sometimes I take walks as late as 11pm at night..when the air...

Hi everyone.I have always been bragging of how I have never had a toothache in my life....well thats changed!!wow today i had my first toothache and am going to immortalize this major event in my blog...kinda stupid i know!Anyway its Friday and instead of a loud crazy night out,i opted for a cool,silent,girly sleepover at my friend's place.I like to do girly stuff sometimes.We are talking about boyz,a lot of giggling,some nail painting and watching America's next top model(does it get girlier than that??)Is there a word like girlier?..mmmmh oh well. So the toothache.I still cant believe it.Kesho,i mean tomorrow ill go poking inside my mouth to try see the hell is happening in there Ok people gotta get back to the 'party'.Later.Cheers

Goodafternoon yall!!Its 12:34pm am home from work.I work part time in a Kindergarten school,from 7 to noon,and I cant believe how much fun am having.Its only been two weeks there and am settled and I really like the place,plus my students are the most adorable 4yr olds av ever met.cute cute cute.What i like about my new place of work is that its so informal...like a home.Sometimes I forget its actually workplace,so relaxed.I remember the other day a teacher was like ' Madam (our boss) I always do my washing at my friend's place coz she has a washing machine,but she'l be busy in the evening so i wanna go now coz she is in the house right now"...and I held my breath..i couldnt wait for the reply,my fingers were crossed and i turned my head away in anticipation of the embarassing tell off that teacher was going to get.Shock on me,the boss was like 'oh ok' and she went about her business.I was like what!!!i need alot of adjusting coz my previous place of work was.....

I have been doing some research here and there about blogging..was really interested in writting down my thoughts and stuff..but I always thought it was extremely difficult to start ablog.So today I just decided to do it,and its done yoohoo!!Now i have no idea what in particular I will be blogging about..and am actually just learning a thing or two as am going along,so this should be exciting lol.nway hope I wont bore everyone to death..i can be very annoying sometimes lol.I can also be very interesting.lol. Oh yeah i was supposed to introduce myself!!My name is Magdalene but many people call me many different things..but i guess maggie is the most common.This therefore leads to the confusion that my name is Margaret!!And that awkward moment when I introduce myself as Maggie then i go ahead and explain that its really Magdalene and not Margaret and ...yeah! Anyhu I have been living in Phnom penh,Cambodia for 2yrs+ now...and i like it.Cambodia is a cool place to be.It is really beau...