A Kenyan in Cambodia

Merry Merry Merry Christmas to all my readers.Wherever you are I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.I thought id write a short post about what i did on christmas day here in Cambodia.I can say i had a wonderful time,although nothing compared to what id have done back home...sob sob.I really miss my family and friends in Kenya.  Ok so Christmas this year was on a Sunday!!How cool is that?I woke up early(9 am) got ready to go to church.I attend a church called ICA..International Christian Assembly.service starts at 10.30 am.It is a really cool church,the members are mostly Western expats with a few Cambodians,and a few Africans really.There are several African churches here,but I like my church.I contemplated going to an African church for Christmas service,I knew I was going to get a taste of African...obviously..you know how we do.We sing and dance until we are all sweating...it's usually alot of fun,but i kinda wanted a more quiet kind of service.I wanted to sing carols...Si...

 Hi everyone,I hope all of you are doing well.Aren't you glad how cool pp is at the moment?It's definitely a bit chilly sometimes in the the morning ay?Where is the hot water when you need it right?And last night it rained a little..Anyway,I dont think talking about the weather is a fun way to start this post..so enough already. Most expats living in Phnom Penh knows about Nerd night right?Ok those who dont know..Nerd Night is..erm,ok it's like a presentation but really cool and fun.The idea is to have people give a presentation of something they are passionate about,something they love and are nerdy about.There is no particular theme and this is so cool as it makes the topics presented on vary..making it really interesting.The presentations should be short as the rule is 20 slides 20 seconds each...although sometimes this is not always so practical.After a presentation,the crowd gets to ask qs.It is really interesting to learn about other people's interests. Tw...

  Hi beautiful people,hope everyone is having a wonderful time in this beautiful Kingdom..or wherever you are.Am having such a good day today.Anyway so last night I was having dinner with a friend of mine and she mentioned that the water festival has been cancelled this year...and I was like WHAT????For thosse who don't know...Water Festival is the largest public festival in Cambodia.The festival marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap river,and obviously there is a "scientific'explanation for this reversal.but its more fun when I think about it  as.."The river is just bored of flowing in the same direction all year long and decided..what the hell,am gonna go this way now!!" The highlight of the festival is the boat races on the riverside and fireworks afterwards...aaaah.The festival happens over 3 days once every year in November in Phnom Penh (the capital city) and bout 2 million people(ok..ok...1 million) come to Phnom Penh to enjoy the boat races,part...

 Hi people,so much has happened since my last post.I think I have lost my writing mojo lately...sigh..Today is Thursday...and Thursdays and Fridays are my favorite days of the week,because I only work for 2 hours on both days.So I have lots of free time.(Wait,why am I telling you this??)Ok for those who don't know,the easiest way to move around in Phnom Penh is by taking a moto taxi.There are other means of transport obviously,tuktuks,cyclos,taxis..whatever. I almost always take a moto coz they are faster.Am sure all of us living in PP has had one or two not so good moto bike rides.I have many stories about this..I mean I have taken motobikes and the person did not have a clue where we are going,and the worst thing is they rarely admit it.So you end up going in circles and circles and circles.I have taken a moto bike guy who was just a thief!He sped off before he could give me back my change.I was kinda lucky actually because I know one or two people who took out their wallets to g...

 Hi there everyone..it has been the longest time since I posted anything.And I recently checked my stats and whoooooa more than 2,000 views ..I was surprised.You know,I consider my blog sort of a silly one,because I never talk about serious things!!I love reading other people's blogs and am telling you people out there are writting about 'serious' things..you know,awareness about many things happening in Cambodia...human rights things..architectural things..cultural things...about stories behind the begging children on the streets...stories about the plight of cambodians who live on the river...oh and the slum along the railway line...stories about the evacuation issues in Cambodia by the big ass factories...the power issues...the huge gap between the rich and poor...things about several NGOs and what they do here,you know...damn.Those are 'serious' things!!It's not that I don't see these things..I do,but as an African,as a Kenyan this is not the frst time a...

  Ok, Ok...I didn't finish writting about my time spent in Kratie.And so much has happened since then!Osama died!!yooohoooo!!!I cant even begin to tell you how happy that made me!Well as you all know 'he' bombed the US embassy in Kenya in 1998..killing many Kenyan people and wounding others,so I grew up knowing exactly who the bastard was.I say that coz I realised not many people in Cambodia knew who Bin Laden was...until when he died and it was alover the news!I was sitting at home watching telly on a normal Saturday ..and as I was flipping channels..I got to CNN and there it was..breaking news!!I couldn't believe it,and it was a coincidence that my Kenyan friend had invited some of us over to her house for lunch...trust me,that lunch turned into a celebration!!Although I still think he died so easily..just a gunshot??no suffering?nothing?Well if it was up to me,things would go alittle different there..I wouldn't have a problem torturing him first.Nothing serious t...

Ok so for the KhmerNew Year I had only 3 days off and was invited to Kratie Province to stay with my Cambodian workmate's family,my workmate is called Noch.I did not know what to expect..but I was ready for anything and everything.Noch's brother was supposed to come pick us up on Tuesday at 5:30pm,but he didn't come until way after 7pm!Oh well.Her other family members were going as well,so there was 8 of us.His car was a pickup truck and Noch,her two cousins and I decided to sit in the back of the truck(bad idea).Drama started when I couldn't get my huge(and cute)ass up the truck hahahaaa ,but that was because I had to climb up from the tyre..it was too high for me lol..so they offered to physically help me...like have some one on the truck pull me up and some push me up from down..I was like that's ridiculous!no way am doing that!!So they had to get me a chair to step on...haha.And off we went. It was really cold at the back of the truck because of the wind and m...

Those who know me very well know that I like to dance...no wait..I loooove to dance.I think I was born dancing..I feel good when I dance,don't get me wrong..am not the best dancer out there,but when I start dancing,mostly I don't even care who is around me,who is watching,or whether am embarrasing myself or not!!I just do it!!When I go out dancing,I can dance for ages,hell I can even dance with no music on(well mostly when am tipsy lol) and I dance alone in my house alot too(weird??well wateva!!) I LOVE dancing!Nowadays I don't dance as much as I used to before...am growing old you know...But yeah dancing feels good!!  So,last Friday,I had one of those days when I feel like I need to dance...like seriously it's like a bad itch!My friends had planned to meet up for happy hour cocktails at Raffles Le Royal,a very posh hotel here..drinks are like $8.It was really nice,we were all dressed up and the cocktails were good and I have really good friends here,it's al...

 Well,I seriously need to figure out why I haven't posted in like forever...:( Anyways am back!!! Khmer New Year is just around the corner and I am super excited.Atleast 3 days off...I am so looking forward to that. Again...the number of holidays in Cambodia,but am not complaining AT ALL.Well for those who don't know what Khmer New Year is... its just the Cambodian New year or Chaul Chnam Thmey..in Khmer(the Cambodian language) and it literally means Enter Year New..well the Cambodian language is like that.Once you translate it literally/directly into English..you get some ridiculous thing.And that's why most Cambodians speak weird broken English,because they translate Khmer directly to English...and anyway am way out of topic here...  So obviously alot has happened in the magnificent Kingdom of wonder since my last post. Am having so much fun at work.No,no haven't told any more little white lies..yet!!And there are so many new expats in Cambodia,and it's always f...

So the other week my wonderful friends organised an 'ism'  boat party.We were supposed to come dressed as our favourite 'ism' ...that is basically any word that ends with 'ism'...like capitalism,communism,tourism...well and any other ism out there.I knew it was going to be cool.I had a really difficult time figuring out the right ism for myself.I wanted to go as Africanism...then i thought..nuh too cliche,am an African.Then I thought racism...then I was like nuh too predictable...am black,plus what would my costume be??!Then I became really desperate and decided I should just turn up super wasted and be alcoholism(am a genius,I know!!)..then I thought..wait,I could  turn up as an organism..you know like a big blob of amoeba!!!Has anyone watched the power puff girls??There is this group of 3 amoeba boys that try really hard to be criminals but no one takes them seriously..I had that in mind,go as an amoeba.But that was like really lame.Then I thought of going as ...

So,I have some new classes this sem and every time I meet new students for the first time,its always the same.Introduce myself,ask them to introduce themselves,then tell them that they are free to ask me any questions they would like..just to know me better.The questions are always the same...1)"Excuse me Ms. Kim how come you have such small ears?"...I like this question,because i never know how to answer it,doesn't matter how many times I have been asked.I know I have small ears,my brother alwaaaaays teased me about it when I was home,but they are not really quite easy to notice..especially not the first time you meet me,coz what are you doing looking at my ears??Well some observant people always notice after say the 6th or 7th meeting,but rarely the 1st.  Next question is always...2)"Tr why are you so black".I like this question..its asked in the most innocent of ways.They are really honestly just curious.So i go on and on about different races bla bl...

Bangkok,Thailand was fun!!Really fun, and big and awesome.I fell in love with the place and I will definitely go back. I was amazed at how diverse the people in Bangkok are,like the last time I saw that many Arabs was definitely in Kenya. Arabs are really really cute I remember wanting to steal some super cute Arab babies...just kidding. The taxis were cheap compared to the taxis here in Phnom Penh..I remember being stuck in traffic for over an hour and still paying just a little over 5 dollars...and at night my friends and I would go a pretty good distance and still pay like just over 2 dollars. I was amazed at how nobody was staring at me..at some point I started feeling neglected actually...mmmmh that is disturbing!But I don't blame them,they have seen it all probably so a random black girl walking down the street...who cares!And I found it so weird that in Bangkok,they don't drive big SUVs...Cambodia is way poorer and more remote than Thailand..like we cant even compare...

Yes,am finally in Bangkok and I must say I am really impressed.It's my first time here and I am beyond excited.It is a big city and coming from Cambodia(tiny little hole),it looks amazing.Atleast some tall buildings..phew..the tallest building in Cambodia is..what 10 floors???lol am kidding but seriously Cambodia doesnt have tall buildings period.So yeah happy to see that here.It is really weird how Bangkok reminds me so much of Nairobi in Kenya!!ooh i miss home.Anyway I want to tell you how i got here... This is how things work in Cambodia,people are treated according to their skin colour.It's not a good thing to say or admit..but its the truth.I did not realise I was black until I came to Cambodia!I know how weird that sounds but it is the truth.In Kenya everybody is black(well almost)so my whole life there was never a situation where anybody's skin colour was an issue,so I never realised I was black...until I came to Cambodia.So I had to get a Thai visa right?and I was...

This is probably the most mis-leading heading I have had lol.Am not going to talk about some dude called Victor that I love with all my heart...I can't eat or drink or sleep or even move,or whatever else people can't do when they are in-love,in-lust or in-like with each other.Love,lust,like...mmmh that is a topic i haven't talked about yet.Well,am an African and for the longest time these were taboo topics to talk about..or even think about.People were so conservative(please note the past tense,coz nowadays it's really different)everybody was a virgin when they got married and some tribes even had this special ceremony immediately after the wedding where the groom and bride would go into a special room with a bed lined with a white sheet..they were suppposed to "do it" as the rest of the village is singing and dancing outside and then after sometime one of the village women would go in and get the white bed sheet and bring it out wave it at the dancing crowd.N...

Heey!It's a new year and am so happy and excited...for no apparent reason(am always happy and excited mmmmh that's weird!)Anyways I had a wonderfull christmas though I wish my family was with me(who  doesn't?)and I told my friends here how 'excitting' my christmas day was...So this is what happened..ok I attend this church that just recemtly started and the members are not many..we decided to make some flyers and give them out inviting Cambodians for lunch in our small church on christmas day.We made about 70-100 flyers and I was expecting what?like 50 people max right?We made alllot of food and i was scared all the food will go to waste right?Well shock on us...300 people showed up!!!!!it was freaking amazing..or not!!And i was inchargeof serving food...it was unbelievable..I spent half the time going like "I can't give you more food,some people haven't eaten...uuuh haven't i seen you on the line before.....uuuh please wait...uuuh stop pushing...uu...