If you ever need to curse someone…I have a detailed plan of action for you:

Have a moving sale in which you promise to hold items for people

(as long as they can pick up within a couple of days). 

Wait.

Patiently.

You will be bombarded within hours, minutes really.

Emails and phone calls.  Multiple texts.

It does not matter that you specifically stated “email or text please, no phone calls.”

Soon you will begin to receive emails demanding your physical address. 

Multiple emails. 

Along with those demands comes the questions:

Why don’t you answer your phone?  

Why doesn’t your phone ring?

Why didn’t you give us the address in the initial post?

Do not feel the need the need to respond to the ridiculousness.

The curse will come soon enough. 

Yes, your phone gets crappy reception at home and either does not ring or people can never hear you, so answering the phone inevitably causes more confusion. 

But do not feel like you have to explain yourself or be defensive, the forthcoming results will be taking care of everything for you.

It takes about three days for the curse to set in.

The people that promise to come on a certain day/time and do not will either forget you ever existed and suddenly stop checking their email and/or phone, or they will be cursed.   There will be numerous individuals that fall into each category. 

Sometimes you hear from the cursed hours before they have promised to show up, or merely minutes before.  Sometimes you hear from them after the terrible tragedy.  Yes, you have cleared your schedule so they can come get this item they just HAVE to have and are so incredibly excited for.  They insisted you hold it, they did not merely wish to come by to see the item.  They claimed it as their own. 

Here is when the cursed will explain to you how deeply sorry they are, but they will be unable to make it (and it is now you will begin to see the very tangible results):

***I got in a car accident and I cannot move.

***My home was broken into, we were robbed of literally everything we owned.

***My entire family is deathly ill.

***The in-laws made an unexpected visit, we are held up for two weeks.

***My phone was stolen and my money was stolen. I cannot buy anything.  

End of lesson.  

If interested, I can provide you the corresponding item requested with specific curse.  

Bittersweet

Three months to go…

Just 78 days actually. 

I am not dreading it.

No, my choice of defense is to simply ignore it.  Pretend it is not actually happening.  Cowardly I know.

This place has truly been my salvation. 

I knew back in the good ole USA there were certain ways I never had and never would fit in.  I had no idea I would find the reason why.   

I knew there was so much more to see and do, more to consider and understand.

Of course I realized there were different ways of doing things, diverse ways of thinking and being. 

But I had no idea how life-changing one place could be in this adventure of life.

Living in Cambodia has allowed me to learn and grow in ways nothing or no one else could.  It has offered an education beyond university (and far less expensive!!).  While I know no place and no person is perfect or ideal, we must each find our niche.  Maybe it’s here, maybe it’s there.  But please don’t stop searching until you have found it. 

I have found there is no time to hate any person or any place.  There is no energy to waste on anger and animosity.  Love and forgiveness and tolerance are life-long lessons and here I have been greatly assisted in my learning.   There is no room for people to force their ideals and beliefs upon others.  There is no space for another country’s values and systems.  Each will make do with what he has.

I have learned from my mistakes.  

There have been crazy days. 

There have been incredibly difficult decisions.  

But every one of them has been an invaluable lesson and an unforgettable experience. 

I will never tire:

...Of speakers screeching at me in my dreams. 

...Of lizards and stray cats, cockroaches on steroids and elephant sized rats. 

...Of weddings and funerals and a bazillion holidays all accompanied by chanting monks and incredibly attractive music.

...Of being told it’s “cold” when testing the new students and asking “How is the weather today?”

...Of dodging certain drivers whose lack of attention to anything and everything around them is deadly.

...Of being asked "how much" whether for rent, or for my moto, computer, phone, going to the doctor, a bag of groceries, or basically anything.  

The only reason I can leave is because I know I will be back.

It is almost time for a new place, for new lessons and new faces.

But today I will continue to be here.  

To make eye contact with every person I see. 

To be continually offered the most beautiful smiles I can imagine.  

To laugh and smile and jumble my Khmer with all of the wonderful tuk tuk and moto drivers. 

To hide in their tuk tuks when I’m stuck outside and the colossal raindrops decide to drop by.  

I will appreciate every minute of every day that I have...  I know how incredibly lucky I am to have spent a couple of years in such an incredible and beautiful place.  This place I call home.  The Kingdom of Wonder.

But now it is time for the next step.