Not-Deep Stream of Consciousness

Well hello there. So I have to admit that I started on my second entry last night about a life lesson that I will not forget anytime soon. And I’m not scrapping that idea to say the least, I’m just putting it on hold for now since I’ve kind of had a crazy night in the sense that this would is SO small. And I just wanted to share and figured that’s what this blog is for: sharing my experience. So, hang on if you want to hear about school and life lessons because while this is a bit shallow, I promise those deeper thoughts will be coming your way in a few!

So I actually kind of had a downer-ish day at school, and I was really looking forward to going out to dinner with myself after arriving home to the guesthouse around 5:30 pm (I’ve since moved out of the treehouse… more later). When I opened the Macbaby, however, I was approached by one of the really nice Cambodian girls who works here. She said that Fiona and her husband, Anthony, the owners of the guesthouse, would be meeting me at ten of seven. I had no idea why, but as I thought about it I remembered that she had mentioned the opening of a new art exhibit at a hotel down the street and that she and her husband said that I could tag along.

I think tonight was more like providence than the opening of a sculpture exhibit. I even had fun getting “all dolled up” in my sundress and trying to look nice, since I’ve been pretty much covered in dust since I showed up at school on Monday. But that wasn’t even the best part. When Fiona, Anthony, and myself show up at the event, the opening of a new sculpture exhibit, they are offering free wine. The red was delicious, of course. The white? How would I know? I don't touch the stuff! And the appetizers: classy. In fact, stepping into the Hotel de la Paix hotel was actually like stepping out of Cambodia. Almost everyone in the room looked like me, meaning that there was a decent chance that I’d be able to strike up a conversation easily with almost anyone in the room, be it in English or en français, which is something I now know that I always seem to take for granted.

Finding good conversation was not difficult as I actually stumbled upon a great conversation when I had only been in the door for less than a minute. I started talking with Meaghan who as actually from Philadelphia! She and her husband were just great, and I hope to hang out with them sometime soon so you’ll hear more about them later. Just a heads up on their experiences: she’s finishing up a Peace Corps assignment here, and her husband is a volunteer pediatrician at the children’s hospital. Meaghan introduced me to some really great people as well, including an Irish artist who has an exhibit opening today in London. Deidre’s exhibit is of men’s shirts with lining dyed with flowers to symbols such as peace and empathy. The idea that she’s toying with is whether or not someone can buy a shirt that, when they wear it, allows them to become more peaceful or empathetic. Pretty interesting, eh? She too volunteers at the children’s hospital. Meaghan’s boss was also a really fun Australian lady, and we chatted for quiet a bit. She's going to Europe in three weeks... for five weeks. Naturally I told her I was a bit jealous, per usual.

The most startling conversation I had, however, was only about ten minutes long and occurred as I was on my way out the door seeing that I have school tomorrow at 7:30am. I was ecstatic when Meaghen introduced me to Françoise… finally a real, live French person that I could chat with! I had heard there were a number of French people here, but I had yet to encounter one. Francoise was actually from Paris. Ironic, I know! Oh wait… Françoise was from the 15e, the same one that I lived in. Oh yea, and her metro stop was one away from the one that I used to use all of the time… Volontiers! Ohhhhh the green line... mighty number 12 that often fell victim to the greve.

So I don’t know if God just wanted me to have a pick-me-up, or if this whole French thing or even the whole evening means something more. All I know is that running into someone from Philadelphia and someone from literally 5 minutes from your Parisian residence does not just happen randomly. In Siem Reap, Cambodia for that matter! I’m not complaining, though… because although it might have been surreal, it was exactly what I needed ☺