I arrived late last night into Phnom Penh international airport. I walked off the airplane into instant humidity and sweat on my forehead. After getting my visa and my luggage (which took forever, but I won't go into that), I walked out to find Sonja (principal of my school). Walking out of the airport into a hot crowd of Cambodians looking for loved ones, I immediately started looking for Sonja, but of course she was nowhere to be found. You would think it would be easy to find the pale face in a sea of Asians, but think again. Not being able to find her felt like I was walking out of Incheon Airport for the first time all over again, except this time I was sweating from the heat instead of freezing from the cold. After what seemed like forever (in reality, probably ten minutes) I walked over to the pay phone to call Sonja (with no idea how to use the phone or change to do so) but luckily she caught me right as I picked up the receiver.
She was extremely friendly and we got along instantly. She's probably in her early 30s, fair skin, short reddish-brown hair, glasses and a glimpse of freckles on her arms. She has been living in Cambodia for the past 13 years. She moved here as a missionary and eventually she and her husband (whom she met at church in Phnom Penh) saw a need for an elementary school, so they founded the school that I will now be teaching. The 2010 school year will be the fifth year that school has been open and they have now branched out to three locations. When they first opened they only taught preschool, now the school will have its first 6th grade class, starting next year. It's amazing what God can do through us.
Sonja's husband drove the school 'bus' (more like small van, Korean hagwan bus style, for all you ex-Korea people out there). By this time it was past 11pm, so the town was dark and desolate. From what I could see through the night, the capital city of Cambodia was a long way off from the tall glitzy buildings I was used to in downtown Seoul. It reminded me of Bangkok, with its rundown buildings and tuk-tuk's lining the streets. This didn't bother me in the least however; after all, I did decide to move to an under-developed country, so I didn't really expect to see Starbucks and Saks lining the streets. My main thought as we were driving to my hotel was where I could get free internet and a decent cup of coffee the next morning (but of course, we all know that at any point during the day I'm probably thinking of either checking my email or coffee or both).
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