Take A Bow

Another hard week of goodbyes.  It started with our trip back from Sihanoukville last Sunday.  On our way back, Oliver, Jack, and I happened to be on the same bus back to Siem Reap as eight other co-travelers that we met and became friends with.  Becky, Jenna, Kelli, and Laura got off the bus in Phnom Penh to go on to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.   Three of them (England, South Africa, USA) are teachers in South Korea, and the fourth (Australia) is a cousin of one of the others.  For better or worse ladies, I will not forget about the human centipede.  Or JJ's - awful music but awesome time!   In the middle of the week, we said goodbye to Jack and Angela who are going on to Thailand.  Angela is a second year internal medicine resident in Boston.  Jack is a traveling Brit who's out to see the world.  Good luck kids!  ;)  Jack then goes onto Beijing (which was a plan hatched sometime between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap) just to see what's there.  How awesome is that?  Mate, have a bloody good time!  Then we said goodbye to Susumu, a Japanese photographer who's been traveling around the world for the past year and is going on to Vietnam.  STEEL!  Muchi muchi!  So greaaat, so niiice!!  Then on Friday night, Oliver, a med student from London (originally from Toronto) left to go back home.  One dollah!  How you get so tall?  That left Laura, Tim, Austin, and Claudia who were the other four on the bus with us coming back from Sihanoukville.  Austin (USA) and Claudia (Canada) are a couple of students doing a one year Chinese immersion program in Xi'an, China.  Saturday night, we said goodbye to Austin and Claudia who are moving on to Phnom Penh.  Yi lu shun fung.  Xie xie ni meng gen wo jiang guo yu.  You kong, lai Portland wan.  Tonight, we said goodbye to Laura and Tim who go to Battambang for a few days.  Laura and Tim are a couple of Kiwis who are on a one-way transit to London and are doing a 3-4 month trip through SE Asia first.  Eunuch snowflakes, pop-a-squat, and sphinc-lax (I have learned SO much about Kiwi culture in 7 days).  That leaves me with Sylvie, another wild and wacky Kiwi who's volunteering at the orphanage until next week; Peter, yet another Kiwi volunteer at the orphanage; and Martin, an Irish volunteer at another NGO who I have just recently become acquainted with.  My friend and soccer teammate Sara gets in tomorrow night.  Hopefully, if time allows, we'll be going to Phnom Penh this weekend to meetup with Laura and Tim who will be there by then.  To the rest of you, be well, do good, and keep in touch.  Until we meet again...