ROUTINE POO-TINE

Weekend Recap:

It was a great first week here, don't get me wrong. We went to a beautiful Christmas celebration, rode motos, explored the markets, went to a new church, started a new job, made some new friends, had conversations like "Wow, we're in Cambodia, life is so good, how amazing!!!" Should have known that feeling wouldn't last forever; Friday we realized the honeymoon was over.

Despite always being on the go and the occasional longing for stability, we realized that it's a backpacker's life, and Friday we realized that for us, for now, that life is over."Cleaning up" no longer involves taking a quick cold shower and cramming everything in your pack. "Doing dishes" isn't finding a garbage can for the falafel wrapper, and since we travel on wheels now, walking everywhere no longer counts for exercise.

Our house was a mess. We hadn't worn running shoes in 2 weeks. Yesterday's dishes were on the counter. The floor was covered with the ubiquitous red dust. The laundry hamper was overflowing. "Real Life"- I hate that term- was setting in. Check that, it was culture shock- the shock of being re-introduced to domesticity. And to be honest, for the first bit, it was really annoying.

Those little nuances that you take for granted in Canada haven't yet made it to Cambodia. Such as an air-conditioned workout facility (with a reliable power supply), hot water from the tap to do the dishes, a clothes dryer, fast internet connections, DVDs where the mouth matches the voice, no ant colony living in your bath towels, etc, etc.. made for a quite a frenzied day off.

And then it hit us- what right do we have to complain about day-to-day stuff like this when, really, it's nothing. How about the little girl that was sitting on your lap yesterday that has HIV? Or the fella in Kolkata that eats, works, and sleeps on his rickshaw just so his family can have a couple bowls of rice?

Boy did I ever feel selfish.

Funny thing is, once we realized that and got over ourselves, the weekend did a complete 180. Saturday and Sunday were great.

We woke up Saturday and went out for sugarcane juice with the neighbor family, and later that day we had a turkey dinner at a Christmas party where we met all sorts of interesting folks (including some Canadians). Today we went to a good church service, and even managed to take an afternoon nap.

Funny how your moods can dictate your mindset.

Oh well, live and learn, right?

But housework is still a pain.