Life Abundant

Chris and I travel back and forth to Cambodia for work and have spent just over 6 months here in Battambang over the last year. There are a few things that have been particularly hard about the time that we’ve lived in Cambodia. 

Although living internationally can seem glamorous, I’m here to tell you that there are some real hardships that come along with international living. Daily life in a culture that’s not your own, eating food that you’re not used to, and interacting with people who have different values and upbringing than your own can be difficult. 

Life isn’t always perfect, and I think it’s all too easy to paint the picture of a “perfect” life on social media.  I don’t want to create a false image of our life abroad, and so I thought I’d dedicate this post to sharing a few challenges that we face in our day to day life here in Battambang.

The Market

Believe it or not, there are no grocery stores in Battambang. Chris and I are currently living in a house that has a kitchen with two burner stove, sink, and refrigerator, but no oven.  It’s been interesting (being foodies), and figuring out what meals we can make solely on a stove top.

The local market (Psar Naht) is where we do most of our shopping. It’s located in a historical building in the center of Battambang, where local farmers and butchers come to sell their produce and meat.  Vendors display their goods on woven mats laid out on the ground, or on low lying tables, some of which sit under tarps and umbrellas to help protect their goods from the sun and rain. 

Although the meat and produce are fresh, it sits in the 90 + degree sun without refrigeration all day, or even for a few days at a time before it’s sold. The meat and produce are typically covered in flies. You walk past live fish, raw meat, fermented eggs, snails, pigs heads and whole chickens or animal parts for sale.  But above all of that is the market’s unique smell.  It’s not the most appetizing experience.

It’s been challenging trying to figure out what all the various produce, herbs, and spices are that are for sale, since we don’t speak the Khmer language and can’t really communicate with the vendors.

Our kitchen has limited cooking supplies, no fancy cookware, knives, or utensils. We’ve had to be creative in what we make here, washing all our produce in bleach water, and cooking almost everything to kill the bacteria to avoid getting sick and drinking filtered water.  Although we’re careful, we’ve both been very sick at various times while living here.

Creatures

The house we live in has walls all around it, with security barbwire along the top, and a gate that locks to be sure that we are safe. We have one neighbor across the street, while the rest of the property is surrounded by overgrown jungle and swamp.  Our neighbors across the street have lots of dogs, who bark all through the night, and chickens who start to crow at about 4 am, so a good nights sleep is hard to come by.

We’ve had lots of crazy visitors on our property, and inside of the house.  We’ve had a 4 – 5-foot long lime green tree snake at our front door, lizards, beetles, all kinds of frogs and mosquitos outside (which I don’t mind as much because they’re outside). As well as huge cockroaches, spiders the size of your hand, geckoes, a constant battle with ants, and lots of other crazy bugs inside of our house. I can handle almost all of these animals, except for spiders, which Chris takes care of.

Transportation

Since we travel back and forth to Cambodia a few months out of the year, it doesn’t make sense for us to buy car or moto. Instead, we use bicycles as our main mode of transportation.

We purchased used bicycles for about $40, and ride them everywhere. We bike to and from work on the mission’s campus every day (about a 15-minute ride), to town, the market, and anywhere else we could possibly want to go. Biking anywhere in the 90 + degree temps and serious humidity, basically means I hardly ever “look cute” when we’re here. My hair is always up, minimal makeup, and conservative dress (covering my knees and shoulders at all times) which makes me even more sweaty!

People don’t really abide by traffic laws here  The best way I can describe navigating the roads in the city is organized chaos. Everyone anticipates what others will do, and people weave in and out of the traffic flow, always giving the right of way to bigger vehicles.

The above video was created by a friend of ours David Enge, who volunteers with the ministry we work with here in Battambang (University of the Nations Battambang) to help tell their story through video. There are definitely hardships about living in a developing country, but we also know that we’re blessed to have this opportunity. To share life with these beautiful people, and to be a part of the amazing work that God is doing in this nation.

Although these challenges are real, they are also what we love the most about travel and international work. Stepping outside of our comfort zone stretches us and causes us to grow in area’s that we otherwise wouldn’t. It broadens our worldview, teaches us more about who God is, and makes us better members of our global society.