Sometimes you have to have the lows to appreciate the highs

It would be a lie to say that May 2021 has been kindest month to me.

Of the back of a city lockdown, increasing number of COVID cases, little workflow, curfew and alcohol ban (read as: non-existantsocial life) and living in a city that couldbe a replication of a warzone as the roads get developed and ancient trees get torn down (along side peoples homes). It's afairly challenging setting to be positive. But I always try and let mymindset seethe best in things.

This month, that has not been easy. I had a few things really shaken up.


Without giving all the intricet (and boring) details. Here is a summery of shitstorm saga that I've been dealing with directly the past 5 1/2 months.

August 2020. I gave my passport to a friend of a friend (that is how it works here). He had decieved everyone into believing he was a 2* general in the department of immigration. I needed to change my visa type over from a seekingwork visa (extendable month-by-month) to a regualr work visa (cheaper and renewable yearly). I would skip out the agent fees, but it would still cost me close to $500 for a 6 month. So I paid it, and continued my bike trip across Cambodia.

September 2020.I believed I would return to Phnom Penh (the capital) soon, so I would collect my passport then. Towards the end of the month I moved into a small, private unit. Needing a copyt of my passport and visa to do the agreement. I send my friend a message asking to a photo where she informed me that it was still with the immigration dude. He had told mehe'd already sent it. But no worries, it's safer in his safe than in taxis across the city. I asked him instead and he sent me a copy of my visa, valid until Feb 2021. At ease, I would still collect my passport when I went to Phnom Penh.

That visit didnt happen.

Jan 2021. I get tagged in a post on Facebook from an ACTUAL visa agent with a photo of my passport. Saying it had been in HIS desk for the last few months and he wanted to get in contact with the owner of that passport so it could be returned. Of course, I am confused and ANGRY. WHY was my passport being photgraphed and put on the internet? I confront this immigration agent and I am being spoon fed lies about what the sitiuation is.

Fastforwards a few months, trips to the capital to fix it, more and more and more lies being fed. I decided to finally end it and demand my passport back (because visa processing doesn't take 5 months). Of course, no visa.

Isucked it up and deiceded to take it into my own hands and go and pay my visa overstay.

It's $10 a day.

I had an overstay of 291 days.

I'll leave the math to you. That's not including the cost of the new visa either.

It was best for me to stop the bleed, and then chase this guy for money once the number had stopped growing. So Tuesday morning I bit the bullet and paid the $3500+ fee and fine.

(still an ongoing case)

I then had some work to do, I had a class to teach and a dog to groom, so threw on my fake smile to get through work.

I was halfway through grooming a dog, some self-training for a new service I want my business to run. My boyfriend, Jared, came over for a bit of moral support and I had a buzz on my phone.

"Jared, can you get that?" "It's a message from your Dad" "Sure, go ahead and read it"
I replied and I started to shave the arsehole of the poodle(y) dog on the table in front of me. I had a gut feeling it was a message that couldn't wait to be read, despite the likelyhood it would just be a little message checking in with how I am, and something to do with Chelsea winning a game or something of equal importance.
That was when I got the first wave of bad news.

It wasn't until later that evening that it was confirmed. My Grandad Bob had passed away peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family.

My Grandad Bob was an amazing human. He was kind, caring, open minded (apart from when it came to Jeremy Corbyn, unfortunately). He raised a huge family, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, dogs, part-time-guinea pig carer.Full-time gameshow viewer. There's a lot of amazing things I can say about my Grandad Bob, but I don't feel like a few paragraphs on my blog can do this fantastic gentleman justice. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this knew my Grandad Bob and you all know he was better than any words I can scribble.

On my maternal side of the family we have been blessed to have not been surrounded by death. In my 26 years, there is nobody on this side who we'velost. My Grandad,headof the table,shook the family quite a lot. Despite his age, and detiriorating health conditioin, his death came as a huge shock. It's not often that I wish I could be at home in England. But this was one of those times. So Tuesday was a pretty shit day, in term of how shit days can get.

They say bad things happen in threes. The first two were pretty obvious. Then a mindset for the rest of the month was letting me see the worst in everything.

What was number three? Having a flat tyre? Having to spent money on passapps? My house getting flooded in a storm when I was out? not being invited to my friends BBQ? My boyfriend not coming over after I made mango crumble? Forgetting to get my laundry done? There was no catastophic third incident to complete the trio, but I let my mind think it was happening and get in a downward state of mind.

But when I open my eyes and look around me, it's much easier to put things into perspective and be grateful for what I do have. There's a roof over my head. There's a fridge full of food. I have solid support around me, internationally and close by. I have work, I have no outstanding debts. I have access to the internet and resources to learn. I have running water and electricity (most of the time). I have the avaliblity to acess medical care if I ever need it.

Ihave my amazing, suportive boyfriend (even if he doesn't come over for mango crumble...more for me), I have my affectionate little fur-friends. I have some great people by myside in the city.

I've allowed myself to mope around in May, and now that it has been flushed out of my system I wont let June be the same. It will hopefully open my eyes to be more apprecative of what I do have, rather than the losses of last month. June will bring the rains and the beauty that is followed with that.

April Showers and Staying At Home

Jax, my last customer before lockdown

APRIL UPDATE

What's been happening? Well, for the last two weeks three villages in my city (Siem Reap) have been on lockdown...and oh my god it's been amazing! 

I haven't done ANYTHING for two weeks, can you imagine?! Just relaxing in the garden, cooking, a lil bit of studying- oh, and feeding my two dogs and two baby bats. 

COVID UPDATE

defo not bored

Yep, you read correct. It only took a year longer than the rest of the world but COVID is finally here. I think I wrote a little bit about it in my last entry (too lazy to check though). 

Recap: Some rich people had a big plan to skip quarantine after flying in from China on a private jet, went out clubbing, tried to sneak back into quarantine- got caught. It is now known as the February 20th outbreak.

Since then, we've had almost 10,000 cases and about 60 deaths (I think, go check yourselves it's updating every day) and considering in the whole of 2020 we had 500 and no deaths, shits getting real. 600 cases a day and the virus is in the markets, hospitals and factories. Luckily for us, the vaccine exists and the country is in a much better position than it would've been a month ago. 

In the capital, and badly hit areas they have things called "Red Zones" which are strict lockdowns. I am currently in a lockdown zone, but not a "red zone". The whole thing isn't policed very well, they're too busy sitting in the shade playing cards, but it's enough to discourage most from leaving their houses which is better than nothing I guess...

Anyway, so we had about 20 cases (most are healed and no new ones) in Siem Reap so we're approaching the end of our lockdown but we still have a 8pm-5am curfew and an alcohol ban. The province boarders are now open again so I#m guessing it wont be too long before it starts again. 

So yeah, been staying at home, exercising, cooking, studying Khmer, doing some "behind the scenes" work for Pet Care Cambodia. I almost don't want to go back to work... if only bills paid themselves...

WAIT- DID YOU SAY YOU HAD BATS?

Yeah, I did. Baby bats- well- baby MEGABATS. My pretty little pteropus'. The cutest little global pandemic starters ever. I have two (Buffy and Bruce)- soon to be six as the others await foster homes. 

Basically, they fall out of trees for a number of reasons. Could be dehydration, could be just a mishap. So their Mama might come and pick them up off the floor. But it's a waiting game because they usually don't. Leaving a baby in the sun is just an appointment with death... if the ants don't eat them first. One of the doctors at the vets rescues them where they get fed four/five times a day on (goat) milk and fruit.

 One person can only have so many bats, which is where I come in! With not much happening at work I've taken them on. They live in a box in my bathroom, with some twigs and leaves and a lil branch to hang upsidedown.

BUT BECCA- DONT THEY FLY AROUND YOUR HOUSE? 
Nope. They can't fly yet. But they love having their heads stroked with toothbrushes. 

In about two months they'll join a group enclosure where they will socialise, then all released to the wild. 

They're so easy, you just feed em, wrap em up like lil burritos or they hang out. EASY! Look at their cute lil faces.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE DOGGOS

So my house is becoming a lil bit of a rescue at the moment. I haven't got any paying customers but I still have space and resources and time so I#m helping out one of the local charities. 

This lil pup is called Acnah. An expat used to look after him, until one day he disappeared. A month later he came back- quite frankly- looking like shit. He was covered in mange, open wounds, hardly able to walk and a few hours from death.

She rushed him to the vets where he still couldn't walk for days and they would have to flip him to lay on the other side of his body every few hours. He was traumatised and so scared of people, SCREAMING every time he was touched. 

The vets closed for the Khmer New Year holiday and he needed a place to recover so now he's with me. Hitting two weeks now! He's come on leaps and bounds with his recovery. He's able to eat and drink by himself now, get up and down, walk around. Almost completely independent. He has such a long way to go, but he absolutely adores me- like I do with him. He lets me cut his nails, give him a bath, clean his ears, check his teeth, put his cute lil T shirt on him (to stop him licking his wound he still has).

The lady who found him may be taking him back soon when she makes in into town, and I'll be devastated to see him go. Unfortaunyly my job here relies on me not having pets of my own. But Acnah will always be welcome at my house!

BUT BECCA- YOU SAID DOGS (PLURAL?!) 

Yes, I also have baby girl Jedda. She was rescued from the Pagoda. She is the most sweetest and gentle dogs I've ever met in Cambodia. Anyone who meets her will instantly be in love!
Jen from Paw Patrol (an animal outreach project who feed the stray, pagoda and locally owned animals in Siem Reap) got a call that Jedda had killed a neighbours cat and the owner of the cat threw a piece of wood at her and now she's limping. 
Her hip was broken.
That wasn't caused by someone throwing a piece of wood at her, it was a strike. 

When the neighbours were asked who's cat it was, the cat ever existed. It turns out the owner did it to her. I saw photos and have now heard horrible stories of things he's done to his animals. I wont post here because you don't need to hear it. Needless to say- Jedda and her brother will not be returning to that home and have now found themselves forever homes with the landlady. They adore the dogs and have always fed them. 

Despite all this Jedda is the loveliest girl and is pushing Acnah out of his comfort zone...I think Acnah might even like her! 

She's with me another day or two (maybe a couple more), which I am loving. 

We're due to be out of lockdown in the next couple days (it ends on the 28th, but we entered on a Friday, so surely it ends on Friday? Or is the 28th everything open, or is 29th everything open? but 2 weeks from Friday is Friday, or Saturday to open? WHO KNOWS. The Kindom where everything is as clear as mud).

That's about it. The rains have started, which I am LOVING. It does make me miss the island life where I would be in my little beach hut in a hammock watching the storms cross the ocean, but hey- I can't complain now I have a roof over my head. The roadworks are still ongoing and making the city a mess but at least it's not so dusty anymore. 

Oh yeah, Jared is doing good, we've been using up some of our vouchers from raffles we've won with staycations and free dinners. He fell in love with the bats about 10 minutes after being like "I think they're creepy". It was his birthday the other day so I got him a couple of shirts (hoping they wouldn't fit so I could have them...you know me I love the Hawaiian beach theme!) but alas, he loves them and they fit. CURSES! 

I'm still alcohol-free, hitting about 2 months now. Don't feel much different than before, but nice saving money by not drinking (or am I...beer is 50c and a soda is $1-1.50 hmmm....)

Anyway, glad to see the UK is finally easing up and everyone is getting their vaccine. Stay safe y'all! 

puppies I met when I helped at the vets 

Marching on through 2021

 It's been a while! 

The excuse? I'm not sure, maybe too hungover from my birthday (back in February...) maybe too busy from work, maybe too busy playing solitaire. But anyway, here's the March edition of the blog! 

So what did I miss from January? Apparently this super cute photo of me and Jared from my first*wedding! Our Khmer teacher Theada had her wedding, it was a great day- until Jared had to go and sing his Khmer song in front of all 400 people...(okay, it wasn't so bad. The general standard of kareoke is worse...) 

*first invitation wedding, I've managed to gatecrash a few...

So January finished and roll onto February! 

Things kept busy with the pet care bits. The workload quietened a bit from Jan so I took that as a nice bit of "downtime", well not so much frantic cycling across the city to feed cats. And we have a few more recruits for later down the line when we pick up again! 

The beginning of Feb saw me hit the latter side of my "mid 20's". A few of us decided to hire Tuktuk's for the day and doa pool crawl, and visit some different swimming pools in town and have a few cocktails....a few....just a few....not as many photos from the day as I would've liked, but calling it my first day off since mid-Decemeber it was a worthy one..I defo needed a couple of days after to recover.

Apparently, if I'm not doing a "pool crawl" I'm doing a "pub run". The Star

Bar Pub Run is halfway between a charity marathon, and a pub crawl. You run from one bar to the next, finish a shot and a beer and move to the next. The first back to Star Bar wins. There had been quite a lot of hype leading up to the race. I believe I was the only contestant in my twenties...and amongst a handful of girls competing. I feel like these were both advantages looked over by the other contestants as I was labelled "the underdog" when I crossed the finish line IN FIRST PLACE! My running might not have been the fastest, but chugging pints is a skill I managed to pick up through various years of repping and such. You can take the girl off the island...

Oh, and it was in fancy dress. 

My best gal, Rakhee, relocated back down to Kampot after a year in the northeast. Missing her, spontaneous dinner nights, pool days, and chills so much already. But super syked to get to visit in the next few months...hopefully. 

Talking of new starts, I have a new house! 

AND I LOVE IT! 

It's just a one-bedroom, but the kitchen isn't the same as the bedroom. So that's already an improvement. It has a garden, and a branch of a mango tree, some banana trees and some cats that just stroll through every day. It's just out of town, so it's super quiet. I can walk into my bedroom and I go to switch the light off and NOPE it's just naturally light! Such an improvement. I hosted a little house warming party, it was due to be a 2-7pm event...of course, it rolled on much later than that. I had to nip out to work and leave the party unattended but luckily my friends are low maintenance and as long as there are beers they don't need much else. 

MARCH! 
So now, this should be easier to remember. 

End of February someone escaped quarantine to go for a night out. Yep. I know. We went from having no covid cases, to over 800 and 4 deaths in a month. And whilst the situation isn't out of control here, it's by far the worst it's been since it hit headlines in December 2019. Travel has stopped between provinces. Gyms and schools have closed (which, of course, neither affect me). 

Mini golf date day

 This means that all of our pet sitting has been cancelled until further notice.

It's been a much-needed break for me to catch up on work, and enjoy some me-time. We held our staff training and T-shirts for work have been printed! As well as the town is littered with posters and business cards.   Me and Jared have been filling our time by doing tours of all the swimming pools in town, and getting in a few nice date nights, like this one at mini-golf.

Luckily for me, I still have Grover, the regular dog I walk, and my kid I teach that's making sure bills get paid. 

This weekend me and J are having a little staycation. We've been buying tickets for a few raffles and luck (and good odds for winning) have been on our side. We've got a couple of hotels stays to use, a few food vouchers, some gym sessions, pottery classes and whatever else. 

Siem Reap is an interesting place right now too because of all the road works. They announced a project last year to redo 38 roads, they didn't mention the displacement of people, destruction of homes, drowning in dust or pulling down ancient trees. But hey- it'll look nice in a year, right? Interesting time to be in the city for sure. I don't take too many photos, and there are loads f funny ones with makeshift bridges over moats and whatever else, but below are the very few I've taken.

It's nice to hear that things over in the UK might be returning to normality in the foreseeable future with the vaccine rolling out. Some updates from home I've had recently is that Beckie had her baby! Little burrito Eden. Kirstyn has brought her own house and Becky B is preggo! As well as the new additions to my family, visiting friends in the UK will be very different the next time I'm back.

Pool crawl! 

My girl Rakhee on my birthday

Me and J on my birthday

Roadworks

Other Stuff 

Coconut Coffee at my favourite place for food, Banlle. 

My gal Pascal loving life on my birthday

Everywhere is so busy during COVID 

The view from mini golf

So proud of my INTERNATIONAL DISK GOLF CHAMPION boyfriend! 

A passing trip to Phnom Penh

CUTE DOG PHOTOS