I wrote last time about discovering Java Café. If I come back here for a while I plan to frequent the place. I’ve been back a couple times and the owner guy now says to me, “See you tomorrow.” I say, “We’ll see, but no promises.”

I heard about Elsewhere, this other expat hangout where they periodically have free movie nights, and upon discovering that it was just around the corner from my house, I checked it out last night. They set up this big screen and have a projector out in this garden around a mini swimming pool. It was almost enough to make you forget you’re in Cambodia, except for the fact that Scarlett Johanesson’s voice was continually interrupted by the sounds of Karaoke wafting over from the place across the street. Elsewhere had been described to me as a place where folks with the Peace Corps and other young idealogue-types sit around, drinking, smoking, and talking about changing the world. I wouldn’t say that description proved to be very far off, although people mostly sat quietly during the movie. I was tired so I left when the credits rolled, but I’m assuming most of the others stuck around long enough to figure out what ails the world, even if they don’t remember any of it in the morning.

My time left here in Cambodia has now come within the two-week mark. It is difficult to know how to approach this from a psychological and emotional standpoint, not knowing whether I’ll be returning home just for a month or for the indefinite future. Do I scramble to do all I can during these remaining two weeks here, soaking it all in one last time, or do I kind of take it easy, with another two years coming up, which will give me plenty of opportunities to do all of these sorts of things? That is my quandary.

For those yet unaware, I’m in the preliminary stages of the interview process for a position here as Church Partnership Coordinator, which would basically mean keeping the lines of communication open between WR Cambodia and the six partner churches, and then coordinating all the trips people make here. The decision about this position won’t be made until after I return home, however, so I’m just taking it a day at a time and trying to make the most of my time here.

It has been a great two and a half months. It is embarrassing to even admit that I thought three months was a long time. My brother arrived here on Sunday and is spending this week a few hours from here with Engchy, where he is doing some computer training with the staff at the rural WR offices. This weekend I think we’ll go to the beach, and then after spending the first half of next week here around town, we’re off to Angkor Wat. This will pretty much be the exclamation point at the end of the trip for me. Josh will fly back that Monday and I’ll leave two days later.

A fortnight from now, I plan to be sitting around with good old friends in Lancaster, drinking coffee and catching up on each other’s lives.

I think they call this kind of time in life bittersweet.