maandag 22 april 2013

New adventure on the horizon

Two very thin purple lines cause the end of this blog. At least for now and for the Phnom Penh part of it. They also cause a little jump in the way my hearts beats and the way I walk, sing and talk. A smile in everything I do. An incredible happiness that has come over me and that despite the occasional gag and tiredness is with me wherever I go. 


The most normal thing that happens to so many women seems an incredible miracle and blessing to me. My only experience with something alive growing inside of me are tropical parasites, so it’s all new and scary and by times even terrifying. But I can’t wait to experience it all and meet him or her sometime in October or early November.

Before that I will go home and do all the things we have missed out on in the past amazing but sometimes very difficult and heartbreaking years. I want to go for evening walks, go to Paris together, sleep in and read newspapers in bed, make him breakfast, lunch and dinner, pick him up from work, leave notes on the kitchen table, surprise him and love him to make up for all the time we missed.

And then a wonderful new adventure will start. And I have absolutely no clue what it will be like, which makes it even better.
It's been a great journey to leave a life behind and start another one in a different country and I have learned more, seen more and experienced more than I could have ever imagined. It's with a very sad heart that I will be leaving UNICEF (for now!) and I will surely dearly miss the fulfilment and rewards of working for this wonderful organisation. I have been lucky enough to meet the most amazing, loving and crazy friends from different corners of the earth and I have been extremely lucky as well with the brilliant and inspiring people that I have worked with and I am grateful for all they taught me. But I could also not have done it without the support I kept getting from my lovely family and friends from home who, despite the neglect and periods of silence, kept being my friends and loved ones that were always there for me.
Thank you so much for reading my blog and for all the sweet and lovely responses I have received on my posts. I can barely imagine more than 15000 times people have read the words I have written to tell them about me, my work and the happy and sad moments in my 4 years as an expat. It seems like yesterday packing up my stuff and leaving, yet it seems ages ago as well that I left. With this little miracle not only my belly is growing steadily but I also feel calmer and the peace of mind has grown to live and stay in the same place for a while. And who knows, I may continue blogging here in the future. Slightly less exotic news most likely, but who knows where life will take the three of us. 


zondag 3 maart 2013

De groene en de paarse prinses



Laatst werd ik uitgenodigd voor de bruiloft van de 18-jarige dochter van een collega. Ik had het meiske nog nooit ontmoet, maar dat weerhield haar niet om toch de honor of my presence te requesten, door zowel de heer en mevrouw to be plus hun beider ouder paren.

De envelop was prachtig roze met zwierige gouden krulletters. Er zat een gouden strik omheen met een edelsteen er op en glitter. Hij geurde naar Marusha of een ander parfum van de Etos wat niet achter glas staat en die ik vroeger heel lekker vond ruiken. Via via hoorde ik dat de bruid 10 jurken had voor de dag. Ik stond kortom al in de startblokken om die te gaan bewonderen. In de envelop zat overigens tevens een kleine roze envelop met mijn naam erop. Een lege welteverstaan, voor mijn bijdrage. Schijnbaar in heel AziĆ« nodig je dus gewoon 2000 mensen uit, en ook al komen die niet allemaal, ze geven je wel allemaal veel geld. Taco en ik hadden ons toch nog iets beter moeten inlezen vorig jaar in slimme strategieĆ«n, al hebben wij ook een prachtige huwelijksreis gekregen. Die er Echt Echt Echt nog van gaat komen trouwens. 

Maar goed, point is, ik ben uiteindelijk toch niet gegaan. Want ik had bezoek van onze enige echte trouwambtenaar slash liefste Anne en we wilden toch liever andere dingen doen dan in een tlbuis zaaltje zitten met snoeiharde muziek. Maar om toch in de huwelijkse sfeer te blijven had ik bedacht een officieel Khmer statieportret te gaan laten maken. Cambodjaanse stelletjes doen zo’n fotosessie standaard voor het huwelijk. 

Denk dat er weinig vrouwen zijn die meer hadden kunnen genieten van een volgeplamuurd hoofd type witte pannekoek, eerst wafeltjes in je haar laten zetten, dan helemaal  touperen en daarna opsteken en met veel bling en een driedubbele bh verkleden. Al met al duurde dit 4 uur. Vervolgens werden we door de fotograaf in 3 tellen als bevallige oosterse prinsessen gemodelleerd, inclusief hoe we onze handen geknikt moesten houden en onze kin naar achter, ogen schuin omhoog luikend en vooral niet te veel lachen. Nog een flinke dosis fotoshop eroverheen daarna en TADA!!!

zaterdag 26 januari 2013

Application for guest starring on Madison Avenue



I work in a team of 3 and we have 14 million dollar to spend. This could well be your tax money, my dear European blog followers. But do not worry!  It is in good hands. :-) We try our best to spend it wisely and maximise the impact for Cambodia’s women and children. We give it to government partners who report to us what they have done with it. Sometimes those reports are dry to read. But sometimes they make my day. 

‘All participants understand clearly between sex and gender by presentation. They understand clearly abut role of Women and Men, especially Gender, by watching video on Good Husbands. When the participants (men) watched story on Good Husbands they understand clearly about role of Women and Men and their tear come out. They make a plan for implementation in their classes/schools’. 

Then we use these reports to write our own report to our donors. This piece of literature just needed a tiny little bit of tweaking before it was ready to be included in our annual report: ‘Successful implementation of Women’s Leadership and Management Training’ and ‘Workshop conducted on how to apply gender equality and gender equity in the classroom’.  I think my next job will be Peggy's replacement as a copy writer in Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. But please God, can it be with Betty's wardrobe?