A Job and a Room in Two Days!

The phone rang at 6:45 am with Lam on the other end saying he had found the room but it needed cleaning and that he would come to see me at one o’clock. Fine. I leisurely started my day, then went downstairs to get some hot water, chatting with a couple of lady visitors who are teaching English in China. Then, before noon, Lam called again, saying he was on his way over to get me.

We loaded up the luggage and went off to see the room. He casually explained that the room was $90 per month. Of course, I shuddered and protested that I was only willing to pay $50.

“But you said that the other room was $150 at the school.”

“Right, but I was thinking in Malaysian dollars, not American dollars. We call the ringgit dollars sometimes and I got confused. So, the other room is only $50 per month.”

Then suddenly, after a phone call, the price of his friend’s room went down. Lam tried to make it sound like it was “another” room. So we went to see it.

It was up a flight and a half of stairs but it was just a square room with a bed in it and the walls were all scruffy, plastered here and there with Disney stickers, which were a bit of a turn-off. Out in the hallway was a pile of garbage and dirt that had apparently just been removed from the vacant room and the smell all around was a bit disconcerting. So, I said I’d think about it.

After Lam dropped me and my luggage off at the school, I took a walk in the area. It’s really third world. The roads are not paved in most of the streets. It’s just loose sandy, pink dirt. The dirt coats everything so that the world looks like a dust painting. 

Back at the school, I was set on a motorcycle with Mr. Tayly and driven up and down the dusty roads, stopping at rooms until we came to a very nice, brand new room with a brand new bathroom and even a little area that passes for a quarter of a kitchen, with a counter, lower built-in cupboard and a sink. Even the fan was brand new and the bed had a thick solid mattress on it.

The lady wanted $60 and would not go down to $50. But that was understandable. They had obviously invested in this room. The entrance door was solid wood with European style handles and another door at the little kitchen area was the same. There was a screen on the kitchen area window. The toilet was so new that there was a sticker on it and clear plastic still covering the flush handle.

My first business was to withdraw money from my account. I knew there was plenty in there or on its way in. But, the bank machine refused to give it to me! The next one also refused and the next. There were no banks in the area with Interac and without that, I could not withdraw my money. It was so discouraging. But, in the end, Mr. Tayly cheerfully offered to lend me the money and he went directly to the landlady and paid for the room. I was humiliated. (Apparently it was time for a humbling.)

“What would they think of me now? Will they think I’m lying about having any money in my account? Will they think that I’m desperate for a place to live that I brought all my luggage to their school?” And on and on. 

. . Yes, it was very humiliating. Yet it didn’t even seem to phase Mr. Tayly in the least. He smiled calmly and shrugged his shoulders, even squeezed my arm.

Teaching was fun! I was having too much fun. The students were all teens, my favourite. And lively. So, the two hours flew by and I was almost sad to see it pass. I was really having a great time. 

I had been in Cambodia for only two days and already had a place to live and a teaching job!