Oh, Happy Day

He´s here now; the most wonderful man in the whole world. He´s asleep in my bed, jetlagged and tired, while I am far too happy and excited to lay down beside him. On the contrary, I just wanna run in circles like a crazy person and scream of the top of my voice out of pure happiness! Together again! Iiiihhhh!!!! Imagine that you can still feel like this after 14 years together. Isn´t it wonderful?! :-) Happy, happy, happy day!!! :-)

"Oh Happy Day" from the movie "Sister Act 2"

A decision has been made...

After a lot of thinking and measuring different alternatives against one another, I´ve finally made up my mind. I ´ve decided to return to Sweden in April next year. Even if I do love living here in Phnom Penh, there are two strong reasons for this decision. The first one is strictly personal; I feel that it´s time to go home and reunite with my loved ones; my beloved husband and pets. As I wrote in the previous posting; no place in the world, no matter how much enjoy living there,  can ever be my home to 100 %  if they are not by my side. In April next year we´ve been living on different sides of the world for 2 years, and it´s been working surprisingly well. But we don´t want to go on like this forever. And it feels like it´s a good time to go home "to touch base" for a while after two years. And as my very clever and supportive friend Louise said the other day; "Sometimes it´s good to leave when you´re on the top of things, when everything is going well. And not wait until you´ll find yourself in bad situation. In that way, you´ll leave with positive memories and be able to make the very best of the situation..." I couldn´t agree with her more! The second reason being that my employer has decided to localize the position that I have. This is a policy decision for all our offices globally, which means that all Swedish staff with my position will successively be phased out and replaced with nationally employed staff. Which in turn means that if I´d like to extend my contract when it expires in April next year, I would not be employed by the Swedish head office anymore but by our office here in Cambodia. Which comes with worse conditions for everything; salary, benefits, insurances, etc. The whole idea is of course that Swedish staff will be phased out and replaced by national staff, so we will now start to recruit a Cambodian replacer for me, that hopefully will be able to start by the beginning of next year for a handing over process before it´s time for me to leave.

This decision is quite new, so to some extent I still have mixed emotions about leaving my beloved Cambodia... But at the same time, it feels nothing but right to reunite with my loved ones. The decision kind of grew on me when I was in Sweden in September, and I made up my mind during my last days there. So when I came back to Cambodia earlier this week and was notified by the head office that my position would be localized, it just confirmed to me that I had made the right decision already.

Work wise, I just have to see what happens. Formally, I still have a permanent position to go back to, but as the governmental authority that I´m employed by currently is undergoing a major reorganisation, who knows what the situation will be when I´m finally back in Sweden... So I´ll start to look for some other jobs as well, and take it from there. Right now I´m not worried at all, I must say. I´ll just take it as it comes. And I´m sure it´ll work out in one way or another, as it ususally does. My biggest challenge has actually been to take this decision at all, and I´m sure that now that piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, the others will too, eventually....

I´m not at all excluding the possibility of going abroad for another mission in the future. On the contrary I´m pretty sure that I will, but for the time it´s time to go home.

So; see you all Swedes in April!

BRING IT HOME TO ME by Sam Cooke

A place called home

Today is a PJ-day. I just can´t get enough of this best female rock star ever.

Today is also one of those days when I´m thinking about where I belong... what it is that defines a home..?

At the same time I feel that I´ve reached a conclusion that my home is where my heart is. Where my loved ones are. A place can never fully be a home if they are not there. We just have to find that place together. And most likely we will in the future. Or maybe we already have..?

Which all in all makes this song very suitable for this very particular day.



A PLACE CALLED HOME by PJ HARVEY
One day I know
We'll find a place of hope
Just hold on to me
Just hold on to me
Walk tight, one line
You're wanted this time
There's no one to blame
Just hold on to me

(Come on my love)
And I'm right on time
And the birds keep singing
And you're right on line
And the bells keep ringing
And the battle is won
And the planes keep winging
And I'm right on time
And the girl keeps singing

One day they'll be a place for us

I walk and I wade
Through full lands and lonely
I stumble, I stumble
With you I wait
To be born again
With love comes the day
Just hold on to me

(Come on my love)
And I'm right on time
And the birds keep singing
And you're right on line
And the bells keep ringing

One day they'll be a place for us

And the battle is won
And the planes keep winging
And I'm right on time
And the girl keeps singing

One day they'll be a place for us

Now is the time
To follow through
To read the signs
Now the message sent
Let's bring it to it's final end

And I'm right on time
And the birds keep singing
And you're right on line
And the bells keep ringing
One day they'll be a place for us
And the battle is won
And the planes keep winging
And I'm right on time
And the girl keeps singing
One day they'll be a place for us

One day
I
Know
They'll be
A place
Called
Home

Lazy Sunday morning in bed....

The circle of life

I´m now in Sweden for a couple of weeks. This due to equally sad and happy occations, which reveals both the dark and bright sides of the circle of life. It reminds me of how very important family and friends are at all times, and how important it is to share the most crucial moments with each other. In sickness and in health, in happiness and sadness. For joy, love, support, sharing, celebration, friendship and care. We´re truly blessed to be a part of each others lives. Thank you for including me in yours.

Size doesn´t matter...

Motorbikes, or "motos" as they´re called here, is the main mean of transportation in Cambodia. As you can see for yourself, there´s no limit for the size of a load that can be carried on a "moto" ...

Cruising....

I´ve now decided to book a tour to Ha Long Bay this coming weekend. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 3 hr from Hanoi.

I´m going on an overnight cruise on this boat...
Not too bad, huh?

I´m really excited about this. The only thing is that I suddenly realized that for the very first time in my life, I´ve booked a cruise... And a pretty luxury one as well... or what do you say about this?
I´m afraid that this is a pretty clear sign that I´ve reached the middle-ages... :-/ So pls don´t tell anyone..! *blushing*

Hanoi = love

I love Hanoi! Just so you know... A wonderful, beautiful city with tons of atmosphere. Great food and shopping, amazing arcitechture and art galleries. I love it!!!

Next stop Hanoi...

Tomorrow, I´m leaving for Hanoi where I´m going to take a course in "Project and Programme Management" for two weeks. I´ve planned so I´ll get three weekends in total in Hanoi to get some time to explore the city as well. Ever since I watched the beautiful movie "At the Height of Summer" or "the Vertical Rays of the Sun" as it´s also called sometimes (see the movie clips below), I´ve always wanted to go to Hanoi, so I´m really looking forward to it.

To treat myself,  and to get some well deserved time off from the studies, I might do this as well. What do you think?! :-)

August the 13:th - my birthday

So this is how if feels be exactly between 30 and 40... So far, so good, I guess...?! 

I´m planning to celebrate by spoiling myself rotten today! :-) Yaaay! I´ve taken a day off from work, and will spend the day shopping, going to a spa and have dinner with friends at the Spanish tapas restaurant Pacharan on the riverside.

The birthday kicked off with knocks on the door at 7.30 this morning. My dear friends Albin, Mimmi and their son Noam payed me a surprise visit, singing happy birthday. They brought Swedish chocolate pudding (aaahhhh! My all time favourite!) - one for breakfast and one for lunch, juice (made of "youngberries" - what could the hidden message possibly be?) and also a very nice painting, made by Albin. 
He made this painting some time ago, and I´ve loved it since the very first time I saw it. It´s inspired by their cat "Skruttis".  I´ve spent many days and nights with Skruttis, cat sitting her when her family has been away, and become very attached to her. Sadly enough, she ran away some time ago, and hasn´t been seen since. We all miss her terribly, so this painting is not only a beautiful painting, it´s also a nice memory of Skruttis. 

Thank you to Albin, Mimmi and Noam for this very nice birthday surprise this morning! 

Thank you also to Janne and my parents, who are giving me this beautiful lithography; "Woman with dog"
This is one of my favourite art pieces (you can spot the bull terrier, right?!) by one of my favourite artists; Olga Semenova. It´s been bought for me in Stockholm and Janne will bring it with him when he´s coming to Phnom Penh in October. 

Ok, better get going now. Well, I´ve started the day with some really nice chocolate pudding and some youngberry juice :-) for breakfast, but I guess I´d better head to my favourite café for a treat of good coffee and french baguettes as well. After that, Albin has promised to take me to some good places where I get plants, flowers and pots for my project "Pimp my terrace". He, Mimmi and Noam will give me a couple of plants as a birthday present to start off my project. 

Can´t wait to see how nice my apartment will be with these two art pieces, one Semenova and one Hagberg, on my walls. And a dazzling terrace as well! 

Aaahhh, life between 30 and 40 is pretty good after all...! :-)