Chinese New Year this year was on Saturday and Sunday, which was a good chance for me to go on vacation. I went to Koh Rong island’s Hill Beach in Preah Sihanouk province. It was a nice trip. The weather was also good to ride a boat there. I felt a bit seasick because I slept at 2 a.m. and woke up at 4 a.m., and spent the whole morning to reach Sihanoukville. To reach Hill Beach I had to sit on the boat for 40 minutes more. I felt like I was sitting on a roller coaster. It was fun and scary at the same time.
And then when I got back home I saw the news about how coronavirus had been found in Sihanoukville. Surprise!!!! I had just gotten back from there hahaha. When I saw the news I felt shocked, but I thought it would be OK because they had only found the patient after I went back home. But when I read the news again I saw that the patient had arrived in Sihanouk since the 24th, meaning before I got there. I felt shocked again.
I got sick when I got home and my symptoms were similar to coronavirus. That scared me. I got a fever, headache, and found it hard to breathe. I felt weaker than normal but my fever didn’t get higher than 38C, so maybe it’s not coronavirus, I hoped. It’s nearly one week now since I got back from there, and I still don’t have any serious symptoms yet. I just feel weak and get fevers.
Imagine if I really infected everyone here at CCIM, and need to go to the hospital together, and CCIM will close down to kill the virus. Then I will not be alone because my beloved teachers and classmates will accompany me to the hospital hahaha. Sure, we will be famous; CCIM will be known by many people. Yeah… it’s not happening, or else my beloved teachers and everyone who reads this blog will be mad at me.
OK! It was the whole week that I worried about getting infected and my article is going nowhere hmm. When I was looking for women who live independently in Cambodia, for my next article, I found that it is really rare. Usually they move out from their family home because they are facing financial issues so they have to move out, to find a job and live with other people to save money.
There are only one or two people I’ve found who live alone, and her problem is not financial but about society criticizing her. Maybe in our society we don’t have many women who live independently, so we get criticized. When we are different we will be judged.
Thinking that what I am doing makes me a rare person, it’s funny. Should I feel proud or feel shame? That doesn’t matter anymore. Since I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten to know that people will say what they want to say, I can’t hold their mouths. I don’t need to explain or listen. Accepting and ignoring are peaceful feelings.
