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Fighting for My Rights in Cambodia: Why I'll Never Cry at Immigration Again · Babes, how did you get here

0:00
Getting to China, you think that it would be easier to get a job
0:03
have you tried to apply for jobs in China?
0:05
I have tried.
0:06
Adrian, straight up tell me to my face,
0:08
your blackness school hire you.
0:10
Really?
0:11
Straight to my face.
0:12
Is it that they feel that you won't be able to do the job?
0:15
Is it because you don't speak good enough English?
0:17
Or I just don't want black people around my kids?
0:20
They don't want black people.
0:21
They want that white U.S. Canadian.
0:25
$150 a day for one week.
0:27
$150 a day.
0:29
These Ukrainians and Russian girls making $1,500 in one night.
0:33
Really?
0:34
One night.
0:35
Then she goes on...
0:36
1% demand for?
0:38
Then she goes on to say,
0:39
I have to go to the islands for them to pick up my bones.
0:44
So what?
0:45
So the job is that they want a good company.
0:48
A good friend.
0:49
So I say, do I have to have sex with these men?
0:51
Okay.
0:52
Yes, it's the rule of a good friend.
0:54
Oh, I say so you want a prostitute.
0:56
No, Mrs. Not prostitution.
0:58
So what's in him?
0:59
It's our hostess.
1:01
I love Dutish.
1:02
So black pump is worth $150 and white pump is worth $1,500?
1:07
They insult me with the price.
1:09
These men are coming from India.
1:11
And it's not any young men.
1:13
It's these old men.
1:14
They probably have their wives and kids backing India.
1:18
And let's be clear, I don't actually have an issue with prostitution.
1:21
Yeah, I feel like that is your thing.
1:23
Do you think so?
1:24
I don't think so.
1:25
I don't think so.
1:27
Abigail is a prod trainee who traded in the Caribbean sunshine
1:31
for a Southeast Asian adventure.
1:33
She has lived here in Cambodia for the last three years,
1:36
navigating cultural shifts, finding her community,
1:39
and shaping the minds of young people along the way.
1:43
I am so excited for this conversation,
1:45
bringing in those Caribbean island vibes
1:48
to find out exactly what her life looks like here,
1:51
so far away from familiar shores.
1:53
But also how her Caribbean roots continues to shape
1:57
and guide her every step of the way.
1:59
But first, babes, how did you get here?
2:02
Friend, I don't know.
2:04
I went on Google.
2:06
And I was like, what?
2:08
I've always wanted to get come to Asia.
2:10
Okay.
2:11
Always wanted to come to Asia.
2:12
And I went on Google and I googled the easiest place
2:15
to get a job and a visa in Asia.
2:18
Cambodia came up.
2:19
I booked my flights and I came.
2:21
Literally.
2:22
Simple.
2:23
Did you know anything about Cambodia?
2:25
I did not know a thing about Cambodia,
2:27
or the land, like the genocide they went through in the past.
2:30
So my family was very skeptical of me coming here.
2:35
Are you an only child?
2:36
Do you have something?
2:37
I'm the oldest.
2:38
You're the oldest.
2:39
I'm the rock of the family.
2:41
Okay, babes.
2:42
Real talk.
2:43
Tantrums do not look fun.
2:44
But what if I told you that they don't have to take over your house?
2:47
In my course, managing tantrums like a CEO,
2:50
I'll teach you the strategies that turn tantrums into opportunities.
2:54
No yelling, no bribes, no screens, and no chaos.
2:58
You will learn how to understand what's really going on behind those meltdowns,
3:02
how to keep your cool when they lose theirs,
3:05
and how to raise emotionally intelligent children without losing yourself in the process.
3:10
Because CEOs don't react babes, they respond,
3:13
and you can do the same.
3:15
So if you're ready to bring more calm connection and confidence to your home,
3:19
click the link and check out managed tantrums like a CEO.
3:23
The oxygen that my parents breed.
3:25
How old are you when you came to Cambodia?
3:28
I was 23.
3:30
I think.
3:31
So you tell your parents I'm leaving,
3:34
and is it indefinitely at this point or is it just I'm going to test it?
3:38
Oh, no, it was like indefinitely.
3:40
It was like I'm leaving.
3:42
I want to live outside.
3:44
Trinidad is a wonderful place,
3:46
but it's so teeny tiny and small.
3:48
You know, I just meant for something bigger, big country, a big continent.
3:52
And before you came, you already had the job?
3:54
No.
3:55
So I came here and I did a Tefl certificate in order to teach English.
3:59
Yep.
4:00
You know, so I did one month living in Seattle.
4:02
And we do this Tefl certificate.
4:04
And then they promised to help you find a job.
4:07
Okay.
4:08
And whereas they did send up my CV and stuff,
4:11
or my jobs, I've gotten it on my own.
4:13
Oh, really?
4:14
Yes.
4:15
They did try their best.
4:17
You know, but me, I have a standard for myself.
4:20
So I'm going with that standard.
4:21
You know, I have my education and stuff.
4:24
So I'm going for a certain type of school.
4:26
Because here in Cambodia, you can teach without a degree.
4:29
Okay.
4:30
But it's not the best of schools.
4:32
You know, so I know I have my education.
4:34
I want to make sure I'm at a good school,
4:36
and it fits good everything.
4:38
Yeah.
4:39
So the offering that they were giving wasn't matching where you needed to be.
4:43
Yes.
4:44
Was it hard for you to find your own job independently?
4:46
So in the beginning, it was not very hard.
4:49
Now it has become a lot more stricter.
4:52
Okay.
4:53
But in the beginning, it was not hard, but my first job was not a good job.
4:57
In what way?
4:58
In what way?
4:59
In, like, these terms of benefit, salary, these kind of things.
5:02
But come in.
5:03
Enter Cambodia, I came on a tourist visa.
5:06
Okay.
5:07
And I will have to find a job that is willing to give me the paper work.
5:10
So I could fly out of Cambodia to what I went to Thailand.
5:14
I went twice.
5:15
Okay.
5:16
I went to the border with one school.
5:18
They denied me my visa, the border, the, the, um, and point pad.
5:22
Okay.
5:23
So I had to come back in on another tourist visa.
5:26
That school did not accept me again.
5:28
So therefore I had to go to another school.
5:30
When I went to that school, they graciously gave me the documents.
5:33
And I, this time, I flew to Bangkok and I paid express.
5:37
Okay.
5:38
Express to get the visa.
5:39
So I got it done in one day.
5:40
But now it's not like that.
5:41
Now you have to wait three days.
5:43
Okay.
5:44
There is no express service.
5:45
It has no express service.
5:46
Okay.
5:47
So I've actually done the procedure in Thailand with myself.
5:50
And then I've helped one of my friends go to Malaysia.
5:53
And I did it with how I Malaysia to get her visa.
5:56
So I'm an expert now.
5:59
Is that the best way you think to, to come to Cambodia in terms of
6:03
to be able to live and work here is to get a visa school to help?
6:07
Yes.
6:08
So because I don't have a big who is a very small place.
6:13
Not a lot of people know where it is.
6:16
You know, so I could help people from that side of the world.
6:20
But a lot of people like from Africa, the African continent,
6:24
they message me.
6:25
And I don't really respond to them.
6:27
Because for African passport holders, it's very difficult.
6:32
Oh, really?
6:33
It's very difficult.
6:34
So it's easier to have a training passport than a Nigerian passport, for example.
6:38
A Nigerian passport.
6:39
Really?
6:40
Why?
6:41
Friend.
6:42
The kind of things that have happened here.
6:45
Yeah.
6:46
A lot of them are the Nigerian people, you know.
6:49
I'm sure Nigerian is a beautiful place.
6:51
Sure.
6:52
But a lot of the bad things that have happened here in the expat community.
6:56
Okay.
6:57
Community.
6:58
It's like Nigeria.
6:59
I'm going to say bad things.
7:00
We're talking criminal types of criminal activities.
7:04
So they're important to give them.
7:06
Yes.
7:07
Okay.
7:08
So it's in like immigration.
7:10
It's a lot of pressure for African passport holders.
7:14
Sure.
7:15
Even for me, when I first came in the country in Thailand, they did not let me through.
7:19
Really?
7:20
And they made me stay in the airport.
7:22
I was only allowed into Cambodia, because when I was commented to the Tefl certificate,
7:29
I called the guy who owned the school, the guy for the hotel we were going to actually works in the airport.
7:35
He had to call that guy.
7:37
The guy in the airport had to call Cambodia immigration.
7:41
Then Cambodia immigration had to call Bangkok Airways.
7:44
I had to book my own flight, pay my own ticket, pay for extra baggage.
7:50
And I only happened to get on that plane because of the grace of God.
7:54
Wow.
7:55
Because to go back home after I took such a big risk.
7:59
Yeah.
8:00
That was in our country.
8:03
That's crazy.
8:04
My question is, if there is this reputation about
8:09
African countries or nationals from African countries, perhaps getting involved in dodgy business,
8:15
this has been the first country, Cambodia, that I have ever experienced that they do not know Jamaica.
8:23
Friend?
8:24
And I know this might sound ridiculous, but I have never, I'm like, sorry.
8:30
So somebody says, where are you from?
8:32
I said, Jamaica, I'm okay with you not knowing that Jamaica is in the Caribbean.
8:36
I'm okay with that, right?
8:38
Like a lot of times in Thailand, they'd be like, oh, in Africa, I'm cool with you hearing Jamaica,
8:44
knowing that it's a place and putting it in the wrong continent.
8:47
I'm okay with that.
8:48
I can explain that to you.
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But here, I said Jamaica, I'm so weird.
8:53
I said, I said, Jamaica, Jamaica, right?
8:56
And I'm said, no, no, no, just takes.
8:58
I said, okay, cool.
8:59
That's fine.
9:00
Bob Marley?
9:02
No.
9:03
Bob, sorry.
9:05
I was like, reggae music?
9:07
No.
9:08
I literally took on my phone.
9:09
I played one love for a man.
9:11
I'm not joking.
9:12
I played one love for this man.
9:13
And he said, no, I said, okay, fine.
9:15
Maybe three little birds, you know, my work.
9:17
I played three little birds.
9:19
My man looked at me.
9:20
And he said, he does not know young people's music.
9:24
Young people's music now.
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And the song's so old.
9:27
He said, young people, I said, young people's music.
9:30
I said, okay, cool.
9:31
Let's try another angle, right?
9:32
So I said, you watch Olympics.
9:33
You ever watch running?
9:34
And he said, I sometimes, I said, okay, cool.
9:37
So the fastest man in the world.
9:39
The fastest man in the world.
9:40
So I bring it up.
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Because I'm like, no, man, this man knows something about Jamaica.
9:43
He don't know that.
9:44
No, but no.
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So I bring up, I bring up both on the phone.
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I show him, my man just shook his head.
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I have never, I'm not exaggerating.
9:53
I've been to many places.
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This is the only, it happened this morning in the talk talk.
9:57
Except I didn't go through the whole thing again.
9:59
Because I've gathered that they don't understand.
10:01
So my point is, is that when you come here from China,
10:04
no offense, but babes.
10:05
It's them don't know Jamaica.
10:06
They don't know China.
10:07
They don't know China.
10:08
They don't know China, right?
10:09
They even don't know.
10:10
Are they then perceiving you as being from Africa?
10:14
And if that's the case, does that kind of change the dynamic
10:18
because there's not a great representation of African people here?
10:23
I have worked my way in this country.
10:26
They know where China is.
10:28
That's a big one.
10:29
They know no.
10:30
Right?
10:31
I should, when I go back home, I have to go and talk to the Prime Minister,
10:35
Ms. Kamala, Ms. Advisaza, and say, excuse me,
10:37
because I please be the unofficial ambassador for China,
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that's a big one.
10:43
In Cambodia.
10:44
Like, literally, because I have worked so hard,
10:47
when I first got here and I was going to Thailand for the first time,
10:50
we needed visa still.
10:51
Only this year, this year or last year,
10:54
we got free visa entry to Thailand.
10:57
This woman watched me in the Thai Embassy,
11:00
and she was like, which, she watched my passport.
11:03
She was like, Trinidad and Tobago.
11:05
I was just watching her.
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And then she pulled out her paper.
11:08
She had a list of countries, African countries,
11:11
that cannot go into Thailand.
11:13
She watched the paper.
11:14
She watched it up.
11:15
She watched it down.
11:16
I just watched it now because I know she's not going
11:18
and trying to get that name on that passport.
11:20
I'm on the paper.
11:21
And then she was like, which African country you from?
11:24
I say, Miss, I'm not from Africa.
11:26
I'm from South America.
11:27
But we are not South American.
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I just say that because we are so close.
11:31
We are so close.
11:32
You know?
11:33
And she was like, you show you not from Africa?
11:37
I just watched her.
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Because what do you mean if I show I'm not from Africa?
11:42
I know where I come from, you know?
11:44
My passport is blue.
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That means this is a strong passport.
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Put some respect on my passport name.
11:51
You know?
11:52
So I have really worked in this country to make a name
11:57
for Trinidad and Tobago through social media.
12:00
Even when I post videos and they go viral,
12:03
the government social media pages have reposted my videos,
12:08
using my name Trinidad and Tobago flag.
12:11
So now it's much easier.
12:14
But of course the local people still don't know.
12:17
But when I go to immigration,
12:19
I'm left and I came back and I'm smiling.
12:21
Because I smile at the immigration officers.
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Hi, bomb, how are you today?
12:25
And I tell them where to stamp in my passport.
12:27
Okay.
12:28
Because don't be going on stamp on a new page.
12:30
Right.
12:31
Don't do it.
12:32
And I was like, oh Trinidad and Tobago is a bomb.
12:34
You know where that is?
12:35
He was like, yes of course.
12:37
But they only know now because on the form to come in the country,
12:41
they said if you've been to Trinidad and Tobago
12:43
for your low fever vaccine.
12:45
Okay.
12:47
So this is the reason why they know Trinidad and Tobago.
12:50
But I have worked.
12:52
It's crazy.
12:53
It's crazy.
12:54
Do you think that you became more proud about being from Trinidad
12:59
having lived here?
13:00
Yes.
13:01
I think I have, I want to like make sure my country is known.
13:05
I want to make sure that I represent my country well, you know?
13:09
And I want to make sure that I don't undergo distress.
13:13
That sorry to say that African people have to go through
13:17
because I don't want that for myself.
13:19
I don't even want it for them.
13:20
Sure.
13:21
You know?
13:22
But if I can do something for myself and maybe before the Trinidad
13:25
and people that are here, I will try my best.
13:28
Sure.
13:29
What does it mean to be from Trinidad?
13:31
It means good food.
13:33
It means kind of all and good music.
13:36
You know?
13:37
In my past school, I did a whole Trinidad and Tobago kind of all.
13:42
Because in my past school, we had, we do a carnival every day.
13:47
And I said, oh, this year we should do a Trinidadian carnival.
13:51
So it was a kindergarten.
13:53
I had the kids dress up as the national birds.
13:55
Customs, the steel pan.
13:58
And national birds, you know, the shakonya flower.
14:01
Our national flower.
14:02
Oh, I don't know about your flower bibs.
14:04
Yeah, we have the Kokriko and the Scarlet Ibis.
14:07
Okay.
14:08
And then we have the steel pan.
14:10
And then we have the Shakonya, which is the national flower.
14:14
Very cool.
14:15
And we did costumes.
14:16
And I played Trinidad music.
14:18
And they know this whole Calypso artist's rules.
14:21
Calypso rules.
14:22
Calypso rules.
14:23
And I played Calypso rules music for them.
14:26
And I slept in a little marshal.
14:28
You know?
14:30
So it's amazing.
14:32
I love being from Trinidad and Tobago.
14:34
But the country is a bit too small for me.
14:37
You know, it's, I think, you know, when they say you're meant for something bigger,
14:42
your audience might not be in your country.
14:45
Your audience might be out there.
14:47
And I am a case where that has happened too.
14:50
Of course, I've had TikTok in my country.
14:52
Did it take off?
14:53
No.
14:54
But I came to a foreign country.
14:56
And now I'm getting recognition.
14:58
Now I work with all these people.
15:00
You know, so I'm very grateful for that.
15:02
Sure.
15:03
Do you think that you will return to Trinidad?
15:06
Or do you foresee that you will kind of continue exploring the world?
15:10
I'm definitely going to explore the world.
15:13
Okay.
15:14
Trinidad is somewhere I can visit, but I don't think I would live.
15:17
Okay.
15:18
You know, just because of size, because of size, because of the opportunities, you know, I want to,
15:24
I want to do something big and bigger and big.
15:29
That's what I see myself as.
15:31
I want to do something big.
15:32
I don't know where the wind might blow me.
15:34
Sure.
15:35
And I just know I want to just be out here.
15:37
Do you know in what field?
15:39
What way?
15:40
So I only teach it now because teaching is all we have survival out here.
15:45
My master's is a mask communication.
15:47
So I've always wanted to do journalism, do content creation.
15:51
You know, so that's why I've started TikTok, started social media.
15:56
Because that is a way I can do my own journalism, journalism through my eyes.
16:00
So I do a lot of travel content, a lot of lifestyle content.
16:04
And that is my form of journalism.
16:07
I want to start also YouTube, but the editing.
16:12
Babe, I'm like, I can't get my head around.
16:16
It's just too much.
16:17
The editing is such tyrant.
16:21
It's so tyrant.
16:22
I have content, so don't they're from since February, when I want to see the equinox and see a dream.
16:29
I did a whole vlog when I went home for the first time in two years and seven months in February this year.
16:35
Was that the first time?
16:36
First time since I left.
16:38
Really?
16:39
Okay, talk me through that.
16:41
Do you want to get me started?
16:43
No.
16:45
First of all, the money.
16:47
A normal flight from here to Trinidad is maybe three thousand, three thousand two.
16:51
Really?
16:52
Ask me if I have three thousand two to give any airline.
16:54
No.
16:55
Tell me the route.
16:56
How you get there?
16:57
I took three days to get there.
16:58
See, so hold on, when I decided to come back to Southeast Asia, right?
17:03
So I go back to the UK in April to do some filming.
17:06
I'm like, oh, let me go on the road and have these lovely conversations.
17:10
And then I was like, oh, but when I go into home, so then I looked to get from Thailand to Jamaica.
17:15
I'm not exaggerating.
17:16
It was something like 32 hours.
17:18
I said 32, which pick me?
17:21
So I literally said, let me go to Jamaica from England because it's nine and a half hours.
17:26
Yes.
17:27
And let me then come back to England, spend a little week.
17:30
And then because I was like connecting about three times, who is doing this?
17:36
So what I did, I flew from here to Guangzhou, China.
17:40
Okay.
17:41
We're China's southern.
17:42
Right.
17:43
And town goad for China's southern.
17:44
They do some overnighting.
17:46
Someone told me all these.
17:48
Three hotel.
17:49
Yes.
17:50
Three breakfast.
17:51
Really?
17:52
I'm going.
17:53
The plane was practically empty.
17:54
So I had a whole for myself.
17:56
That was three hours.
17:57
And then from China, I had an 18 hour leave over.
18:01
So three hotel for any, any leave over more than eight hours.
18:05
Okay.
18:06
Right.
18:07
You just sign up beforehand.
18:08
And even if you don't sign up beforehand, you just go by the desk and they put you in a hotel.
18:12
Amazing.
18:13
Right.
18:14
And of course, I reached nine o'clock in the night.
18:16
So I made friends with my roommate because they put us in a hotel girl.
18:22
Sure.
18:23
And she was young like my age.
18:24
Okay.
18:25
We went out in Guangzhou.
18:26
We went out.
18:27
We did the most city content hours.
18:30
Walk the food street.
18:32
We did the most.
18:34
Then I came back and slept.
18:35
So got up the next morning.
18:37
My flight is 12 hours from Guangzhou to the UK.
18:40
Okay.
18:41
And I bought a wrong trip.
18:42
So this is how I cut down.
18:44
And I spent only $1,500.
18:46
Okay.
18:47
And I bought a wrong trip from Cambodia to the UK.
18:50
Right.
18:51
So and then the middle seat was empty.
18:54
So thank the Lord.
18:56
The middle seat was empty.
18:57
So me and this other Chinese lady we share in the middle seat.
19:01
I got to the UK.
19:03
I learned and hit you.
19:05
First time now I had to go and take training London.
19:08
Ask me if I could take the training London.
19:10
The only train available now is the Picadilly Line.
19:13
Right.
19:14
So I jumped on the Picadilly Line
19:16
and I went to the middle of London.
19:18
And then my friends, they live in Heathrow.
19:20
They came to London, meet me.
19:22
And then I took some other train to Heathrow to go by them
19:24
because I was leaving all the way.
19:26
Okay.
19:27
Right.
19:28
So I spent the night by them, slept, freeze my tail off.
19:32
February it's cold.
19:34
It's cold in London.
19:35
It's cold in England.
19:36
Yes.
19:37
And they're like, no, what is not that bad?
19:40
Who tell you so?
19:41
It's cold.
19:42
It's cold in London.
19:44
So then I left all the way.
19:46
Nine hour flight.
19:48
Wrong trip again.
19:50
From England.
19:52
To Porte Pass.
19:54
Porte Spain.
19:56
Porte Spain.
19:57
Yeah.
19:58
Wow.
19:59
Three days.
20:00
Again, Mac was full.
20:01
Oh, Jesus.
20:02
So when you reach home.
20:04
When I reach home.
20:05
After two years and seven months.
20:08
Tell me how are you feeling?
20:10
How are you being received?
20:11
I'm being received.
20:12
The disrespect I got to the immigration when I landed.
20:15
What changed in London?
20:16
I go five or six places all over Asia.
20:20
And I have told these people where to stamp in my passport.
20:23
Very pleasant, very nice.
20:24
Right.
20:25
You know, not was always met with a smile.
20:27
Okay.
20:28
Snap.
20:29
Right.
20:30
I reach home in my immigration in my country.
20:32
I said, hi, Mr. Scuse, you could just stamp here?
20:35
No.
20:36
I'm like, I'm like, okay.
20:40
So she gave me, she barked at you.
20:42
You know, I said, okay.
20:44
Then she flipped through my passport and she realized I have a lot of stamps.
20:47
Okay.
20:48
And she was like, why this page?
20:49
It was next to the Chinese one day visa.
20:52
Right.
20:53
Because you could get some a little visa.
20:55
Okay.
20:56
Right.
20:57
She's like, why this page?
20:59
I was like, well, it don't have to be this page.
21:01
If you find another page that have some space, you could put it.
21:04
And she was just like.
21:06
And she gave me my passport.
21:08
And she was like, thank you.
21:10
Then no, I collect my bags for this kind of old time.
21:13
Okay.
21:14
So they were busy.
21:16
I went outside, time to see if you have anything to declare.
21:19
I come home in two years and seven months.
21:22
So you know my bag.
21:23
Pack.
21:25
So the man, no.
21:26
Tango, that means a nice man.
21:28
Okay.
21:29
He was like, what's he having this bag?
21:31
I was like, me?
21:32
I don't have a thing in this bag.
21:34
He was like, were you coming from?
21:35
He looking through my passport.
21:36
I said, coming from Cambodia.
21:38
Were you doing quite that?
21:40
I was like, well, I chose to live in Asia.
21:43
And you ain't bring home nothing for your mother and your father.
21:46
I said, nobody, send me out there.
21:48
No, I choose to go there by myself.
21:50
I said, bring home one tissue for my mother.
21:52
One tissue for my father.
21:53
One tissue for my sister.
21:54
One tissue for my brother.
21:55
And he was like, that's it.
21:57
I was like, of course, he left.
21:59
And he's like, go ahead now.
22:00
So what did you actually have in this case?
22:02
I had about a billion thing.
22:05
There's a traditional scarf called a Chroma.
22:09
Okay.
22:10
I pack about 15, and that's in my bag to give out for gift.
22:12
Oh, that's nice.
22:13
Then my mom, I have carried three outfits for her Cambodian traditional outfits.
22:19
One for my dad, one for my brother.
22:21
What do these outfits look like?
22:23
So there's a long skirt.
22:26
And it's like a traditional Cambodian pattern.
22:28
Okay.
22:29
That's good.
22:30
And then there's this nice stuff.
22:31
It could be different styles on here.
22:32
Kind of have like a play to cover.
22:34
I have to go.
22:35
I haven't seen this.
22:36
You should go to like all the sea markets.
22:38
Okay.
22:39
Something like that.
22:40
They have a lot of them there.
22:41
Very cool.
22:42
I carry home all kind of things.
22:43
You're much nicer than me now.
22:45
Every time I go back, I go back to my two long hun.
22:47
Look, let me tell you something.
22:49
That would be the last time I go work with anything.
22:52
The last time.
22:53
Oh my goodness.
22:54
Next year when I go home, I'm going home with a small carry on suitcase.
22:58
And once I've heard that, I've been living in there.
23:02
And when I came back, best believe a pack food.
23:05
A pack of hair products.
23:07
A pack of skin product.
23:09
Tell me what food you pack.
23:11
Pigeon peas.
23:12
You know, pigeon peas.
23:13
Yeah.
23:14
They do have pigeon peas up here.
23:15
Okay.
23:16
I pack two qu- two qu- two qu- two pounds pigeon peas.
23:20
Small carrying and soulfish.
23:22
Really?
23:23
Right?
23:25
They have the dry fish up here, but it's not the same.
23:27
Okay.
23:28
I made it for my friends when I came back.
23:30
And my friends was like, I love this fish salad.
23:33
I was like, the name of it is bull Joe.
23:36
They was like, okay, fish salad.
23:38
Right.
23:39
And then I bear hair products.
23:42
Bear breeds.
23:43
Is it hard to find hair products here?
23:45
For over here.
23:46
Right.
23:47
You know, so a lot of hair products, a lot of breeds.
23:50
Um, share butter.
23:52
Big blocks of share butter and black soup.
23:56
Look at, look at my skin.
23:58
You know, um, breeds.
24:03
Because there was a store in Tongue, they were having seals.
24:08
So I buy breeds.
24:10
Um, some other stuff I pack, you know, a lot of little things.
24:16
I had to get an extra bag in the airport.
24:19
To come back here.
24:21
No money serious.
24:22
Um, I literally, I had to pack, I had to get an extra bag
24:26
because it was too overweat.
24:28
Oh, Lord.
24:29
So I really want to go to Trinity Carnival.
24:31
I was supposed to, I had paid up for my costume one year.
24:33
I was supposed to go and then I had a car accident and I couldn't go.
24:36
Tell me, for people who don't know, um, about your carnival.
24:41
Tell me what makes it so amazing.
24:43
I think it's just the whole vibe of it, you know?
24:46
I think, sure, that is the good place of where Soca Artis
24:50
comes from, like, Mashaman.
24:52
Tano, Deshtra, the Queen of Bakanal.
24:55
You know, and we have so many rising new artists like Naila Blackmond.
24:59
You know, so I think the music, the music is what people come to know that for.
25:05
When they hear about Mashaman, Tano, Mashaman probably wouldn't ruin Mash
25:09
since I'm born.
25:11
Mashaman isn't ruined much.
25:13
You know, so I really think is the music people come for.
25:16
That's what makes carnival special, the vibe of carnival.
25:19
Everybody only ruled and the demands.
25:22
People say the costumes pretty, you know?
25:24
So I just think I'm trying to get myself together by the time I turn 40.
25:28
Period.
25:29
I need to, I need to be there.
25:31
Right.
25:32
I don't want something extravagant.
25:33
By that time, I need somebody to be like, yo, I want everything.
25:37
I want everything.
25:38
The whole thing.
25:39
I don't want to look at Dibi Dibi.
25:40
Yeah.
25:41
No, it's like I want I have arrived kind of.
25:43
And it needs to pick like a good band.
25:45
Okay.
25:46
Oh, you pick a good band.
25:47
I don't know.
25:48
I have no clue.
25:52
But you know, I have friends who play carnival.
25:54
Okay.
25:55
And they said like, try.
25:56
So the year that I had booked, I was, I had booked to try.
25:59
Yeah.
26:00
They said he tried Juma or Puma or one of the Mars.
26:04
One of the Mars.
26:05
One of them.
26:06
And like, at my brother, he has a company.
26:09
Okay.
26:10
So he looks with like different bands.
26:11
So carnival.
26:12
So he can hook me up.
26:13
So he could hook you up.
26:14
It's our good.
26:15
I'm planting seeds.
26:16
Yeah.
26:17
We have about three years.
26:18
Mm-hmm.
26:19
And then then you can go chill.
26:20
And I'm ready.
26:21
Yeah.
26:22
And look.
26:23
You're looking ready right now.
26:24
Look or you're just looking.
26:25
You're just looking like you need to be on the beach after you play carnival.
26:28
Monday and Tuesday.
26:29
And you're fat whole week.
26:30
Because you know, it's how fat.
26:31
Yes.
26:32
Fat whole week.
26:33
And you look, this look like you're going to beach relax yourself.
26:37
Off for you, baby.
26:39
Yeah.
26:40
So when you go back to, to turn that, how long were you there for?
26:43
I was just there for two weeks.
26:45
Two weeks.
26:46
Yeah.
26:47
And how was your family feeling?
26:48
Not seeing you for two years.
26:49
And my mom and I, we cried.
26:51
Really.
26:52
Yeah.
26:53
It was so nice.
26:54
Like, mommy, mommy.
26:56
And we in the airport.
26:57
And all these people watching me like, you know, I'm the airport.
27:01
Me and my mother, mommy, mommy, mommy.
27:04
And we hug, we cry.
27:05
I feel the cry right now.
27:07
And my dad, he just smiling.
27:09
You know, cause they came to pick me up in the airport.
27:11
Right.
27:12
It was such a nice feeling.
27:13
But when I was leaving, I didn't cry because I was like, I'll be back next year.
27:17
Okay.
27:18
Before I didn't know how I was getting back.
27:20
Okay.
27:21
You know, because you just, when you first time you leaving this little island coming out of a space like this.
27:28
Now I booked my own plane tickets.
27:30
I know how to get discounts.
27:32
I know how to book my hotels.
27:34
Before I didn't know any of that.
27:35
Okay.
27:36
You know, and because I've traveled so much in Asia.
27:39
Now I know I could take this short.
27:41
Got to get that cheaper ticket.
27:43
I could take this short.
27:44
Got to get a nicer hotel.
27:46
You know, so that's the first time I was able to go back home.
27:49
And now I got my U.S. visa.
27:51
In Trinidad.
27:52
Headache.
27:53
Oh, really?
27:54
So it's easier to get the U.S. visa from Cambodia.
27:57
One month.
27:58
Okay.
27:59
And then I went to the embassy here.
28:01
I got a transit visa in Trinidad.
28:03
I applied for my visa.
28:05
Exactly.
28:06
What's a transit visa?
28:08
So I booked my thing.
28:10
I booked in December.
28:12
I had to wait till April for my interview.
28:14
December to April.
28:16
Then when I go, I say, well, miss, I'm going to live in Asia.
28:20
But she was like, why are you going to the U.S.?
28:23
I say no, but I'm going to live abroad.
28:25
So it'd be very convenient for me to have this visa.
28:28
In order to pass.
28:29
To pass.
28:30
Okay.
28:31
She just watched me and she was like, okay, I'll give you the transit visa.
28:34
I don't want a transit visa.
28:37
So I just took it because I know after a few years I will come up here.
28:41
And I will apply.
28:42
So what I did was I applied on nine pay the fee.
28:46
This time it's just like $180 before the president raised it to $400 and something.
28:52
Oh, wow.
28:53
$180.
28:54
One month was my interview.
28:57
One month where I had to wait four months.
28:59
One month.
29:00
I go there.
29:01
I had the interviewer.
29:03
He was like, so why you want to go to the U.S.?
29:06
I said, sir, I don't really want to go to the U.S.
29:08
I just want the visa because it's very easy for me to travel.
29:12
As you can see, I have the transit visa.
29:15
But you know when you're traveling from this distance, you have to have proper rest.
29:19
Sure.
29:20
And he was like, where do you work?
29:22
I told him where I work.
29:23
Where have you been in the last year?
29:25
I've told him all the countries I've been.
29:27
Then he was like, who pay for it?
29:29
I said myself.
29:30
They all wait the money thing.
29:32
Now I get that, you know, everyone has a job to do.
29:34
But it reminds me of, so there was one time that I was going to Turks and Kekos.
29:39
And at the time, I think they have direct flights.
29:41
No, from Jamaica, but at the time they didn't.
29:43
So I had to go via Miami.
29:44
No, I have two passports.
29:46
Right.
29:47
So I was, I went in on my British passport because I didn't have a U.S. visa for my Jamaica passport at the time.
29:52
So I get to Miami.
29:54
I'm not staying in Miami.
29:55
I'm literally there for, I think the layover is not even a layover.
29:58
It's about to over and something.
29:59
So you're running from one plane to another.
30:01
Yeah.
30:02
Lie.
30:03
The layover was longer.
30:04
And that's relevant to the story.
30:06
Okay.
30:07
Because I had a few hours in the airport.
30:08
So I get there.
30:09
They say, oh, why are you going to Turks and Kekos?
30:12
Because I want to.
30:14
I just want to.
30:15
Right.
30:16
But also remember, it's Turks and Kekos.
30:18
You're America.
30:19
So I didn't really understand.
30:20
And then the man said, how are you paying?
30:23
No, he asked how much money do I have on me?
30:25
So I don't really have cash.
30:27
I just, you know, travel with a card, right?
30:29
And then he said, so how are you paying for this trip?
30:32
And I don't know why I felt like that's one of your business.
30:36
Exactly.
30:37
But maybe it's like the Jamaican in me where I just feel like sometimes a little bit rebellious.
30:41
And so when I'm asked how my peer fit.
30:43
I said, babe, I worked on a street corner last night and I did very well.
30:46
So I thought I would just treat myself to a trip to Turks and Kekos.
30:51
Right.
30:52
He didn't find it funny.
30:53
Right.
30:54
I was dying on the inside.
30:55
I thought it was a really good line.
30:57
Yeah.
30:58
He was not, he was not impressed.
30:59
And so he then puts me over into extra security.
31:02
Oh, sure.
31:03
Yeah.
31:04
You're sending yourself there.
31:05
Right.
31:06
I did.
31:07
And that's how I remember that I had a longer layover.
31:09
Because I was like, what am I going to do in this airport anyway?
31:10
And then I said to me, you know what?
31:12
That's fine.
31:13
You can do that.
31:14
You are within your rights through that.
31:15
But you know what's funny?
31:16
I'm still going to be in Turks and Kekos tomorrow.
31:18
And you know where you're going to be?
31:19
Right here.
31:20
Right here.
31:22
And I think I have a thing about like American immigration officers.
31:25
I think that they tend to have a poor trip.
31:28
And it just doesn't align with my character.
31:30
Whereas like most people I think are like just go with it.
31:34
Just get through, just make it easy.
31:36
And I don't know why this thing happens to me.
31:38
But every so often I just feel like letting people know.
31:41
No, they're placed.
31:42
Relax.
31:43
There's no need to be like that.
31:44
Relax.
31:45
You know what I mean?
31:46
If I, if I could afford this plane ticket,
31:48
do you think I'm coming here to just play the fool?
31:50
No.
31:51
I could afford the plane ticket.
31:52
Therefore I have money to survive.
31:53
And there's also this sense that I think people believe that
31:57
we're all trying to like run from the Caribbean to go to America.
32:01
And don't get me wrong.
32:02
I understand that there are opportunities there.
32:04
But like, I know where I'm from too.
32:06
Like calm down.
32:07
I don't want to go to America.
32:08
Yeah.
32:09
I rather quickly go to the UK than the States.
32:11
Then the States.
32:12
Then the States.
32:13
I am not going to be getting no call.
32:16
Ring ring.
32:17
This school got shut up.
32:18
Not me.
32:19
So talking is real.
32:20
Like, if I have kids now, the kids have to go to school.
32:24
I am not going to be risking my kids life.
32:27
It's crazy.
32:28
It's crazy.
32:29
That it's normalized.
32:30
Like, it's crazy that you could hear about this thing every
32:33
morning.
32:34
Yeah.
32:35
When the man is like, why you want to go to America?
32:37
I don't really want to go to America.
32:39
I just want the visa.
32:40
To have the freedom to pass.
32:41
To have the freedom.
32:42
Yeah.
32:43
You know?
32:44
And then he was like, so how you pay it for it?
32:46
I was like, well, if you how you pay it for these trips,
32:48
I was like, well, I pay for it myself.
32:50
He was like, okay, your visa is approved.
32:52
Okay.
32:53
No bank statement.
32:54
No, anything.
32:55
Right?
32:56
And I print out maybe three months on my bank statement.
32:58
Tixu.
32:59
Sure.
33:00
Right?
33:01
And then I was like, so, thank God, I ask, how long is the visa for?
33:06
This man watched me and told me a hundred and something.
33:09
These, which is three months.
33:11
I say, pause.
33:12
Is that so?
33:13
I say, wait, pause.
33:16
Three months?
33:18
He was like, yes.
33:19
I was like, he was like, how long you wanted it for?
33:21
I say, well, as you can see, in my passport, I have a transit visa.
33:25
And it's for 10 years.
33:26
Okay.
33:27
Right?
33:28
So how are you going to give me three months visa?
33:30
So, I don't understand this three months.
33:32
Then he's like, okay, wait, let me ask my supervisor.
33:34
So the supervisor was signed up right there in the back.
33:37
Not too far from him.
33:39
He watched you watch me.
33:40
And she shake her head like this.
33:42
And he came back and he said my supervisor said you can get 10 years.
33:46
This is crazy.
33:47
It's a goal.
33:48
How it's just like one person's decision and one like arbitrary nod or shake of the head.
33:55
And it can completely change the result.
33:58
Because tambourian people, they only give them three months.
34:01
And in the three months, they could only enter the state twice.
34:05
Really?
34:06
I've seen it for myself in a Cambodian person passport.
34:09
Why?
34:10
Because they think they want to try to run away?
34:13
Not they think they know.
34:14
Because tambourian people have this ideology of America.
34:18
Like where America is great?
34:20
There is opportunities.
34:22
But they have a very strong love for America.
34:27
You know?
34:28
And these Cambodian Americans, they are coming back to Cambodian.
34:32
And the Cambodian people don't realize that.
34:35
Okay.
34:36
You know?
34:37
A lot of them want to go.
34:38
I want to go to America.
34:39
It is very hard in America.
34:41
You have to pay tax to earn this table.
34:44
And a lot of the Cambodian Americans, they are leaving to America selling their property,
34:50
coming back here and buying a house for $50,000.
34:53
Right.
34:54
In America, that $50,000 house is millions.
34:58
Sure.
34:59
You know?
35:00
And they don't realize how hard it is up there.
35:02
But they have a very strong love for America.
35:05
So any chance they get, I watch the professor.
35:09
The night two old people who had a translator,
35:12
because they're going to see their daughter going to get married.
35:16
Okay.
35:17
He denies these two old people, a man or woman, for a wedding.
35:21
How they paying for, he asks, how you paying for your flight?
35:25
My daughter paid for the translator saying, sure.
35:28
The daughter paying for it.
35:30
How long the daughter and him together?
35:32
They don't know.
35:35
So that case wasn't even good.
35:38
Because there's also a high chance that these two old people
35:41
are going to try to find a way to stay in America.
35:44
Because if their daughter is there and get married,
35:46
they're going to try to bring them over.
35:48
Okay.
35:49
You know?
35:50
So it's very iffy when it comes to America,
35:54
going to America here.
35:56
Sure.
35:57
You know?
35:58
Tell me the first time you arrive in Cambodia.
36:00
You remember the feeling what you noticed?
36:03
I cried because I thought I wasn't going to get to any country.
36:06
I had a good moment and then I would have been shamed.
36:09
You know, after I took this risk,
36:11
quit my job at TTT News as a system producer.
36:15
Oh, really?
36:17
Tell the people.
36:18
I'm going to live in Asia.
36:19
Corn.
36:20
Right.
36:21
You know?
36:22
So, but the feeling I had, it was, it was so surreal, you know?
36:26
I didn't foresee the kind of trials and tribulations
36:30
that I had to go through in the beginning.
36:33
But I loved it.
36:34
I loved every minute of it until pressure starts, of course.
36:38
Getting, getting the correct visa to work.
36:40
Okay.
36:41
That is where the pressure starts.
36:42
Because I was like, how about going to do this?
36:44
Money run out.
36:45
But parents have to send money.
36:46
Okay.
36:47
These kind of things because you never expect all these things.
36:50
Right.
36:51
You know?
36:52
But now that I know the process, it's so easy.
36:54
But before I had nobody to help me.
36:55
Right.
36:56
I was practically like the first Trinidadian person in Cambodia.
36:59
Right.
37:00
I had nobody to guide me.
37:02
When these people reach out to me, I tell them, I am not so geared people.
37:05
I tell you, X, Y, and Z is what you have to do.
37:08
Once you're from Trinidado.
37:09
Okay.
37:10
If you come in from me from outside.
37:11
Sure.
37:12
You pay some money for a consultation.
37:13
Right.
37:14
You know?
37:15
So, when you got here and there's that honeymoon period of one inside,
37:20
new vacation, more vibe, and then there's, I live here.
37:25
What do you think is the difference between living in Cambodia
37:28
versus over just coming from the good trip?
37:32
So now, so honeymoon time is like you have money.
37:36
Okay.
37:37
It's a new thing.
37:38
You're going to do certain things.
37:40
But then now, the reality is certain.
37:42
And I have to survive.
37:44
I have to make sure.
37:46
Because where the money going on come from.
37:48
I can't be on honeymoon forever.
37:49
I can't be on vacation forever.
37:51
I have to survive after getting a job.
37:54
But I do have the correct visa.
37:56
You know?
37:57
So, it's fighting to get a job.
37:59
I got a job.
38:00
I got offers because at the time, I had a degree.
38:03
Right.
38:04
I didn't have my master's yet.
38:05
I just had a degree.
38:06
So, I got a job.
38:07
Oh, so you did your master's while you were here?
38:09
Yeah, I did my master's.
38:10
Okay.
38:11
Okay.
38:12
Okay.
38:13
Okay.
38:14
Pressure.
38:15
From the UK.
38:16
Okay.
38:17
Right.
38:18
So, I did one line.
38:20
So, I did that.
38:21
I got a job.
38:22
The job is weighted.
38:24
For me to get visa.
38:26
Because that time, it was hard.
38:27
COVID now finished.
38:28
Right.
38:29
So, 2022.
38:30
23.
38:31
Yeah.
38:32
So, you were here through COVID?
38:33
No, no.
38:34
I was here.
38:35
As soon as the world just started moving back up.
38:37
Okay.
38:38
You know?
38:39
So, not a lot of foreigners are here.
38:41
Right.
38:42
They are.
38:43
But not a lot.
38:44
Right.
38:45
So, schools looking for people at a rapid pace.
38:47
Right.
38:48
So, jobs were easy.
38:49
You know?
38:50
Now, you're going for a job.
38:51
You maybe take a month and a half to get a job.
38:53
Okay.
38:54
But before, I could quit my job today.
38:56
I'm fine.
38:57
Or I have a job.
38:58
Okay.
38:59
You know?
39:00
So, it was.
39:01
It was very surreal.
39:03
Anxious anxiety.
39:05
You know?
39:06
Having to go through that kind of period.
39:08
But I would say it was all with it.
39:10
Because people have to understand.
39:12
When you're living out here, it's not a better route.
39:14
You know?
39:15
People will see my Instagram.
39:17
And see that I travel in here, traveling.
39:19
They are traveling everywhere.
39:21
But I just had a fight.
39:23
I had to fight with a school yesterday.
39:25
Because they, I worked at this school.
39:28
And my contract goes till August.
39:30
But they have a month and a half vacation.
39:32
Okay.
39:33
My contract goes till August.
39:35
They paid me my July salary.
39:36
I have 18 days to get in August.
39:39
Right.
39:40
The 30th of every month, I'm supposed to get paid.
39:43
It's stated in my contract.
39:45
The 30th reach, I did not get paid.
39:47
Okay.
39:48
Everybody has got paid.
39:49
But I begin.
39:50
So I reach out to the school.
39:52
I say, so why did I get paid?
39:53
They have to check something.
39:55
For two weeks, your school opened.
39:56
You didn't know you have to check something.
39:59
So I talked to the owner of this school.
40:02
I said, I don't know what is going on.
40:04
Because.
40:06
I don't know what they have to check.
40:07
And I send the screenshot of the message.
40:09
And I say, this is the understanding that I had before I left.
40:13
Right.
40:14
He called the principal, the principal message me.
40:17
Probably before they was even in work.
40:19
And they tell me I would be getting my message.
40:22
Call me unprofessional.
40:23
Because I asked some my money I work for.
40:26
And they are glad that the partnership has end.
40:29
Because I unprofessional.
40:31
So you must answer the money.
40:34
My money that stated in my contract that I am to get only two days of every month.
40:38
You know, but I had a little very diplomatically.
40:40
Sure.
40:41
If you make your decision.
40:43
You make your decision.
40:45
And I go to somebody higher than you.
40:48
I am obligated to do that.
40:50
Sure.
40:51
You made your decision.
40:54
And they tried me also with my visa.
40:56
And I went with the to the higher up person.
40:58
And I said, because I came in this school and I hear visa.
41:01
Okay.
41:02
Right.
41:03
My visa starts new in June.
41:06
I started at school in August.
41:07
So practical.
41:08
Did they use me on a free visa?
41:09
Right.
41:10
But in my contract states, they will pay you for my visa.
41:12
Right.
41:13
Right.
41:14
I go time for my visa to renew.
41:16
They want to give me a treatment visa this month.
41:18
It's time.
41:19
I'm sick.
41:20
Sick leave.
41:21
Right.
41:22
I'm sick leave.
41:23
They want to give me a treatment visa.
41:25
I say, but it's still in.
41:27
I never give this school the use of my visa.
41:29
Right.
41:31
So I contact the person.
41:32
I up.
41:33
I say, and I didn't even tell them the whole situation.
41:36
I just said how.
41:37
Something is not right here.
41:39
Like.
41:41
And I just want to make you aware of the situation.
41:43
Best believe they call this school principal.
41:46
And they was like, it was a misunderstanding.
41:49
That is not a misunderstanding to me.
41:51
And then write me a long email.
41:53
Tell me why I go to the higher up.
41:55
So you must.
41:56
I don't have the right to go to the higher up.
41:58
And why I talk to the secretary on my sick leave.
42:01
When you message and on my phone and my sick leave.
42:04
I can't talk to this.
42:05
I am professional.
42:06
Me.
42:07
I don't care.
42:08
I say here that you should accept things.
42:12
Is that what most people do?
42:13
They just accept it.
42:14
They accept things.
42:15
And they probably think that I am young.
42:17
Okay.
42:18
And they probably think I don't know my rights.
42:20
I have been through it in this country.
42:22
I have fought for my place.
42:24
You know, I have made a name for myself, fought for my place.
42:28
You know.
42:29
I've gotten my education.
42:30
Don't treat me like I dumb.
42:32
Because I will stand up for myself.
42:34
Before when they stopped me in Thailand.
42:36
I cry.
42:37
I cry.
42:38
I want to buy the country.
42:40
No more.
42:41
You will never see me cry.
42:42
Okay.
42:43
If you want to deport me, send me back to my country.
42:45
Pay the full flight.
42:46
And I know you're broken out for $4,000.
42:49
You know.
42:50
And when I went to Vietnam, they tell me why I go into Cambodia.
42:54
You see in all the visas in my passport.
42:56
So you see that I've been in Cambodia.
42:59
Why I go into Cambodia?
43:01
I say I work there.
43:02
You have a work permit.
43:04
Of course, I have a work permit.
43:06
But I don't travel with my work permit.
43:08
Because it's none of your business that I have a work permit.
43:11
So I was like, yes.
43:12
Maybe she was with me to pull out the work permit.
43:14
I watch her.
43:15
Because you're your poor person.
43:17
I feel so mixed.
43:18
I have a visa.
43:19
Right.
43:20
I just watch her.
43:21
She's like, okay.
43:22
That she called her supervisor.
43:23
And they're looking on Google for African country.
43:26
We're trying to tell people.
43:28
And I'm just there like.
43:31
Then she gave me my boarding pass.
43:33
And I went, maybe.
43:34
Because I know you're not going to find anything.
43:36
My documents are in order.
43:38
Why they must stress people out like this.
43:40
When you've had these issues with whether it's payments,
43:43
visas, etc.
43:44
Did it ever occur to you that you should leave?
43:47
Absolutely not.
43:48
Because I could fight God.
43:50
Give me a motor.
43:51
I will fight for my rights.
43:53
And my sister become an lawyer.
43:55
I would just adjust.
43:56
Now I will have an international lawyer.
43:59
She will make big money.
44:01
Were there any other challenges in terms of settling in?
44:05
Any culture shocks here?
44:07
Anythings that still you look at and you're like,
44:10
that's very Cambodian.
44:12
The toilets.
44:14
The toilets.
44:16
You know?
44:20
The first they had like this spray.
44:22
They don't just use toilet paper up here.
44:24
Some places so they have this spray.
44:26
I don't understand the spray thing.
44:28
I don't understand it from the perspective of
44:31
surely bacteria is falling back on your hand.
44:35
And then when you're watching some of these things,
44:37
they don't have soap.
44:39
And then these squat toilets have had that.
44:41
Don't Jesus.
44:43
Well, the first time you know when you're going to the province,
44:46
they make a pit stop.
44:47
And sometimes at first I used to take like the not so modernized companies.
44:53
And these just stop in some very shady toilets.
44:57
And I would have to use these toilets because you have to put the toilets.
45:01
You know, you have to use the toilet.
45:03
And I will say, Lord Father, look at what I bring myself here.
45:07
My girls, if the toilets are too nasty,
45:10
they stay moment let's go outside.
45:12
They'd rather find a bush.
45:14
Yeah.
45:15
And I don't blame them.
45:16
No, something.
45:17
I do even blame them.
45:18
I went to the province one time when I was going to help the Cambodian,
45:22
the displaced Cambodian people.
45:24
Okay.
45:25
And this toilet was moly,
45:29
mocy,
45:31
grimy.
45:33
And I say, Lord Father,
45:35
I'm here for the Cambodian people.
45:37
You know, but in all bad, they are good.
45:42
You know, so I've had so many great experiences.
45:46
So many great experiences.
45:47
When I walk down the road and somebody say,
45:50
you're Abby, you're Abby from TikTok Idol.
45:53
They call me Idol.
45:54
I'm like, wow, I'm an idol.
45:57
You know, so it makes me happy that, you know,
46:02
my voice has been here all day.
46:04
Yeah.
46:05
Do you think this is home for long term?
46:09
Does it give you a sense of home,
46:11
or is it a pit stop?
46:13
It's home for now.
46:14
Okay.
46:15
It's between home for now and a pit stop.
46:18
You know, because it is home,
46:22
because this is where I'm at this present period of life.
46:27
It's a pit stop because I know I don't want to be here forever.
46:31
Okay.
46:32
Do you feel like you chose Cambodia,
46:34
or do you feel like the circumstances,
46:36
because it was easier to get a job and easier to get a visa?
46:39
That is why you're here.
46:41
Cambodia, choose me.
46:42
I've always had that.
46:43
Oh, really?
46:44
Cambodia, choose me.
46:46
But I'm very grateful for being here.
46:50
It's so nice in Cambodia.
46:52
The amount of friends have me,
46:53
Cambodia and experts.
46:55
Okay.
46:56
You know, it's so nice.
46:57
It's by the challenges.
46:58
You're not in your country.
46:59
So, of course, they are going to be in challenges.
47:01
You know, people don't know about Chinatalan Tebegu.
47:03
So, of course, they are going to be challenges.
47:05
But I just love it here.
47:07
But it's a definitely a pit stop for me.
47:09
What do you love about it?
47:12
I love being able to travel around,
47:14
seeing new things that I never thought I would have seen in my life.
47:17
I love being able to go to the edge of Cambodia,
47:22
and get all welcome texts.
47:24
That's it.
47:25
Well, come to Laos,
47:26
but I'm still in Cambodia, you know.
47:29
I love that Cambodia is big in the sense of,
47:33
I never thought I would live with other 16 million people,
47:36
because you know, that is 1.4.
47:38
You're 1.4 with 2.8?
47:40
Yeah, you're 2.8.
47:42
I love it because like all these people,
47:44
I never thought I would be in like the same country with these people,
47:48
you know.
47:49
And I just, the culture for me is what I love,
47:51
just the culture of experience in Cambodia and weddings,
47:54
or Cambodia and funeral, you know.
47:56
What is special about their weddings and their funerals?
47:58
Their weddings could go on for days, really.
48:01
And I am there like,
48:02
what these people have to celebrate.
48:04
So, and then the brides,
48:07
they change their outfits like four, five times.
48:11
Really?
48:12
And they have different,
48:13
they have a ceremony to bless.
48:15
They have a ceremony to cut here.
48:17
Oh.
48:18
But now they pretend to cut here.
48:20
Okay. You know,
48:21
they have a ceremony yet.
48:22
Sometimes they start to climb some poles,
48:24
something,
48:25
but they don't really do that again.
48:27
You know, they have so many different ceremonies.
48:30
Okay.
48:31
It's such a unique thing.
48:32
You know, in China,
48:33
you know, we wear a white dress,
48:34
we go to the altar,
48:35
then we go to the party.
48:36
Right.
48:37
You know, but it's such a unique thing to be able to see these things.
48:40
And I think that has,
48:41
what has really captivated me about Asia,
48:43
that this, like,
48:45
it's only the same planet,
48:47
but the cultures are so different.
48:49
And I love it.
48:51
Yeah.
48:52
That's very cool.
48:53
What is food like here?
48:55
There are some really nice things,
49:03
and I'm fully moved.
49:04
But the food,
49:09
like, I love beef look like.
49:11
Yeah.
49:12
There's like a stew beef.
49:13
Yeah.
49:14
With egg, you know,
49:15
everything has to be paired with the egg.
49:18
There's also like a grilled chicken that they do.
49:21
But mostly when I go out,
49:23
I eat,
49:24
I could eat Cambodian food,
49:25
I've been here.
49:26
Right.
49:27
I eat per hawk.
49:28
Yes, per hawk.
49:29
Per hawk is a fermented fish.
49:31
Okay.
49:32
It's like rotten fish.
49:33
That they smash,
49:34
and they have this dish in,
49:36
I'm trying to remember where it was.
49:38
I can't remember if it was Thailand.
49:39
To be honest, we've been going around,
49:40
and it feels a little bit like a blur.
49:42
It may have been Vietnam.
49:43
But the point is,
49:44
is that if I see something that looks like,
49:48
the more gritty,
49:49
and off the beaten path,
49:52
I'm more intrigued, right?
49:54
And so I go,
49:55
and I sit down,
49:56
nobody speaks English where we are.
49:57
At the market,
49:58
but there's no English.
49:59
There's no translation on the menu.
50:01
Nobody around me.
50:02
Am I okay, cool?
50:03
So I sat down with the girls,
50:06
and I just pointed out what somebody else was eating.
50:08
I just said that.
50:09
And this is like a local star.
50:11
They don't do many things anyway.
50:13
I was like, okay,
50:14
it came this like soupy bowl,
50:16
with like different fishy looking things,
50:18
and some veg in it,
50:19
in the bowl.
50:20
I was like, okay, cool.
50:21
I tasted a piece of a fishing.
50:24
When I tell you, say,
50:26
I wanted to spit it out, right?
50:29
And I'm not that person.
50:30
I'm not, I eat everything, right?
50:32
And I'm also really conscious
50:34
of not disrespecting people's cultures and all that.
50:37
And also,
50:38
I don't want my children
50:40
to see me react to food that way,
50:42
and think that if they don't like something,
50:45
they should also react that way,
50:47
or that we don't like things.
50:48
I want them to constantly be open and curious.
50:51
When I tell you, say,
50:53
I never wanted to swallow it.
50:56
Like, honestly,
50:57
and I think it must have been something fermented,
51:00
because it tasted rotten,
51:02
like, really rotten.
51:04
And so I did swallow it,
51:06
and then I was just telling the girls,
51:08
you know, do you want to taste it?
51:09
And thankfully,
51:10
they were fine.
51:12
To this day, I still don't know what I consumed, right?
51:15
All I know is that I don't want to consume it again.
51:19
And so I'm wondering now that you said fermented fish,
51:22
if it's like a similar, honestly,
51:24
I have no idea what this was.
51:25
So this thing,
51:26
like, it's literally a quiet piece.
51:28
I have been here for three years.
51:30
And you still not talk quiet?
51:31
No, I can't eat it.
51:33
I eat it,
51:34
but you will not see me go to a restaurant and say,
51:36
boom, I want a fried hawk.
51:37
Okay.
51:38
But if I am at somebody's house,
51:40
and then bring it out,
51:41
I can't eat it.
51:42
Okay.
51:43
You know, but I don't eat pork.
51:44
I don't eat seafood.
51:45
These kind of things.
51:46
Or you don't eat pork.
51:47
And this country is bare pork.
51:48
Everything is pork.
51:50
And it's good.
51:51
I mean, not that you care.
51:53
But baby's like crispy.
51:55
It's pork belly.
51:56
I'm like, yes.
51:57
Yes.
51:58
So I have the constantly asked,
52:00
okay, what is that?
52:01
You know?
52:02
And you know,
52:03
and you know, I've been here.
52:07
You know, good talker.
52:09
I think.
52:10
Okay.
52:11
Okay.
52:14
Okay.
52:15
Okay.
52:22
Okay.
52:24
Cow is a cow.
52:26
You know, so I could go to the market
52:28
and have a full conversation.
52:30
Right.
52:31
You know, I know Salamatruv.
52:32
I don't really like soups.
52:33
Okay.
52:34
So Salamatruv is like this kind of soup
52:36
so you can make Salamatruv anything.
52:38
Why are you like chicken?
52:39
Why are you like chicken?
52:40
It's just not my thing.
52:41
Oh, really?
52:42
Even my father make like fish broth.
52:45
And the only soup you have in me to eat
52:47
is a cow.
52:48
He is super na korn soup.
52:49
Okay.
52:50
Fish broth.
52:51
fish should not be in soup. Really? A lot of fish team. Fish should be fried and buttered
52:59
up with some nice flour. Okay. And your dasha bits are curry in it and your fried up.
53:04
That should be fish. Right. You are a little big fish. A grill fish. Oh, a grill fish.
53:09
Don't get me started. In Chinatown, we go to the coastline on one side and there's these people
53:16
at grill fishing banana leaf. I would kill the heat of fish right now. And they give you
53:23
like ground provision. But they do and dashin and these kind of thing. Put your back.
53:30
It has to be. Yeah. But up here when I go to eat, I mostly eat it like foreign restaurants.
53:36
Okay. You know, really? I will eat street food. Okay. Why? Because it's so much pork.
53:44
It's so much pork one. You don't know what they put in it too. And it's just not my thing.
53:51
Okay. Is that street food in general? I will try it. I will try. I will try. My food is one of my
53:58
other food spiral videos was like, you know, how they sell the churrantulas. I've been seeing this.
54:05
I haven't tried it. Have you tried it? No. The most thing I've tried is quail egg.
54:11
Okay. I'm so adventurous. It's time to find out. I allergic to quail.
54:16
Really? You know when your body has not eaten something, it doesn't know how to react.
54:21
Okay. My whole face would record in bare pimples. Oh no. Is that why you haven't tried tarantula?
54:29
No. Okay. Why are you eating that spider? I haven't tried it yet. My first viral video was
54:36
missing in Cambodia because my hashtag is in Cambodia. Okay. After patterned that before somebody
54:42
teeth it. It's probably too late, bips. Oh well that. So my time when people see me they say
54:48
in Cambodia. Right. In Cambodia, they eat everything. In Cambodia, they eat snail. Have you
54:54
had snails? Have you had snails? No friend. So, in the Bible, they say they eat them saying,
54:58
when I eat them saying. So two days ago, my girls had snails for the first time here.
55:03
And so I've had snails in a French sense, you know, in terms of butter, parsley, and they're
55:09
very small, very small. And for me, you don't eat snails for the snail. You eat snails for the sauce.
55:15
Okay. Right. So it's more about the butter, the parsley, the garlic, and less about,
55:22
like the snail is just a vessel to get the sauce. Okay. Right. Okay. And I remember going to
55:28
to Marquesh. And there was like a big, big pot and at the market and this man is selling snails.
55:33
So I'm thinking like escargot. I'm like, yeah, babe, I can have some escargot. Baby,
55:37
Moroccan snails and a French snail. I'm not a sea of steel, you know? Because the Moroccan
55:42
snail was just like boiled snail in water. Like literally, it's just like just murky water.
55:50
There was no butter. There was no garlic. There was no untrustness. It was just snail rubbery snail.
55:58
I was like, why? Like why? So when I ordered it here, I wasn't sure whether I was going to get the
56:05
French inspired kind of escargot vibe or whether we were going to go back to Marquesh. You get soup.
56:11
So we get them. First of all, these snails are hench. They're not no liqueur,
56:16
they could do be to be garden snail. The like hench, right? Like really big shells. So I thought,
56:21
oh, this kid, this is interesting. Again, remember we're with the kids who are just kind of keep the
56:26
vibes positive and not like give them any word of energy. And so I said, oh, do you want to taste it?
56:30
And they were like, yeah, cool. They're very quick. I got them. They could too pick and do it
56:35
themselves. When I tell you that these snails were in like this curry sauce. And the curry sauce
56:41
was so good. Like I could have just drank. Yes, I would really. Yes, Beams.
56:47
No, honestly, the curry sauce was so good, like so good, flavorful, coconutty, creamy, just
56:55
that the snail itself, I will tell you for me, I was a little bit intimidated because it was
57:01
very big. So the meat of the snail, even when I take it all, it's just like a witty, right?
57:07
I'm like, wow, why is the snail so? Yeah, man. And it's funny because I was chewing it. And
57:14
again, it's just funny how we think of food because I was chewing it. And even the mouth feel,
57:19
I was like, it's giving a little too much texture. But seeing my children who have never tried snails
57:27
before, not skip a beat, right? And just focusing on the fact that the sauce was so good and
57:32
remembering that the beauty of food and culture is that if we allow ourselves to, we will experience
57:38
different things. Yes, best believe me, honestly, yeah, man, we're good, no, we're good. I got over
57:43
like the thought process and the comparison, right? Comparing it to something that I've had before.
57:48
And the cor, trust me, I was wiping off the sauce with the bread, the bread. So the most
57:54
adventurous thing I've eaten here is the grasshopper. Okay, you had grasshopper. Yeah, but I didn't go
58:00
out and buy a bag. Somebody bought a bag and I tried to. And it didn't stick. And my teeth,
58:05
and I was like, that's enough of that. That's pretty adventurous though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it
58:10
tasty or just texture? Did it texture the, the, the next segment in my gum? Have any flavor, though?
58:17
No, it just tastes like oil. It literally tastes like oil, didn't have like a taste or anything.
58:23
And it's a ranch, you know, I said in Kanwo, did they eat spider? Well, who tell me say that?
58:28
There was in my comments, tarantula is not a spider. Oh, it's not. April, what a tarantula is?
58:34
This is not a spider. I thought it was a spider. It's not a spider. So what am I saying? It is. They say
58:38
a ping. A ping is not a spider. A ping is a ping. What is a ping? A ping is a tarantula.
58:46
And I had to do a whole other video explaining what a spider is. A spider has eight legs
58:52
and the body parts are different. This is what makes a spider a spider. They come under that
58:57
video and they tell me tarantula is not a spider. It's not, you find it in a field and it's organic
59:04
and I'm just there like, guys, it doesn't make it any different. It's a spider. And that video
59:11
almost got one million views. Okay, so let them continue commenting. But they come, they, they
59:16
continue, but after that I got like videos. I am so happy that I got videos, two million views
59:22
and all these kind of things, you know, so they're very supportive. It wasn't like bad comments.
59:26
Sure. They were trying to correct me in a way that they just don't know. Sure. You know,
59:31
it's like they don't know. So I try to explain to them, guys, a tarantula is a spider. And they
59:37
was like, no, it's not a spider. I'm in your country. If you use a tarantula, it's not a spider.
59:45
That is not a spider. I'm not going to fight 16 million of you. Sure. Tell me about teaching.
59:51
So I understand that it's not the passion of yours, but it's facilitated this dream of
59:56
traveling. Yeah. I don't think I could be a teacher. Like people see me with my kids and they're
1:00:01
like, oh, you're really, really patient. And I don't even consider myself as being patient.
1:00:05
I'm honest with you. But I love my children. And when I see other people's kids, I'm not
1:00:11
keeping them the hell away from me. I just keep them away from me because I think that
1:00:15
I have been able to create an environment that works for both me and my kids. But when I see
1:00:20
other people's children, I'm just that your house rules are very different from mine. And so to
1:00:25
multiply that experience, I'm talking like at the park. I don't even like other kids at the park.
1:00:29
I'm not, why do you guys have to be here? I get a bit nervous because another kid is always like
1:00:34
pushing or being aggressive to mine. I'm like, you're just messing with our vibes, right? Of course,
1:00:39
I appreciate that we need to learn how to socialize. It's just unfortunate. That's all I'm saying.
1:00:43
Anyway, but to multiply that experience by like 20 children, I'm sorry. I could never.
1:00:50
Friend, it's hard. Really? It's proper hard. And you know, in the Caribbean, we lack a bit of
1:00:57
patience. It's across the whole Caribbean. Patience is not one of our...
1:01:02
There's no way no parents talk to us. They just sit us and look, we obey.
1:01:06
Up here is not like that because you're not allowed like in the Caribbean. When you go to school
1:01:10
and you do foolishness and you teach your class, you teach your teacher. And that's the
1:01:15
NIO foolishness. But the chance is, them can still teach you to do that. I'm just a little.
1:01:19
Really? When I was in primary school, not too long ago. When I was in primary school,
1:01:25
I had a principal. Really? She had a ruler there. She used to beat us for anything and everything.
1:01:31
It's so funny. At my school, I remember we have this principal in high school and he had come from
1:01:37
Georgia's, which is known as a very good boys, all boys school. And this is like a rich
1:01:41
people mix school. And it's relevant. That is a rich people school because you know,
1:01:44
it's a rich people picnic. Sometimes rules, they feel that they are above the rules, right?
1:01:49
And he was known for bringing discipline and structure to our school in a way that was really,
1:01:54
really positive. And his like punishment was creative, let's say. I remember one time,
1:02:00
I don't think our class was a bad class. But we were vibrant. You know? I was that bad. We had a
1:02:05
bad class. We're not teacher to rehab. That's what bad we was. No. In bishops?
1:02:12
B, we was a big class. What were you guys doing to traumatize people,
1:02:16
them teachers? I don't know, boys. She probably just couldn't take me. And I was a terror.
1:02:20
Really? So this is probably all my, all my, all my, come. I'll come back to you. I was a terror.
1:02:27
In a way, I said this respect them teachers. No. I had a teacher. She didn't like me in
1:02:33
high school. I didn't like she. And we were, of course, she turned for, I wouldn't say she
1:02:38
name, but we should call she turned for. And she didn't like me. And I didn't like she.
1:02:43
She didn't. Yeah. Why call her to because her foot was 10 friends. And then you know,
1:02:49
these, she was big up here. Okay. And I didn't like this moment for all the tea in China.
1:02:56
And she didn't like me. I used to get this one beer problems. Really? No, I was good.
1:03:03
I was good babes. I like doing well. I was, I was good. I would push boundaries, but in a way
1:03:11
that like, in a way that was reasonable. And the thing I loved about like my high school,
1:03:18
it was a small school, which I think is relevant in the sense that you can kind of have more room
1:03:24
to find your personality when it's a small school. I'd been to another school, which was a lot bigger.
1:03:29
And I just find that when it's a lot bigger, you can't really test the rules, right? You can't
1:03:34
really see how to navigate spaces because you're just one and only if you kind of have to fall in
1:03:38
line. But this teacher, this principal, sorry, when we had been one of our vibrant classes and
1:03:44
the teacher felt that it was an auto control, his punishment was you needed to go cut grass with
1:03:50
scissors. And I'm talking like a field. So I'm sending everybody with scissors to cut grass,
1:03:58
right? And so I said to him, unfortunately, I have migraines and I can't be out in the sun.
1:04:07
So I appreciate that you need to discipline the class. But for medical reasons,
1:04:12
I just don't think it's an appropriate punishment. And come to think of it, I don't know how
1:04:17
you put up with me. But I didn't, I didn't get the punishment. I sat down, I sat down and I watched
1:04:23
the rest of the class. I would make your cone stones. I'm super like talking about it. No, I'm
1:04:29
surprised that he didn't give me something else to do. But I didn't. I just sat there. And the
1:04:33
reason that's relevant is because I feel like at high school, it was where it taught me how to kind
1:04:39
of not weasel your way out of things. But I think I learned how to get my own way in life because
1:04:45
it was a small enough school that I could have those one-on-one relationships with,
1:04:49
whereas if I went to like a big one, I don't think I would have been able to do that. But yeah,
1:04:54
they definitely let me get away with things. I think also because I was good in terms of
1:04:58
academically. I remember one time as in a class and I was tired. And I said to the teacher,
1:05:03
do you mind if I just put my head down? I don't like for the class. And I'll do the homework.
1:05:07
Whatever you're doing in class, I'll bring it tomorrow. But you know, I just feel quite tired.
1:05:11
And so she said, and she was known for being really strict. And so she let me put my head down.
1:05:16
And so a next boy raises his hand and he's like, and before he speaks, she says, if you think
1:05:23
you are going to make that request, I would suggest that you rethink your position. And him don't
1:05:29
talk yet. And him just look at me. I just smiled. You're not April babes. So you're not going to
1:05:36
get those privileges. And honestly, another student lips, you have to get the grades, right?
1:05:42
And I got that mentality also from my dad, right? If you wanted to get a little extra on the
1:05:47
curfew, if you wanted to have a nice computer, like you needed to make sure that you were doing
1:05:53
what you had to do, which at that age was academics, as long as you were hitting those grades,
1:05:58
then you could you could negotiate. But if you don't, if you don't hit the grades,
1:06:02
there's no negotiation. I remember the day I graduated high school. I might
1:06:05
have had hate spursings. I had to wait until I was 12 to get my first airspirits. And after
1:06:10
graduation, I won everything. I was valedictorian. I was like, Hellel award. That's the school I went
1:06:15
into. So I was giving speech, all of that. The day after graduation, I got piercement ears again.
1:06:19
And so he's at dinner. And him look at me. I'm saying, it seems very smart. I just saw a smile.
1:06:24
After that, do you remember how you were feeling yesterday? Graduation. You were so proud, right?
1:06:30
I'm just out smiling. But again, it was because you were doing what you
1:06:34
supposed to do. And so then you could get a look. Yes, get a look reward. What is the culture
1:06:39
here in school? So before I used to teach kindergarten. Okay. So I teach nursery to kindergarten
1:06:46
before. Now I'm teaching primary and kindergarten. I have I developed the mindset of kindergarten that
1:06:52
their babies, you know, that you have to let them get away with some things because their babies.
1:07:00
So like when they make noise and they're doing that work, they're doing that work. But you know,
1:07:05
I just tune out the noise. Once you do it, I don't have a problem with you because you're five,
1:07:11
four, three, you know, two year olds, bear cry. You were with two year olds.
1:07:17
Two years old. Two and three year olds. Really? I will never.
1:07:23
And now I'm teaching primary kids. Okay. And my kids. So I'm teaching seven, eight, nine, ten.
1:07:32
Okay. Right. And these kids, they don't speak English. Zero English. I have Chinese Vietnamese,
1:07:39
Taiwanese and Korean. Okay. So all of them in one class. And best believe they play, you know,
1:07:47
and they come and they communicate. No, no, no, no, no, no, go, go, go, go, you know,
1:07:53
but they're very active. And I think because of the language barrier, the thing they can push with
1:07:59
me. Okay. So when I punish, I punish like stand up in a corner, but I realize that some of them
1:08:06
enjoy standing in a corner. So now I have to make them. I'm going to implement like writing lines.
1:08:11
Okay. You know, and then you have these kids, these kids, these days are so active. They always
1:08:16
want to up and stand up. One boy, he loves to stand up and do his work. Okay. So I allow him to
1:08:22
stand up and do his work because he's so smart. Sure. You know, he gets away with stand up and do
1:08:27
his work because he comes, he's slow to complete his work. But when he does the work, it's correct.
1:08:33
Right. You know, one of the class sizes. So I have had 25. Okay. 20, 23, and now 11. Okay. But
1:08:44
of course, the 11 will grow because it's now the beginning of the school school year. Okay. So
1:08:49
more people enroll their kids. Is that how it happens? Okay. You have a year wrong
1:08:55
enrollments and like more schools and parents are getting different contracts. They're internet
1:09:00
like why are they not all coming in at the same time? Like Cambodia is such a hub for expats.
1:09:06
Okay. That people are always coming and going. Coming and going. Right. You know, so people
1:09:10
are always leaving. They leave. They take their kids to another country and people are always
1:09:15
coming in. So they have to find some method for their kids when they're working here. You know,
1:09:19
and then when you leave a country like China, some more times these kids don't know any English.
1:09:24
Right. And they realize that to live abroad, these kids need to learn English. Right.
1:09:30
So they put them in an international school where they would learn English, interact with different
1:09:35
kinds of kids. Right. You know, so yeah. Do you prefer teaching the kindergarten kids or do you
1:09:40
prefer teaching the primary kids? After three years of kindergarten, I am so grateful. Like I get
1:09:45
to teach primary right now. Really? I'm tired. I'm like kindergarten. You don't have to watch
1:09:54
them as hard. Okay. And you don't have to see about all these different things. And of course,
1:10:00
like the other day one kid took a shot and another child made a finger and she started crying.
1:10:05
I'm like, guys, we'll get out. Not in kindergarten. No, nothing can be done. This is primary.
1:10:09
This is primary. Really? They two of her friends showed her middle finger. They don't speak
1:10:14
English. So I don't know why they showed her middle finger. And then she is crying and she could
1:10:19
speak a little English. So she understands the middle finger. She understands the middle finger.
1:10:24
I mean, and they're all Chinese. So she was greatly insulted. And she started to cry.
1:10:29
And I am they're like, why did you show her middle finger? And one of the one that showed
1:10:34
her middle finger, she's like, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead towards it. She's like,
1:10:39
and I'm they're like, I was like, tell her sorry now. And we're in the playground. I was like,
1:10:44
tell her sorry now. But did she understand what the middle finger was? Maybe she never
1:10:47
understand. They understand and turn smart. I have one bear curse. And then my class really
1:10:53
and I'm they're like, I'm like, come here. Stand in the corner. And he's in the corner plain
1:10:58
because the corner is enjoyable. Right. You know, these kids are so smart. They don't know how to
1:11:03
do the school. But they know of course, but yeah, you know, these kids, you know, sometimes I
1:11:09
just laugh with them because they're just so funny sometimes. Even in their bad behavior,
1:11:15
I put one to stand up in our corner and we go in truly funny. So I answer my hand.
1:11:22
I answer my hand. And we reach the tea. And for the life of me, I couldn't remember
1:11:28
when I was trying to smash it. And you have the end. And he is free. It's in the corner. He
1:11:35
not watching me. And he was like, teacher, when I was trying to smash it. I was like,
1:11:41
which all of us just started laugh, you know, and I say, go on. You deserve to
1:11:47
go on. So, you know, these kids, they just made me laugh sometimes in their little misbehaving.
1:11:54
Sure. You know, they just, they bring joy to my life to be honest.
1:11:58
Do you enjoy teaching? I enjoy teaching. It's not the career that I want to do,
1:12:02
but I enjoy it. I want to go into marketing and these kind of things. That's what I love.
1:12:06
Okay. You know, but it's so hard because they will not hire a foreigner that does not speak.
1:12:13
Come on. Okay. Because there are a lot of jobs. And then there are so many Filipinos here.
1:12:19
You know, one person gets in. They help the whole country. So one Filipino in a position.
1:12:26
Because a lot of hotels look for marketing agents, right? And I have applied.
1:12:31
God knows I have applied, you know? And one Filipino in, of course, they get the other Filipino
1:12:39
graduate. Right. You know, so how is your command? I know you can run a market,
1:12:44
but in terms of would you be able to to work in corporate settings? Okay.
1:12:49
Are you thinking about learning command? Absolutely not. Really? You try learning command.
1:12:53
Come back and tell me. I write one sentence. It takes me 15 minutes. You can write? No.
1:13:01
I try. But speaking, I mean, I don't think that my natural tone
1:13:09
lends to Southeast Asian languages. However, all I have in the couple of days that I've been here
1:13:16
is Susu Dai. Susu Dai. Complua. Twins. Oh, okay. And I said my vocabulary.
1:13:25
Yeah. For obvious reasons. Yeah. Obviously, I can. And what is lovely? And you touched on it
1:13:32
when you spoke about your kid, the kid in your class and playing. It's like, I will say,
1:13:37
come out to the talk talk and say, thank you initially and then correct myself.
1:13:41
Before I can correct myself to say, I can. My children are like, you cannot say thank you.
1:13:46
They don't speak English. It's our. I'm like, okay, okay, babes. I was, I was coming here.
1:13:52
And it's just crazy how children are so adaptable, like so adaptable in ways that every time
1:13:59
I question it, I come back at myself in black, April, you know better. So I heard my children
1:14:03
wear in Thailand. And whenever we go anywhere, we know, hello. Thank you. Please. And goodbye.
1:14:08
Right. Like at least know those basics. And so I hear my, my girl's talking. And obviously,
1:14:14
Kopp Kunkars is thank you. But I hear Nova saying Kopp Kuna Ka. So I thought she just miss
1:14:20
spoke. I thought she was trying to say thank you. Right. So I said, what is Kopp Kuna Ka? My girl.
1:14:25
And she says to me, it's no thank you. I said, no, it's not. Right. Because we haven't learned
1:14:29
no thank you as far as I'm concerned. Right. I know it's not babes. And then a nanny comes
1:14:34
so that I can film some conversations. And I hear her saying Kopp Kuna Ka with the nanny.
1:14:39
So I said to the woman, what Kopp Kuna Ka mean? And she says, it means no thank you. I said,
1:14:43
Nova, I am so sorry. I doubted you because I thought you just couldn't speak Thai. So like,
1:14:50
why are you just putting in words that don't exist? And you were, I said babes, how did you know?
1:14:56
And she said, oh, I asked another nanny. What no thank you was. And she said,
1:15:01
why not tell me? I said, I'm the idiot. And you're right. And my point is is that children will
1:15:06
just pick up the words. They'll pick up the vocab. They pick up tones. Right. Even like,
1:15:11
I'll pronounce something in French to them. And they'll tell me, no, the tone isn't right. And
1:15:17
they seem to just have such a keen ear. And a part of me, because I know that zero to five is that
1:15:22
core age in terms of, I'm not saying that you can't learn a language after. Of course you can.
1:15:26
But there's a core age, right. And as they're approaching five, a part of Chinese, it would be
1:15:31
lovely too. I took them to a Mandarin class in the UK. And it was 30 minutes on a Saturday
1:15:39
from they were liquor and I'm in this class. And I'm like, I know for a fact, there is no way that
1:15:44
you are going to learn Chinese from 30 minutes on a Saturday. Right. And so it's like, the French
1:15:51
is as good as we're going to get right now. But a part of me really wishes that we could just get
1:15:55
more. They need to learn Chinese. Chinese is the language of Asia. Chinese is where all the money is.
1:16:01
But a whole can't do it to drop them in China. Literally. Literally. Just say, guys, we're going
1:16:06
in China for one year. They learn Chinese. I can guarantee. Really?
1:16:11
Drop them in. Because I'm watching your kids speak in French. How did they even learn French?
1:16:16
They do not have enough French speaking country. Should we go to China for a year?
1:16:20
Go to China for a year and bring me. Is that where you want to go?
1:16:25
Ah, China, they make money in China. In teaching or just in China, they pay for your
1:16:32
flight together. They pay for their visas. They give you a two-year contract. They pay for your
1:16:37
house. And then they give you a salary. And then maybe the house costs the school or whatever.
1:16:43
Some schools have shuttle. If you spend money, you spend money because you want to spend money.
1:16:48
No, because you have to. So what is stopping you from getting to China?
1:16:53
Oh, Lord. You see this here? Really? This is the greatest thing I have born with.
1:16:59
I love my skin. Sure. But this is the greatest thing a black person could have.
1:17:07
Really? If you're not secure in yourself and you come out here and you don't know yourself as a
1:17:14
person, you will be shamed for having this. Is that Cambodia as well?
1:17:20
It's just the region. Okay. On a whole. Really?
1:17:23
You know? I have to be like, oh, you are so dark.
1:17:28
Of people watching me in my face. I have a friend, one of our teaching assistants,
1:17:33
they were like, oh, teacher, last year your bottom was so big. And it was not nice. And now it's
1:17:39
nicer this year. I say, I will. You know? Like, I've heard people watch me in your face. Oh,
1:17:47
you're so black. And that's seen as negative. Yes. They like fair skin, like, like,
1:17:55
bleach and creams are a big thing up here. You know what's crazy? So I am in Vietnam,
1:17:59
2008. And I'm in Ho Chi Minh City. And it is super hot. It is August the heat. Like,
1:18:05
and people are like, oh, but you're from Jamaica, babe, there was no sea breeze. This,
1:18:08
this the heat there. It was just like humid, sticky. It really had to madness, man. And I'd never
1:18:14
experienced that kind of heat before. And I noticed everybody was wearing super long clothing,
1:18:18
right? So super long arms, legs, hat covered everything. And so I asked somebody at the hotel,
1:18:23
I was like, you know, are people not hot? I'm not hot out there. And there are things with
1:18:27
that in Vietnam, the worst thing you could say to a woman is you have beautiful brown skin.
1:18:32
I was like, oh, okay, cool. So fast forward, we are in Vietnam earlier this year. And I'm like,
1:18:37
oh, I wonder what the temperature is going to be in terms of culturally, not in terms of heat.
1:18:42
Because I'm like, no, you're traveling with children. How are we going to be received? And
1:18:46
as a black person, I think it's fair to say that we have to think about how are people going to
1:18:50
receive us when we travel? Yes. What I found quite interesting is they clearly had their
1:18:57
prejudices within Vietnamese culture. Because like what you're saying, I was surprised to see
1:19:01
bleaching billboards in Malaysia as an advertising clinics for bleaching. I was like, okay, cool.
1:19:07
Because of course, I know bleaching from a Jamaican company. I'm not saying that we don't have
1:19:11
that issue. Yes, of course. But it would never be advertised. You wouldn't have a billboard.
1:19:15
It's something you do on the download, right? And people see your knuckles and they're like,
1:19:19
and like, you bleach it. You know what I mean? It's not like you're just going to be, oh,
1:19:22
I'm going to go to the clinic today. So I was quite taken aback. Also, very ignorantly,
1:19:27
I look at Asian people as being pale. So the idea that you were trying to bleach,
1:19:33
I was taken aback because I thought bleaching was a black thing. I never knew that bleaching
1:19:38
was such a culturally normal thing in this part of the world. A pair, a pair like, to me,
1:19:45
Cambodian people are dark skin. From the ancestors, when you watch all these ancestral things,
1:19:51
they're brown skin. And they signify that when going out and they rise, you know,
1:19:57
you're in the sun, that means you have a low class. But if you get to stay inside, then you're
1:20:01
out of a high class. Okay. You know, it's just their culture. And how does that translate?
1:20:06
Do they apply those same prejudices to you? Do you feel? Yes. Okay. So like, when I went to the
1:20:14
province, I, it's hot, right? So I went to Camp function and province because I have one of my
1:20:21
teaching assistants from my previous school. Okay. We are, we are friends, we're friends now,
1:20:27
and I'm how sons go on mother. Oh, really? So I send money for him every month when I get pay,
1:20:33
I send $10 or $15, you know, and how, how, how, how's the, the road floods because they are
1:20:41
not riverbank. Okay. So then this time, the whole river comes up, it comes up literally to the
1:20:47
house. The house on stills like this, right? And we are in the boat going and I am a tube top.
1:20:54
And my leggings, right? Because it's hot. My girl comes outside with a hat, long sleeve,
1:20:59
long. She's like, teacher, no, wear this, wear this cover up. You get more dark. Okay.
1:21:04
You know, but she's saying it so innocently and out of care, out of care. Yeah. But then they are
1:21:09
the times when you have encountered it where people, like social media, I did a video where I
1:21:16
went to this factory and it's like income would make you get cheap loads. 50 cents a dollar in these
1:21:22
factories. Right. Somebody was like, go back to Africa with your black self. Africa had three clothes.
1:21:31
Is that coming from Cambodian people? Do you mean from Cambodian people?
1:21:34
Oh, really? You know, in my comments, because if it was a Thai person or like a different other
1:21:40
thing, I would have known as well because when you go on their profile, someone they have videos,
1:21:44
but a Thai person normally writes in Thai. Yes. Right? So when when I go, I did a whole
1:21:51
video, responding to that. I was like, first of all, I'm not from Africa. At least seven back to
1:21:57
the right place. Second of all, Africa is not our country. It's our continent. So you tell me
1:22:01
go back to Africa, which part? Right. Which part do you want to go? I always say that when people
1:22:07
are insulting you online, at least come correct. No, man, because when they're like, it's
1:22:12
grammatically incorrect. I'm like, you ain't even tell me which country to go back. You don't know if I
1:22:16
want to go Uganda, Ethiopia, Zanzibar. You don't know where I want to go. Then I was like, if Africa
1:22:23
only had three clothes, I'll have to be the first one on the plane. Because some of these African
1:22:28
designers, they do the most, and it's pretty close. Yes. You know? So I was like, if you want to say
1:22:35
something, say it with a sense of smartness, you know, they'll be sure. Have you only had those
1:22:40
experiences online? Or have you had any awkward experiences in person? Um, I've had, you know,
1:22:47
when you could get like that on the line, on the line, what do you call it? When you could feel
1:22:53
like the business being shady? Microgression? Microgression. Right. So we were preparing to go to
1:22:59
C.M.A. That was like a recent one. And they wanted me to do a video supporting Cambodia.
1:23:05
On one of the guys, he was like, um, yes, talking your country language. So so first,
1:23:12
first he said that I was like, oh, but my country language is English. Right. He was like, no,
1:23:16
but your country is language or regional. I said, what do you mean my country is language? I
1:23:21
said, speak English. Yeah. And he's like, oh, okay.
1:23:24
What if I say my language is English? Sure. What does that mean? I speak English. No, no, no,
1:23:35
talking your country's language. I speak English. What do you mean my country's language? That's
1:23:41
what I hit him. You know, sometimes think, you know, yeah, they'd be careful because if you
1:23:46
deal with foreigners, you also have to know, yes, I'm in your country, but you also have to be
1:23:51
away. Sure. If you're still good as foreigners, you have to also know what is acceptable, you know.
1:23:57
But also, even if you don't know, right, because there's an argument to say that he didn't know
1:24:02
that your language is English. But then once you have said that it is, then you would hope that
1:24:08
somebody would accept your response for what it is. The constant pushback, I think, is quite strange.
1:24:15
So that's what's in my progression. Yeah. It's strange. It's very strange. But getting to China,
1:24:21
you think that it would be easier to get a job in, have you tried to apply for jobs in China? I have
1:24:26
tried. Okay. I, all right. So that's what I'll see in my criticism. Yeah. I have tried. I have
1:24:32
agents straight up tell me, tell my face, your blackness school, how are you? Really? Straight
1:24:37
up to my face. Is it that they feel that you won't be able to do the job as in because you don't
1:24:43
speak good enough English or I just don't want black people around my kids. They don't want black people.
1:24:48
They want that white U.S. Canadian. Okay. They even know people from the U.S. with
1:24:53
black skin. They have a hard time. Okay. They like once you have black skin, I have a friend from
1:25:00
Trudard. She's lighter than me. But she went as soon as COVID started, you know, and people really
1:25:06
needed teachers at that time. So she got in. I have a friend. He left Cambodia and went to China.
1:25:13
And he probably applied to school six months and coming down to the last end of it,
1:25:19
right, was when he got accepted. Okay. You know, and then his school, he moved on from
1:25:25
from the school and he was looking for a job. He took him two months to get a job. Okay.
1:25:30
You know, and he's darker than me. So I am here in Cambodia. I have, I've tried everything.
1:25:37
So what's the plan? How are you going to reach her? Why do you want to go there? If they don't want
1:25:42
you there. They money. Okay. The packages are good. Yeah. Like I'd be able to go there, see some
1:25:48
money. But as I said before, you never know where in the breeze may bloom. Sure. You know, the breeze.
1:25:57
I might end up in Netherlands. But who knows? So you're open. I'm very open. Okay. You know, right now,
1:26:03
I am very comfortable with. I have a good job. I have good contract. You know, so I'm very
1:26:08
comfortable where I am, but I don't want to be comfortable. Okay. I must test some boundaries.
1:26:13
Right. You know, I have to see what's next in life. What do you need from a place to be comfortable?
1:26:20
Other than the financial package, what do you need from a proper apartment?
1:26:29
Being easily able to travel because I love to travel. So all the places. Yes.
1:26:33
Being easy and comfortable is quite easy to travel. You know, like because Thailand is there,
1:26:38
Laos is there, Vietnam is there. And it's not expensive to travel in Asia.
1:26:44
Yeah. So a proper apartment where I can go and sleep with my own space. My first rent here
1:26:50
was $190 per month. My rent now is $350. Really? And right now, is that because you're in a
1:27:01
much nicer place in a much nicer area. I'm a much nicer place. I'm much nicer area.
1:27:05
So hold on. Tell me what you were getting for 190. 190 was kind of like a studio setup by yourself.
1:27:11
Yeah. $190. And then my electricity bill was like $18 for the month.
1:27:21
And now you're $350. Okay. But mind you, I had a bigger apartment for $300. Okay.
1:27:28
But I had to move out of that apartment. Why? Because I was co-habitated with cockroaches.
1:27:34
Oh, I would kill six cockroaches in one night. No, but you mustn't slap them.
1:27:42
Friend, I'm not slapping them because I don't like to sit down and slap. And then the eggs,
1:27:45
I'm told that you mustn't slap them because then the eggs spread and then the eggs will come from
1:27:49
the drains and the sink, come from the drains and the kitchen. No, I can't. I literally lower.
1:27:57
So in Campbell, they're the lower you are in a condo. Okay. The most, the more like they expect
1:28:01
together. So you're on the first floor. I was in the first floor and I moved the second floor
1:28:05
of the same building. Or the same building. I tell me that I should have just moved out.
1:28:10
So even on the second floor, and it's just it's story is the building. I'm not even like,
1:28:15
if there's a 40 story building, it's not much further to go. So I moved. I also have that one
1:28:21
and it was 300 dollars. And it was proper bake. My bedroom was massive. I had two
1:28:25
years for you to imagine. That's why. That's why. That's why. This is like, I had two,
1:28:30
like a proper living room, a separate kitchen, you know. So now I moved out. My apartment is
1:28:36
way smaller. My bedroom is still bigger. But I have a setup to do content. Okay. So when I look
1:28:42
for apartment, I look for a wall where I could set up my background and my lights. Really?
1:28:47
Because I hate breaking the down and taking back. Okay. So I give my landlord a lot of time
1:28:53
into content. Yeah. What do you hope to gain from? And when you you focus mainly on
1:28:59
on TikTok? TikTok on Instagram. Because finally, my Instagram is reaching people. Okay.
1:29:05
And what is a struggle? Is it just a creative outlet? Or are you hoping is there a goal in mind?
1:29:10
It's the goal in mind is to make like passive income. Okay. Because I do partner with a
1:29:15
lot of brands out here. Who tells it like me to stay content for them? So and that is fun for me.
1:29:22
Okay. You know, so I love doing that. But sometimes I don't have time. Okay. My thing is time.
1:29:28
When you're working a stable 95. Yes. You do have time to go home and edit like I told you
1:29:35
editing. Sure. You know. So when you pick a place, you pick that with that in mind that you
1:29:40
need to have somewhere comfortable enough to kind of just leave you set up. I give my landlord's
1:29:45
back their TV because I do even watch TV. Yeah. I don't watch TV. I just I was like, here, please.
1:29:49
Tell me what you wanted. I was like, you sure I was like, yes, I need this wall for my setup.
1:29:54
Okay. You know, and still I'm on the on the fifth floor of a store building. So now I'm paying
1:30:00
350 for the height and the area. Okay. I know cockroaches. In my bathroom, I saw three cockroaches,
1:30:09
three different times. Yeah. Teeny tiny German cockroaches coming up this thing.
1:30:13
Some go that has like the push down. So every night before I go to sleep, I push it down.
1:30:19
And I have bored vinegar and bacon soda. Okay. I have
1:30:25
down these dreams. Sure. But in Cambodia, you will always find cockroaches. Okay.
1:30:30
I should know because I have had to really get used to croaking lizard. I don't know if you
1:30:35
call it croaking lizard. You call it gecko. Okay. So in Jamaica, you call them croaking lizard.
1:30:42
Lizard that are transparent. If you ask my children, no, they think I love lizard.
1:30:48
And I hate lizards just for I hate them. And those ones in particular. And even the other day
1:30:55
in the bathroom at a really nice restaurant here, I close the toilet seat for my daughter to
1:31:00
to throw the toilet. Tell me why a lizard jumps out from the back of the toilet seat and lands on
1:31:07
the bin. And I look more dead. But because she's in the cubicle, I'm like, oh, you know,
1:31:15
when I really want to, I'm like, oh, and she goes, oh, a lizard. I say, we on Lesach. Okay.
1:31:21
Onifa. Right. I'm like, let's just get all over here. And she thinks, you know, there's
1:31:26
nothing wrong with the lizards. And it's because traveling around whether it's Thailand,
1:31:30
here, Bali, yo, there are lizards everywhere. Like everywhere. We have lizards. Okay.
1:31:36
But they're not everywhere. And they're like, you're in a beautiful villa in Bali. You cannot
1:31:41
go through your door without like having four lizards above your head. And so I had to just pretend
1:31:47
because I don't want them to be scared of the lizards. But I'm so tired of pretending I swear
1:31:51
motherhood is not being able to be vulnerable in your fear. And when I come home,
1:31:57
all my kids, there's a drain and I'll coaches they greet me at my gate. And I'm screaming. And
1:32:03
he took the guy. It's just they're watching me like, it's just normal. It's a normal thing miss.
1:32:09
But you guys have iguanas. Yeah, that's all right. You're not taking people. This is what I'm seeing.
1:32:13
My friend from Trinidad, Tim is saying they're going to drop hold to the tree. I said drop hold
1:32:17
to which tree? We don't have iguanas. They eat that. And sure that I said that because I don't
1:32:22
even understand why another thing, my dad and I went on a cruise in the Caribbean. I mean, come
1:32:27
off at, I'm seeing Thomas. We're walking just walking along on the sidewalk. And this iguana
1:32:33
is just strolling. And I was like, hold on, move. It's not scared. It is normal. I'm looking
1:32:41
around to see why other people aren't moving. Nobody else is concerned that there's a massive iguana.
1:32:47
Just what I crossed the road. I'm not, I'm not who. I'm not walking near that. And everyone's
1:32:52
like, yeah, it's normal. No, we don't have iguanas before people moved into our development.
1:32:57
And then Trinidad, we had a good tease. What is a good tease? It's like those big rats.
1:33:02
But it's like, it's like a copybarra. I don't know, you're saying, I don't know those things.
1:33:07
Copybarra. What are they? Copybarra. Copybarra. You ticked out. No baby, no. I'm old.
1:33:14
So maybe if you go, it's like, let's see, it's like, it's like a otter. Okay, but it doesn't have
1:33:23
the tail like an otter. It has a tail like a rat. It has a tail like a, no, not really a rat,
1:33:29
but it does not have a tail at all. It's like a stump. It's like a stump, but it's like a family
1:33:34
to a rat. Okay. Right. And like, say this is the world for our whole. Sure. And by that chair right
1:33:40
there, they would come down. And my parents always shoot like food peels and stuff like to feed it.
1:33:45
Yeah, to feed it and they come down and then they need when they back, he used a comet is gone.
1:33:51
And he shoots it because the same. So you feed it to kill it? What kind of evil business is that?
1:33:57
Well, we're not eaten at the level. It's in the neighborhood. You know, we're not eaten at the day,
1:34:01
but at one time, he showed me how the shoot is gone because like it's a hunting gun.
1:34:05
I mean, they're in our rock box. Oh, yes. I was like, oh, my God, Lord,
1:34:13
for a little bit, you know, hands. I'm just a man. But those are the experiences we live for.
1:34:22
You know, that is right. Because right now I buy and plant an image and I buy and plant an
1:34:26
you can get planting out there. Three cages, $7.50. I don't even know what that means. I'm just
1:34:32
impressed. It's expensive. Really? Back home. I will even buy a planting. You just take it. We just
1:34:38
take the plant and then my dad has land. I've never bought an orange plant in Portugal,
1:34:44
like Mandarin. Okay. Poppa. You just pick it? I can't buy mango. At least it's cheap though.
1:34:53
Yeah, mango is quite cheap cheap. Dragon fruit. I never really like dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is the
1:34:58
most like to me dragon fruit. I compare particularly the red pink in the middle. It's like when you
1:35:06
go to a club and you say a woman and she's like decked out hair, makeup, body ready, right? Then you
1:35:15
go sleep with her. She wake up in the morning and all of that is gone. And you're like, yo,
1:35:19
this will happen. This is how I feel about pink dragon fruit. It looks like nice. It should be
1:35:24
amazing. It's like you see it and you can taste it. Your imagination is just full of flavor, sweetness,
1:35:31
vibe. And then you taste it. Because you know, back home is so expensive, right? And you come
1:35:38
up here, you could buy one for $1.75. But why don't taste like nothing? It tastes like water.
1:35:46
But the only good thing, like you say, is that it's cheap. Yeah, it's cheap. So when people
1:35:49
be like, yes, I bought a dragon fruit and it cost me $100. It's almost $30. And it's cost me
1:35:56
$130. I was going to say, come up here. It's here for the cheap. But you've also done some
1:36:02
modeling while you've been here. Yes. How has that experience been? Especially because I'm trying
1:36:07
to figure out, is there a demand for black models? No. I'm telling you straight up. No. The people
1:36:14
who make it, it's in Madeline. And yes, like you can, you're Russian. Okay. So how I got into
1:36:20
some modeling, first, I saw this agency was looking for models. I went and applied and never once got
1:36:25
a job from them. Okay. So you were on their books. I was on their books. I never once got a job.
1:36:31
And then they contacted me talking about they have some clients coming in and they looking for a
1:36:38
hostess. And their request was a dark African woman, a Neubian queen. Do I look like they want to
1:36:48
you? And then they was like, so of course, I know I'm not doing it. But I want to hear what it
1:36:53
is about. I'm off. Okay. So they was like, is $150 a day for one week? $150 a day. These Ukrainians
1:37:02
and Russian girls making $1,500 in one night. Really? One night. Then she goes on percent them
1:37:09
offer. And then she goes on to say, I have to go to the islands for them to pick up my bones.
1:37:17
So what? So the job is that they want a good company. A good friend. So I said, do I have to have
1:37:23
sex with these men? Okay. He's like, yes, it's the role of a good friend. Oh, I said, so you want
1:37:28
a prostitute? No, this is not prostitution. So what's in him? It's a hostess. I don't do
1:37:36
this. Wow. And I am they're like, okay, if you have any friends that interested, I have good
1:37:47
upstanding friends. If I have any friends that interested, I have so many questions. So
1:37:55
black pump is worth 150 and white pump is worth 1500? They insult me with the price. Wow.
1:38:04
And these men are coming from India. And it's not any young men. It's these old men that
1:38:09
probably have their wives and kids back in India. Right. That they invest us. Wow.
1:38:17
Have their wife hunting because the tuition here. And let's be clear, I don't actually have an
1:38:21
issue with prostitution. Yeah, if you guys are saying, do you think I'm not too consensual people,
1:38:27
you know, whatever. However, I think where it becomes concerning is when we're talking about young
1:38:33
people, when we talk about people who are not willing participants, but are trying to survive.
1:38:41
Yes. Right. And I think that in Cambodia, particularly what struck me was we move in to our
1:38:47
Airbnb on the first night in Panampen. And this hasn't happened to me anywhere else in Southeast
1:38:53
Asia, which is why it struck me as quite interesting. Within 20 minutes, my kids are literally
1:38:58
gone to the bathroom before them even leave the bathroom a card slides under the door,
1:39:04
advertising services. Okay. Within 20, I'm not exaggerating within 20 minutes of my arrival.
1:39:09
So someone has clearly seen or know that you have just arrived. Yes. Let me let you know what
1:39:13
is on offer. Yes. And I was like, damn, you didn't like, you didn't wait. It's clearly a known
1:39:20
thing. Okay. Because it just seemed so quick. And I haven't experienced that anywhere else for me.
1:39:28
And so I was like, wow, it must be quite, quite common and quite necessary, I think, for a lot of
1:39:38
people. And then my concern is that are there other means, other avenues for women to find a way
1:39:47
out of their circumstances financially? Or do you think that it is a real solution for so many
1:39:54
women here that they find themselves having to do it rather than wanting to? It's a lifestyle here
1:40:00
because Cambodian, but I don't know if you have the syndrome maker, but into that education is
1:40:07
free. Okay. Right. The government pays for your first degree. Right. Here, education is not free.
1:40:12
Right. No, I don't think that's like it for first degree. Then pay for your degree.
1:40:15
Yeah, my girl. Check out the oil money. Here we are. Exactly. We need to find some too.
1:40:20
Yeah. You know, but they pay for our first degree. Okay. And education is free and stuff like that.
1:40:28
But I pay education is not free. Right. People pay big money for their kids. It's an international
1:40:33
schools. Okay. They have international schools here. 20 K for a year. Really? And 20 K
1:40:38
up here is somebody at least salary. That is big money. Right. So these people, these girls
1:40:47
who are coming from the provinces, they never really had education, maybe more than yes, seven.
1:40:52
Okay. Great. Seven. Great. Eat. You know, so they come from the provinces to make a better life.
1:40:58
There's streets here by the riverside that just have bars with ghouls. Okay. Right. And then there
1:41:05
these massage parlors where you could go and pick a woman and then at the end of the massage,
1:41:10
they'll ask her happy massage. Okay. You know, and it's happy. Yes. You know, so it's such a real
1:41:16
thing here. I don't know if it's legal or whatever, but it happens. It's like a very well-known thing.
1:41:23
You know, it's just the reality of so many people because education is not free. Right.
1:41:27
Even when one of my teaching assistants got married, she was she was pregnant within the
1:41:33
first month of her marriage. Okay. Right. And I'm telling her about like protection, but she's
1:41:39
like teacher, what is that? Okay. And I am there like, so your parents, not a teacher about this,
1:41:46
she have parents, but she don't really have parents. Okay. You know, I'm like the next time I come
1:41:51
to visit you, what is protection? Like I'm like, I see next time I come to visit you, I'm bringing
1:41:58
this box for your husband and I say, yeah, use this. Right. You know, but of course, I can't go
1:42:04
into that. Sure. It's their culture. Sure. Because she's from the province. They want babies like
1:42:11
yesterday. Okay. And she's younger than me. She's 25. But in some holy and standards, that is
1:42:16
actually all to get married 25. Okay. You know, they normally get married 1920. Right. You know,
1:42:23
and immediately start having children and immediately start having children. Does everybody in the
1:42:27
community help look after the children? So my teacher, an old teacher and assistant, she would
1:42:33
send pen and pen. And she has an aunt that she lives with. So her aunt takes care of the care
1:42:39
as she goes on every weekend now. Okay. That she has this child before she used to go home on
1:42:44
holidays. Right. But she lives three hours away from pen and pen. She's writing a motorbike
1:42:49
to her province. Right. And I've been down there maybe three times already. Because it's such a
1:42:56
refreshing place to be. Okay. It's so refreshing. Of course, you have to get accustomed to seeing bugs
1:43:02
and you sleep with only floor and stuff like that. But all that's a part of it. Right. You know,
1:43:07
to see how these people live. So when I arrived, all the kids in the village come out and they
1:43:12
was like, oh, barang, barang, barang, far enough. Right. And I take them all. So my my teacher and
1:43:17
assistant, her mom has a like a parlour snack shop. Yes. And I take them all to this snack shop.
1:43:23
And I buy about two children ice lolly. And you know how much it cost me?
1:43:28
$5,000 real. $1.25. Really? I buy two tear these children ice lolly. So first I thought she told me
1:43:37
$20,000 real, which was like $5,000, which I think in my head is fine. Right. She was,
1:43:44
and I showed her on my app, my EBE app. I said $20,000. She was like, no prom prom prom in five.
1:43:50
Okay. She was like, prom real? I was like, okay. You know, like all these kids,
1:43:59
and I should have given her like a little something more. You know, I didn't like, I was so in shock
1:44:04
and all these mass amount of children around me. You know, so I'm just there like, and I'm like,
1:44:10
these these these people in the village are three and four children. And it's like four people.
1:44:16
It's like how you take and kill these three out of four children if you do have a job.
1:44:21
And you don't know what protection is. And you don't know what protection is.
1:44:25
And I'm just like, just life so different in these parts of the world.
1:44:32
It's amazing to see and sometimes you feel so sad that this is what somebody has to go through,
1:44:38
but it's also an amazing thing to see that this is what these people go into.
1:44:41
Yep. You know, do you want a family? I do want a family, but this economy, one kid.
1:44:49
So you're just going to go one and done one and done, but if my husband is a wealthy man,
1:44:58
how is dating here? Oh, Lord.
1:45:03
If you know one person, that's believe you know everybody. Oh, really?
1:45:07
like the the expert community is tight. So it's very insustuous. Yes. Okay.
1:45:12
If you know one person, you know, everybody. Okay. You know, so three years have been here.
1:45:18
I've been on dates. And of course, you can see them in the street, but a lot of people,
1:45:24
they have the idea of like, depend and go in. Okay. You know,
1:45:30
and I know about that. So once you see that, I'm not giving it up to them, they just go their way
1:45:36
because it's so easy to get up here. Like sex is a thing you could just get anyway. Right.
1:45:42
You know, so they just go their way. And I'm just like, okay, I'll be the rich auntie.
1:45:46
It's like country to country, during Champagne when I toast, you only think that I never see.
1:45:52
Wow. What would you advise someone who's not necessarily thinking about moving to Cambodia,
1:45:57
but moving in general? What would you say? I would say be strong, be secure with yourself,
1:46:04
be confident, you know, and just know that it's not going to be a better resistance. Things
1:46:11
not going to always be 100%. Some days will be 2%, some days will be 90%, some days will be 0%.
1:46:20
You know, just know that you're not in your country. When you're in room, do as zero months do,
1:46:25
and that's the end of that. Is there anything that you would have wanted to talk about that we
1:46:30
haven't touched on? I think we've talked. Yeah. Yeah. My last question. If you're a life with
1:46:36
a postcard, what would the picture look like? The picture. One of my favorite places I've been to
1:46:43
Jeju Island in Korea. Oh, really? Tell me about Jeju Island. I've never heard of this. So
1:46:49
like I've seen it in K-dramas and I know I always wanted to go to Korea. Okay. And I wanted
1:46:54
to go to Jeju Island. I went to in April. It was good month. You know, it was cool. Okay, babe.
1:47:00
It's April. Let's be up the April vibes now. It was cool. And I want to go back
1:47:09
like an experience summer, but it was so pretty. Okay. And there's these waterfalls that fall
1:47:15
or there's the temple by the sea. That will be the picture of my postcard. The temple by the sea
1:47:21
and the rocks beaten against the cliff. Yes. Or there's this one. There's this one too. One waterfalls.
1:47:27
I can't pronounce it, but it was such a beautiful thing in this beautiful park. Sure. You know,
1:47:32
that would be the postcard. That would be my postcard. And of course a Trinidadian flag in our corner
1:47:38
because our rep must want my country are 110%. Yeah. Thank you so much.