A long wait.

I remember a friend telling me about when he was the new apprentice in a firm and some of the tricks that were played on him. For example, there was the time when he was sent down the road to a shop to ask for 'a long weight'. A bloke told him to take a seat while they got him one. What he got was a long wait.

This is surely the land of the long wait. I quickly came to realise that, in Cambodia, time is not money - time is waiting. Coming out of a western world time-money-achieve driven culture, living here is, well, a little different. The perfect work of patience has many, many opportunities to find you in this country.

Yesterday was an example. I was happy to be on the road to the clinic at 7am with David and Heng on the back of the bike. We are still trying to get a handle on David - whether indeed he has had a motor-bike accident related brain injury or what. Heng, well she is one toothy beautiful mama who has a seized hand, a bad back and a few other negatives in her body.

Settling in for a long wait - patients watch a dvd on the life of Christ at CSI Clinic. A great young evangelist hits the 'pause' button periodically and preaches the Word. These guys do a great work in Phnom Penh. Heng is second from left on the seat.

Thus began the day of the long wait. Lunch time, and David asked if he could go with another health worker and have lunch at the church. No problem. Well, not until he did a runner and failed to return. Which left just the two of us, waiting.

I've learned to take my language books for potential long wait times. People see my lovely Khmer writing and immediately presume too much. My head may nod but my eyes are vacant. I'm mostly clueless by their fifth word. One lovely young guy approached me tho' and said 'pastor, I want to ask you question about God'. He told me that this was the first time he had spoken to a foreigner (all white-skins are called 'foreigner' here). We had a great time on the waiting seat. With his English and my Khmer we were peaking at around 14% comprehension.

3pm and we made a discovery - Heng's form for the clinic was, well, misplaced. By now the queue was pretty well over so it was simple enough to get a new form done, and wait. 4.30pm and she was in, being seen to by the most amiable and competent Dr Doug (who had, I saw, the original form in his folder ...). 5.15pm and just one more wait for some medication. 6pm and the lightened moto scooted home - where the AWOL David had re-appeared.

The AWOL David leaning on the lawn mower this evening. Our lawn may only be about 10m x 4m in size but it sure wrung a swimming pool worth of sweat out of the two of us!

Waiting is normal life here. Every day I watch the motodop drivers, sitting on their motorbikes and waiting for someone to hire them. Usually they sit in clusters of 4-6 and take turns. I estimate not less than 80% of their normal day would be waiting. There are over 10 times too many of them in this city. Ditto the tuktuk boys. They trawl the streets, cluster, talk and play cards - but for very many, the majority of their day is spent waiting. This is what I term 'underemployment'.

Time here is not money - time is waiting.

Here is 'our' trusty tuktuk man Kim, having a long wait for me at the airport a while ago!