Six weeks have flown by with exhilarating speed, filled with back to back adventures, each one sweeping me off my feet. Instead of being thrashed by the chaos, I felt at home through the radically different experiences, in different parts of the world, with people from all different phases of my life. Amidst all the continual fast-paced changes, the simultaneous comfort has become surprisingly familiar.
Rewinding to the end of August, a close friend from university managed a stop in Cambodia to visit me for a few days. And for the first time, I showed someone my life who, outside of reading these blogs, had no concrete context for the path I’ve gone down since graduation. Through his eyes, I got a new perspective on the spectacular yet normalized aspects of this lifestyle. His fascination with our startup culture, our mission, and our sitcom-worthy house/office dynamics filled me with joy. His enthusiasm to embrace a spontaneous mountain and jungle adventure reminded me of the incredible opportunities for exploration at my fingertips. So much of my day-to-day life would have been beyond my own imagination just a few years back, yet I noticed myself sharing this life as if I knew nothing else. My past and present worlds collided as he visited and I relished the opportunity to bridge this gap in ways stories over the phone could never accomplish.
The very day my friend left, our teammate arrived from Australia and we packed in a couple busy days of work and team bonding, leading right up to another teammate’s wedding. From him beginning to talk about marriage months ago to finally getting engaged, we’ve been gearing up for the big day with burning anticipation. Our team has felt like a family almost from the day I joined, but when the wedding rolled around, it became even clearer how special our bond is. We cheered and laughed and cried (maybe) during their beautiful ceremony on a beach in southern Cambodia. We took over the music and danced the night away, celebrating the happy couple and lost in our own silliness. Surrounded by each other but detached from our work and dressed in our finest, I felt magically transported to another world. Despite the beach being a challenging dance floor, we merrily ran around, nothing stopping us from making it a night to remember. In a blink of the eye, the weekend passed, with no shortage of memories created and laughable stories to hold on to. In the downtime of the van ride home, all of us squeezed in and dead exhausted, I realized how amazing it is that we share everything from the smallest daily moments to the biggest lifetime moments together. Here in Cambodia, I have built a life I’m quite fond of.
With little time to recover, our attention switched back to the exponential growth of our Okra networks. With more homes going online every day, there was heaps of work awaiting as we tried to beat the clock and meet some tremendously important targets. From two Okra systems in the field when I arrived to 50 running now, it’s been exhilarating, but also overwhelming. Within the post-wedding days, we were all scrambling on different fronts of the company, and I barely got through a very long to-do list before hopping on a plane to kick off a hectic and ambitious trip back to the US. Instead of treating it like a holiday and confronting the concept of downtime, I decided I would see as many friends and family as possible, keep working remotely on Cambodia time, and also squeeze in some work meetings with potential connections and investors in the US.
As a result, every day of the trip felt meaningful, whether it was time spent with loved ones, solving problems and accomplishing work that I’m passionate about, or meeting people and sharing our team’s vision with pride. In 16 days I visited people in 12 cities spanning the West Coast, barely working out the combination of buses, trains, cars, and planes to make the finely tuned logistics of this trip work. The stars aligned and I saw a huge diversity of family and friends from childhood to university, long-standing mentors, and ex-colleagues from working abroad. Thankfully, instead of being bogged down by endless coffee catch-ups, we shared moments of simple sincerity, sitting on couches talking for hours, baking brownies, eating fish tacos on the beach, driving up to the mountains and skipping rocks on the lake, and getting riled up playing intense ping pong and board games. And each morning, whether I woke up to the love and familiar routines of my parents or to the welcoming hospitality and care of so many friends, I was touched by our bonds, despite all our differences and time apart. I’ve changed and grown a lot over the past few years, but there is nothing like the connection with people who have known me throughout my life.
That being said, being away from my team, taking 4am meetings, and feeling like a partial outsider back in my own country took its toll. By the end, I felt like a broken record trying to explain my life, and even when met with utmost enthusiasm, I longed to be back with people who shared my passions. The entire trip was a mix of opposites regarding reasons I love being home and reasons I couldn’t wait to be back in my life in Cambodia. But all in all, it was validating to step away, have an amazing trip home, and also know my connection to this life is unwavering.
The continuous days of intense social stimulation and working in the opposite timezone got to me eventually, and I barely made it onto the plane before knocking out for the next 7 hours. I took the remaining part of my flights to process the past couple months of constant excitement, spanning everything from work to friends and family. Last minute travel, total flexibility and freedom, team unity, work trials and triumphs, and international visions drive my lifestyle. I rarely feel drained by such a tempo and deeply appreciate the ability to move freely and pursue dreams without inhibition. Even though we dart around with little semblance to a routine, I feel settled in our rigorous work and play, team banter, and collective purpose. I’ve been in the same place with the same team for the longest I’ve ever worked, but time doesn’t stand still and I love it. If there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain of, I’ve so far steered clear away from my fear of being bored. I’ll take the trade off of being tired and work-obsessed, for the unending queue of lively experiences that eagerly await me. This crazy pace feels just right.
I never seem to take many photos when I’m in the US, I’ll spare more Okra village photos until my next post, and wedding photos are distributed between phone cameras of the team. But the below shots are all from my trip up to the mountains in Mondulkiri! We stayed in a treehouse-inspired-guesthouse with an incredible valley view, explored waterfalls, and trekked through the jungle with a very savvy and insightful guide.
