We made it!!!

I have finally set foot on Cambodian soil.  Oddly enough my first welcome to the country was from T-Mobile.  

Traveling from the US to Cambodia went really smooth, nothing slowed us down or got super stressful.  I’ve been stressed for a long time leading up to this and I’ll admit I did have several anxiety attacks on the plane and in the airport… each pretty much cleared up after some really deep breaths and the passage of time. 

My first impression of the country started out as really stressful and then turned into something that feels really cool.  First thing, we arrived we had to get our tourist visas.  We knew about this and expected it to be pretty easy.   There was not much of a line and the people all spoke English…so no big deal.  Well until they started asking me questions…

“You were born here?”

I answered honestly and you are supposed to when speaking to government officials… “I think so.”

(blank looks) … “You don’t know…what did your mother tell you or your father?”

“I never met my mother…”

(blank looks) “Your parents are Cambodian?”

“I assume so…”

“You do not know?”

“I was adopted by an Italian American family in California in 1975.”  In hindsight, probably too much information.

“But what did your mother tell you?”

“I never met my mother…”

“Where is she now?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything about my family.”

“Your name is Sok Heng, that is your Khmer name?  What are these other names?”

“I was an orphan and that is my adopted name. My parent died when I was really young, I never knew them…” 

I was getting desperate I could see that they were skeptical…which is their job.  But trying to explain my situation was really hard.  Most people who got out left with families or were old enough to remember their parents.   Thinking back, I understand how this must seem…not many people with a story like mine probably come through. 

After going around and around for another five or so minutes, the woman behind the counter…looked me square in the eyes…my heart stopped…was I about to be put back on the plane?...“You were born here?...Tell me you were born here.”

… “I…was born here.”  

“Ok we give you a permanent visa.”  And then she and all the other people questioning me disappeared.  

After about ten minutes a man walked up to me with my passport handed it to me with a huge smile and said, “Welcome home.”