Once upon a time I, a young naive little Hannah, set out on an adventure to explore Cambodia, hem hem. Upon arrival, oh am I gonna talk about Siem Reap? Am I gonna talk about Battambang? Upon arrival in Siem Reap, what is my story about? See you think it’s interesting, but really it’s not that interesting. I went to temples, met some people, went to bars, made friends with a lovely old man who worked for the Thai mafia. I did… See now it’s just, oh no Slab Prea… After some time in SiemReap, I made my way to Battambang, where I rented a extravagant dress for the measly price of 6 dollars. The next day, I went to a wedding, not just any old wedding, a Cambodian wedding. “What happened at the wedding?” Well let me tell you, I, what did happen at the wedding. I watched as my beautiful friend was harassed in the nicest way….”What Ive been harassed, and that was not harassment” I consumed an entire plate of vegetables. I felt overwhelmed, out place, and lowkey like I was appropriating a culture. I enter this room, no, tent? Full of people that speak a language I know nothing about, there to celebrate someone, I don’t know, and ready to party. Umm, yeah, enter foreigner. And I just, yeah, it was a lot. I expected not to be able to eat anything, but they made us vegetables, and I kinda just watched as all the circus people came over and gave you the attention you deserve. But, it was very welcoming, which was good. I was afraid they wouldn’t want a random Barang to come and ruin their party, but it was quite the contrary. Come in, meet a bunch of people, sit beside a lady who keeps jul moying me. I remember Tey turned to me and asked, “So what’s your limit?” I guess she knew about how much pressure there would be to drink. Hmm, I guess that was my introduction to all the circus people. “What do you remember form that day?” I remember seeing all the students dancing, I remember Locru Brendy and Chamroeun singing. I remember all the guys being very… out there. I think thats a good way to be introduced to someone. It was good a lot of them were so drunk that I got a second chance at meeting them back at the school. What else? And then there was a bit of dancing, and then I thought, where’s Adrian at? She was talking with an English student. Yeah so I was looking around, had a seat, started talking with the English student. Yeah so, Oh dear, you mentioned you were feeling kinda hot, so I thought you just needed a break from dancing. Only after like thirty minutes of talking did you mention you might be having an allergic reaction. At which point, umm, once you said that you were having an allergic reaction we were able to wrangle up Tey and head home. You were still underplaying the fact that you were having an allergic reaction, so you took a nap and we headed off to Karaoke. Karaoke was underwhelming… yet, just right. My expectation, was a room full of people, very loud music, and perhaps intoxication? The reality? was three people drinking coke singing Taylor Swift for two hours. “Wow, your KTV experience was so different from mine.” Yeah it was sweet to see Tey singing her heart out and that was my introduction to Nara. It was a nice bonding experience, but definitely not what I expected. Yeah, ahh, what else happened? We sang a lot of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, so many English songs, just some good pop anthems. And then we ate dumplings! “And that was Hannah’s first two days in Battambang” Yeah, yeah.

Narrated by Hannah

Written by Adrian

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

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