Prologue

It's been almost five and a half years since the European Chapter started. November 2004 and I'm flying into Brussels, a city I'd never been to, from San Francisco. That little flight marked the end of a whole other chapter, but that's for another day, another post.
Since then I've been a barman, an electrician, a salesman, a brand manager, a social media consultant. I've been all over this city. It's time to move on.
Rocket and I are moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Sure, it's a wild affair! And it should be, too. We're going on an adventure of epic proportions, and we're doing something very important to us; we're going to go do some good for others, and stop thinking about only ourselves. I love Europe; it is my home after all. But it's become so heavy and bureaucratic it's weighing me down. I need change. I need renewed purpose and a new perspective on how to be. You know what I mean?
I'm still working, still getting it done, yet I dream of Cambodia every minute of every day. I keep dreaming of the open shutter when I get up to go to work in Phnom Penh, the exotic trees on the side of the road on the way there, the little stand I stop at to get water. There's a yellow colonial building to my right a few houses down from ours, and I turn left at it, straight onto a bustling street of tuk-tuks, mopeds, pickup trucks packed higher then double decker buses. I've made a Cambodian friend I've never conversed with, but he says hello to me in Khmer every morning as I pass him by.
I come home to a lightly dressed goddess glowing from the heat and humidity. She delightfully directs me towards fresh fruit and a hammock.
I lie down and see the Mekong River - or is it Tompum lake? I've worked hard, I'm in my home, I'm healthy and strong. This new chapter is going to be an eye-opener.