Things you should know about working in Cambodia

· Rubber soled shoes should be worn at all times in the office to prevent electric shocks from unearthed, dodgy wiring. Seriously. It took several shocks and a numb arm to learn this lesson.

·Your Khmer colleagues will often mysteriously disappear from the office without a word. You later learn this was to go to an important meeting no one thought of inviting you to. Again.

· It is possible for someone’s job to appear to be cutting and gluing. The occasional bit of writing is sometimes involved, along with reorganising photographs.

·Rats break photocopy machines and then die inside them until someone starts to wonder what the smell is. This also shows how often the machine is used...

· Your boss will randomly enter the office, stating that no matter how much you like the current office set up he thinks it is most important that you have your own desk with your own drawer.

· You will only be informed of meetings you are supposed to attend either five minutes before, half way through or several days later when someone asks why you weren’t there.

·The above mentioned very important meetings will always be on days your translator is unavailable.

·Every meeting will involved several hours (not a joke) of speeches where officials repeat the same thing as each other, then read a speech from the PM saying the exact same.

·Pate (sandwiches involving an unidentifiable slab of processed meat) and bottled water are usually the only reason people turn up. When not provided general resentment ensues.

·One of the office computers will be so riddled with virus’s it can no longer save documents, the other one will not be able to type in Khmer any longer. One of these will always be in the computer repair shop (someone’s garage).

· Lack of the correct tools or materials will never stop a Khmer person. Where there is a will there is always a way.

·The statistics charts on the walls will be at least two years behind.

·No-one knows where anyone else is, what they’re doing or when they’ll be back. This counts for you too even though you write your weekly agenda on a board in the office and get in translated.