Traveling

In Laos for a few minutes

In Chiang Mai with Kristi



In Singapore with my friend from Liberty, Zach.



As I was boarding the airplane for Singapore, I hit me so hard how blessed I was to have the opportunity to travel. Of course, I was coming straight out of the jungle from time spent amongst a tribal group. Even still, we are so lucky to be blessed with enough prosperity that we can travel internationally. I went to three countries this month. I spent a week in Singapore; A week in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and an hour in Laos in a market on the border.

life

Life is like Minesweeper. The fist few hits are random. You could hit a bomb at any point.

Motos

This is only 5. I've seen 6 people on a bike.

On the moto...

Driving a moto

When driving my moto down the roads of Phnom Penh, its daily that a bug hits me. It’s common that a bug goes up my nose. Not everyday, but often.
Today as I was driving…
The old man driving in front of me spit. Now he was probably 2 feet in front of me, and I knew what he was doing when he bent of the side of his moto. Kindly he aimed down. Now spitting is common among Cambodians. They hock up a luggey no matter where they are (i.e. the supermarket or on the bus).
The spit did not proceed to the ground as this old man intended. No, because of physics, the saliva (and probably snot!) hit poor, innocent me in the FACE!
Yumm….

Phnom Penh Water Park! YAY!

Cleaning the moat...

Phnom Penh WaterPark!
YAY! A waterpark, how modern….
Ha!
It looks like it was built in the ‘60s and left for 40 years, which is actually very likely in a country that was war-torn in the ‘70s.
It is so dirty! The slides are rusted. It looks like they may fall down at any second. Dirt and bugs litter the sidewalks and seep into the pools. Mold from years of desolation has overtaken parts. The bathrooms could have been part of a horror movie!
Best of all… no rules! It’s Cambodia. Who’s going to make safety standards? Channak, a friend, decided to do a flip of the slide and cracked his head open.
We went with 3 families and about 8 singles from the school. The Cambodians loved seeing us experience it.
It was so awesome! There was even a hang-glide into a pool of 2ft water! :)
I loved it! It was definitely an adventure! But we’ll be back!
Awesome videos to follow.

Crazy Days!

Spirit Days!
Being a teacher rocks! Who else gets to dress up like Princess Jasmine for work? I love the fact that immaturity is an asset for my job!
It’s so great to see the students being what they want. On dress up days, they don’t have to be the smartest or the prettiest, they can be the silliest or the strangest; and it’s cool.
I love my kids. I can’t imagine having children. I love these kids so much that I can’t imagine this emotion could be more intense.

Sihanoukville- the tourist beach

Relaxing at the beach with friends.


Me and my friends decided to get away from the city for a few days. We took a mini-trip to the beach to relax. It was great.
The girl in the pink shirt is a friend we made on the beach. If you notice her shirt says "Marry Christmas". I love it!

Tonle Sap- The LARGEST fresh water body in SE Asia

On the Tonle Sap (a huge lake- the largest in SE Asia), there is a floating village. This is when the houses and shops and everything float like a raft. They tie the houses to the edge of the water, and as the water or fish move out they move with it. Can you imagine paddling your house out into the lake?
The first picture is of a boy going out on the lake, probably to fish.
The second picture is of me driving our boat! :)
And the third picture is of the recreational center. It's a basketball court that has been donated to the village.

Real Christianity

I'm reading this book....
The Irresistible Revolution
It's about living the Christian life like God did. The author Shane Claiborne is a young guy who decided to start living what he read in the Word. So he started hanging out with homeless and giving all he had to the poor. I am so challenged by him. Because he's right! God did say to give up everything I own. God did say to make my self last in order to be first. God did say to love the poor and the sick. And if love is really what 1 Corinthians says it is, then I'm not doing it. I can't even love my enemies. I complain because I can't afford ice cream, but what about those that are truly poor.
Shane lived with the homeless of Philadelphia. He worked in Calcutta with the same mission as Mother Teresa. People call him a radical, but he's only doing what God told all of us to do. Maybe we don't all have to work in leper colonies. But we can't even love those who hurt us. We can't even give more than 10% to help out those who need it more than us.
He challenged my thinking on one specific philosophy I hold. I always believed the statement "Give a man a fish and he's hungry tomorrow. Show him how to fish will never be hungry again." So I don't give to beggars. I want to discourage them from expecting people to provide for them! What a selfish non-Christ-like thought.
Shane talks about how Jesus worked. He raised Lazarus from the dead, but he died a few years later. He healed the lepers, but they died eventually anyway. He gave fish and bread to the hungry, but the next day they were hungry again.
If I want to live like Christ, then I need to stop reasoning in my head. God said to love.... somehow I think that means using my heart. They remember the love. I wasn't commanded to save the world. I wasn't commanded to find excuses not to give. I was commanded to love. And even if it doesn't make since to you. I'll do it. I'll love them. I'll give all of myself to them.
I'm going to be someone who only studies Christianity.
I'm going to live it.
Come on, read the gospels. You try to reason away why "giving it all up" doesn't apply to you. You "love" people... ha.
Think about what love really is supposed to look like.
What did it look like when Jesus did it?

Eating Bugs :( AGH!

On the way up to Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Zach decided to try Crickets and Tarantulas. They were fried in soy sauce.
It was so gross!!
The Cricket made him gag.
He claims the Tarantula taste like chicken skin.
Everyone was staring at him.
I think they wanted to gag too!


I have video's of the events. They will come later!


Then there were LIVE tarantulas!
The little girls selling fruit play with them!!!!!!!!
They thought it was funny to let Zach hold one.
Then for "kicks and giggles" they put 2 more of them on his shirt and told him that they wouldn't take them off until he bought something from them.
The last picture here is of them taking one off of his shirt. The second tarantula had crawled into his bag! lol. It was freaky!
It was less funny when they tried to put one on me!




CRAZY BUGS!!! It was not a pretty sight!

Ankor Wat - Ancient Cambodia

One of the Seven man-made Wonders of the World.



Above is my picture. Below is Wikipedia's picture. (There are no copyright laws in Cambodia :)

IKEA stickers

Stephanie bought me these IKEA stickers for the wall! Aren't they great. They are sticky enough to say in place, but you can peal them off without hurting the paint. I think they are so pretty!

The other day my bike broke down! It was awful! I had never occurred to me that I don't know what to do if my bike breaks. So there I am stranded in the street on a very hot day!
It all started because my friend Erin was riding with me (Erin I don't blame the accident on you!) She accidentally hit the kick-start while I was pushing the automatic start button. For some reason, this locked the kick-start up, and it would not move or start.
The first thing that always happens when something goes wrong on a bike, is that random men swarm to help out. The guard from the place across the street and a man from the shop we had been in, came out to help us. They tried several things, but they couldn't get it to work. Then a group of tuk-tuk drivers from down the road tried there hand at the bike. The annoying think is, that they will tear at it and move important looking parts, but they have no idea what they are doing! They don't care that they actually could be making things worse!
So after 30 of random men fiddling with my bike. Erin and I begin to walk the bike down the street in search of a mechanic. It was so hot! I was sweating profusely from pushing and the heat.
After a while we found a "mechanic" (aka. a man with a tent on the side of the road). He was extremely nice, but he begin ripping into my bike.
I knew the problem was the kick-start, so I kept pointing to it. Despite that, he tore everything off the bike. He took my seat out (as seen in the picture. It's sitting on the ground). He tore the gas tank out! It was crazy. In the end, it turned out the kick-start only needed grease. But we sat there and waited in the heat for 2 hours! ah!
The whole time we were waiting. Two guards from a near by building were trying to flirt. It was humorously annoying. Erin teaches at a Cambodian Univerisity, so she asked one of the guards if he was studying at university. And he said "I do not study... but I do study love. I study love everyday. Especially with foreign girl." I started making puking sounds. I know it's immature, but really! Who honestly thinks a line like that will work? I what universe would that make me want to date him? None! that's the answer!
Apparently the mechanic thought I was cute. When I walked across the street to get a phone card, he told Erin that I was beautiful. :) That's more like it. Not that he had a chance either.
ah... Living in Cambodia is an adventure.

Christmas on the Mekong River

For the HOPE school staff party, we rented a boat cruise. Don't let the word "cruise" fool you. It's a wooden boat with three folded tables placed in the middle. But it was a fun time. The Mekong is disgusting brown river that stretches forever and ever across several countries. The Cambodian staff wanted to go swimming! Luckily we ran out of time; so they couldn't!
We, the expat staff, brought food and drinks for the party. It was cute. There were probably 75 people on the boat. Food was a bit short because the staff brought their families. Those kids sure can put down some food! Something I ate really didn't like my stomach, but hey, I've survived several spells of food poisoning already. It won't kill me this time.
This party was also a chance to say goodbye to the staff that won't be returning. There are 5 staff members going home this semester. It was a sad thing to sit around and say goodbye. It's way too sappy for me. We prayed for them and gave everyone a chance to say something. If I had my way, I'd slap them on the back and say "good luck!" I hate emotional goodbyes. But I guess some people need to have that closure.
At the end of the party we exchanged gifts. We had Secret Santa presents to give. I had a cute Cambodian cleaner from school, and she had me too. She gave me a cute pink shirt, which I wore the next day to show her that I liked it! It was really fun! Scott, my American friend, got the best present of all!!!!!! a figurine of 2 girls swinging! :)

Around Town

Pictures from around Phnom Penh!
It's such a crazy place here. Sometimes I feel like I'm in another dimension because no one from home understands how crazy it is here! And this is the city! The largest city in the country! lol.
It's just so different.

Peter the Puppy: in loving memory

Peter has died. It was a very sad day when we discovered that Peter the puppy died. He was the cutest little darling. The cause of his death was abuse by an overzealous child. The youngest Cambodian boy of our household thought it was humorous to torture little Peter by throwing him or swinging him by his legs. But poor little Peter was simply too small for this treatment. Last week he started coughing up blood. Later on, he died. Poor Peter.

professional photo!

Old Truth, New Discovery

This week I've been thinking about something. It may seem like common sense or an old wives tale, but it's so true.
DON'T DATE A GUY THAT NEEDS SOMETHING FROM YOU
yeah, I know... duh!
but seriously, I've been thinking about it.
Don't date a guy that needs a green card from you
Don't date a guy that needs a shoulder to cry on all the time
Don't date a guy that needs a cookies from you because he's in prison and the food there sucks.
Don't date a guy that needs a couch to crash on from you.
Don't date a guy that needs an income from you
Can I say again...
Don't date a guy that needs a green card and you're his meal ticket!!!!!

And to the confused male out in the big world let me say:
Don't try to date me for a GREEN CARD!
I'm not your international meal ticket!

Last week my friends and I went to get Khmer beauty pictures taken. We were told these “Glamour Shots” of Cambodia were hilarious to do with friends. That turned out to be very true. Bonnie, Corey, Kate and I went to a random photo studio and asked them to take our pictures. They start with an intense make over, which made us look like drag-queens! The make-up was insane! Next, they take your hair to an extreme level to match the crazy make-up. The puff up the back and insert hair extensions. The major problem with the hair extensions is that they were designed for Asians. So they are black. Kate was the only one with dark hair, but even her hair is only brown. They also put shiny things and flowers in our new hair too. Next came the dress. The top of the dress is a tiny piece of fabric, pinned together because we are much larger than their average client. The bottom of the dress is a large piece of fabric that we are rapped in tightly. Lastly lost of gross, gaudy, gold jewelry is draped on our necks, arms and legs. After we left, they superimposed a cool background and touched up our photos. With Photoshop, they made us skinny and white! Lol.
These pictures are normally used by Cambodian girls to find a husband. One girl asked up “Who do you need to show your true beauty?” True beauty?? Ha. It’s faker than the Coach bags for $10 at the market! But that’s how they get husbands! Lol.

What am I doing in Cambodia?
I wish I could say that I have some amazing job that sounds heroic: like “I counsel girls who are rescued from sexually abusive situations” or “I am teaching Cambodian nationals how to be a Biblical pastor by working in Cambodian Bible college” or “I am part of a team that runs raids that saves children from prostitution and sexual exploitation” or “I work with an unreached people group on the boarder of Cambodia and Vietnam” or “I work in an orphanage with starving babies” or “I work to bring begging kids off the streets and teach them to make crafts to sell”.
These aren’t my job, but they are my ministry.
See, when a missionary comes to a third-world country to do God’s amazing work, they don’t come alone. Most missionaries come with children. And many third-world countries don’t have adequate education for those children. If this is the case, than those missionaries have to go home or stop working to home-school.
The parents of my students are able to do these amazing things because I’m here taking care of their children. Because I prepare their student for college and life, these amazing ministries can continue being run by heroic people. The jobs that I mentioned above, are done by parents of my students. And those parents have told me several times, that if it weren’t for my job at HOPE, they would have to stop their heroic work and stay home to home-school their child.
My job is teaching, but my ministry is to keep Cambodian missionaries working in heroic works of God.

This is a picture of child with blonde in her hair. Now, the Cambodians like fair skin and light hair. So when I first saw a Cambodian baby with blonde streaks in its hair, I was alarmed. Would they really highlight their kids hair so young? No…
The hair is lighter because the child was malnourished in the womb.
A large percentage of the children here have blonde streaks in their hair because even pregnant women can’t afford any food except for plain rice.

Today I was talking with some of the teachers at lunch about what we’ve seen on motos. Moto’s are generally known as mopeds in the US. These motos come with an extended seat though. So these are some things we’ve seen ON A MOTO

A cow… yes, a whole, live cow was behind the driver

A family of 6 people… who needs a mini-van

A large pane of glass.

A metal pole at least 10 feet long…. I mean why couldn’t you hold it and drive?

A mattress, a QUEEN size mattress…. The driver just sat on top of it.

20 giant trash bags bursting full of limes

A moto (on the original moto)

Three large pigs… we’re talking big swine

Huge boxes with a woman riding on top

And lastly …

30 live chickens hanging from their feet.

Happy

The Palace of Thailand
note: you must cover your calf muscles and your shoulders.

Dogs…. Dogs in Cambodia are pests: the national annoyance and virus carriers. These dogs are so disgusting! They are loosing their hair. Their ribs stick out from starvation. They’re owners starve them so that they are mean and because they don’t have enough money to feed the dogs. So the dogs eat the trash that litters the streets. Last week Kate saw our puppy eating a poop-filled diaper. Sick! We try not to pet him now. The dogs are used as security. They keep the dog inside the gate, so they know if someone tries to break in. Poor dogs, they are the mangiest is creatures on earth. And I’m a dog lover.

Ants….
I have never cared so little about ants before. Who cares that they are eating the crumbs off the counter? Who cares that there are 2 million of them in a line in the bathroom? Who cares that they mysteriously are on my laptop when I open it up? Who cares? At least they are not the giant cockroaches! Ugh!





Cambodians business dealings are nothing like Western business practices. The idea of quickly resolving a problem never entered their mind. It could take weeks to get a problem fixed. And returning a broken product… ha! Dream on! Nothing works longer than a week. It would be foolishness to hope for better. In fact, when I was talking to the Internet company about how we wanted a refund for a faulty product, she told us that we had already paid. The idea is that once they have your money, too bad! They’re keeping it!

Cambodia is so different than I expected. I was expecting a world similar to Japan. Or maybe even a mix of Japan’s Asian aspect and Romania’s third-world aspect. What I got was a surprise. A big surprise. This country is so poor and dirty. There are starving children on street corners. There is trash in the street. There are mean, dirty dogs waiting to attack your ankles. There are insane numbers of moto bikes. These crazy motocycle type things. They zip around you at insane speeds of 20 mph! lol. It does seem very scary at the moment!

New Life Fellowship is the church where Kate and I have been going for the last few weeks. God is doing a phenomenal work among these people. The worship is really great too. Here's a snippet of what it's like.

We were sitting in a coffee shop inside the mall, when I decided to embarrass my friends by videoing them. Unfortunately, this video is pretty embarrassing to me too! lol.

Rainy Night

One night Kate and I stupidly tried to go out to eat during a rain storm! Wow. When it rains, it pours.