Crazy MONKEY

April 20
Sunday

Today was really fun. I would say it was the most fun I had in sometime. I hung out with Boamey. We first off went to eat at morning café, and then drove around town on a quest to find something to burn time. Even though I didn’t have much money, which resulted in no shopping we still found away to occupy our time. After eating we drove down to the river. I saw this kind of food that I have wanted to try for sometime, so today I tried it and it’s nothing to boast about. I should have taken a picture of it to show you. I tried to explain it to Brenda, but she didn’t understand. None the less I will try and describe it; imagine a softball cut in half. The color is green with a stem (about half an inch thick) on the bottom half (rounded part). The flat part is bumpy; the bumpiness is from the seed. The seed is what you eat, you retrieve the seed by ripping the outer layer off, and then you have to rip off the layer on the seed. It takes a lot of effort to eat and not very rewarding. So, needless to say I didn’t like the food, but it was ok. I won’t want another. The bad part about this food is it’s sold in quantities of four. Boamey and I couldn’t even finish one. It was then that we decided to go to Wat Phom to feed the monkeys.

This idea seem fun and exciting from the start, but once the crazy monkeys saw that I had food they kind of attacked me. Here is the story. Boamey was finishing the first one we had when one monkey approached her. She freaked out and grabbed me by the arm, which caused the bag, containing the other three, to show its continence. The crazy monkey’s pretty much attacked me. They came in from all directions, grabbing at me and the bag. Boamey was saying, “Liz give them the food!” I was really trying to but the stupid fruit was hard to break off from the stem. I was almost on the verge of throwing the whole thing, but decided at the last minute to try one more time to rip it from the stem. Thankfully I succeed and the monkeys didn’t bite me. With all the excitement people were looking at Boemey and me and just laughing. I couldn’t help it either so we just laughed at walked away real show from the monkey’s because they ended up fighting.

Also at Wat Phom we saw a elephant. I wanted to know how much it would cost to ride. Boemey asked and its $15 for foreigners and $10 for natives. I really want to ride an elephant so next weekend Boemey and I are going to ride the elephant. I’m pretty excited! We are also going to feed the monkeys again. This time I will not have that stupid fruit that doesn’t rid easily. Instead we are going to have fruit from Boemey’s trees, which consist of bananas and mangos. I will have to let you know how this goes.

After Wat Phom we drove to the Paragon Mall to take pictures. I was thinking of those little picture booths we have in the states, but it turns out not to be that at all. You get to choose your back grounds (12) and stand in a little booth. The pictures turned out really well. It was a lot of fun. If I can I will scan them in to my computer and post them.

I don’t think I told you who Boemey is, have I? Whatever, she is a senior at CAS we met during senior outing and I really enjoy her company. She will give me rides home from school sometimes and we will get sugarcane juice if either of us had a bad day. We hang out during the weekend from time to time and will get lunch together on Friday’s after school/work. Last Friday she took me to this restaurant on the riverside. It was call the Boat house noodles. Its a really cool atmosphere. The tables are propped up with pillows to kneel or sit on. The food is really good too. You can order Khmer, American, Thia, and I think Korean. I just got fried rice with chicken and Som Tom (papaya salad). Papaya salad is my new favorite food. It consists of papaya (obviously), nuts, tomatoes, diced chilies (hot!), crab, and little shrimp (I don’t get these last too, don’t like the taste). Why I love it? Hot, and sour at the same time, to good to pass up.

My last day of vacation was really enjoyable because of Boemey. I’m really going to miss her when I leave. I will have to keep in touch with her. She is a really good person to be with.

Friendship

April 18
Friday

For the past week we had a holiday, Khmer New Year. I was talking to my dad the other day and he asked me a question that I didn’t thing about. Is it 2008 or 2009 here? I still think that its 2008. They don’t celebrate our New Years time, but change the year when we do. I don’t understand, but whatever; HAPPY KHMER NEW YEAR! To celebrate this holiday they throw water or power on you. It doesn’t matter if they know you or not you’re going to be a walking target. I got drenched by the Lao boys one morning. They tricked me into thinking that Brennda was calling me outside. For those of you who don’t know Brennda she’s the one that is getting “married”. She is from California and has two kids. One of which she had here and the other is at home with the boyfriend. She is so much fun and I’m going to miss her when she leaves at the end of the month. She has made my time here fly by. I kind of hope that the babies passport doesn’t go through for a little while longer so that she doesn’t have to leave. I really will miss her.
Anyway, all I have been doing this holiday is hanging out with the Lao boys and Ben and Kim. It has been a really relaxing week. I’m really glad I didn’t go anywhere because quite frankly I’m tired of traveling. I just want to take a break and rest. Sorry, have to say that there is this older man who will not stop staring at me. Every time I look at him he just smiles; creepy. Whatever.
I got to see Yeema (old assistant) this week. She came by yesterday and we went to the Russian market then to Soya. However, I got separated from here at Soya and I just ended up going home from there alone. I’m going to call her today and say goodbye. This was the last time we were going to see each other too. I really love Yeema. She is a good friend.
Earlier this week I took all the Lao boys to the pool. It was really fun. Prom and me raced and man can he hold his breath. By the way Prom is starting to talk to me more now. I’m happy for that because before I had to almost twist his arm. I’m still the closest to Nova. He is a really good guy and really fun. Now that the whole Liz and Lao boys business has finally been dealt with I can actually hang out with them in peace. Although I’m sure some people are still not happy, but whatever. I can’t make everyone happy and I finally shut them up. I only wish that I did this earlier, how much trouble I would have saved myself and others.
I’m really going to miss them and Ben and Kim. I’m planning on coming back here to visit Ben and Kim next year. We will see though. If I work really hard this next year and watch my money I’m sure I can do it. I promised Ben and Kim that I would help them out if they needed it when the baby comes. Kim doesn’t want to take my money, but you know what I’m more than happy to help if it for a good cause. I love giving rather than receiving. That goes for all my friends. No matter the time whether I can’t afford it, I will make it happen some how. I’m always there for my friends. And I’m so sorry if I have ever made anymore feel dispensable. That was never my intension. I really value my friends, I’m nothing with out them ALL.
During this time of my time here, I’m really homesick for my friends and family. I have realized that without friends a person is nothing. Being lonely is not worth it. I have found that holding grudges is not worth it. Holding grudges is a horrible thing. Don’t do it. It only destroys friendships. Ben said that as you get older you realize how important friendship is and holding a grudge is not worth it. I’m going to try my hardest to stop doing this. This is one of my weaknesses. I have always done this. What I mean is that I don’t hold a grudge forever, but I will hold one until the person(s) and I talk it out. I have a hard time forgiving someone for something they did to me. But the Bible says that if you don’t forgive though who persecute you, you will not be forgiven. Pray that I can get better at not holding grudges.

ADRA

April 14
Monday

For the first time being here I felt like I was doing something for the good. Volunteering in Cambodia is pleasant, but I feel like I’m not doing anything. On all the mission trips I have been on I felt like I was doing something for the good. Why, am I here? What did God bring me here for? Was it to strength my relationship with him? Was it to be comfortable with myself and know that I can be on my own? Was it to bring out the faults in myself to realize and fix them? WHY!?
Just last week seven hundred houses or so burnt down. It was really sad to see all the families live on the streets. Cambodia doesn’t need that! I was discussing the topic with Silvia on Sabbath and I asked if they figured out how it started. She said that people suspect the government. I looked at here perplexed and she explained to me that the government will do what it wants to do at any costs. Because money controls everything here! Its sad and sickening to think that your own government will burn down your house just to build fancier houses or an organization that will bring in more money for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer! I was really disturbed by the fact of this and decided that I wanted to help out the people whom lost everything they had.
ADRA is an organization here in Cambodia that helps the people live healthier lives and answers to major disaster calls; seven hundred houses burning down falls under the category of major disaster. So, on Saturday afternoon instead of sleeping I decided to work with ADRA to package the food to give out the next day. The bags consisted on 5 kilo’s of rice, noodles, soy sauce, cooking oil, and some kind seasoning. My job was to scoop the rice out of the bags into littler ones for the people. By the end of the day my hand was so sore, but I still helped out. Around 5ish Porm and Dream came to help out, Prom put the noodles and other stuff into the bags while Dream helped me. It was nice to see them help out.
On Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30 to go to Anna’s house (meeting area) to leave. We had three little trucks filled with the bags and one big hull truck; all of which were filled to the max. Arriving there was pretty over whelming, lots of people going every which way to set up the area. The government decided to just make rows to put the food. ADRA was not the only organization that helped out; Red Cross and Zaman International School. Red Cross provided mats, eating utensils and bowls, tarp, and sarongs. Zaman provided two 50 kilo bags. It was nice to help out. God really had mercy on all of us because just that morning around 4 it rained, which resulted in a cloudy and windy morning; I was thanking God. I would have died if I had to work in the sun. But because of the rain it was really muddy, so one of our trucks got stuck in the mud. Kham Phia, Nova and I tried our hardest to get it out of the mud. LOL!
Also I got to go into a temple. It was kind of cool. There were painting on the walls that told a story. I didn’t understand, but it was nice to see. The monks there were trying to get me to take lots of pictures of them. I was getting annoyed and just pretended to take pictures of them towards the end because I didn’t want to waste my battery.
We unloaded all the trucks by making a line to pass the bags. Towards the end my arms started feeling like jello. I almost fell over on top of Sharon. In the end it felt good to help others. This is what I miss feeling when I help. Maybe because my work is not finished I don’t have that satisfactory feeling. I will just have to wait for it.