Going to miss this

June 2
Monday

You know everyday a group of kids come and sit on my desk and just have fun. I literally have kids crawling on me all day long. I still can remember being fired from my babysitting job with my AUNTY! I know what your thinking; family….? Well, needless to say I was not very good at it (got fired) because I didn’t know what to do with little kids. I was completely hopeless. I have never been to good with kids. I just don’t understand there way of thinking, but after being forced to work with kids all day, I think It have a better grip on the handle. Ok, I am getting better with kids, but I’m not the kind of person you want to go to when you cry. I just don’t know what to do. Today, I made Pagna cry because he was not showing respect to God when we were praying. My kids know that when we pray your suppose to bow your head, clasp hands, close your eyes, and be quiet. Well, unfortunately Pagna was not showing respect. So, I asked him to pray for us again so that we could eat lunch. He didn’t pray and I finally let the other kids eat lunch and Pagna didn’t get to eat lunch until he prayed with me. Needless to say he didn’t pray with me, but rather cried until he got his way. I didn’t give in! I literally folded his hands, closed his eyes and made him repeat after me. If he didn’t repeat then we would not continue in the pray. Pagna was not happy with me for the rest of the day. In fact all the boys, which is the whole class, was calling me bad teacher. I was mad about that and I explained that when you disobey me you’re going to have consequences. I don’t like it when you don’t show respect to God. I used the example, that if I came into a temple and was disrespectful; they understood then.

Nothing much...

June 1
Sunday

All this week I have been having troubles with my computer. One day after school I turned my computer on and found that everything was reformatted. I seriously thought that I lost everything; thankfully I didn’t. Nonetheless I decided that I was going to have our computer guy at school look at my school. He said that there was no virus, but probably the best way to fix the computer is to reformat the whole thing. So last night Boramey stayed up all night reformatting my computer. I was so happy for that. Right now I’m using my computer and it works so much better. I guess Rith (who looked at my computer) was right about refreshing the whole computer.

On the weekend I didn’t do to much, but chill out with Boramey. She stayed at my house on Saturday night and we got up early and meet Nylee to go running at the riverside. Well, actually Boramey didn’t run because she stayed up all night to fix my computer, but Nylee and I ran about 3.5miles. This was the first time I ran out in public here. I usually just run on my balcony, which I haven’t because I’m so tired. I think I’m overwhelmed with school and figuring things out before I go home. I have been having headaches every night. I’m going to see I if I drink more water if that will help and go to bed earlier. If that doesn’t help then I think I’m going to go to the doctor up here to see what the deal is. I hope nothing major is happening. I actually just think its stress. Even when I sleep I feel like I got a good nights rest, but half of the morning I’m yawning.

Before I forget ‘rabbit, rabbit’, all your luck is mine now. Today, I dyed my hair back to brown again. Last time I dyed it Katrina did it and it looked GREAT! I loved the color and it was nice and even. I got it done to day and it was nice too, but I sure do miss talking to people while waiting for the dye to settle. Boramey took me to this shop on the corner of pa-sa-ma-oug. I’m really picky with my hair so I was hesitant to trust the people to do my hair. In the end it turned out nice too. While I was sitting there four others girls talked in Khmer (obviously) and I just minded my own business. I miss being able to sit in a barber shop and at least make small talk with your beautician. The beautician shop was not clean and I started to wonder if they ever change/wash the brushes after each use. I decided to block that thought out of my mind considering the fact that she had already started to put the dye in. It figured if I got lice I bought two lice packets from home to be ready. Surprisingly I didn’t have a run in with it, well, that one time before Christmas break. I was holding Mara in my lap and I noticed a whole bunch of white specks in her hair. I didn’t realize what it was until Savoun (KA teacher with Kim) said something to me. That night I was to fly out of Phnom Penh to Korea and I didn’t want to have lice. So I told Klaralyn about it and she let me use her Tea Tree shampoo while I was there.

I called my mom this morning at Boramey’s house and I figured out that I miss out on my job at Papoose. I guess I’m not suppose to go….nonetheless all morning I stayed at Boramey’s house and looked for jobs in Bozeman. I was almost thinking about becoming a nanny for the summer. And work part time in the spring while going to school. Unfortunitely I didn’t find one, so then I remember about Big Sky Resort in Big Sky near Bozeman. Its just like Papoose, but bigger. I started looking online and found some stuff I’m interested in. Most of the jobs are full time, which is nice, but I only need full time during the summer and winter time; during school time part time.

Riverside in the morning

May 25
Sunday

Over the weekend I pretty much spent my time with Boramey. After our regular lunch on Friday we went to the Russian market and I finally bought new flip flops. She took me to a new part of Phnom Penh. I bought black and white ones. All the shoes made here are hand made. You can find shoe repair places everywhere here, but unfortunately they couldn’t fix my old flip flops; man, if they only would have lasted me one more month! Nonetheless I like the new ones I have now.

Back to the long weekend; yes, we had another long weekend. It was Plowing Day in Phnom Penh on Friday. This particular holiday they bring cows to the King’s Palace and the first cow that eats the grass is blessed (I’m not totally sure about this, but this is what I have gathered). I stayed the night at Boramey house on Friday and Saturday. It was really nice, and relaxing. She has this relaxing area out behind her house with hammocks and a place you can plug your computer in to check the internet or do whatever. I really like just sitting in the hammocks and chill’n. We had pancakes for Sabbath breakfast while sitting outside. What I love the most about it is, her house is set apart from the busy Phnom Penh I live in and it’s nice to hear roosters and birds instead of cars and moto’s. I am truly a country girl.

Oh! On Sabbath afternoon we had some of the Lao boys at the house to just chill out. We didn’t do much but talk and enjoy the fresh air. I was responsible for making sure the boys made it back for church service on time (5:00 p.m.), but it started to rain and no one wanted to get wet, well, except for Singphor. So I called and asked Ben what to do and he didn’t say anything and I just decided to wait until the rain died down so bring them home. We were late and I think Ben is mad at me, but whatever I tried to do my best.

Saturday night I just updated my blogspot and chilled at her house. Boramey, Nylee and I have been planning on going to the riverside in the morning to see the people to exercises. So, we finally made a plan to. On Sunday morning we got up at 4 a.m and headed out to the riverside. At first Nelee didn’t get out of bed, but while Boramey and I were driving there he found us. After seeing the sunrise we went out for breakfast. For breakfast we all had noodles. This is the typical breakfast in Cambodia. I have really become a custom to what they eat. Before I would never eat noodle for breakfast. I ate a big meal once before and I felt like I had a rock in my stomach, but now I love it! One more thing that happened while at the riverside, before Neele caught back up with us Boramey and I had a run in with some boys. We were turning onto a rode, but soon found that is was under construction so we stopped to turn around, but so did two other moto’s. Now, I was not because we in the way of traffic or anything they stopped because they wanted to fool around. I really didn’t know what was going on at first, but once I noticed that they stopped and Boramey sped up I figured it was for a good reason. We drove really fast over bumps and I just grabbed onto the moto and held on. Nothing would have happened anyway because we were so close to where people were. I just held on an prayed that I didn’t fall off.
On Sunday afternoon I finished my midterm grades and updated my antivirus. Nova and Khamphia came to the house in the afternoon. It was just a really relaxing weekend. I’m so glad that I decided to step out of my comfort zone and made more friends. Boramey is such a good friend. I will miss her when I leave. I have only a little more of a month left! I have mixed feeling about it all.

The end is coming to FAST!

May 22
Thursday

Today was a really good day. I printed off the majority of my tests and gave them to Sopheck, and all of my kids did quite well on tests. We only had three day of school this week and I was pressed for time for tests and quizzes, but my kids did well. Although this whole week I felt overwhelmed with finishing the final tests, midterms, and no lesson plans. I’m a little frustrated with Kim right now because she has not made lesson plans for almost a month. It bothers me because she is supposed to make lesson plans for both of us, and without them I feel disorganized. Most of you know that when I’m disorganized things go wrong and I get behind. Truth be told we are behind in our English magic time book because she didn’t take the time to calculate out the timing. I have been rushing through our English book to get it all done. I know my kids can do it, but I had to do this last time with my Off We Go books and now I’m having troubles with my kids remembering the last six letters of the alphabet. Remember when Sharon wanted Kim to start making lesson plans for both of our classes and I had to either speed up or slow way down. Anyway, I am having problems again, but you know what I should do is just stop and think. I can do it myself. If Kim gives me lesson plans then I will use them, but if she doesn’t then I will have my own and if Sharon asks me why I’m teaching different things from Kim I will just tell her why. I have not talked to Kim about it, but every Monday I go to her room and ask for the lesson plans and every time I leave empty handed I make it clear that I’m not happy. I should not do this, but rather talk to her and say that when she doesn’t make them if causes problems for me.

If I have learned anything from my past experiences, it’s that when there is a problem I need to tell it out. Keeping it inside does nothing, but cause bigger problems. The end of the year is approaching fast and I’m not sure how to feel. I know that when the day comes to leave I will be very sad. I was talking to Dream last night about leaving and I said that I might come back in June again to see them, Ben, Kim and the baby. But, that is just an idea. I would love to, but theoretically I probably won’t happen. We will see. Tomorrow I’m going to hang out with Boramey. My flip flops I bought while in Thailand with Katrina have developed a hole. I would just buy another pair, but I’m big foot and they only make size 40 and I’m a size 42. Boramey is going to take me to a place she thinks will work. I am also going to try and finish my tests. Pray that I get them done because the end is coming soon and I want to get organized. I want to make lesson plans for the rest of the year so that I can make sure my kids know all the information on the tests. Pray that they can remember all of them and that all the teachers at CAS can finish strong.

Papaya Salad!

May 13-19
Tuesday-Monday

We had another holiday. This holiday was for the King’s Birthday (Tuesday through Friday off). Even with the holiday I was going to work to get my tests done and I still have not finished. I only have to do Science and Math. Math is going to take me the longest because I have to make lines and draw things; not to hard, but very time consuming. Last quarters test I did and it took me for ever to do, and it didn’t even last me an hour. I need to add more and make it a little harder.

I have to say. I’m really proud of one of my students. Bunthorng (Bun-thong) He has made huge improvements. At the beginning of the year; no, throughout the whole year he has never done to well in my class. Its not that I don’t try and help him, but rather that he doesn’t pay attention in class. But recently I have been putting him with kids smarter than him and I think its starting to rub off on him because he is starting to learn how to phonetically spell words. Meaning if I say the sound he can write the letter and spell the word. I first noticed this earlier this week. I was giving a mini quiz to see where they are in spelling and reading and he did quite well. But you know what; I guess he has been doing this for sometime now because when I would correct his quizzes/tests he would do better than usual. I guess I just never thought too much about it, but now I know what I need to do to help him out. I’m really proud of him. Its little things like this that makes me want to become a teacher. I love knowing that I have helped this child learn to read. Maybe I will get something for him and have a Khmer teacher translate for me when I give it to him and explain why.

Ok, now back to what I did over my holiday. I didn’t do too much, but I hung out with Boramey and the Lao boys a lot. During the day I would get up and head right over to their house with my computer and work. At night we would watch a movie or play cards. Oh! On the 15^th we celebrated Nova’s birthday. If it wasn’t for Lakena (Senior) bringing a present to him we would of never known. It just so happened that I wanted to learn how to make papaya salad that night. I had promised Khamphia that we would do it last weekend, but I just forgot, but he reminded me that day. So, Boramey and I went to Pa-sa-ma-oung (market by our house) to buy all the ingredients. I want to make it for my friends and family when I go home. It’s really good! Every time I go out to eat I order it; Som tom. That night was one of the best nights ever. We made papaya salad, watched a movie and took lots of pictures. Also Boramey stayed at my house for the first time. It was just an enjoyable night. I am truly going to miss those boys. I love each and every one of them for different reasons.

What I just remembered one more thing. One night Singkham and I went to the internet shop with Boramey’s moto and while we were there it started raining like crazy! Singkham didn’t want to go out in the rain, but I really wanted to get all wet. So we headed out! We drove around on the moto for about 20 mins in the rain! Once we got home Boramey and I played in the rain for awhile. The rain is so warm here that you don’t have to worry about getting sick.

During the holiday we talked a lot about my trip to Loa’s. So far I have figured out that I’m going to stop at Dreams province first with Khamphia and Nova; stay their one or two day then travel onto Porms province with Khamphia and Nova for sure. Dream might have to stay at home to help for the rest of the week, but we will see. Oh, and interesting thing, I have to ask Porms village first before I can stay, not sure why, but I just hope I can. After Porms province Khamphia, Nova and I will travel on to Venetian (Capital of Laos). I will then go to see waterfalls, and travel onto another part of Laos with Khamphia and whoever wants to come. I’m really excited to see how this all plays out. At first, when I was thinking of going, I was a little worried because I was going to be by myself, but they keep assuring me that they won’t leave me. I went and talked to Fay about it earlier and she said that when they went Khamphia was their helping the whole time. So that gives me some assurance that he won’t leave me. When I fly back to Phnom Penh from Laos I’m hoping to visit Siem Reap (Ankor Wat) with Boramey. I will be really short on time, but I am going to try and make it all happen. If I start to pack before I leave for Laos I will have more time. Because as of right now I am coming back from Laos on the 11^th (Friday) and the following day I would leave to Siem Reap with Boramey then come back on the 13^th (Sunday) or 14^th (Monday) and then pack to leave on the 16^th (Wednesday). Not much time to get ready to leave, but I will try and make it happen. Man, am I going to be really tired of traveling. Once I leave on the 30^th to Laos I will be doing nothing but traveling until I get home! I hope I’m not too cranky when I come home. You know, if I’m correct I arrive in Bozeman at night, like 10 or 11:30ish. You all will be tired and I will be set to go. My mom says that she is going to drive my car up so that I can drive it home. I really can’t wait to be able to drive myself to places. I do love riding moto’s, but at the same time I miss being able to drive myself.

So, that is what has been going on in my life right now. I have only a few more weeks of school left and I have mixed feeling about it. I am going to miss all of this. When I go home please be understanding if I want to come back. Its not that I don’t love you, I just love being abroad. I was talking to Darren Wilkins about this a long time ago and I still can remember what he said to me, “Once you get the travelers bug you don’t want to stop.”

Sambo

May 18 (May 11, Sunday)
Sunday

Like I said I’m really getting behind on my blogspot. Anyway, last Sunday afternoon Boramey and I went to Wat Phnom to ride an elephant. Remember when I said we would do it awhile ago, but we just never could make a good time for both of us, so a couple of weeks later we finally did it. I was so excited too! We arrived there just about the time it was scheduled to rain (3-4 p.m), but thankfully it didn’t rain. What I was so surprised with was how easy it was to get onto the elephant. Sambo (his name, which means a lot) just walked right under stairs, which you climb to get on. The forty year old elephant must have done this so much that it all comes natural. Sambo could probably walk around without someone leading him and be perfectly fine. As we were getting on and getting situated I dropped my camera! I was really worried someone would run under Sambo and take off with it, but fortunately the man in charge just picked it up and gave it back to me on a stick that he uses to guide Sambo. Just as we were ready to take off a man approached us and asked if a little boy could ride with us. It didn’t matter to me. So, he climbed on and we headed off. The ride was really fun. Sambo of course had to walk right into the branches. LOL! Everyone was looking and smiling. The ride lasted for about 20-30 minutes. What I loved was how we all moved to one side of Sambo with each step. His head had long grayish hair. I wanted to touch him with my feet so I took my shoes off and felt every movement on top of his neck; soft and squishy. Before the ride I had bought some corn from a street cart (1000rel; 25cents) and started to eat it. I offered the little boy and Boramey some, but none takers.

After the ride we got a picture with Sambo, and a little more. The man whom approached us at the beginning came to say thanks and explain the little boy. It turns out that the he has Aids. His parents died because of it and now the boy is going to face the same fate. I was completely blown away. How could a little boy have Aids? Why? He is only twelve years old and will never get to even have the option of having the joys of growing up. The man was running an orphanage filled with children like this little boy. He was French and could speak Khmer. At first he started talking to me in French, but I said I’m American. He couldn’t speak good enough English so I asked him in broken English if he could speak Khmer; thankfully he could. Boramey translated for me and I got the whole story. The man (father) was taking him around Phnom Penh to do what he wants for his last weeks on earth. I didn’t know what to say to the man. I was so blown away with the little boy. WHY? Why, was he burdened with this?

After the elephant experience we went to the Olympic Stadium. I have driven by it so many times and always wondered what went on, that day my questions were answered. As I walked in there were at least 20 games of football (soccer) go on. In order to keep the games divided they would use their shoes as goalies and boundaries. We had to run in between people to get across the way. We walked up lots of stairs to get into the bowl of the stadium. At the time there was a college football game going on. I’m not much of a football fan, but it was nice to see all the people running along the stadium stairs. At four o’clock people start dancing for exercise. They set up different stations for you to choose. It only cost 500rel (13cents) to participate. I saw anywhere between twelve years of age to forty. It was pretty nice to see a different part of Cambodia. It’s nice to know that some people actually work to stay small.

David's house

May 14 (April 16^th or 17^th)
Wednesday

I have been intending to write about my visit to David’s house for a long time, but just never go around to it. During my last break (Khmer New Year) all the Lao students, Ben, Kim and I all went to David’s house. David is a tenth grader at the school and his sister Pon-luor (no idea how to spell) is in twelfth grade. Their father (Tendou) is the pastor in the Kal Dal province. It took us about 30-40mins to get there. David rides his bike to school everyday! The whole family is really good in English. This is the kind of family where the parents study with the kids. Tendou knows not only Khmer and English, but also Thia and Lao. Ben asked him how he learned so many different languages, he responded, “Learn little by little from people and put it into practice.”

We made lunch and ate together. I was most excited about the food because it was really different. Ok, just have to say when they eat fish they don’t cut the scales off or head. All they do is gut it and then stick the whole thing in to a pan, plop it on a plate and eat. I was first introduced to this when the Lao boys made me dinner way at the beginning of the year. I didn’t know how to eat it, but Katrina showed me how; thankfully. I’m not a fish fan to begin with, but its starting to grow on me. Anyway we had chicken, fish, vegetables, rice (given), and mango. It was delicious!

After lunch we went outside in front of the house where they garden (sell) mango trees. We laid down bamboo mates and all chilled out for the afternoon. I was so stuffed from lunch I fell asleep while everyone else played games. Once I woke up I felt like I had a rock in my stomach so I decided to go for a walk around the village with Mia (Lao girl). We walked for about an hour around the whole village. We crossed a really sketchy bridge, but I figured if moto’s can drove on it then why can’t we.

Tendou invited us to stay for dinner, but I was still stuffed from lunch and I don’t eat dinner so I was not up for the idea, but I kept my mouth shut. Ben talked to the Lao students and they all wanted to get home for the night. The day at David’s was relaxing. It was nice to get out of the house and the city for the afternoon. I can’t wait till I get home and look out my window to see mountains!

Food and Fun Fair

May 4
Sunday

I have not been keeping up on my blogspot as much as I should. I will try and be better about it, but the end of the year is rolling around and I have lots to figure out before I leave in 2 months. So…what has happened in the last two weeks? Our school had a Food and Fun Fair to raise money for the school. We did this on May 4, which replaced another day. This particular day fell right after the King’s birthday; three days off (Tues-Thurs). So, all this week we don’t have school except for today. The Sunday (Food and Fun Fair (FAFF)) we had to come to school replaced Friday of this week. I was really excited to have this week off because I’m feeling paper thin. Also we have to get ready for the final testing. Even though I get four days off work this week I’m going to be working at home because I have to get all my tests done.

Ok, enough about what I have to do. I will elaborate on the Food and Fun Fair day. If I’m not mistaken I don’t think our school has done anything like this before (fundraising). So, it was a new experience for all the Khmer teachers. Even though I have been involved with a FAFF before I still didn’t know what to expect. I decided to do a Cake Walk for the littler kids. I was a little worried about how I was going to pay for all the food, but then Fay suggested that I ask my students to bring something. I did and it all worked out. I made cookies, Fay made brownies, Sharon made cup cakes, and Chanroth (my assistant) brought mango’s from here tree’s and cookies. My kids brought anything from hard candy to cakes. I was really excited to see them get into the game. They didn’t understand when I was trying to explain it, so I just showed them how to play a game. Once they caught on it was a really fun day. Not only did I get little kids, but I got older ones as well. Nova came and played the game I think two or three times and Boemey played too. I was a good day. Kim sold ice cream and coconut. Ben, well Ben couldn’t just sell one thing. He went all for it. Not only did he sell papaya salad, he had a raffle ticket lottery, but also rings to throw on pop cans. He really got into it. We had music playing during the event and he (Ben) and Rit were the DJ’s. I liked watching all the kids come to school with their parents to see what kind of school we are running. If I’m not mistaken government school don’t do things like this. So, when we asked (told) the kids they had to come to school on Sunday the parents didn’t quite understand, but I’m sure once they arrived they had a better understanding.

After the FAFF Boramey, Ung, Heap, Ne-lee, Ra-tan-ak, and I all went to the riverside. The night before Boramey and I were just coming back from something and we ran into Ung and Ne-lee so we decided to go get sugar cane juice and go out after the FAFF the next night. It was nice to get out of the house and do absolutely nothing. We literally just rode around on moto’s for at least a couple of hours. It was nice though. They did however show me the night market; it was nothing to brag about, same old things just in a different arrangement. I love the fact that I have made friends that are willing to show me things around town. Boramey had her camera that night and I will try and get those pictures from her so that you can see us out on the town.

Things to work out

April 28
Monday

Today Bunchhean didn’t come to school. I’m really worried he stopped study. This goes through my mind every time one of my kids is not at school. Sokhavath and David have already done this to me. If I would have known it was there last day I would have given them something to remember me by. By the end of the year I want to have one picture with each kid to give them. When get home I’m going to make a huge collage of this year and frame it. I’m also planning on get a picture drawn of my kids and I together. I want Pros to draw it, if he can. I already talked to him about it and he said, it would take him time, but he would try and do it. If that fails I will try and convince one of my really good friends Klaralyn to do it for me. It would mean so much to me. I really love all of my kids. When they know I’m having a hard day they always come and tickle my back. That is the key to my heart; man! I love it! All my friends know that I’m always trying to get them to either tickle my back or arm. I calms me down because when I was younger my Dad (Beaver) would tickle my back while I was about to fall asleep. Nonetheless my kids know this will put me at ease. I love them all! I hope that Bunchhean didn’t stop study because he was the better ones in my class.

I’m so proud of my kids. They are starting to read! Its really exciting to know that you taught them how! Every week we go over new spelling/reading words and almost the whole class could sound out the words. Obviously the ones that don’t pay attention in class don’t understand, but I can’t make them listen. Anyway, more than half of my class can sound out words. I’m so excited! This feeling only makes me want to become a teacher even more.

A little update on things with Katrina and I. We have been having some problems with a lot of things. I have done some things to her that I wish I hadn’t, but I can’t change the past. I can only hope and pray that she forgives me. I don’t blame her for her decision to move out, but I only wish she hadn’t because I now know that we won’t ever be friends again. I sometimes wonder why I was brought up here. What does God want to show me? Well, I think I figured only a little part of it out already. I feel he wanted to show me my weaknesses.

I have a problem with holding grudges, pride, self-centerness, and not being aware of other people feeling. I knew I had these problems before, but I guess I didn’t ever realize how much it effected others. I never wanted to be the person you had to walk on egg shells with. I wanted to be the person you can tell anything to because you could trust me. I was talking to my Dad (Jerry) and he said that maybe with all the stress of everything it can bring out the worst in all of us. He does have a point, but really I should have been more aware of her feeling. I am so disappointed in myself for what I have done to her and I just pray to God that she will forgive me. I am trying to change but it won’t happen in one day. These things take time; God needs to work on my heart. I still want to be her friend, but I fear she has washed her hands of me. Pray.

Here in about two weeks or so we have another break (10 days). I wanted to go to Vietnam, but I don’t think I’m going to go because I want to save money to go to Lao at the end of the year. It will be my last trip and last time to spend with the Lao students. I am planning on traveling with them by bus for two days. While I’m there I’m planning on seeing their families and homes. I have not talked to all of them about it, but the ones that I have talked to are really excited that I’m going. They really want to show me their country. I am really excited to go! I am planning on going to Sengphor’s house in the north with SingKham. Sengphor said it takes a couple of hours to get to his home town, but he said that when I get there we will go hiking around to see the countryside. I’m really happy that they want to show me their country. I will be by myself, but I know the Lao students will take care of me’ hopefully. I’m planning on staying there for about two weeks. I will be coming home (America) in the second or third week of July. I will be back before the 22^nd because I promised my brother that I would be there for his birthday. So this is my really really rough sketch of my plans for the rest of the year. I pray that it all works out.

Refiners Fire

April 26
Saturday

Today I started reading a new book entitled The Refiners Fire written by Gavin Anthony. Gavin is the son of Garth and Silvia her on the compound. Speaking of them, this will be their last Sabbath here. Garth has been having health problems from the heat and needed to retire early. Its going to be different without them here even though I didn’t get to know them that well the little I did talk to Silvia it was enjoyable. I still can remember her inviting Katrina, Ben, Kim and I over for tea. Which meant dinner and worship. It was pleasant.

Anyway, the book is about life’s suffering and how it all works out for the glory of God. For the past month or so I have been having a hard time here. It was only recently that it all started looking on the up side, but still with unpleasant moments. I realized that God was shaping me. He was bringing out the worst in me so that I can see my weaknesses. He was not doing this to punish me, but rather for me to fix them before they cause me to fall completely from him. I’m not going to lie. I have fallen from God. All the problems started the moment I put certain things before him. I have been so focused on them that I lost sight of what is really important. Reading the first chapter (Refiners Fire) this morning I realized God allowed problems to come my way so that I can realize my weaknesses and know that he is going to be there in hard times. We are all promised we are never alone in the dark. He is always the light.

I have been trying so hard to stay within a SDA community to help me not fall from Him. But you can’t let others do your work for yourself. Ben said something the other night during worship that really opened my eyes. He said, “If you don’t take time to truly know your God then how do you expect to be saved. When judgment day comes God is going to deny you because you don’t know him. You don’t have a personal relationship with him.” That pretty much made me apprehend the idea that just because I’m in a SDA community doesn’t mean I’m going to heaven because quite frankly I don’t have a very strong stance with God. Yes, I know of him, but I don’t truly know him. I don’t have a relationship with him. I have been counting on others to do my work for me. I have been relying on others to tell me about the Bible.

My God does love me and I know that, but do I love my God? Or do I love the idea of him? I still can remember the day I got baptized. I was crying my eyes out because I could feel the presence of the LORD their and I was truly sorry for all my sins. I was so happy because I was giving my life over a God who truly loves me even though I’m covered in sin.

I feel that God is communicating with me through other people and their words. He is trying to tell me to come back and cast all my burdens upon him. Why is it so hard for us to cast our troubles onto someone else? Really we should be rejoicing because we don’t have to worry about it anymore, but why is it that we have to fix everything ourselves? Well, maybe I shouldn’t speak on behalf of others, but for me I have such a hard time doing this. I am so stubborn. I want to fix everything myself, but in the end everything turns out worst.

Please pray that I finish out the rest of the year strong and grow closer to God. I need his help and need just to surrender ALL to him.

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.

Request

I have a huge request. My school here, Cambodia Adventist School, is trying to finish our new school that we have been building for some years now. We would have been moved inside by now, but we have lots of run in with the government and money. Right now we (our school) is trying to raise $40 thousand dollars to put the final touches on the school: windows and white boards. The windows are so much money. Sharon told me once and my jaw dropped but i can't remember the price, none the less windows are really nice with the rainy season comes around.
you maybe asking what are we doing to raise this $4o thousand dollars. well we just recently started $1 dollar a day for 100 days and so far we have had some success. the students are so excited that they would sell anything from copied pictures to washing car/moto's. it was so cute to see the littler kids sell copied pictures which costs them 500rel and sell them for 500rel. they wouldn't make any profit, but were still trying. i had to explain to my class that if you want to get money you have to sell it for more than you buy it for. i am collecting all the recyclable stuff on our compound. there is not much money in this, but its worth a shot and its not coming out of my own pocket. we are going to start to sell stuff on Monday when i get enough money to buy the stuff.
So, yes we have been trying really hard to encourage the kids and keep them motivated. what i'm asking is if you feel pressed to help out an Adventist school in Cambodia and know that it will be going to a good cause then please let me know. i would be very happy to help you get the money here. we really want to except as many students as possible, but right in our situation we are having to send people home with frowns because we just don't have the room for them. as a matter of fact we have two kindergartens because we didn't want to turn down to many people.
you can contact me at ittobits_6@hotmail.com if you want to know more information. thanks.

What i love

The other day i woke up with stomach pains because i had a dream that i was packing to leave. why is it that i always get so attached to the people around me? my dad once said to me that where ever i go i will leave an impression on people, but the truth is that i think they leave an impression on me. i came to cambodia because i wanted to serve God, but i also wanted a break from my life at home. America is so fast paced. An American is always on the run. Why is it that we are so fast paced? What are we trying to keep up with or stay ahead of?
I love my life here in Cambodia. Even though its heck-it at times, with the people and culture i still love being here. i don't feel rushed in life. what i love about Cambodia is how people are so relaxed, sometimes to much. they will just sit outside their house and do nothing all day but watch people drive by on there moto's. Also, how you will see 30 some moto's parked outside a shop. i love that i choose to come here and serve God. Yes, at times it's hard, but when is it easy in life. Life is full of choices and which road you decided to take leads you to your destination.

Khmer Engagement Party

March 2
Sunday

On Friday Katrina and I got invited to an engagement party. We know the family of the grooms because they live right next to the Lao boys house. We don't talk to much, but acknowledge each other. Sometimes they will give us rides to town if they are going too. So, the party was taking place in front of their house. Which all the parties take place in front of the hostess place. What they do is set up huge canopies and decorates them with bright colors such as orange, red, yellow, and some brown. These kind of remind me of circus tents. At the party we were suppose to bring some kind of gift, but when I asked what I should bring they insisted I didn't need to bring anything. So, me being the missionary whom lives on a stipend didn't. That morning I went to play volleyball at the school from 6:30 to 7:30 and rush home to get ready for the party. Being an Indian I don't have such a thing called time. So, I actually left the school at 7:45. I rushed home and got ready really fast. To my surprise Katrina was not up either and we were both running late. But unlike me Katrina doesn't take long to get ready. She is always waiting on me; sad but true.
The party was pretty cool. I have always seen this kind of thing going on around town and wondered what happens, so today i got to see. First off they line everyone up with the gift in hand, which can be anything from candy to fruit and present it to the bride and groom one by one. Originally they have guests walk from the grooms house to the brides house (where the party is), but this particularly bride is from America. So, that would be one long walk/swim. Once this process is done they all sit down under the canopy. You are served food and drinks. This part of the party you just sit and talk about whatever with your table buddies. Lucky me I sat with some of the teacher from our school. It was pretty fun. The food was interesting. They served us rice with sea food in it. It had squid, octopus, and shrimp. My first couple of bites I didn't pay to much attention, but then quickly wondered. I know that rise is not chewy. Come to find out that i just ate an octopus. It didn't taste bad, but really chewy.
After eating we decided to see what everyone was doing in the house. Turns out the bride and groom have a photo shoot in their living room, but it's all decked out with bright colors, just like the canopy. The bride would hold anything from flowers to fruit. She had lots and lots of makeup on and her hair was as stiff as could be. Beautiful, but to much for me. I hope I don't look like that when i get married. The most surprising part was the shoes. They were elf looking; curled up, and were golden. I don't know if you can see them well in the picture, but if only i got one.
I was only planning on watching them take the pictures, but ended up being forced to join in the picture. I was not sure about this because no one else was doing it (Khmer people and I usually try and not do anything they don't do). But they kept insisting, kind of fun to be in the picture though.
One more thing, this wedding was fake from the beginning. The groom paid for the bride to come to Cambodia and marry him. But turns out that they fell in love with each other. Pretty cool, ha?

Riverside

March 1
Saturday

Today Katrina and I went to the riverside. Usually we don’t do to much on Saturday because to many eyes to judge us; I feel. None the less we decided to do it. One, because we need to get pictures of Phnom Penh, so we can remember what it was like, and two, we needed an excuse to get out of the house.

Getting to the riverside costs one dollar (four thousand rel) which I thought was a reasonable price. All we did was walk around acting like tourist; taking pictures of everyday life of Khmer people. After walking away from the riverside we started for the stores and such. But I saw these kids playing in the street that I wanted to take pictures of. I love taking pictures of people more than landscape. My favorite is fact shots. So, while taking the pictures this man came up to us and I was worried he was mad because we were taking pictures of the kids, but it turned out he want to talk to us about WWF, and get a picture with us. I didn’t mind to much, but was a little worried he would take off with our stuff. He didn’t, but was really touchy when taking the picture. He grabbed us (took one at a time) by the waist and pulled towards him.

After that we walked around a little more and then headed home to watch a movie at the school. Some Saturday nights they will show a movie. In the past they would show things like Babe and Pig, and I wouldn’t go, but tonight they played, Open Season. It was pretty funny. I sat next to Prom and we had fun. One part of the movie Katrina and I were the only ones laughing because it was more talking than action and one character said something really funny.

A Bugs Life

February 27
Wednesday

I just want to say that I’m really sorry for not keeping on top of my blogspot. I have been preoccupied in so many ways. Some of you know what I’m talking about. Today is a good day. I get to show my kids a movie after lunch, A Bugs Life. I really think this movie is so cute. Kim’s class watched it yesterday. She said her kids were pretty restless. I’m hoping my kids are not like that. All day yesterday I was so tired and lazy. I’m not going to lie I didn’t teach them any new information yesterday. The last period we just wrote our spelling words five times and then I just let them have free time. I actually played this one game with the girls. You have rubber bands intertwined together making a rope. The objective is to jump over rubber bands. I have been watching them play this game for some time and wanted to try it and yesterday I finally did it. It’s pretty fun. The kids were excited to see that I could do it. I want to play with them again today.
I brought my computer to school today because of the movie. The school has a T.V., but it’s pretty heavy to carry down the stairs, and I don’t want to bother other people to carry it down. I sure hope my kids like the movie. I’m going to try and show more movies before the year ends. They would love that and I would love the break.

Our travel to Thialand

February 3-8
Sunday-Friday

Katrina and I decided to leave Cambodia during our week off. We’re planning on going to Thailand to visit Phil and see the country. Prior to this trip we couldn’t decide if we wanted to go to Vietnam or Thailand because Katrina has been to Thailand. So, we ran into some problems on where to go. How ever we came to a conclusion, Thailand.
On the 3rd we headed to the bus station at 7:30 am and traveled to Sihanoukville. Upon arriving we got really confused where to buy fairy tickets.
All the moto drivers as usual were all in our faces trying to be “helpful”. I really hate it when I’m crowed with people who don’t let me think (thinking before acting is a great idea). Because what happens is you get all confused and end up going to the wrong place. Yes, that is what happened! Katrina and I were originally planning on going to Koh Chang; islands outside of Thailand, but got pushed into going to Koh Kong. You know how you know the answer to a question, but when the questionnaire asks, all your knowledge gets jumbled together. Well that kind of happened when the moto drivers answered our question to, “Where is the fairy that goes to Koh Chang?” With the language barrier they thought we said Koh Kong, and would not let Katrina and I think for at least 5 seconds. I was getting really pissed off with this one moto driver who was mocking us because we (Katrina and I) were trying to figure things out. At one point he said, “Do you understand English?”
(What a little bastard) So, after we bought the fairy tickets we found a place to sleep, and chilled at the beach for the rest of the day.


On the 4th we traveled to Koh Kong by boat. I didn’t know what to expect upon arriving. For all I knew we would be riding on the back/top of a shipment boat. Thankfully it was not like that, but quite nice. As we boarded, Katrina wanted to sit on top of the boat (no seats on top. Just sit Indian style and hold on for life). I really didn’t want to because I was in skirt and didn’t feel like climbing on top of a boat, but gave in and was happy in the end except for the sun burn I got (I should have thought about bring sun screen). The boat ride was pretty nice, we got lots of wind, sun and the view of all the little islands; very pretty! Oh! I heard French spoken for the first time in real life. I was totally thinking of the Wilkins family the whole time and how they could chat up a storm with them. I personally was intimidated by them, not sure why. Maybe because French people don’t like American to much, so as you can imagine I kept my talking to a minimum. Our boat ride was about four hours. When we arrived in Koh Kong we had no idea of where to go, so we got into a taxi that took us to the Thailand border. Getting in to Thailand was pretty easy, because we are American citizens we didn’t have to pay for an entry fee.
Our taxi man was trying to rip us off and said we had to pay three dollars each, when at the dock (where he picked us up) he said two dollars. I was not happy with him and refused to pay him the extra dollar and walked away. He kept trying to push the money back at us while saying, “You no pay!” but I just ignored him and hoped he would leave us alone. So finally we got on to a bus that was going to take us to Pattaya. A place Ben and Kim went for their honeymoon. The bus ticket costs eight hundred baht, which comes to a whopping twenty-five dollars. May not sound like much to you Americans whom make more than me, but I only had one hundred and twenty dollars to spend on this trip and had to take the cheapest routes. Anyway, our bus ride was five hours and was quite comfortable. There were two other Americans who live in Thailand and as I quote, “because I’m a dirty old man.” There was also a man from London who could speak pretty good English.
So after five hours in the bus we finally arrived in Pattaya. Katrina and I had no idea of what the hell to do. So I quickly said a pray and asked God to send us a helper. Not even five minutes after my pray the Americans (who live in Thailand) asked us what were planning on doing. The conversation ended with him helping us out. He recommended an area which was cheap and safe. One of the Americans got really pissed of with the taxi driver because he didn’t know his way around Pattaya and ended up getting kicked off the bus. Katrina and I were a little worried because we didn’t know what to do with out him helping us. So he told the taxi driver to take us to this area.
Out of nowhere the taxi driver demanded more money, fifty baht, and we didn’t want to pay for that. So, we got dumped off the bus with the guy from London. He was an older man and asked us if we wanted to get a drink before finding a place to stay. I immediately played the really tired role and just wanted to find a place to sleep. He understood and we continued to find this area, but in the commotion of everything we got separated from him because he didn’t want to pay the taxi driver the price he wanted. Katrina and I just wanted to find a place to relax and it was about eight or so by now. The taxi driver took us to a guest house called the Utid Court and costs five hundred baht a night. The guest house is ok; it’s equipped with a T.V., bathroom, fridge, closet and bed for one. There is however no window, but who cares. The price is perfect for us and it’s actually pretty nice.
The 5th we had nothing on the agenda because we came to the wrong place. If we had a chance to think before we acted back in Sihanoukville we would not be in this situation. Never the less Katrina and I were fine. We are the kind of people who can make do with what is thrown. I just laugh at us sometimes because we really are laid back and who knows if that will gets us into trouble someday.
All we did that day was go to Mike’s mall and look around. Oh, and also Katrina got a tattoo. She was planning on doing this sometime and decided to do it here in Pattaya. So we spent an hour or so at the tattoo place. The tattoo artist was so funny. His name was Jo and he gave Katrina a discount because she was part Pilipino. Katrina designed the tattoo of North and South America with ‘have’ on North and ‘hope’ on South America. Really cute and it fits her personality.

I would have gotten one too, but didn’t because I don’t want to have to wear pants all year long to cover up my ankle.
After that we went down to the beach and got fruit from the street vendors and chilled out there. We also chilled at Starbucks for awhile, and ironically enough we saw the French man drive by on a moto looking really lost and confused; we laughed at this. That evening we didn’t want to spend much money so we bought a half chicken and rice from another street vendor, and spent the rest of the night chilling in the room watching Eva Almighty. We are planning on going to Bangkok tomorrow to visit Phil.
Alright finally I have caught up on my blog (Jan 6th). So, today we left from Pattaya at 9:30 a.m. which will put us in Bangkok around 11:30 a.m. While on the bus I really had to pee the whole time, and would have gone if I would pull myself to get up and go. You see the first time I tried to go (on the bus) I didn’t think the door could open any farther than already opened. I knew I couldn’t fit in through little space so I just went and sat back down, but quickly hoped I hadn’t. I also gave a disgusted face to the others sitting by me which gestured to, no way in hell! So, as I sat their in agony one person after another went to the bathroom and pulled the door open all the way. “If I only had pulled the door open more, than I wouldn’t be in this situation”, I thought. None the less I couldn’t pull myself to get back up and go to the bathroom. I didn’t want people thinking, “Oh well now she really has to go.” Stupid I know!

We were supposed to call Phil when we arrived, but ended up having trouble getting the pay phones to work. I finally gave in and asked someone; I’m such a man sometimes. After Phil took us to his humble-abode I was really overwhelmed with the city. Phil and Katrina were laughing at me because I wasn’t talking and looked perplexed. Truthfully I hate cities and get really uncomfortable with so many people. That afternoon Phil took us to one of many malls. I was blown away with Bangkok. At the mall you have Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, and crazy food prices. I wanted the cheapest thing I could find and figured it would be fruit; how I was wrong. A freaking guava costs me thirty five baht; ridiculous! I could have gotten that from a street vendor for maybe ten baht. Also in the mall they had an aquarium on the bottom floor. I couldn’t pass this up. Katrina didn’t want to go because she has been to this kind of thing before and me, whom lives in Montana has only gone one other time; eight grade year in Seattle. I felt weird being in there all alone among couples and parents, but figured I can’t do everything with people. I need to things I want to do even if that means doing it by myself. Oh! You should be proud because I held my first snake. It was called the corn snake (I think). I would look it up, but I don’t have internet right now and it’s not that big of a deal to me. All I care about is that I held a snake! So exciting! The people were laughing at me

because I looked so scared. The picture tells it all. For the first time I got to walk in an underwater tunnel. It was so cool. I also got to ride in a glass boat, which is a boat with glass on the bottom so you can see all the fish; saw lots of sharks. After touring the aquarium I got to see a 4-D show. It was really cool because the seats moved and puffed air in our faces. After leaving the mall Katrina and I had to head back to the apartment to see Phil off. He has to travel to Chang Mia to renew his visa. He was kind enough to let us stay in his place. Anyway, on the way back we got lost. Phil told us to take the 71 bus, and after two over head walk ways to count to ten then push the bottom to stop the bus. We ended up counting to fast and got totally lost. I don’t know how many times we walked up and down the streets before we figured it out. It was comical.

Dinner we walked down the street where Phil showed us earlier to the street vendors. Our dinner consisted of chicken, fish, rice, and some kind of papaya, but with a twist. Just think our dinner cost 95 baht and a latte at Starbucks would be 145 baht. You see what I mean by the street vendors are really cheap and really really good. So far this trip was been anything but boring. I love it and only hope for the next two day it will be just as good.

On the seventh we had nothing really planned. So the night before we stayed up until two or three o’clock in the morning figuring things out or just taking the opportunity of wireless. Anyway, we finally figured out we would go see some museums, go to the park, and at night we would go see Jeanie (our SM coordinator from WWU). Jeanie was in Bangkok for some meeting with other SM coordinators from SDA colleges.

We finally got out of the room around nine-tenish. We took the sky train to Limpini Park. This was one of the bigger parks in Bangkok. Katrina and I decided to spend our time there because we don’t have parks in Phnom Penh, and were broke. After getting off the sky train we crossed a street and made our way into the park. I really wanted something to eat and was looking forward towards the street vendors, but nothing was there. So, I settled for an ice coffee.

Sitting by the big pond, which stretched throughout the park, we notice duck boats on the water and wondered if we could rent one. I really wanted to do it so we walked over and paid eighty baht. If we returned the duck boat on time (half an hour) than we would get our forty baht back. At the time there were fountains in the water and I got the bright idea to get wet. Approaching the fountain I realized I didn’t want to get that wet, but it was already too late. Katrina freaked out and stopped peddling which turned the duck around and got me soaking wet. There was a security man on the shore with his hands on his hips grinning at us. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. It was really funny! We got our butts soaking wet, which didn’t dry until we left the park. While flaunting about on the water we saw these really huge lizard looking like things; Komodo dragon (?). One was right on the shore of the water and I didn’t realize how close we got to it until Katrina said something because I was looking through my camera. After returning the duck we walked over to the playground. The security man blew his whistle while we were swinging (They use whistle for everything here. Like at the Sky train, if so much as your sleeve crosses the yellow line he will blow his whistle. Everyone looks at you like, didn’t you know; stupid foreigners.). I guess in Thailand older people can’t play on the toys.

We left the park about twoish and headed out to the museums. Since Katrina and I didn’t know how to speak Thai and their language is mostly tonal it was really hard to get around other than the Sky train. So for the most part we stuck to the places the Sky train took us to. Our first stop was the Thai Culture Design Center (TCDC). It was located in one of the many malls on the 6^th floor. After locating the elevator we noticed there was not a 6^th floor. So we got off on the 5^th floor and asked someone where the TCDC was. She looked at me like, you are on the 5^th floor you need to go one more floor up. But I responded, “There is no 6^th floor. So do you know where the TCDC is?” She said we were in the wrong part of the building. How the hell was I suppose to know there was two parts to this mall. None the less she said to go to the ground floor and we could find our way from there. We did find the building and the elevator, but when we got into the elevator which was suppose to take us up to the 6^th floor we didn’t see 6^th floor on the button thingy. So we waited until the next person got into the elevator to ask where the TCDC was. After pushing the button to our destination he said, “Not very well designed, huh?” He was totally right. Who would have ever thought the 6^th floor button said TCDC. I felt so stupid and irritated. The TCDC was pretty nice. Not very many exhibits to see, but it was something to do for free. We didn’t get to see the other museum I wanted to see because we could find it. So we decided to go check out movie times. After that it was time to go see Jeanie. She provided free dinner so we decided not to eat all day so we could save some money. On our way to the Sky train we got to see a mini show of Chinese New Year celebration. I have never seen a big dragon before, so I was really excited.

Our last night in Thailand we decided to see a movie. We orginally wanted to see Beowulf but thetiming never worked out, so we watched American Gangsters. It was really good. But as always the movie theater was freezing. On our way home we had to take taxi because the Sky train closes at midnight. Just to let you know it’s safer in Thailand than in Cambodia so we could be outside at this time of night. When we got into the taxi I said where to go from the paper Phil gave to us. I didn’t know if I told him right because I thought we were going the wrong way the whole time. Katrina and I got mad at each other because I was freaking out. Understandable, I was freaking out and not doing anything, but I didn’t know what to do; I don’t speak Thai. It turned out I must have said it right enough for the taxi driver because he took us to the right place. Phil was supposed to arrive back from Chang Mia that morning so, I cleaned up our stuff a little bit.
Our last morning in Thailand; we thought. It turned out that if we left that morning to Koh Kong we would have to spend the night there until the bus left the next morning. So we decided to say one more day so we could save the little money we had left. That final day we went on a boat tour with Jeanie and whole bunch of other SM coordinators. We got to see some temples and mini museums filled with old battle boats. They were pretty cool. Sadly I don’t have pictures because we had to pay extra money. After the boat tour we went to one of the malls and Jeanie treated us to lunch. It was really good. Once we parted with Jeanie Phil, Katrina, and I all decided to go to a park and chill. No money is a bummer. This park was not nearly as big as the one Katrina and I went to, but it didn’t matter because we just sat on a bench for a couple of hours and talked. It was about 5is before we left the park and headed to the bus station to see when the buses leave. Looking at the times, we decided to leave at eleven thirty. This way we would not have to wait at the border for so long before it opened at seven.
Leaving was stressful because our taxi driver was as slow as molasses. We figured a taxi would be faster than the sky train; how wrong we were. It took us almost thirty minutes to drive three to four miles. Our taxi driver was so relaxed listening to his radio while Katrina and I were freaking out in the back seat. We only had five minutes before the bus left and not an end in sight. We were seriously thinking of getting out of the taxi and running to the bus station, only problem we didn’t know where we were. Needless to say we made it to the bus station with a few minutes to spare. Getting on the bus we had assigned seats. It was a quit comfortable bus. We both fell asleep. Trat was our next destination. The travelers guide said there was a bus to Hat Lek to Koh Kong which left at four thirty in the morning. Our bus from Bangkok arrived at Trat around fourish. Just enough time to figure our next step.
I left Katrina with all the luggage while I left to figure things out. I figured out where are bus was and how much it was. Thank goodness there was an English speaker near our bus, without her we’d still be in Trat. There were about ten people in the van. We would be in this bus for about an hour. Once we arrived at the boarder it was still dark and things were looking a little familiar. At the boarder we had to wait for about an other hour before it opened. So, we just cuddled up in a blanket and read our books. After crossing the boarder we saw the same man who tried to rip us off at the beginning of our trip. I just laughed at him because he was glaring at us. Thankfully we found a good English speaker who understood that we didn’t have much money. He took us to Koh Kong for one hundred baht. We asked him about a bus to Phnom Penh and he said since it was Chinese New Year everything was full. We were really freaking out because we didn’t have enough money to stay somewhere and got home. So the whole moto ride I just prayed that God find us a way home. I didn’t care if we had to ride in the back of a truck with the animals; I just wanted to get home. The first bus station was full and I was really worried, but the moto driver said we have one more place to check, but was not sure. As we drove to the next one I really prayed that God get us home. I all of a sudden heard something say, “My child have faith.” It kind of freaked me out, but I knew we were in God’s hands and that he was going to provide. Sure enough He did find us a ride home. The last bus that left for Phnom Penh and it only had room for two more. The van was completely full of Khmer people (15) and all were staring at me, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to be on a bus home. The ride home was about six hours. On our last stretch home we were extremely tired so we just slept. This older woman was sitting behind me and pulled my hair and yelled at me in Khmer because my head was bobbing while I was sleeping. I was a little pissed, but to tired to do anything about it. Also in the bus this man behind me kept playing with my hair; creepy.
Arriving home I asked the drive to drop us off near Toul Kok. This is the area we live. I was so happy to be home! The trip to Thailand was really fun but I think next time I want to plan it out more. It was my fault for not helping Katrina with the planning, but I know if we go anywhere anymore I will surly help out.