Crayola Doctrine
I have a new theory on life. Crayola is the best way to connect with people. Crayola can change the world. We’ve been visiting a lot of houses, and people here are very friendly about total strangers coming in to talk with them --- not like our country when we’d assume it was Mormons or Jehovas Witnesses.
Today we went to a family that we’d visited before. I’ve been taking crayons to the hospital to color with the children, and it’s great to see their faces light up. Today Yee asked me to bring my crayons to visit the family. We also brought along Toh – one of the kids from the orphanage, and Ratanak. Toh jumped right into the coloring – we do that a lot at home. The children stood around shyly for a while, then finally Ratanak asked if one eight year old girl knew how to color, and she said she never had before. Soon the whole family, and all of us were passing crayons back and forth, praising each other’s drawing, and having a great time. Even the head of the family, coloring in military uniform with a cigarette in his other hand wanted his picture taped to the wall with the children’s.
In the hospital I take my crayons every time I go. The childrens faces light up when they see me coming, and the well adults come out and watch us color, help them pick the right shade of whatever, and chat about their lives. Yesterday I went in the afternoon by myself, and as I colored with my favorite little boy (he's deaf, but smiles constantly) I chatted with a tribal woman, the husband of a sick woman that's been there for a while, and one of the hospital orderlies. The kids all had a great time, and as usual we taped their pictures to the wall to brighten up the place.
I also color with the kids in the orphanage, though not as much now that I'm teaching english in the evenings. They all try to copy whatever I draw, and then we make a little parade trouping over to their rooms to hang the pictures over their beds. Some of them are beginning to get more creative, and even more so soon. Bopha is going to start teaching drawing classes in the afternoons after I teach english for the children. (I also try to do my sewing, quilting or mending out in the open - and a few of the girls now come out and help me, or bring something of their own they've started)
I think from now on, wherever I go, I will come equipped with Crayola. The real kind. In the big box with the sharpener.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Boosra
Busra Waterfall
Today we went with the team and the youth from the church to the famous Busra Waterfall in here in good old Mondulkiri! The waterfall has three levels, we came in at the top one and then climbed down the steepest stairs I've ever been on to get to the second level. I was the photographer while the weather was still rainy, but got in and swam once the sun came out. Then wet and dripping, we climbed the rocks around the second fall and made it up to about the halfway point. The boys amused themselves by jumping off the lower rocks into the pool below. I wanted to, but the rocks were slippery, and I couldn't get a good footing to jump. So I opted for prudence this time. As much as I'd like to be airlifted out by my insurance to stay in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok like Alissa, I think that might be a bit extreme measures to take to get Pepsi in a bottle!
I gave myself a pedicure in one of the pools of the fall, wrote some letters to teammates elsewhere in Cambodia, ate meatballs and boiled chicken with sauce and leaves, and enjoyed the beauty until it was time to go home!
It was a good day after all....(I grumbled a lot when I found out we were sacrifice a free day to go out on what was essentially a youth group outing...but as usual when my tail is seriously in a twit -- I was wrong)
Today we went with the team and the youth from the church to the famous Busra Waterfall in here in good old Mondulkiri! The waterfall has three levels, we came in at the top one and then climbed down the steepest stairs I've ever been on to get to the second level. I was the photographer while the weather was still rainy, but got in and swam once the sun came out. Then wet and dripping, we climbed the rocks around the second fall and made it up to about the halfway point. The boys amused themselves by jumping off the lower rocks into the pool below. I wanted to, but the rocks were slippery, and I couldn't get a good footing to jump. So I opted for prudence this time. As much as I'd like to be airlifted out by my insurance to stay in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok like Alissa, I think that might be a bit extreme measures to take to get Pepsi in a bottle!
I gave myself a pedicure in one of the pools of the fall, wrote some letters to teammates elsewhere in Cambodia, ate meatballs and boiled chicken with sauce and leaves, and enjoyed the beauty until it was time to go home!
It was a good day after all....(I grumbled a lot when I found out we were sacrifice a free day to go out on what was essentially a youth group outing...but as usual when my tail is seriously in a twit -- I was wrong)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Country Roads.....take me home!
Country Roooooooaaaaads!!!
Things are much better here. Sopheap is out of the hospital, and the team was able to use the experience to start a ministry there. We went one day and scrubbed the floors of the two female wards, and the bathroom. We also go to visit -- I armed with paper and coloring crayons (not crayola, unfortunately, the cheap crappy kind) and give the children something to do. Moses is there right now checking with the head doctor to make sure it is ok for us to go visiting every day.
Also everyday we're supposed to spend an hour preparing for the Discipleship training week we'll be giving our last week here. I think I'm doing the talk on "God's Story." So I'm working my way through the whole thing bit by bit in my quiet time and planning time. Flogamockers is really helping here -- having just finished the old testament once last year. In DTS I read the gospels, and here I read all the Epistles except Romans, and I've read Deuteronomy to 1 Samuel. So I'm trucking my way through and trying to prepare.
Yesterday we hiked three hours into the jungle with a lot of the youth from the orphanage. We visited with some people in groups -- I sat in a house with three other people from Mondulkiri and my team, and we just chatted with some guys while their wives prepared dinner. They lounged around and smoked and laughed with us. Then we walked to another side of the village and met an old guy (really - almost 100) that Ratanak spoke with. I saw a girl there with a baby on her hip. She looked like a child herself. As she chatted with a group of girls, the baby began to cry, so she pulled out one breast and nursed him. Her eyes were so whistful. I asked about her, and she's 18 years old. Her husband is maybe 21. They're so young!
I'm coloring with the kids at the orphanage some, and teaching English. Big mistake -- now 30 more people can yell "hello, what is your name" at us nonstop! But we'll progress to "What are you wearing" in the next lesson. These kids are so bright. One class and they've all got everything I taught them memorized. Several girls also watch me work on my little quilt, and want to learn -- no one really does crafts here, and if I draw with them, they all copy what I've done. I'd love to teach them to do a little sewing or something -- they have so little at their disposal to amuse themselves.
Garth is here this week, encouraging us and our leaders. He arrived yesterday before we returned from the village, and has already lifted our spirits.
Mondulkiri is so beautiful! Even though the walks are long, and hot, and even with SPF 50 I come home sunburned a little, I love putting on my music (to drown out the three people playing recorders) and enjoying the view. I have some great pictures, and can't wait to show them to you all!
Things are much better here. Sopheap is out of the hospital, and the team was able to use the experience to start a ministry there. We went one day and scrubbed the floors of the two female wards, and the bathroom. We also go to visit -- I armed with paper and coloring crayons (not crayola, unfortunately, the cheap crappy kind) and give the children something to do. Moses is there right now checking with the head doctor to make sure it is ok for us to go visiting every day.
Also everyday we're supposed to spend an hour preparing for the Discipleship training week we'll be giving our last week here. I think I'm doing the talk on "God's Story." So I'm working my way through the whole thing bit by bit in my quiet time and planning time. Flogamockers is really helping here -- having just finished the old testament once last year. In DTS I read the gospels, and here I read all the Epistles except Romans, and I've read Deuteronomy to 1 Samuel. So I'm trucking my way through and trying to prepare.
Yesterday we hiked three hours into the jungle with a lot of the youth from the orphanage. We visited with some people in groups -- I sat in a house with three other people from Mondulkiri and my team, and we just chatted with some guys while their wives prepared dinner. They lounged around and smoked and laughed with us. Then we walked to another side of the village and met an old guy (really - almost 100) that Ratanak spoke with. I saw a girl there with a baby on her hip. She looked like a child herself. As she chatted with a group of girls, the baby began to cry, so she pulled out one breast and nursed him. Her eyes were so whistful. I asked about her, and she's 18 years old. Her husband is maybe 21. They're so young!
I'm coloring with the kids at the orphanage some, and teaching English. Big mistake -- now 30 more people can yell "hello, what is your name" at us nonstop! But we'll progress to "What are you wearing" in the next lesson. These kids are so bright. One class and they've all got everything I taught them memorized. Several girls also watch me work on my little quilt, and want to learn -- no one really does crafts here, and if I draw with them, they all copy what I've done. I'd love to teach them to do a little sewing or something -- they have so little at their disposal to amuse themselves.
Garth is here this week, encouraging us and our leaders. He arrived yesterday before we returned from the village, and has already lifted our spirits.
Mondulkiri is so beautiful! Even though the walks are long, and hot, and even with SPF 50 I come home sunburned a little, I love putting on my music (to drown out the three people playing recorders) and enjoying the view. I have some great pictures, and can't wait to show them to you all!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
I'm ALIIIIIVE!
I'm ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE
So I'm in Mondulkiri now. There is internet. So I can blog and update again! Hurrah. I've been feeling so cut of, so homesick, and in much need of encouragement.
How was Ratanakiri? Beautiful beyond my expectations. When I get to Phnom Penh again I will upload pictures. A monkey sat on my head even. I don't have a picture of that, but I do have pictures of the monkey and his family.
But.
How was the jungle you ask? Ahhhhh. HAHAHAHAHA. Tribal, they said. Buy what you need in advance, they said. Whowering in front of a big jar in public, they said. Oh no. We stayed at this huge freaking palacial mansion of a church, with a park, bamboo huts, and a zoo. Walking distance from the beautiful lake. Tropical flowers blooming, wonderful clouds, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and almost every day sunny. The living conditions were nothing like they'd told us to expect.
Not to say things weren't difficult, they were. The church has a lot of problems. I can't tell you all of them here, but the pastor was really messed up, his family was messed up, and after spending a week wondering why such a big church had so few people, we started being told things and put the pieces together. So we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned this huge empty place. The team went on outreach trips to the tribal villages, but I taught four classes a day - one English Bible, three English Language -- and only went to the jungle for outreach once. I did see a beautiful waterfall on a free day. We went and had a barbeque.
So I'm in Mondulkiri now. There is internet. So I can blog and update again! Hurrah. I've been feeling so cut of, so homesick, and in much need of encouragement.
How was Ratanakiri? Beautiful beyond my expectations. When I get to Phnom Penh again I will upload pictures. A monkey sat on my head even. I don't have a picture of that, but I do have pictures of the monkey and his family.
But.
How was the jungle you ask? Ahhhhh. HAHAHAHAHA. Tribal, they said. Buy what you need in advance, they said. Whowering in front of a big jar in public, they said. Oh no. We stayed at this huge freaking palacial mansion of a church, with a park, bamboo huts, and a zoo. Walking distance from the beautiful lake. Tropical flowers blooming, wonderful clouds, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and almost every day sunny. The living conditions were nothing like they'd told us to expect.
Not to say things weren't difficult, they were. The church has a lot of problems. I can't tell you all of them here, but the pastor was really messed up, his family was messed up, and after spending a week wondering why such a big church had so few people, we started being told things and put the pieces together. So we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned this huge empty place. The team went on outreach trips to the tribal villages, but I taught four classes a day - one English Bible, three English Language -- and only went to the jungle for outreach once. I did see a beautiful waterfall on a free day. We went and had a barbeque.
Friday, May 04, 2007
From Phnom Penh
And writing from Phnom Penh...
Today I ate frog.
Tomorrow a van pulls up at 6am and we roll on into Ratanakiri. Ciao!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
And you can pray for
And you can pray for...
...my eyes which are badly infected again. I wish we knew why it does this!...
...my eyes which are badly infected again. I wish we knew why it does this!...
The last one for a while
This is the last one for a while. I've bought everything I need. All I have to do is learn a few more dances, wash my clothes, pack my suitcase, and get on a bus on Friday. We'll spend 3 days travelling (approximately from Seattle to Spokane). Then 20 days in the jungle tribes of Ratanakiri, then back to Mondulkiri to live at an orphanage, and provide an after-school youth center program for the kids next door. 50 days there, then back for 3 days in Phnom Penh, then back to Battambang for about two weeks, then HOME!!!!
Friday, April 27, 2007
From My Daddy!
From My Daddy
Rachel,
I don't know when you'll get this but I just want you to know how proud I am of you and that I love you very much.
It just hit me as I'm typing this the time you were sliding on the old slide in the park by the junior high and I spotted the newer play tower across the park. I tried to get you to leave the old slide but you didn't want to go. Finally, after failing totally at trying to talk you into going to the other slide I had to pick you up pretty much kicking and screaming, "No daddy, no daddy, I don't want to go, I like this slide."
As I headed of across the park with you over my shoulder, somewhat exasperated I said something like, "Trust me, I'm your dad, I know what I'm talking about". Then it smacked me like a sledge hammer: That's what God says over and over again. "Trust me, I'm your Father, I know what I'm talking about."
So, you're learning to trust. The park's bigger but it's the same lesson.
Look for the beauty in the jungle, take pictures, enjoy walking hand in hand with your real Daddy.
Love you, babe,
Dad.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Just when you thought it couldn't get any hotter
Just when you thought it couldn't get any hotter...
It did. Oh heavens my body does NOT like heat. Even Yakima summers are too much for me, California wasn't so bad, but Texas was too humid. And now I'm finding there's a whole new level of hotness that I never imagined (and in places like India and Africa its worse even than here. Insane!). At night, even when it gets all the way down to 83, it's so humid it feels hot still. Rainy season is coming, we keep saying, rainy season keeps coming.
I abdicated my room a month ago. Now Jessica and I sleep out on the balcony on the second floor. Every night we haul out our sleeping bags, bug spray and mosquito nets, and set up our bedroom. It's been great. It's a full 10 degrees cooler outside than in, even with the fans going. And the balastrade makes a lovely desk for my journal writing, studying, reading, and devotions. Every night recently I've been reading aloud the Horse and His Boy to Jessica. We finished Pride and Prejudice, and I read aloud the last 10 chapters of Persuasion so we could get to the Chronicles. I do all the voices. Shasta is American, but Aravis is formal British. Bree and Hwin are British, but very horsey. The Narnians are also British in a Jane Austin main characters way, while most of the Calormenes are the male version of Lady Catherine De Burg. I'm reusing voices, you see, from Pride and Prejudice. And my own accent is heading that direction a bit between reading so much British lit aloud, and talking with the two australians on the team.
Last night was very funny. I was sitting at my desk ouside, ostensibly working on my journal, but really reading Pilgrim's Progress (very applicable to what we've been learning here, by the way), and a bug fell down the back of my shirt. I jumped up and started trying to get it out, making all sorts of noises, then ran into the common room and ran around in circles with my outer shirt over my head trying to get it off, and then ran into my bedroom to whip my tank top off. The view for those watching must have been spectacularly slapstick.
It did. Oh heavens my body does NOT like heat. Even Yakima summers are too much for me, California wasn't so bad, but Texas was too humid. And now I'm finding there's a whole new level of hotness that I never imagined (and in places like India and Africa its worse even than here. Insane!). At night, even when it gets all the way down to 83, it's so humid it feels hot still. Rainy season is coming, we keep saying, rainy season keeps coming.
I abdicated my room a month ago. Now Jessica and I sleep out on the balcony on the second floor. Every night we haul out our sleeping bags, bug spray and mosquito nets, and set up our bedroom. It's been great. It's a full 10 degrees cooler outside than in, even with the fans going. And the balastrade makes a lovely desk for my journal writing, studying, reading, and devotions. Every night recently I've been reading aloud the Horse and His Boy to Jessica. We finished Pride and Prejudice, and I read aloud the last 10 chapters of Persuasion so we could get to the Chronicles. I do all the voices. Shasta is American, but Aravis is formal British. Bree and Hwin are British, but very horsey. The Narnians are also British in a Jane Austin main characters way, while most of the Calormenes are the male version of Lady Catherine De Burg. I'm reusing voices, you see, from Pride and Prejudice. And my own accent is heading that direction a bit between reading so much British lit aloud, and talking with the two australians on the team.
Last night was very funny. I was sitting at my desk ouside, ostensibly working on my journal, but really reading Pilgrim's Progress (very applicable to what we've been learning here, by the way), and a bug fell down the back of my shirt. I jumped up and started trying to get it out, making all sorts of noises, then ran into the common room and ran around in circles with my outer shirt over my head trying to get it off, and then ran into my bedroom to whip my tank top off. The view for those watching must have been spectacularly slapstick.
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