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.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
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.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The nice thing about Khmer New Year
The nice thing about Khmer New Year...
...is getting to cook western food, everyday. Here I am treating Alissa to pasta and toast. Yummy. Unfortunately, thanks to a diet of toasted cheese sandwiches, pasta, scrambled eggs, and pizza, I'm back in my larger pair of jeans. Oh well.
...is getting to cook western food, everyday. Here I am treating Alissa to pasta and toast. Yummy. Unfortunately, thanks to a diet of toasted cheese sandwiches, pasta, scrambled eggs, and pizza, I'm back in my larger pair of jeans. Oh well.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Khmer Culture day.
Khmer Culture Day/End of Class Party
Dressing Khmer to make a point
For our last day of English class, Alissa and I threw a party. We bought snacks, and watched the movie Joseph: The King of Dreams. We'd spent six days reading the story of Joseph out loud as part of our English Comprehension plan, and then copied the story for them to read. Then Seang found the movie in Phnom Penh, and we showed it to them as a treat.
While they watched the movie, two of my Khmer friends got me dressed up in Khmer clothes, did my makeup and quickly taught me a dance. They dressed up too. When the movie ended we sang a song and did a Khmer Dance (me very badly), and then I got to talk to them about culture. Here I was looking very sill as a Khmer, and next to me stood two beautiful Khmer girls, dancing and singing beautifully. They looked wonderful. I just looked silly and like I was trying too hard.
Here, most young people do everything they can to be Western. They whiten their skin and watch MTV and movies, and want larger noses and bigger eyes. I told them that we spend tons of money in America darkening our skins, and making our noses smaller. And that while it's alright to like things about other cultures (I told them I love Italian and Thai food, English authors, and French mentality towards life and fashion), to remember that they have a wonderful culture (that was all but destroyed by the Khmer Rouge) and our country would love to have the history and traditions that they are in a hurry to be rid of. It is good to be content with the culture you are born into. Appreciate other cultures, but also appreciate your own...because it is good and God loves Khmer too.
Sumuuen, Sombat and Me all Khmered out.
Dressing Khmer to make a point
For our last day of English class, Alissa and I threw a party. We bought snacks, and watched the movie Joseph: The King of Dreams. We'd spent six days reading the story of Joseph out loud as part of our English Comprehension plan, and then copied the story for them to read. Then Seang found the movie in Phnom Penh, and we showed it to them as a treat.
While they watched the movie, two of my Khmer friends got me dressed up in Khmer clothes, did my makeup and quickly taught me a dance. They dressed up too. When the movie ended we sang a song and did a Khmer Dance (me very badly), and then I got to talk to them about culture. Here I was looking very sill as a Khmer, and next to me stood two beautiful Khmer girls, dancing and singing beautifully. They looked wonderful. I just looked silly and like I was trying too hard.
Here, most young people do everything they can to be Western. They whiten their skin and watch MTV and movies, and want larger noses and bigger eyes. I told them that we spend tons of money in America darkening our skins, and making our noses smaller. And that while it's alright to like things about other cultures (I told them I love Italian and Thai food, English authors, and French mentality towards life and fashion), to remember that they have a wonderful culture (that was all but destroyed by the Khmer Rouge) and our country would love to have the history and traditions that they are in a hurry to be rid of. It is good to be content with the culture you are born into. Appreciate other cultures, but also appreciate your own...because it is good and God loves Khmer too.
Sumuuen, Sombat and Me all Khmered out.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Some friends of mine
Some Friends of Mine
Me and Dara
One of the best things about being here is the relationships (and since there's no way to get away from people around here, you may as well revel in them!). One of my friends' name is Dara. She is a student in my English class, but about my age. She's very sweet, and will actually be going to Mondulkiri right when I start heading back from there. She often sits and talks with me after her Bible class, until it is time for dinner.
Yaron, Me, Theavy and Srey Mut
Some of my friends I 'acquired' from Nancy. She had met Theavy when she was in Cambodia, and asked me to look her up when I came. I did, and invited her over one Saturday morning. She in turn brought two of her friends with her (she was afraid she wouldn't have anything to talk with me about!). So Yaron became my friend as well.
Yaron
One day after our second Saturday chat, Yaron decided that she wanted to take me around on her moto. So we left that afternoon and went to her family business out in the country, then to her family home to meet her mother and some of her sisters. Then we went to Theavy's place just as she got off work. There I met Theavy's family, some of her students, and walked out to a field where they climbed a tree and picked a bag of green mangoes for me. I try to see them at least once a week. They're both really funny, and between our crazy mixed Khmer and English we manage whole conversations. Right before Khmer new year they came over and bought banana chips (my favorite) and Sugar Cane juice and we went to the river, where we promptly got rained out and had to go home.
Theavy's Family
Me and Dara
One of the best things about being here is the relationships (and since there's no way to get away from people around here, you may as well revel in them!). One of my friends' name is Dara. She is a student in my English class, but about my age. She's very sweet, and will actually be going to Mondulkiri right when I start heading back from there. She often sits and talks with me after her Bible class, until it is time for dinner.
Yaron, Me, Theavy and Srey Mut
Some of my friends I 'acquired' from Nancy. She had met Theavy when she was in Cambodia, and asked me to look her up when I came. I did, and invited her over one Saturday morning. She in turn brought two of her friends with her (she was afraid she wouldn't have anything to talk with me about!). So Yaron became my friend as well.
Yaron
One day after our second Saturday chat, Yaron decided that she wanted to take me around on her moto. So we left that afternoon and went to her family business out in the country, then to her family home to meet her mother and some of her sisters. Then we went to Theavy's place just as she got off work. There I met Theavy's family, some of her students, and walked out to a field where they climbed a tree and picked a bag of green mangoes for me. I try to see them at least once a week. They're both really funny, and between our crazy mixed Khmer and English we manage whole conversations. Right before Khmer new year they came over and bought banana chips (my favorite) and Sugar Cane juice and we went to the river, where we promptly got rained out and had to go home.
Theavy's Family
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