Riet Riay Bon Noel!!!! (Merry Christmas!)

I know it has been ages and I apologize. A lot has been going on. Piano and Piano and more piano, just like I previously wrote about. The Sunday after the performance were we played for the embassadors, we played our first hour long performance in the lobby. In the past we were told only a few people watch and then leave and the some more people wander in, listen to a few songs and then leave. However when we arrived there were chairs set up and everything for people to sit and listen and we had a group watching us. It was nerve wracking. Especially since the children had learned most of the 15 songs just that week, cause we had a lot of last minute joiners. When we performed it was terrible. No other word for it. We left music on the bus so we didn’t have everything we needed, the piano cut in and out, the children started off key, music went flying with the fan, I played terribly, it was bad. So bad that Sharon had us take off two class periods for the next week to have extra practice. She also had a new piano bought that works. All the extra practice worked and the following Sunday they sang beautifully and this past Sunday was awesome as well as the Christmas eve program and the Christmas day program. I love those kids and I am so proud of them! They worked so hard and they amaze me :D

The Christmas program on Thursday went well. Kinda surprised me. During practices it seemed like there was no hope of ever being organized and I felt like I failed at organizing a Christmas program. I didn’t even realize that I even was in charge of the whole Christmas program till the week of, and then I realized that was what everyone was expecting me to do. I am still not sure if I was in charge… anyways it is over with, the drama skit is over with and I am FREE!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful Christmas is over with, because I was involved with so much I had no time to do my teaching stuff such as grading and lesson planning. Now it is catch up time… :/ Not the funnest thing to do.

Christmas day was a strange normal day. On Christmas Eve we went over to Tim and Fay’s and we stayed over night. In the morning we had a pancake breakfast. We then went over to school and got ready to leave to go the Royal to perform. At the Royal we only sang for ½ hour instead of a hour, which was good but kinda disappointing cause I wanted to go out with a bang. But they sang beautifully and played decent. Afterward we came back and did laundry, cleaned up some, and finshed wrapping Christmas presents. We then went over to Tim and Fay’s again for supper and ate lots of food. We then watched the Nativity. Actually a decent movie.
Today a normal Sabbath day, except we are planning for Thailand! Kristie, BJ, and I bought tickets to Thailand and are spending a week there for Christmas break. Yeah!

It's December!

Story of my Life right now:
Teach
Christmas Music
Being hated by 10th graders
Piano and More Christmas Music
Korea
Christmas Music
Drama

Explaination.

I cannot remember what I last wrote about and I am writing in Word right now and I do not have the internet so I cannot check so I will write about what has been happening lately.
As you can tell Christmas music is playing a large role in my life right now. Being the only CAS teacher willing to play the piano makes me a very busy person. I am the leader for the Christmas program. Since English Christmas music is not a very familiar topic to the Khmer teachers I now teach choir to all grades pre-k to 8th. So I can officially say I have taught all grades in the school except 9th grade. I’m enjoying it because I am meeting more students and the eighth grade girls now are my new little sisters, but the down side is I lost all my planning times and my library times to do this. So all my grading and lesson planning is down outside of school. But there is not enough time, so lesson planning has kinda been placed on hold. I think my students are loving it, cause lessons have not been too tough lately. Sometimes I want to go crazy and just hide so I no longer have to play the piano, but God is good he’s getting me through. See the Christmas program is not the only program I am playing the piano for. I also am the pianoist for the special choir which sings for a hotel in the city. So on top of that there are days through this month were after school or on Sunday I have to go to the hotel and play for the choir. I’m a little scared for when that starts. The first day is on Monday. Please pray for me and for the choir so that we can be a witness. Not only do I play for that but random special musics that I get asked to do. This Sabbath I played accompaniment for all the Korean volunteers (Kristie, Hannah, Grace, David Kim’s wife) as they all play the flute. Also I was asked to play for the 12th grade class vespers, but I told David I would rather not. Hopefully I can get out of it. All of this takes practice time and well, lets just say the piano is not pretty for all that I am doing. I don’t think the people realize how limited I am with the piano. Sure I can play the notes if they are in front of me, but all Khmer pianists here only play by sound and so they expect all pianists to do the same. That is not me. Oh well… I’m doing my best. I actually have learned how to play by chords (like a book that just has chords for the guitar). It’s not too pretty but the basic background noise to a song. But I’m proud that I have learned that much. So as you can see Christmas music is taking over my life.

Now the 10th graders do not hate me, or at least I hope not. They are just “disappointed” with me. I was a judge for a debate about abortion and the 10th graders were pro-choice and the 9th graders were pro-life. The MC for the debate did not try to hide how teachers judged and so all know that I was the one to cause the 10th graders to lose the debate. Also the day earlier I promised to do Christmas decorating with them for Algebra. Now who would I be to take time out of a math class to decorate without doing math. So I was going to have them make a paper chain and on each piece they would have to solve one algebraic equation since they are learning to solve for a variable. Well, they had started cutting the paper, but when I introduced what they were going to do. They pushed the paper aside and said they were not going to do it cause that is no fun. I said fine. You get homework then. Previously I said I would not assign homework. According to some I disappointed them cause I broke my promise. Whatever. They irritated me. I sound like a kid I know, but they were just so ungrateful so I gave homework. I even brought Christmas music. They have not learned that when they irritate me they get homework. Let’s just say they get a lot of homework. :D lol

Some exciting news is I think I am going to Korea for Christmas break. We (Kristie and I) found tickets to go at a discounted price and we reserved the tickets. However they did not tell us we had to pay by a certain day so when we went in they said we lost the tickets. The price went up and so then we were thinking of not going. They on Friday the travel agent lady called and the discount sale had extended and is now cheaper! So yeah we still might go!
I’m in charge of drama class which is a challenge for me since I have never participated in drama except to make props. We have two productions this month. Scary.
What is really exciting is David Kim a Korean Missionary is starting a project to get the teens in the church active. Every Sabbath after church they get together have a choir practice, potluck and then go out into parts of the town and have classes for the kids. It’s cool to see the students getting active and having them do the “mission” work instead of the foreigners. Kids who are shy in school are getting involved and it is neat seeing them doing something that is not in their norm. I think it is a great start to keeping students in the church. They have the same problem here as in America. Students get baptized and then leave the church when they get bored. So hopefully this will give them a sense of purpose. Next step is to reach the collegiate level and that is where I think all us SM’s will step in since we are their age.

Now for a new list of why I can tell I’m starting to fit in here.

I have sandle tan lines.
When I open a packet of roman noodles and there are ants inside I just brush them off, cook the noodles and pick out the few ants I didn’t see.
I get cold at night. It is probably 75 degrees
I can ride a bike with a 12th grader on the back. (while going on a dirt road that is all potholes)
When I greet someone I hit them on the shoulder. (a terrible habit that I need to stop. Everyone hits each other here…. lightly though)
I got my makeup done for a wedding. (It was scarylooking. Kristy and I were so embarrassed walking home)
When someone yells teacher I responder quicker than if they yell my name
When I see another white person I think… oh that tourist and I laugh silently to myself
I crave unripe mango with salt and chili power. It is yummy
I crave durian especially in duk kru lok, which is a fruit shake. Durian smells like rotten trash. No lie
I don’t want to leave ever and I am 100% sure I will be back in the future. One reason is I promised Orng I would go to his wedding when ever that is… he says 6-8 years, but we’ll see, his girlfriend lives in another country. I just want to see what see my students where they are older and see how they have changed. It would be awesome to see. I was told that we would have culture shock. And there are moments that I think to my self… life would be so much easier at home. But those instances last two hours at the most and then I again love it here. There has not been a moment that I thought I would rather be at home. I am very blessed to have such a great support system here and at home. It makes me feel more comfortable know that I still have friends at home and so I want to thank you for all your prayers and for answering my phone calls and for the emails or facebook messages cause even though I may not respond cause I forget to, it really helps me out.
One last thought. What is really cool about helping out with ESL is seeing them improve. When we first started the ESL class could not sing any song in English. Now they can all read and all love to sing and would like to have worship last forever if possible. I teach the hour after lunch and at the start of this quarter I made a new rule of no Khmer during that class hour. I expect complaints about how that is impossible, but they have surprised me and have taken it to heart. I told them I would give them a warning if I heard Khmer and then points would be taken away the second time. I have only given warnings and no points have been taken away. They love the idea that they can go an whole hour just speaking English and they are doing well. Even kids who would not even respond to ‘how are you?’ are talking to me asking me questions. It makes me so happy seeing how they are improving. Kristie is doing a great job with that class. A sad thing though is that Orng is leaving us :( He is now sponsored to go to Mission college in Thailand and is leaving in Jan. AHHHHH!!!! I don’t know what we are going to do. He is the one Khmer Teacher’s assistant that is always there, knows all the students, only speaks Khmer when he has to, is not lazy, and works his but off for that class, and the kids love him. I’m going to be very sad. He walks like a grandpa when he wears tennis shoes cause he is use to only wearing flip flops so I call him Lok Da which means Mr. Grandpa and so ne now calls me Lok Yey- Ms. Grandma and his is the one who always fixes our problems whether it be with the sink, finding glue, our bikes, finding a noodle place. Life will not be the same without him. and Kagna left us for the Philippines and the girls deans Sok Cheng and Souphea may leave as well! All our Khmer friends are leaving us! New Mission College graduates are going to start working here in Jan. so maybe we’ll make new friends.

May I also say, this Thursday is our next senior fundraiser and it will be a carnival. I'm nervous about this one cause there is a lot going on.... Praise God that Sopeap is another advisor and she is willing to help.

Any ways. Have a great night!


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125268&id=735963980&l=bcb2fe5646

Thanksgiving was a more different day. On Wednesday night, Kristie and I spent awhile making lots and lots of donuts for all of our students. That is all of highschool and ESL. We figured around 140 students and we made at least two donuts for each kid and we had enough for two per each teacher as well, and then had left overs to spare. We do not have a working oven, so we are limited in the deserts that we can make. Donuts were are best option to give to the students. We were going to make rice pudding but that would have taken a lot of milk, and we do not have that kind of money.

Thursday we went to school like anyother day, but handed out donuts. For breakfast though Sharon had us over and we had belgium waffles with raspberries and strawberries! Now that is a very, very, very, very special treat. After the day I taught adult ESL which went okay. There was a whole scandle with that. Tricky issue. I already am booked with things to do and then the pastor told me to choose a day to teach adult ESL after school. I though he ment only one day so I agreed, told him a day, and then it turned out to be everyweek. I felt bad since I already agreed so I was kinda just grudgingly going along. Sharon found out, and it is school policy that teachers can only teach at CAS and if I wanted to teach ESL she is looking for a ESL teacher for a after school class for CAS students. I told her I wanted out, cause I do not have the time. She talked to the pastor and explained. THen I talked to the pastor to explain how I do not have the time, and he thinks it is all Sharon's fault. Everyone allways blames Sharon cause she is the only one who has the guts to speak, so I feel bad that this is one more thing, where the Khmer people blame Sharon. I tried to tell the pastor that it was me without the time, and I am just agreeing with the policy, but that didn't stop his perception. Any ways I told him I would teach one week since it was such last minute that I said that I could not. (the next day I got talk to by a teacher friend of mine explaining how I have to make time, and I guess I am only thinking about myself instead of others.... ohh that made me upset. Says the one who does nothing for his class while I do his job. anyways.... sore subject.)

That night we then had thanksgiving dinner which Sharon hosted and all the expats in Cambodia were invited. (expats are non-khmers) Only the phnom Penh residents came though. And it was funny how a majority of them were not American. haha it was an international thanksgiving. It is the first thanksgiving I have had Chappatties next to my mashed potatoes. I would have it no other way though. Whitaker was sick so he did not enjoy the food that much. So sad... it was yummmy!

Picts of Thanksgiving

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124111&id=735963980&l=6156abc26b

Then today was a wedding day. We were invited although I do not know the couple that was getting married. Foreigners are good luck. I was excited to go to see what it is like. The wedding starts bright and early around 8'o'clock and the guests march in the streets. Then breakfast is served, then there is the "Western" style wedding ceremony, then lunch. We skipped all but the ceremony and lunch. Early in the morning I went with two dorm students to get flip flops, since mine were stolen a few weeks ago when I went camping. Then we planned to meet Reachany to see how she was going to do her hair and makeup and to see if we wanted to do the same. We went to the market to meet her, waited for a long time, never found her, and so we went to our own place, cause we figured if we were going to go to a wedding and pay $10 to eat, we were going to go all out. So we went to a salon and to our suprise Pastor Pen Chenda and his wife, were there getting ready for the wedding. So we took it as a sign and stayed. We got our hair and makeup done. My hair turned out a little funny. I have never had so much hair spray in it in my life. You could actually see the hair spray and there was so much that the curls stayed all day, even after changing twice. That is miraculous with my hair. The makeup scared me. My face was covered with foundation, altough surprisingly it looked natural. The eyeshadow was a little iffy the eye liner scary as it was put only on my lower lids, and I made them take off the fake eyelashes as after they put them on I noticiably could see the fake lashes and below it my real lashes. Then they decided to fill in my eyebrows. Now my eyebrows are really light and thin. So adding dark brown color to them, made me look like a Auntie Bertha who has no eyelashes so she draws them in. Funny looking!

Kristie was just as unique with moons of blue colored on her eyes. On the way home we laughed the whole way at how ridiculus we looked and the worst part was to get up to our place we had to walk through the wedding. We definatly ran past our students and pretended not to see them. Once we got home, we toned down the hair and makeup and went to the wedding. We made it for the last part of the Western part. The bride never smiled. We think it cause they are not allowed to eat till all guests are gone and it was a hot day in a heavy dress.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124114&id=735963980&l=68c97997e1

Since loud music was playing at the end of the wedding we decided we would be more productive at school. Yeah right. I love the kids too much and they distract me. I got nothing done except got some pictures of them. I had some good coversations with students I have never talked to before cause I do not have them in class. A lot of times it is hard for students to accept Christ cause no one in their family believes. It is a reality that is hard to remember. I am very fortunate to have a family who believes as I do.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124119&id=735963980&l=911fdc58cd

samaira is the best

I'm sick and my stomach hurts and a hotpack would be really nice, but the closest thing I have is my very warm computer. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have my computer on my stomach and update my blog.

Life is crazy right now. Since I can play the piano I am the one playing for the christmas program and I have to practice with all the classes. All my planning periods were taken away for practice time. It's only the first week and I am already a little stressed out cause I do not have time to do everything. oh well... it will soon be over.

I have been having a lot of good discussions with my students. I love how open they are with me and how they are willing to ask me questions. I had the "sex talk" with my 10th graders about how waiting for marriage is the best way to go, it was amazing how they listened, didn't laugh it off and they asked questions. My 10th grade class is my hardest class cause they are all talkers but I love them cause we always have the discussion, communisim vs. democracy, pro-life vs. pro choice, relationships. These are just a few of the topics we have talked about.

samaira is the best because she made me lunch. well, i'm not thinking logically right now so I am going to stop.

Here is a text from a student of mine today.

"I got a pray request. I pray for my math teacher, c (she) sick today. Math class without a good teacher like her is meaningless. So Lord i pray that c (she) will be fine well from sick and healthy. Give more strength to her coz c need to correct many student homework. Amen from sear to teacher Amy."

Isn't he the sweetest!

enjoy your day!

some more photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121958&id=735963980&l=fc721f1d34

Sous Dei Hello!

Coming back from camping was crazy. Grades were due that first day back at school, and that definitely did not happen. I finished the grades for the homeroom teachers that I knew would be asking for them from me and then I talk to teacher Moses and told him I would be late. I knew he would understand, cause he is one of the people always trying to get me to put doing grades aside to go out and have fun. lol partner in crime. The grades were done a day late but all worked out well. It just stressed me out some. This week was a little on the crazy side too. Two weeks ago we had three days of school because of Water festival and that is when I went camping. Water festival is a big holiday here where around 2-3 million people from the country side to watch the boat races on the Tole Sap River. I believe it is to celebrate the changing of directions of the river. I did go and watch on the last day cause it was raining and I had grades to work on and I don’t miss it. It is so crowded that it is nearly impossible to move, so I think I would have been so irritated at those around me I wouldn’t have even paid attention to the boats racing. After that holiday we came back for two days and then had Friday off for Parent teacher conference and this Monday we had off for Independence Day. So needless to say, going back to work was strange feeling. It was nice having all those days off. On Monday we spent it with Hannah and Grace the two Korean girls across the street and made Kim Chi. It tastes yummy. I tried it last night. I have to say that we are good kim chi makers. It is so easy and did you know that there are asian pears in it? I definitely did not. This week we had some students over for pancakes. There are a group of boys that hang outside the mission everyday so we have gotten to know them well. We promised them cookies one day and then cookies grew into a pancake dinner. We had fun. It’s funny what boys talk about. We got a group picture which I will try to put up soon.

It is the 11th grade class fundraiser tomorrow. For some reason students and staff think that since I did it once for the 12th grade (since they are my class) I am the one to go to for help for this one. It’s funny. I just need to learn to say no. I ended up shopping yesterday with some students from the class so they could make cinnamon rolls and banana bread to sell tomorrow while watching Finding Nemo. We went all over the place and made it back after one of the student’s curfew. I’m not a good responsible adult. I need to learn to be strict teacher Amy. It’s so easy to forget that I am suppose to be the responsible adult to the students. It’s a hard balance. I want to have friend here and the students become friends, but I have to remember that I am their teacher first. That is why I am so thankful that there are so many new teacher’s this year, so it has been easy to make friends with the Khmer teachers cause there are so many in their 20s.

Today was a first for me at vespers. I gave my first “realish” sermon for vespers. I did it on thankfulness and gratitude. I will paste my main outline for my sermon below. I’m very happy at how it turned out. I had many people come up to me and say they were inspired or blessed. I have never had anyone say that to me and it was such a awesome feeling to know that God spoke through me. I felt very used by God. I want to do it again. I was so nervous before I went up but then when I went up, the words just came. It surprised me. I didn’t look down at my notes, but once.

Funny stories for the week… Everyday I have prayer with my class and I ask for prayer requests. At the end Rattanack always says, “Any other prayer requests, please send them to teacheramy@gmail.com.” So I thought that I would surprise him and so I made a gmail account with the address teacher.amy6@gmail.com since teacheramy was already taken. Haha he laughed so hard. I’m praying for that class. I know that God is trying to reach so many of them, and there are few that I feel are searching. Please pray for my classes that I may be an example of Christ and that they will accept him as their savior. Anyways, I am excited to see if anyone will actually send prayer requests. I hope so.

I was told last Thursday I need to know the name of the skit drama is doing for Christmas by this Tuesday. So I searched online for all the free stuff and finally found one. Today I had Kristy show the 10th graders so that they could see what parts they want to try out for. As they began reading they surprisingly told Kristy, this was the drama that was done last year. Isn't that crazy. The one skit I choose out of the many I read, I choose the one from last year. The irony...

Here’s my sermon. It is a monologue of the 10 lepers.

Luke 16:13

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.

Hey, did you guys just hear! I was healed! Why do you look so confused? Don’t you remember me?! I guess not. You Israelites are not too fond of Samaritans. I know. I’m a Gentile and it does not help that I had leprosy. I was one of the 10 that sat outside the city gates every day because I had leprosy. Maybe be your not familiar with leprosy. Leprosy is a disease that is affects the skin and causes it to turn white. I was honestly repulsive to look at so it is understandable that you do not remember me. But, let me tell of how I became healed.
I was sitting around the fire this morning as normal talking to the rest of the leper’s in our colony outside the city gates. Normally there’s nothing else really to do except try to think about things to talk about and throw stones, but this day was different. One of my friends overheard someone say that Jesus was going to soon be passing by. WOW did my spirits lift. See I had heard about this Jesus. Some said that he was a King going to save the Jews, he claimed to be the son of God, but that is not what I was thinking about. Jesus was also known to cure people from their illnesses.
Our group then made a game plan. We decided to wait near the road to see if we could catch a glimpse of him, any maybe if we yelled enough to get his attention, he would heal us. So we did just that. We waited some time and then waited more, and then waited. It honestly felt like forever because I was so excited to see him. Have you ever been like that. You are looking forward to something sooooo much, that it never seems to come. Well that is what it was like. Finally, after what seemed to take forever, we heard a murmur of noise from a far away crowd. It grew closer and closer, until we saw that it was Jesus walking amongst a crowd. We started yelling, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us!” At first it seemed hopeless that he would ever pay attention to us. We are lepers, outcasts. No one is suppose to come in contact with us. Why would a man who claims to be the Son of God care about such a low life as me. But then when I began to give up hope, he turned towards us. I have never seen such love in anyone’s eyes than like when he looked at me. It shocked me then when he spoke and he told us to go to the temple to show the priests.

I wanted to respond, “what do you mean, so myself to the priest ? I am not healed, only healed people go to the priest” Even that was crazy to think, because leprosy is incurable. But something about that love in His eyes, made me have faith that I should do what he asked. So I turned around and started walking towards the temple, still with my white skin, gross face, and missing fingers to show the priest how I was healed. But as I was walking closer, I started to feel better, I looked at my hands and all my fingers were there, my skin began to glow a healthy color and when I felt my face there were no sores! I was so happy I jumped up and ran back to my Lord. See only the Son of God could cure me like that. I ran back rejoicing and when I saw Jesus I fell at his feet in thanks, praising God. I was so excited about being cured that I didn’t even realize that my friends did not come back with me. Originally I thought, maybe I was the only one healed, but no Jesus looked at me with the kind face once more and asked “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are the? Was not anyone found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
I was the only one to come back to thank Jesus! I don’t understand how that could have happened. Jesus is so good, I cannot do anything but give thanks and praise God. Don’t you agree? Not only did God heal me of my leprosy, but he accepted who I was. He was not repulsed by my looks, he did not say I will heal only the Israelites. No he loved me! And what is even greater then that he loves you to.


This is a true story that can be found in Luke 17. Does it not amaze you the faith of the leper who was willing to go to the temple as if he was healed when he was not healed and When hearing this story it is easy to think. Oiy I definitely would have gone back to say thank you if Jesus had healed me. But when you woke up this morning, did you say thank you? Did you praise God for what he has done for you? Everyday God pours so many blessings on each one of us, we have friends, family, food, education, a home, a God who listens a heavenly friend who paid the price on the cross for us. Why do we so easily forget to say thank you.
In psychology I learned about research done on positive thinking and we read a book called the Thank you Power by Deborah Melville. In that book she present research on the power of saying thank you. Research has proven that those who take the time to say consciously say thank you are seem to be more helpful to those around them. There are also many characteristics that were common among those who were thankful such as They felt better about their lives as a whole. * They were more optimistic. * They were more energetic. * They were more enthusiastic. * They were more determined. * They were more interested. * They were more joyful. * They felt stronger about handling challenges. * They exercised more (nearly an hour and a half more per week!). * They had fewer illnesses. * They got more sleep. * They made progress toward important personal goals. * They were more likely to have helped someone else. * They were perceived by others as more generous and helpful. * They were less envious of those with more possessions. * They were less cluttered
Imagine if we were like that. Wouldn’t we be a better representative of Christ if we had those characteristics which he also had. How much more Christ like would we be if our personality exude happiness. Do you say thank you to those around you, even for the small things? I have a friend that challenged my bible study group to find something to say thank you for the things that we had complaints about. An easy example is when one is given food that one does not like. Ahh I do not want to eat it! Instead of complaining I was challenged to say thank you for at least having a meal to eat. It was a difficult challenge, but I found that I felt better when I did so.
It is something that I even struggle with. It is easy to complain, and focus on how everything is going wrong, instead of focusing on much how God has blessed me. It is something that I am working on and I want to challenge you to find things you are thankful everyday and see how it changes your outlook on life. To conclude I would like you to pair up with someone and tell them three things that you are thankful for. It may be difficult at first to think of something, but once you get started it is easier to find many things that you are grateful for. In a few minutes I will close with prayer.

it's as easy as peeling bananas

So I was planning on going camping the last time I wrote, but then on Wednesday I paniced and decided not to go because of everything that I needed to get done for school. So thursday morning I walked down to tell pastor that Kristy and I were not going and instead I got talked inot going... lol I ran upstairs through some stuff in a bag and left. Kristy and BJ still did not go.

I'm glad I went. I took the stuff I needed to get graded and did most of it on the bus. I prayed the whole weekend that it would not rain and get my papers wet, cause I forgot to take that into consideration when packing.

I'm glad I went and do not have any regrets. I had a blast hanging out with the students and became closer to a lot of them. It surprises me how comfortable students become to a teacher when they trust that teacher. I never really had that kind of relationship with any of my teachers so it still catches me off guard when a student will come up to me and explain how the last time they were at this river they got baptized and he hung out with his dad and how much he misses him while walking away quickly(his dad pasted away from cancer). Or a student will just lean on me when sitting next to me, or explain the ups and downs of their dating relationships. I like it. It just saddens me how I am just temperary. I keep of thinking of things I wish I could change for next year, or do better for next year, and then I am reminded that there is no next year. It depresses me.

I have a family here now :D When we signed up to go on this trip the pastor told us we would be in charge of our own food cause we wouldn't like theirs (he kinda offended me assuming we were foreigners too different to eat the same food. He was trying to be nice I know and it is very kind of him to think of us) so I talked to David, a student of mine, who was going with a nother group with his dad and asked if we could eat with him. So we ate with the bicyling group. Their group rode their bikes to Ka Kong instead of taking a bus. It is over 200 km. But anyways, David's mom did a lot of the cooking and she is amazing cook and I knew so already cause I taste david and vireak's food during lunch time at school, so we ate well. anyways what I am trying to get at is david's mom calls me daughter now, and she told me to call her mai-dai which me mother and his dad is a sweet heart, who has worked as a pastor in Cambodia for ages. He can speak multiple languages. David is like a little brother to me and I got to know david's older brothers and so we hung out with them alot (we learned the coolest dance ever... think like the chicken dance) and the bicycle group consided of all of david's cousins and we ate everymeal with all of them. therefore i feel like i have a family here. :D

There were only squatty potties in the bathroom, no showers, so to take a bath we washed in the stream. :D FUN! It is the first time I have every gotten my picture taken while taking a bath. LOL Cambodians are really modest so we wore our cloths while bathing and swimming. The water was clear, so I actually felt clean after wards. It was truely camping. I enjoyed it tons.

I'm going to bed now, so I'll tell more tomorrow.

good night!

Vespers

worthless

Sometimes I just feel worthless. Like why am I here, i'm just confusing the kids. I dislike being told how great of a teacher this SM was, how this teacher makes me laugh... do you have any funny stoties. Makes me feel like I am being compared and not meeting the standards set by previous people. It's like satan is trying to pull me down and then today during Algebra II I totally messed up a domain and range problem and was told how to do it by a student. Now if that can't knock some one's self confidence down I don't know what else can. It was like the icing on the cake... made me want to cry and it was the first time that I have ever gotten that close to crying at school. And then there is always the student that knows something up so comes over with a smile acting like everything is okay and talks about small talk just to cheer me up. Thida.... you are the best. Every time I make a mistake, my students take it in a stride, smile at me and encourage me on. It's like I am the student and they are teaching me how to be a teacher. haha... by the time i get it down, it will be the end of the year.

On Saturday I had gone over to the dorm to hang out with the students. While there Eliza began teaching me the Khmer Alphabet. There are 33 constants and 24 vowels. I have eight of them down and that took a long time. Keep in mind Eliza is third or fourth grade. That girl has more patience than I would ever had. Here is what I know so far. Ga, Ca, Go, Co, Ngo, Ja, Cha, Cho, Jo, No... yep and it is said with your mouth flat. I don't know how else to explain it.

This week is Quarter Exams. It's hard to believe 1/4 of the year is already over! I don't want it to go this quickly. Next week I will have been here fore three months. So hard to believe. It feels like I have been here forever and that this is home, but yet three months! that means I only have seven left, and that is too little! I miss my students when I don't see them over the weekend.

Tomorrow is a half day and then it starts the Holiday. It is water festival in Phnom Penh and around 3 million people come from the proviences to come and watch the boat racing. Look it up online, it is crazy. The city is already busy. We are leaving though and going to KaKong for pathfinders camp-a-re. Yeah! We are going to have a blast, and it is roughing it camping. We bought a tent two days ago. I am pretty sure it is not waterproof which is making me nervous, cause it is still rainy season.....

Grades to do now. So much to grade. The grades are due in when we get back and I have not put grades in my computer since midterms. I still procrastinate. What else is new?.....

photos

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Happy Sabbath

Let me give you an example of how many ants are in this country.... they are now in my computer. Yep. Occassionally as I write a little head sticks out, runs to a different part and dissappears... no wonder my computer acts funny. I sprayed raid lightly around my computer so hopefully that helps kill them.

Yesterday was a good day. It was the last day of creation week, so during chapels we went out and planted trees with the classes. I worked mainly with teh 10th and 11th graders. One student was so funny, he was doing it all by himself and was having issures so I offered to help. He said "nope I am going to do this all by my self" and he was determined. He did do it by himself, but I told him he was boring. That kid... :D but we had a good discussion while I watched him plant his tree. Everyone here is afraid they are going to get dark in the sun. He was telling me that if he gets dark no girl would like him, because black people are not hansome. I told him I know many black handsome men and any girl would be lucky to have him. THis is the conversation I have with many people although mostly girls. I have another girl who scraps her arms raw so that she will be lighter skinned, and there are creams galore that lighten skin. It pains me how obsessed they are with light skin. I wish everyone would just accept who they are.

I went over to see how the 12th graders were doing. They had found a crab and I wanted to keep it as a pet. I even held it. He was sooooo cute. I wanted to get a group photo with them, but I wasn't dirty enough because all I had been doing was taking pictures, so I got dirt smeared all over me. So I fit in the picture. :D

After school Kristy, Hannah, Grace, and I went to get a massage. We were told it was a full body massage for 7$. I was so excited, but back was really looking forward to it. What Hannah did not tell us was that what she considers a fully body is 55 minute foot massage and 5 min quick rub on the arms and shoulders. It was nice, but I will not be going back. My legs are bruised they pushed so hard and they cracked are back with a funny technique that I didn't like, and they dug into the feet. I'll go somewhere else and pay a little more next time.

During vespers I sang special music. Scary! I had Whitaker to help me. Thank goodness, cause I know nothing about singing, so we practiced and he helped me out and he sang harmony. It sounded good. The song I sang was "Mighty to Save" and it worked out that the sermon was on that topic. I love it when things happen like that.

Well off to church. Have a happy Sabbath all!

okay. I know it's been awhile, but I have yet to master the art of managing my time.

Two weeks ago Drama went well. That morning BJ let me take the 10th graders during his class time and so we practiced. They felt more comfortable and I felt a lot more comfortable. I had chosen music to play while they perform to add to the mood and it added a lot to the presentation. Right before the first program started, my computer crashed and I lost all my playlists and music organized in Itunes so it was crazy getting my computer started and finding all the music again, but praise God somehow it all worked out. My students acted pretty good, at least better than normal, and I didn't feel embarrassed at the end. Actually I was quite proud of them, because there were some students that really stepped it up, took charge, and presented leadership skills that I never expected before.

The next day we had movie night for Senior fundraiser. Crazy Day! I was also incharge of Saturday night vespers which I did completely last minute. We were not planning tio start working on movie night till after 6 so when at 5:30 Rattanak interuppted vespers to tell me kids were already lining up to come in. The gates were advertised to open at 7 p.m. I was told later that there were people starting to drive by to see if they could get in at 3 p.m. No more Saturday night activites. Too many people do not hold the same beliefs as we do about the Sabbath and it is too distracting. For vespers I just lead reading and discussion on the easter story. I think it was good for the group just to focus on bible reading. I think too often we feel worship has to be fancy when really it just needs to be simple.

During movie night everyone for th emost part in the class helped out. I am so proud of Rattanack and all he has done. When I ask him to do something he gets it done plus more. and then there is Sonita who on friday when we backed cookies stayed the whole time and was the only one to do so and then on Saturday night she was the one making popcorn the whole night and then cleaned up afterwards. She impressed me. She got sick later in the week and I went and visited her and since then she feels much more comfortable and she is a friend.

That next week was rough because everyone was getting sick. In all of my classes almost everyday of the week I had at least two kids missing if not more and I had a lot of students worried that it was the swine flu. The swine flu is in Phnom Penh and has killed some, but none of the students at CAS actually had it. But it made teaching hard when a lot of the class is missing.

This week I still didn't get a lot done in teaching wise cause it is creation week. Sometime recently wast the anviersery of the theory of evelution and so to counter it, the school held creation week/week of prayer. Its been really nice. It is advised that teachers do not give homework which I gladly went along with (yeah no grading!!!!!) and each day the president of Cambodia mission came and gave a presentation and all of them have been really insightful. Tomorrow all the classes are going to be planting trees during chapel time :D fun! I have had a lot of good disscussions with my classes about creation and they all wanted to hear about why I believe in creation instead of evelution. Lots of students asking questions. :D Makes my day when they do.

Yesterday I had a student yell in Khmer she hates my classes and I was told by David that is what she said. So today to see what i can do to improve, the quiz was, what is one thing you like about Algebra II class, and what is one thing that can be improved. I love the answers. I was expecting hate mail and they surprised me. ALmost all said I talk to fast, too soft, and have terrible handwriting... what's new. I need to work on that. I'll write some for you to read and i'll leave the terrible spelling and everything. :P

This one hurt a little when I read, but I know it is true. I do have my favorites, but it is not because i think to myself this student is better than another, but because I have worked on activities with some students outside of class so I know them better. I need to work on getting to know each student.

"I like all things about your class but one thing I think you should do to improve is that you should find a way to get know each student personaly and make sure you reach out to each student do not left anyone out and show no favoritism"

these ones made me happy

"I don't like learning Math but I found out that it was fun, I enjoy and like this class"

"I like about his class
-Good explaination
- Help the student when we didn't know the answer, or how to do.
-more homework and quizzes.
-fun"

"The students can ask what they don't understand and the teacher is willing to help"

"I like more homework. I don't like, nothing I don't like about Math class, but can you speak a bit louder, teacher. Thank you so much!" (haha even though they didn't write names on these i know who you are! he is the only student who asks for more work and I am teaching him Pre-Calc on the side. He is very gifted in Math and could quickly surpass me if he studied after high school at a university level.)

"I like this class because even my teacher gave us a lot of homework to do but we could asked her the problem that we didn't understand about the homework in class. The things that I didn't like is when she spoke I couldn't understand sometimes because she spoke too fast and soft. But the things that I like in this class have more than the things that I hate. I love her becasue she care about her student and explain about the things that we didn't understand so well."

"The class is very interesting, active, specially your encouragment to the students. I would like you to still struggling with us because I think now we are on the same pages. And for my self I think you had improve me a lot about the Algebra dn I would like you to continue to encourage all the students in the class, then they would have confidence to do everything."

now for the best... he/she introduces my new nick name... lol

"I like this class about 50%. I like to learn Math ecause it is interested if we can go over all the problems. I don't mean that you bad teacher, or course I know that you are the Mother of Math, you know and I think it's great that you are the Math teacher, because you will help the student about Math, but I don't really understand what you teach. you speak fast and math is tricky so I have the hard time to follow. I want you to explain the lesson first so that I can to the exercise or homework"


Mother of Math... HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I love it!

Today we had a bunch of teachers over for dinner. We made potatoe soup, chappaties, eggplant sandwhiches, and curry. Yummy. We had Pros, Sopha, Moses, Kim Streang, Whitaker, and BJ over. Good times. I never knew that Uno could get so lively.


I have to say that God is working here. Since I have become closer to some students, they are more willing to talk about personal lives, what they think about topics, and finally during prayer time I get more out of students then, this person is sick and I get multiple people talking. It's nothing darastic, but more of an openess than before. I am praying specailly for two students in 12th grade because I think they are searching. The 12th graders are the first class to get to 12th grade and have so many Buddhist still in the class. I have 23 students and I can count 7 who are Christian. There may be more, but I am not aware of it.

Well I hope this is an okay update. If you have any questions let me know!

crazy

I think that if I survive this weekend I can handle anything. Yep.

Tomorrow drama is having their first production for chapel. I feel so bad for those kids. I know nothing about drama, so we are all learning together. I asked Fay today if they expect big things, and she said not really... thats good... I am staying after school to help the 12th graders make cookies for their fundraiser on Sunday. Then off to downtown to get my haircut with some friends. I'm startin to feel like I have a bush on my head. The humidity makes my hair go "POOF" I with there was a caps for caps so I go show how big my hair is. :D Log hair is considered beutiful here, so I guess one more thing to make me look more foreign... short hair.

Saturday we are going to church here for the first time in a month! Yeah! I miss it. It will be good to talk to some friends again. I am in charge of vespers at night... need to think of something to do yet :/ Then right afterwards at 6 I need to run to school and help set up for their fundraiser. We are having a movie night, watching "Up". Should be fun.

I wish I could express to you guys how much I love the kids here. I think it is one of my strong points and one of my weaknesses. I am starting to care for them so much that I am loosing the teacher status and becomeing friends, which hurts in the classroom. I have yet to find the perfect medium. Wait. By the end of the year I'll get it. I expecially care for the dorm students cause I feel like they need motherly care. For example one kid got hurt and I just wanted to baby him, or when Henery failed all his classes for midterm, I felt like I needed to be the mother who scolded him and now I bug him about studying, and I feel like I need to give them hugs all the time, cause they don't have a home to go home to. I wish there was a way you could meet them all. David a 12th grader drives me nuts with all his jokes, reminds me of dad... lol, Rattanak another 12th grader has great leadership skills, Visak in 11th grade is the only one who braves the front row and has a smile that could melt anyone, Ratana is the 10th grader who tries at everything and is so determined she doesn't care if she makes a mistake, Tulip and Sivheang drive us home when we need a ride. All the students amaze me. Sometimes they drive me up the wall (specially those 10th graders....) but I love them anyways.

For example, drama is presenting tomorrow and they have had time in class to practice, but those 10th graders love to chat and so they felt if they ran through it twice they got it down, now it is the day before and so they are complaining to me about how they do not feel comfortable, they don't like what they are doing, they want to do one large skit instead of a bunch of charades, they want to talk, they want costumes, they want, they want, they do not like, they do not like... get the picture. Makes me want to scream. I have never heard kids complain so much in my life. After they heard my thoughts on the matter... "this is suppose to be a challenge, the reason we are not talking is that i am trying to show you how actions speak louder then words and instead of owning up to the challenge and trying something new, all you do is complain making me miserable and therefore I make you miserable.... etc." they were willing to work a little more. At least they were silent. ;) Although I have to say I am kinda thankful that they talk in Algebra, in a way. One day I was walking past whenanother teacher was teaching and they were all sitting so quietly and still and it was beautiful. The next day I asked how come they are not that good with me. There responce... "we are falling asleep" ahaha at least they are not falling asleep with me. No it is definately not the case ever with me. I'm going gray cause of them. Please pray for my patience.

Well that is the latest update. I miss you all!

Floating Church

Even though my 12th grade class had a few cheaters, I have to say that they are pretty amazing. They are so thoughtful and hard working (for the most part :D lol) Yesterday they just kept on helping me out and at first I though maybe they were doing an assignment for Morality because they were being so good, but when I said something today to them, they had no clue what I was talking about. Students never cease to amazing me. I am the senior advisor along with Fay, Pannah, and Sopeap. We are planning for senior fundraising so that they can afford senior survive and their class trip. We are going to have a movie night and watch the movie "Up". Can't wait! I am so proud of the president, Rattanack, because he has really stepped it up and taking charge of the class and doing all the work. I love them all :D

Last Friday after school I went teacher pros's house with Kristie and Kim Streang. Kim Streang made us fish and it was a fresh as fresh can be. The fish was still alive as it went in the oil. So yummy, I was surprised at how good fish could be when you eat the skin. Fish bones are definitely a down side. But the yummy taste makes it worth it. I tried the intestines but that didn't taste the best.

On Saturday we went with Sharon and Gary to visit three churches. We went to churches that were started by one of the dorm students that I teach so we took him along so he could see his family. Two of the churches were Vietnamese floating villages. All the homes were on boats in the form of houses. So neat! They even have floating stores and gas stations. :D The only bad part is that all trash and sewage goes into the river,so even though it looks tempting to swim in... not the best idea. We sang for all the Churches again. I don't really care to sing "I'll fly away" any more. I think we over did it. All the churches were mostly kids. The young people are really searching here and that is awesome. The church will be stronger in a few years when the children grow up. Cambodia is composed of a population that is 50% 18 years old and younger, so the fact that the church is mostly young people makes sense. ALso I need to tell you the names of the church planters kids all go to CAS except Chuly (sounds like July) and he goes to the university in the phillipes, and is going to teach math at CAS when he graduates. Okay so here it goes oldest to youngest. Chuly, Sophea (boy), Sopheath (boy), Chulong (boy), Sophean (boy), Rebecca (girl :D). hahahah... wouldn't you like to be their mother... and they all look the same too. All you have to do is start saying Sophe... and all of them respond. I love it! Cutest family ever.

I am teaching another class. I can't remember if I told you or not. It is so crazy now. So much to do. Tom morrow I have five classes to prepare for, two of them Math. I give out homework, and in doing so I have so much to grade. I feel that since I assign the homework, it is my responsibility to take the time to grade, so they know how they are doing and since there is a test every week in all classes, I have to get it back the next day so they can learn from their mistakes. So hard for me to do. I get frustrated sometimes because I do not have the time to prepare the best of lesson plans, and I get frustrated when I know that I should do so much more, but I do not know how to. Physics especially. The book is terrible and does not explain concepts. It just has labs in it, so I feel like I have to fill in for what the books lack, and then the students ask questions and it is difficult to focus on one topic since everything is interrelated. I am also learning what not to do and what to do for projects and test. I feel bad for the students who get all my mistakes. I am slowly learning from them. I know that I can't know everything, but I wish I did for my students sack. I wish that I could just transfer knowledge. My algebra II class had their first test where everyone did around 80% or better. It might be because I made it easier, but I am glad I did because it boosted their confidence in their ability to do math, and it made me feel better, that at least they are learning something. I also had someone tell me that math is their favorite class. :D yeah! My algebra I class just complains about al the homework and then talks all through class. I don't think they realize that it is because they talk, I assign more homework. They will get the picture soon though. It just stinks cause that means I have to grade more. :/ Music appreciation class.... let not talk about that same with health. I am surviving by the seat of my pants. I can tell I am not interested in those classes as much as math and physics so my plans are not as organized... need to work on that. Drama. Yikes! we have our first performance on Friday and I am embarrassed for my students. They have NO enthusiasm and everything they do looks like they are just walking around. I'm worried about that one. Maybe a miracle will happen and they suddenly have talent. That would be nice.

I can tell my students are starting to trust me now. I appreciate it for the most part, except for when I here all the details such as... he's not here, he has diarrhea. Don't really need to know that but anyways... I know that they trusted me cause everyone else was just told, he has a upset stomach. Yeah that's right. I got the whole picture. :D lol

Love is in the air... all the students are hooking up. It's interesting to see, and it is interesting how I get protective of some students. I think some can do better, and I want to tell them, but that would be rude and overstepping my bonds. When I said something to two kids, they told me "what do you mean teacher, we are brothers and sister in Christ" haha says the buddhist of the two. Although that couple is cute and Moniroth is a good influence on Krisna.

Anyways gotta plan...

Thanks for all your support and prayers! I appreciate it!

Cheaters! I

I had my first cheaters that I caught and I was so disappointed cause they are such good kids. I was so upset at them. It was a unit exam for Algebra II and at the end of the period I wrote down the reading they had to do for the next class period. I saw Sear writing stuff down (he had finished the test. Side note about sear, he is brilliant. He taught himself calc for the fun of it and corrects my mistakes) But I thought it was funny how after lifting it up some he scribbled it out and put the paper away. I asked to see the paper, and of course he was writing answers and showing Thida behind him. Now Thida is a big sweet heart and one of the first students I became friends with, so that hurt when I caught her cheating. After class when I talked to them Sear laughted and Thida cried. What a differnce. Sear laughs at everything. THere's a group of them. Sear, Rattanak, and Chyhak. They are inseperatble and if I left them alone I think they would just laugh 24/7. It's hard to get upset at them cause they just laugh. And Chyhak has the squinty eyes ever so when he laughs his face scrunches up and it is the cutest thing ever. Oh well, I am a very strict teacher and the kids know it. Would have never guessed that I would be that way. I thought I was going to be a push over.

Saturday we went with Sharon and Gary to visit a church in another province. It was really neat. That sounds lame but I don't know how to discribe it. It was out in a small village and the first church we went to was in a home. We walked in and the lay pastors wife gave us a coconut to drink out of during church. Awkward... The four of us did special music singing "I'll fly away" and we did it in four part harmony. I just sang the melody :D I don't quite have the talent to harmonize yet.
The second church we went to was farther out in the country and it was in a building on stilts. When I walked on the flour I thought I was going to fall through cause it was just thin bamboo with cracks, but aparantly that house has been standing for 10 years. Gary gave the sermon at both churches and Sharon translated for us. Gary speaks fluently and Sharon can understand fluently and tries to speak fluently but her accent is so strong no one can understand her. I was so wiped from the week that every time I sat down I was nodding off. It was terrible during church. For lunch we had a picnic and it was beautiful. Wham sandwhiches with potato salad, beans, and potatoe chips. Just like home. :D Anouther cool thing about this trip was that we had to ride the ferry accross the mekong to get to the village.

Sunday of course we worked. Grades were suppose to be intoday for mid terms. Ha! I'll hopefully get them done tomorrow. By the way I am now offically teaching 10th grade Algebra I because Vannak officially resigned and is no longer working :( lame. Wish he would have stayed. I like the 10th grade class, so we should have fun anyways.

This upcoming Sabbath we are going to a church on a boat so that should be interesting.

Also tomorrow is open house so there will be lots to update you on in a bit.

Thanks for all your prayers! I appreciate it! Sometimes I think that is what pulls me thorugh the long days so please continue.

Goodnight!

As promised here is what happened on Saturday…

Weasley and Yvonne with their two kids came and picked us up to take to church at 7:30 cause Weasley was teaching English Sabbath School at 8. The church was small but very nice and the people were really friendly. Unlike Phnom Penh church, most of the people cannot understand English. We understood the sermon only because Weasley was speaking and so they needed to have a translator for the rest of the church. Kristy and I had a Khmer hymnal so by comparing what they were singing and what was written I now know some/most of the numbers and I can read knom (which means I in khmer), and preah (which means God). The pastor of the church is Thun Hy’s father so it was nice to meet him. I also met Rosa’s dad and his siblings. Everyone is related to each other! We also were shocked to see Teacher Chaiya at church. Oh and we randomly saw Kayna, a teacher’s aid, on the street in Siem Reap. Cambodia is a small place.
After church Weasley and Yvonne took us to their home and made us curry and rice for lunch. So good! After dinner Weasley put the kids to sleep, but didn’t come back down for a hour cause he fell asleep :D and Yvonne told us the story of how they met. Yvonne is from Peru and Weasley took a group from CUC (SDA University in Canada) and on the last days Yvonne hung out with the group to start to learn some English. After Weasley went home he continued to email her and tried to convince her to go to Canada to learn English. Eventually through God moments, Yvonne went to Canada, they dated and married. Crazy stuff.
Weasley and Yvonne they offered to take us to the orphanage outside of Siem Reap. The orphanage is amazing. It was started by Tim Maddocks and his wife Wendy. He felt the call around 15 some years ago to buy some land and from that much has occurred. At the beginning they invested their life savings of $20,000 in the project. He started a school that is a boarding and day school and then opened up an orphanage (those kids go to the school as well). They accept anyone that they feel God want to be there, which is basically anyone. They have over 100 kids there right now. Also since there is so much land, they use it for camp meeting so there are cabins all over the place. They are now building a TV station that will be run by the kids in the orphanage and will be broadcasted over asia. I also for got to mention that they have a makeshift dentist place where Tim pulls teeth after having two days of training. Wendy use to have a clinic, but it was shut down when the religion department of the government noticed how many people were joining the SDA church after visiting the clinic. Wendy is a podiatrist and over time her practice grew in Cambodia to handle anything that came to her, babies etc. All this has been done through God’s hands, hard work and money donated. They do not go through the General Conference and do not search for money. They get resources through word of mouth. The teachers that work there is through volunteer service and they will take anyone that is willing to serve for any period of time whether it is two weeks, two months, or two years. It is amazing how God is working there. It is a true story of being willing to let God use one to do whatever He needs done. It is a lesson we all need to learn, to fully trust in Him and being willing to take the leap of faith and try to do what seems to be impossible.
After coming back to the guest house from the orphanage we ate at a Mexican restaurant where Orng ate Mexican for the first time in his life. :D It was yummy and reminded me of home. I had a chimichunga. Then we went to the night market where a sign hung that read “Noon Night Market” instead of midnight market. hahaha There are so many English mistakes all over the place. We had fun bartering for items and I got some touristy stuff. The main thing I got was a scarf. I was talking to a lady and she was telling me about all her allergy problems “Clariten costs $8 per meal…” and so then I had to buy a %100 silk , made in Cambodia scarf. I don’t know if it is real, but it is pretty. I also stocked up on pants. We call them Jeanie pants because they look like Jeanie pants. They are very comfortable, cool, and they look nice. Handy to have. Whitaker had a fun time bartering. I think that sometimes he just likes bartering because he likes to see how low he can go, and is not really interested in buying. There was one T-shirt shop that was really nice and had a lot of unique shirts cause a guy does graphic design and then prints his own t-shirts. BJ wanted to buy 4, Kristie wanted one, and I wanted one. Originally they are 5 dollars a shirt, but we asked to pay 2 dollars per shirt. The guy said no, 3 dollars, etc… finally we worked him down to 2.50 and he was persistent and then when we began to walk away he said fine. 2 dollars. That was a great moment. :D Then BJ, Mr. softy, gave the guy 14 dollars instead of 12 just cause her felt bad. It was funny though because when we were talking about the great deal we got, the seller looked at us and went “shhhhh…” lol. He didn’t want the other customers to hear and so he got a kick out of it when we began talking loudly about the great deal we got paying 4 dollars per shirt. hahaha. Another funny story with bartering. Guys in Cambodia were Kroma’s before and after they shower and just to lounge in. It looks like a big scarf that they wrap around their waist and it is an item that is as Cambodian as any item can be. One should not cost more than 1 dollar at the most. Some tourist came up to the scarf shop we were at and the lady named a price and the guy arguing in the most persistant voice he could said “My friend got a good deal and he paid only six dollars. I will not go any higher than that.” haha… six dollars… I have not seen a smile on a sellers face like that ever. Hahaha she got a good sale.

The next morning we left at 6:00 a.m. It was a long bus ride.


Today (wednesday) was the start of some drama. Teacher Vannak walked out of school and he is resigning because of some issues that have come up between him and the school. Please pray for the situation because I am sure Sharon is stressing over who will cover his classes. Today I subed for him for Algebra I so I do not know what is going to happen.

cont...

On friday night we ate at a Khmer noodle place and I decided that I do not like duck egg. It tastes funny... kinda meaty tasting. I was eating the noddles and thought something tasted strange so I had Orng ask the cook, and sure enough duck egg! After eating I called the missionaries in Siem Reap, Weasley and Evoynne and they offered to take us to church on Sabbath morning.

ANGKOR WAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have now been to Angkor Wat!!!!!!!

Thursday: Sharon let us out of school early so we left school at one got to the bus station and left on the bus at 3:30 we got to Siem Reap at 11:00. loooong bus ride. But Orng has the coolest family ever. His mom called his uncle in Siem Reap and his uncle hooked us up with a hotel for the Khmer price of get this.... $12 a night with air conditioning, fridge, warm water, and two beds. Yep. Amazing. He also got his tuk tuk friend to take us all over the place on Friday for 20 dollars for the whole day. We ended up taking two tuk tuks sine there is five of us. (BJ, WHitaker, Kristie, and Orng).

Friday: We woke up bright and early and left to go to Angkor Wat at 5 in the morning so that we could see the sunrise. So beautiful! My words can not do it justice and the pictures will not be able to as well. Angkor wat is just one temple in the whole park. We spent the whole day temple hopping and we only saw the major major ones. There are hundreds of temples all over the place. Bayon temple was my favorite and it is easily recognisable in pictures because it is the one with all the head carvings everywhere. It got so hot out!!! I was sweating up a storm and climbing all those stairs to the top of the temples... goodness, it was worth it but I definatly sweated in places I have never sweated before. It is amazing the languages that the people can speak here. There are so many tourist here that the kids are able to learn a lot of languages. You can hear kids switching from language to language depending on the tourist they are trying to sell their wares too. The kids will just follow you ever where and will say... I remember you, you come back when done. For breakfast we at at stall number four right out side of angkor wat which was a great view :D I had a mango pancake. yum. it was threee bucks which is a rip off here, but we're tourists, what can i say. For lunch we stoped at a random restuarant outside of a temple. I had Amok which is daring on my part. Won't do that again. Amok is a traditional fish dish and I had to try it, just to say that I have had it. Tasted good. By three oçlock we were wiped so we came back into Siem reap and went shopping for food for Sabbath. I don't care for the market here. It was crowded and a pain to go around because i'm not use to it. Plus it is Pchum Ben which is the holiday for the dead. It is a fifteen day holiday and the last day today so the market was really busy. To celebrate the people buy food for their ancestors and go to the wat to pray to them. It's a big deal here.

Well.. it's getting late, so I will tell more tomorrow about today :D

Yeah! Tomorrow we leave to Siem Reap to go to Angkor Wat! That is what I am super excited for!

I love my students and there are the coolest. :D Classes went well today and after school I hung out with dorm kids that in around 4th grade. They made me oragami shapes, and I let them use my colors. I can win any kids heart just by letting them use my markers. :D

I'm going to try to put some pictures up, so hopefully this works...

never mind. it fails. I will try again another night :(

so

so i'll go by day again...

Friday: We had school in the morning and then in the afternoon Kristie and I had a wall of postit notes of things that we had to do. Not one postit note got crossed off at the end of the day. We ended up going to Orngs house with BJ and then it stormed so we stayed longer than planned and then we ended up eating over. His mom made us rice and some kind of fish dish. It was good :D Then at 4 I had an appointment to practice piano for church. When I got there I found out only one of the songs had sheet music to it, and everything else just had chord written in for like the guitar. You would think that during all those years of piano lesson, I would have learned my chords... NOT! so I was quickly taught them so I could play on Sabbath... I wanted to cray cause I was so terrible and we had to keep on playing the songs over and over and over again. Specially the Khmer song.

Sabbath: I lead out for Sabbath school in the morning. I like leading out for the kids. They ask more questions and participate a lot more thant the adults. You wouldn't think that now, would you. It is also fun to see students in another setting besides school. In school I have to be teacher, in church I can be friend. It makes a difference, I am closer to the kids that go to church and I need to remember to reach out to those who do not go to church.

Playing the piano was not too terrible. I worked out the chord and was able to play them. It was just nothing fancy. Watch out! by the end of this year I will be all over that keyboard and I will be a pro and those Khmer songs all in minor keys. :D

Augusta and Lim invited us over for Sabbath Dinner. It was yummy and after wards Lim showed us a map of Cambodia and pointed out all the places we should go. Because of that we are now going to Angkor Wat this weekend! yeah! please look up Angkor wat! Amazing place!

Sunday: We worked hard int he morning on school, but then at 4:00 BJ, Whitaker, Kristy, Orng and I all headed out to show Kristy the town. We drove past Phnom Wat, the palace, and the river front, since she has not seen any of it. Then we ate noodles at a Khmer place and it was truley Khmer because there was napkins all over the ground. When Khmers are done with garbage they toss it on the ground at a restuarant. Whitaker was having way too much fun with it. I wouldn't be surprised if on his kitchen floor at home there are some napkins on the ground. Next we went and visited Orngs sister and then his uncle cause he is one of the best painters in town. He use to be the art professor at the university here, but now just does private lessons. We then went to the night market and hung out. :D

Monday: School, work, oh... but now I have a student helper!!! yeah! he takes a load off my shoulders. His name is mesa and he is in 7th grade. He is so good! he graded Algebra II yesterday and I was worried it was too difficult for him to do, but he has a good brain his shoulders. I am glad I got him. I origionally met him cause he is the one who opens the doors to the chapel when I practice the piano. Poor soul, he has heard me practice.

Tuesday (Today!): School... but after school I played volleyball! It was a lot of fun. At first we weren't sure if we (kristy and I) could play because there are never girls playing, but we asked and so we played. Fun times! My team always one. That may be because the PE teacher and his brother were on our team as well as the very good Sopea at 11th grader guy that is super tall and on the other team there was a group of students that were not too great... but I like to think that the teams were even since i am sorta like a handicap to my team... lol... My feet are so sore and red because we played on textured red tile barefoot. and my right arm is full of black dots of broken blood vessels. I have a feeling I will sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow will be a good day I can feel it.

This week is going 10 times better and smoother than last week. I am started to get into the grove of things much better than before.

Have a great day and thanks for all your prayers!

Well today I was about worn through and the kids could tell. They behaved so well. For my 12th grade Algebra I gave them assigned setting today. I was getting too many suspicious papers with possible cheating. Also, I have an inside source in the classroom that there might be serious clicks forming where one person doesn't talk to another, so I mixed them up so that they have to work together. I don't know if that is asking for trouble or creating more, but I thought I would give it a chance.

I love the ESL class. I'm learning their names finally and they are warming up to me. It is very difficult to explain to a child that does not understand English what it means to sound out a word. To say in Khmer "say with me" I say in Khmer " an chear mouy knom" :D

Still don't know what I am doing for drama for sure tomorrow. Something will come in my sleep :D. I have two hours to fill and right now I only have a hour and some worth of activities. Charades is always the back up.

This afternoon after school BJ, Kristie, and I went downtown to get some stuff. We spent most of our time in IBC buying school supplies. I feel like I am in a makebelieve world where I am pretending to be a grown up teacher. It feels weird to think that I am responsible for what the students learn in high school. We then ran into Dean and Ruth at the grocery store and so they offered to drive us home and on the way we stopped for pizza. Yum... I have been craving that so much lately. The salad bar is funny. They give you a tiny bowl, but it is possible to get alot of salad, because the people put carrot sticks sticking out to make the bowl bigger, line it with lettus and then fill it up. Amazing!!! I got a picture so I will try to show that sometime.

Well off to bed.

work. work. work

I have a feeling that you will be reading a lot of blogs on how much work there is to do and how little time there is. :D

This week the normal schedule is wake up at sometime between 4 and 5 work on classes, go to school, work till 9-10 o'clock and then go to bed. It's getting a little frustrating that no matter what I plan, I get behind or I have to change the lesson last minutes. Teaching is all about being on one's toes. I'm learning from a lot of my mistakes and this week is going much smoother. I am getting more familiar with names and students, and the students are becoming comfortable with me so I feel like I belong to the school now. I am even having students confide in me already about things.

Today was prayer meeting with the dorm kids where all the teachers are suppose to come. Only three of the volunteers and two teachers came. A little sad, but we had a good time. I learned more about a lot of the students. There is one family staying at the dorm of four boys and a girl. Three of the guys names are Sopea, Sopa, Sopan. Now can you imagine being the parent calling for one of your children? And they all look alike too. I though Sopa was Sopea and was so confused when I saw the other one. Also there is this adorable dorm student named Henry, who I call Sir Henry who is in pre-k and living in the dorm. So young! He was scared of ghosts today. Ghosts are very common in Cambodia because animistic beliefs are very common. Another example of animistic believes are spirit strings. The kids will where string with pieces of metal wire in it to keep away the bad spirits. They are banned from the school, but often times the children will wear them under their shirts.

BJ and I gave ourself another responsibility. During chapel last Friday all the students were dead looking during worship and so we wondered what we could do. Then we were talking to a student named Pen David about how kids get baptised and then leave and how we can keep them in the church and he said one thing was to improve worship. So now we are the praise team leaders of chapel on Friday! We hope to get students involved in leading out worship, so that they feel some ownership for what is happening. :D

Let me explain Pen David's name. His name he goes by is David, however in Cambodia the surname goes first. So I would be Hahn Amy. Also when one gets married, the women does not change her name. It get's really confusing trying to figure out husbands and wives because of that.

Please pray for me! I already feel stressed more than I have ever felt in my life and prayers of support are needed.

Thanks!

Busy

Sorry I have not written in ages. There is too much to do and no time.

Kristy came last week on Thursday. It is nice to have her here and we will get a long great.

I'll work my way through the highlights last week.

Monday: First day of school. It went well. I didn't plan enough for Health and Music so I was scrambling for stuff to do. I had some music for the kids to listen to in Music to see what they know. I played stuff by Mozart, Bethoven, etc. and mentioned them. None of them heard of any of the composers I brought up. When I played one Bethoveen piece they knew it and I got all excited they recognised at least one! and then I found out the reason they knew it was because it is the theme song to Tom and Jerry. lol :D I also found out all of them except one had no music in the past, so I am starting at the start and teaching them basic notes and rhythm.

Tuesday: First day of Algebra. I gave them a placement exam. I have alot of work ahead of me, that is if I keep my head on straight and get organized. Kristie came! yeah! Her plane got in late so we went and picked her up at the airport at around 6:00. We went to go pick up the boys and they were not coming out, so I went up to their room to get them. When I got there, Whitaker was terribly sick. He had a high fever, couldn't move his legs, and had a bad headache. We though he would have to be taken to the hospital, cause he could have Dengue. however the next morning, he was at teacher worship saying he could work. He is one tough cookie.


Wednesday: Algebra was a mess. The boys left for a while, and then when they got back I made a mistake in the lecture and was caught by students, so then I was flusterd. and then the girls were called down to the office. So I was talking to one of the students cause he was showing me that for the fun of it he is learning calculus (he's the one catching all my mistakes) and also was showing me another mistake I made. I went to sit down and then dest slipped out under me and I went down in a heap skirt flying everywhere. I had a bunch of 12th grader boyers scrambling towards me pulling me up saying "teacha, teacha, get up are you alright". Yeah... good times.

Thursday: I don't remember

Friday: First day of drama. Good thing I have the talkative 10th grade for only this class. I can channel their energy for something good. I'll have no trouble getting them to particpate. We also had chapel. Something needs to be done. you would think that everyone is dying the way everyone's eyes are blank during worship. After school we went to Sharon's house for the end of official orientation and then I went to practice piano. The pastor found out i can play :/ So I played at vespers last minute. I'm learnig to play last minute.

Sabbath. Busy day. We had English Sabbath school where Teacher Sam taught. Poor soul, he talks a mile a minute and wants people to discuss, but he askes a question and before anyone can even take a breath he is answering the question himself. Then church! Where I played the piano for the service. i'm a little rusty, but I don't think anyone minded. Then Second Sabbath School, where I was the teacher. I dislike the adult quarterly. It confuses me. I would just rather read through the chapter and lead in a discussion about what we read. Plus it is so hard to get people to talk, and it is intimitating when all the older missionaries are the ones that one is teacher. Nerve racking. Then at 5 we had anouther worship, where again I played the piano. I think I have found my calling. Then game night as usual at Tim and Fayes house.

Today. Well... I'm still not finished with geting stuff ready but I thought that I would write something, because I will always be busy.

Still loving it here. :D The kids are the best and i am already loving them and making plans of activities I can do with them. I have a feeling that it will be a great school year. I know most of the names of the 12th graders cause they are with me for three classes during the week. I have them Monday-Thursday. So they are the ones seeing the good and the bad, and still putting up with me.

Love you all!

Ba'rang

First Day of School!

It was a good day. First hour was physics, and I am excited for the year. I started off tough, and I think it will pay off. I already have figured out the trouble makers of that class and had to split them up already, although when I split them up, the ones that talked constantly were the ones that answered my questions and participated, so it is all about channeling the energy. :D Then I worked in the library helping Faye, and discovered that I have to talk when I work. Then I helped in ESL class for and hour quizing kids on shapes to see where they are at. Only two kids knew them all... lots of work to be done. Then lunch. Then free time. Normally I would have ESL buy Phanna worked with them on Khmer and I can't help much there lol. Then it was Health. I ran out of things to do so then I just started pulling things to do from thin air. Sad to say they were a little bored. Then music class with the same kids. Only one person has heard of Mozart and the only song they recognised of Bethoven was one that was played on the show with Jerry the mouse. I can't remember the name... I have ben and Jerry's in my mind and that is not it. Also non of them have had music class so I have lots of work to go. I thought they had a background in music, cause they are suppose to take music every year, so I had to backtracko on my lesson some.

I rode my bike to school, in a skirt cause I see girls do it all the time and it was the most uncomfortable thing to do in the world. I then found out they wear shorts underneath which makes lots of sense. SO instead of wearing a skirt and riding my bike back and flashing all my students I hitched a ride with Java (pronounced Jawa).

They BJ, Samairah, Nehah, Avak, and I went to Soriya Mall to go to Lucky grocery store to get food for tomorrows supper when Kristie comes. and then ate frozen yugurt. :D yum. We rode in a tuk tuk on the way there and it was the first time for Samairah and she has been here for over a year. Before we leave we always ask the price, so we don't get riped off when we arrive because we are foreigners. He agreed to bai (three) dollars which is the normal price. When he got there I handed him three dollars and the police next to us said something to the driver. The driver turned to me and said five dollars. I said no, you agreed to three. The police said something more and the driver nodded towards the police and pleaded five. The police said more. FInally I gave him 5 dollars and took back the three. The police said more and the driver told us it was 5 beyond the three. The police where using the driver to get money from us. :/ I was so upset. I did not want to give him the money, but I was scared to run from the police. I dalied some and then finally gave it to him, cause the driver looked upset. As we walked away the police took the 5 dollars we gave the driver. All because I am a ba'rang (foreigner) I think I should dye my hair black. BJ blends in cause he is Asian and so does everyone else, but I stick out like a sore thumb. Oh well... that is my first expierence with the corrupt system of Cambodia.

While we were eating our frozen yugurt it down poured and the streets became mini streems. Akram called worried and so they came and picked us up. I'm glad because a tuk tuk would not have made it through all the water. A lot is flooded right now. I'm worried about the school cause it is so low.

When we got back Alia and Akram fed us dinner. We had some core and then black garbanzos and rice. The corn is amazing! It was corn with beans, and shallots, vinager, hot sauce, and muchroom sauce. Yum! I love it! And then following dinner of caurse we had Chai. ;D

I <3 the people here.

Lots to fill in.

On Friday after work all the teachers were invited to Agusta ( CAS treasurer) and Lim's (head pastor of pastors) house for diner. Had lots of good food :D Then Suphea and Any and I went to the Russian market to look a cloths. That is the tourist Market. I didn't realize how many people vacation here. There is a lot of neat things to buy there, but it all is "made in Thailand" haha... Cambodia does not actually make a lot of things, so if you want real Cambodia items, it is best to go to a Cambodian grocery store. That's just some advice for you if you ever come here. lol. It was HOT in there by the end I just wanted to plop over. When we walked outside to fresh air it felt like we were entering aircondiditioning. it was beautiful. I had anouther first time expierence. WHile there we got fresh squeezed orange juice in a bag. :D That's how they drink juice to go. The juice it put in a back with a straw and then tied off and then put in another bag to carry. Fun!

Yesterday after Church I quickly made a pasta dish for a last min. informal pot luck at Anne's house. I have to say I am good at making up last min. recipies. :D lol... anyways after that Mark and Anne took Whitaker and I to a small church in Phnom Penh and we were in charge of the service. We based it off the story of Joseph and the theme was forgiveness. We had a good time. THe church had around 10 people there. It was located in a house in a "village" in Phnom Phen. It is amazing how different it is in these villages than the city. Quite a gap in incomes. Its' a difference betwen huts made with scapes they can find and mansions made with the best imports possible. Amazing.

Then today in the morning I went to the market today to get stuff I actually need for school and for my apartment. It was very productive. I went with Suphea, Any, Hannah, and Grace. We had a good time together. I learned new phrases and my first sentence. Ne is this, na is that. Ting ne is here ting na is there. Then to say today is hot it is tingay ne g'dow. :D I'm learning! haha... I still had to look it up to put in here. :/

Then in the afternoon I went to the school and worked on getting the room ready for school tomorrow. We made a bulliton board with a calander on it and had to do it twice because I messed up the dates. It tried my patience.

Well off to bed. A busy day tomorrow. Kristie will be coming in two days too. Pray for her travels!

phone

Signs I know that I am fitting in...
1. I'm clumsy again. (already told you that)
2. People take my option to heart. (Yesterday I was joking with Orng (which actually sounds like Aung) about how his HiFive photo looks doesn't look like him and he looks older now and so when he thought I wasn't looking he changed the photo.. lol when I started laughing he looked so sheepish and then when I was saying to Sopha how I can't tell from his signature that it is his name, he quickly added a S. I need to watch what I say. :)
3. I cross the street when it is still packed with motos and don't think twice. Have you ever played the game frogger? It's kinda like that. lol
4. I have lunch buddies, that expect me to eat with them everyday... by the way I am learning to pack extra for lunch, it is expected that everyone shares and tries each others food. Everyone brings rice and a topping and all the toppings are shared.
5. I'm going to the market with some TA's tomorrow :D
6. I have a phone! :D Now I truly belong. lol After Whitaker got left behind and there was mass chaos I decided that was not going to happen to me. Plus I got tired waiting for people to go to the market with me. So now I can go out and if I need help, I can call. Last night I went out to buy one, and we ran into Moses who was shopping for a new phone, and he wanted to sell his. So I got his for $10. Normally to buy used it costs at least $20. Yeah! I haven't figured out my phone number yet. But I do have minutes. You can buy $1, $2, $3, $5, or $10 cards. I started out with 2 dollars and it is 5 cents per min. to anyone.
7. The banana ladies at the market know me.
8. So does this random guy at Psa Ma Ang who can speak some English and whenever I'm there he helps me buy stuff cause I still always get confused with the numbers.
9. I know the cost of moto to go most places in town and feel more comfortable riding sidesaddle now then the boy way.
10. I like unripe mango's.

Haha... by the way I am discovering that I like Indian drama. Who knew?!

One thing though that I miss from home is English. Don't take forgranted that you can talk to anyone and they will understand. It gets old when all your friends are laughing at a joke and I just stare trying to figure out what they are saying. Mostly they are good at translating though.

Have a good night!