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!

Banannas

It's been awhile, and I know the last one was a little on the lame side, so I will fill you in on somethings that have happened since Saturday.

On Sunday Whitaker and I needed to go to the market to get some stuff. I needed kitchen supplies and food and he needed cloths. Kitchen supplies can be bought anywhere, but clothes are a little harder to find, but we heard that the Russian Market would be a good place to go. Somewhere in communication, Russian Market turned into Psa Oressey, so we ended up going to that one instead. It worked out though, cause there was this little old lady who took care of us and found the perfect pants for Whitaker and even let him try them on! Such a novelty. :D On the way back we had to get sugar cane juice. I said it would be my weakness. The lady laughed when we ordered two right off the bat for each. It was a very hot day. lol

Then yesterday again more working on lesson plans and stuff. I feel like I have tons to do, and yet I don't know what. I'm missing something. Afterwords we took motos to the International Bookstore (IBC) to see what school supplies they have. BJ and I took a moto and Whitaker rode his bike. We arrived 2 minutes before Whitaker. That should give you an understanding of how slow traffic is. On the way back Whitaker kept up to us, until his bike went flat. We left him at a bike shop and went back to the mission to play cricket with Samariah. After awhile when Whitaker was not coming, BJ and I got a little nervous. BJ left to see if he went to the school and then ended up going searching for Whitaker with Faye in her car. It turned out that it took an hour to get Whitaker's bike fixed and it just wasn't one hole in the tire. There were three. Everyone ended up safe and sound. Just a little wet, since it started to pour.

I made Chappatties yesterday all by myself. I'm proud of that accomplishment. I think I am going to have some tonight as well. So far a lot of what I have been eating when I cook for myself is rice, stir fry, beans, chappatties, and bananas. Yesterday I ate 5 bananas and today so far I have at least eaten that. They are so easy to munch on. There are worse things to snack on.... The staple food for the Khmer is fish. Every lunch the girls I eat with have dried fish and rice. I'm all for fish, but dried...I don't know.... :/

Right now my air conditioner is getting fixed. Last night I kept on waking up to annoying pounding noises and thought it was just the air conditioner causing the blinds to move. Turns out it was dripping water, so I had a wet couch and a puddle on the floor in the morning. It is amazing how quickly things can get done.

I've got one kid excited for class. One boy I met when I first got here was not too excited about drama class and yesterday when I talked to him he told me "Teacher Amy, I decided I am going to like drama" haha... enthusiasim really catches on. Little does he know that I have no clue what I am doing. :D

Let me know if you have any questions. I know that I may take somethings that I know for granted and you may want to know more about it. :D

Happy Birthday Katie!

So lots have happened, but yet not a lot and I am wiped out today.

Yesterday was church then potluck. After potluck I went home and napped but then Samariah came up saying that she is bored and so her family and I packed stuff for a picnic and drove off in search of a dry spot. We did not find any :D so we stoped the van and had worship in the van and had popcorn. All was not lost as when we got back we still had chai tea and some fitter type things. Yum.

Game night occured as usual at Tim and Fayes, however when I walked back I realized I left my keys in my apartment and all doors up to my apartment were locked, so I ended up sleeping at Tim and Fayes House. I love them. They are the sweetest couple in the universe.

Then today, I spent the first half of the day cleaning, and then Whitaker and I went to the market. It was the first time we hired a moto and there were three of us on the moto, I was sitting sidesattle. Yes it is doable. :D We wanted to go to the Russian Market which is the English name, but ended up being taken to Psa Oressey, which turned out to be better cause we found what we needed. It is really hard to find clothes for a tall guy, when most people in the country are short.\

We came back and I made dinner for BJ and Whitaker and then we played phase 10. Because I was ahead the first few rounds, I got ganged up on with the skips. I dislike skips :D lol, it worked for them though cause I ended up losing.

Well its off to bed. There is more I could write, but i'm falling asleep.

Smell the Trash

Today I ran around like my head was cut off, trying to figure out books. I think I finally have all the teacher editions that I need. Yeah!!! One small improvement that will make life easier. I also finished my lesson plans for the first week. :D Now I just have to get everything ready.

I have met a few of the students and I can already tell that I am going to love my students. Well, if there are all like the ones I have met, although the ones that I have met are the responsible ones that are hired in the summer to work at the school and at the mission. Oh well, they will be the ones to give me some sanity. There is one boy at the school, and forgive me I cannot remember his name (Sopin, something like that) but he is always running around and doing errands for everyone and is really respectful. I hear so many horror stories about the students. Apparently Cambodians are not like the studious asians that you think of that go to school in America. Many Khmer (Cambodian) students are lazy. I will just have to motivate them.

Faye needed to go to the airport to change some tickets she bought and so she brought us along to get Dairy Queen. Hahaha my family took me to Dairy Queen before I left, cause I needed to have Dairy Queen one last time before being away for a year, and here they have one. lol ;D

Faye then took BJ and I on her errands around town and we were able to go to a new market where a lot of material is sold and it is less of a touristy market. Since so few tourists go there, the vendors really don't know English, so its a little difficult trying to understand the prices they have. There number system is easy, but yet hard. I'll go through the numbers.
1: muy
2: pi
3: bay
4: bu-on
5: bprom
6: bprom muy
7: bprom pi
8: brpom bay
9: brpom bru-on
10: dop
11: dop muy
12: dop bay
...
19: dop brprom bu-on
...
1354: bpoa-un bay roy haa seup bu-on

so you can see when there are 4000 reil in a dollar, when they give prices it is difficult to figure out what they are saying. haha... i'm getting better though :D

Then for dinner we went to Mark and Ann's house. They are the president and vice president of ADRA-Cambodia, a big international development organization here. We ate a great meal of burritos and then had Durion for dessert with carrot cake. Now Durion is a interesting fruit. It is known instantly when someone has durion in their house. Imagine going to your trashing. Opening the lid, and taking a big whif of the smell. That is the smell of durion. It's hard to get the idea that one is suppose to eat it. lol. When I did eat it, it has the texture of custard and it is very mild tasting. Kinda like an avocado with a mild hint of banana. That makes no sense, but that's what it reminds me off.

Please continue praying for the work here. there is so much to be done and so little resources. There are many small churches around Phnom Penh and there are many churches throughout the country that need prayers. Many are falling apart due to lack of funds. The average tithe for a Cambodian church member is $6.00 per year. That is what the church is running on. Please pray that God's work can continue.

It may seem like the people have access to many things when I write, such as all the food, Internet, etc. but really it is only a very small percentage of people can afford it, and it is also because I am in the city. The government does not care about the people here and it is very corrupt. Bribes are the norm and a majority of the people grow up thinking cheating and bribing is okay because it is apart of their culture. One problem occurring right now is the government is selling many of the small lakes in Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is already a city located in a poor spot because it is really low, so everything floods. The only reason the city was built up here, was because a lady by the name Penh found a Buddha stature on a hill (phnom) and so it was considered good luck to build here. Any ways, the government is selling these lakes and the private companies that are buying these lakes are forcing all the people living along them to move, displacing hundred of people to the country. Now that is a problem, because there are forcing city people to become country people and it is difficult for them to make a living when they are use to selling in the city. Another problem is that the private owners are filling up the lakes with sand. Therefore there will be less drainage during the rainy season, therefore more flooding. And the government does not care. The school is located near one of these lakes/ponds. They do not have to move, but it is likely that they will have flooding problems unless a miracle happens, so please pray for all the families being displaced, the school, and for the government, so that some one's heart will be softened for the people.


Oh, I just thought of something to tell you about Cambodia. The richer you are the bigger your SUV and it is black. SUV's are everywhere. It is a status symbol. The government people drive them and the rich people drive them. There there are these little motos on the streets. It looks really funny, but it describes the city. You got the rich, and you got the poor. There is not much between.

Henna

I got all my Physics and Algebra II lesson plans done for the first week of school, so I got the hard stuff done! :D I like all the teachers at the school. There are two new girl teachers and we have become good friends. Today at lunch they ate dried fish with rice. Now, I will try about anything, but that did not look appitizing. One of the fish was pregnant so there were dried eggs in it. I tried a bite of that and I have no desire to try that again. yuk.

After school I started cleaning my place since it is looking neglected, then Avak came up and I helped him with his homework. Samariah came up then and talked about Henna, which I think in Pakistani is Menka... something like that. So she brought it up and did my hands. So cool! Apparently I didn't keep it on long enough so it is more orangish than brown. Oh well... I then went down stairs to watch a Pakistani soap opera... hahahahaha no better than the American ones. I showed Avak some games on the internet such as Frogger, Pacman, and mario Bro. He loved them. I kinda felt like I was passing down history long forgoten... lol jk. But it did feel weird that he didn't know about some of them.

Tomorrow I plan on grocery shopping and making Cinnamon Swirl bread. I also need to make a potluck dish. Any ideas?!?!?!?! I can get about any vegetable besides zucchini, fruit galore, and cheese or fancy dairy is limited, beans are limited as well. So is chocolate. Dessert here is fruit :D

good night!

Daal

More lesson planning today... blah... :D

But after school I learned how to make daal!!! Yummm and I didn't know how much lentils to soak last night, so I did them all... now I have daal up to my eyeballs! I'm actually excited about it, cause I do not have to make lunch for the rest of the week.

Some girls came up and visited me today. I'm glad they felt comfortable doing so. We played phase 10, talked, had a good time. One of the girls Sophea graduated from High school this past year and is now the girls dean at the dorm. So young! The other girl, Any (pronounced Annie) is the pre-k assistant, also graduated this past year.

Well, I'm wiped out. Have a great night and don't let the bed bugs bite!

Manna

So another day of yearly planning. Kinda getting irritated at the fact that none of the books are organized and I cannot find all the teacher's books for the classes I'm teaching, but I plowed ahead and finished all but physics! Yeah! I have high expectations of what we will cover for a year but I'm hearing more and more stories about how difficult it is to move ahead, because the student's vocabulary is not strong. We'll see and I will just have to adjust when school starts.

On an exciting note, I learned how to make Chappatties (Indian flat bread)!!!! Yummmmmmmmmm! Samariah taught me. So easy to make. All you need is flour, water, and oil and a special pan that can apparently only be bought in pakistan). But I'm going to try it in a frying pan later and see how it turns out. I ate so much I could barely move. I don't think i have eaten that much since coming here, and tommorrow I will be learning how to make daal (lentils). Will definatly be gaining any weight I lost when coming here and I think I'm gonna end up coming back with just as much info on Pakistani culture as Cambodian. :D lol

I also got stuck outside in a lightning storm. The guard had been playing badmittin while Samariah and I went for a bike ride and when we came back, he had locked the gate and went up for a shower. We made it in safely though. :D

Have a great day!!!

A New Appreciation for Teachers

Before I came here I was saying something like this... "Yeah! I can't wait to be the teacher! It will be so much easier to be giving the assignments then doing them..." That's the general picture...

That is a LIE!!!!! Teachers are amazing people and it takes a LOT of work puting plans into place and then you have to be prepared for it to go wrong. My goodness I worked all day and got one yearly schedule put in place for one class. Next time you see a teacher, thank them for all the hard work they put into making a classroom a fun learning environment.

Okay for my day... I have a urinary tract infection.... not fun. I went to the hospital this morning and got some antibiotics so I should be as good as new in a few days. I now just need to drink lots of water so it does not occur again. Haha... I love it... Sharon just told all the teachers not to ask, because it is better never to ask a girl what is wrong. When I got to school late everyone thought that I must of been dying. Okay that is an exaggeration, but that's the general idea.

We found out what we'll be teaching! Yeah! Finally!!!!!!
My schedule is
7:45-8:35 Monday-Thursday Physics
7:45-8:35 Monday and Wednesday Health (yes there is a confict with Physics... Either this or Physics will be moved)
9:50-10:40 Tuesday -Friday Algebra II
8:50-10:40 Friday Drama (anouth conflict... someone is going to "babysit" drama while i'm in Algebra, but i will be the one making up the lesson plans)
2:10-3 Monday and Wednesday Music Appreciation

Then in all the other free periods I will be teaching ESL. (Kristie is the main teacher of that, but I will go in and help and have a sub class of her class)

So that is my life for the rest of the year :D

I was working in the Computer lab at school making up my yearly plans when a thunderstorm came about. Scared the living daylights out of me. There was one thunder that made us all jump out of our seats. haha then the electricity went out and I lost all my work. :( I have now learned the importance of saving. lol

Last night there was a storm as well... hahaha... I felt like a kid again. I was so scared that if I went to the bathroom that the electricity would travel through the water, since the water tank is on the roof. Actually can it do that? Well anyways I held it till morning, which probably didn't help the infection any... oh well... such is life.

By the way did I mention how great the people are here? I am finally learning all the names of the teachers! It feels great when someone says I name and I know what their talking about. :D

I hope you all are doing well. I miss you all at home!

It's Sunday!

Well... today was definately a lazy day. I cleaned this morning, but as I look at my place now, it is messier now then befored I cleaned. Haha... how come when you live in a place it gets messy?

I rode my bike to the school to make sure I know how to get there. During the first attempt to remember, Every turn I made looked familiar, but none of them led to the school. I rode everywhere in the neibhorhood except to the school... so I sucked up my pride, went home and asked Tim for directions. I found it right away then. :D It's only a 5 minute bike ride to the school which makes it really convinant for school.

Let me say to anyone who complains about school being too early in the U.S. to be thankful they do not go to school in Cambodia. I was reading my school manual, and worship begins for teachers at 6:45 a.m. and school flag raising is I believe at 7:15/20. My goodness! Early risers. I'm getting use to it though. I woke up at 7:30 this morning and that was after forcing myself to lay in bed longer cause I knew I had nothing else to do.

That basically accounts for my day. I know so exciting... but I guess something new can't happen every day. :D

Sabbath

Sabbath was amazing!!!!!!!!!!! With a hundred more exclamation points!!!

It was communion Sabbath and you know how much I enjoy those already... and then it was also extra special.... here's the breakdown.

In the morning I blew a fuse trying to blow dry my hair... that is now fixed.

Then at church it was communion as I stated before, but when it came to do the foot washing there were two students sitting behind me. I didn't want to break them up so I went with Alia as my partner. I don't know but when I saw her washing me feet, the lady who has been so kind to me, i realized what it must of been like, for the disciples when their Lord, Jesus washed there feet. It makes ya feel real humble. When I walked back up I saw that the two girls hadn't gone down. I asked Vailavan and Letra why not and both answered they didn't know how. I asked if they wanted to go down with me and one said she was not ready (she is from the Church of Latter day Saints) but Letra said that she would. It was so amazing to see what she went through and how she felt doing communion for the first time. It really put things into perspective. I do not even know how to describe it. She was so happy and I think she gained a better understanding for what Christ did and I also now have a new friend :)

Then after church we (Whit and BJ) went to Sharon and Gary's house for dinner and had yummy potatoes and meatloaf. And we listened to sooooo many stories of what Cambodia use to be like. The school opened in 94 and they came im 95. They were here when the coop occurred in 98 (i believe that's the year) Fighting occurred right outside the mission, tanks were around, machine guns. And they had to exscape to Thailand. Sharon got there pretty well, but Gary had an amazing story. Neither one had their passports because they were at the embassy being renewed. It ended up Gary had a gentleman take him from the Thai border to Bangkok and paid the who way. Amazing story of how God works. Actually I'll write it so I don't forget it.

Gary was up North working on a Church. He had a Vietnamese guy working for him. The Khmer believed that the Vietnamese were the ones helping the bad guys in Phnom Penh so they asked the church to hand the Vietnam family over to them so they could be killed. The pastor said no and convinced the soldiers to let the family go, so the church paid a moto to take them far away, around a 6 hour trip one way. An hour later the moto was back without the family and the moto driver said that he sold the family to another moto driver to take them the rest of the way... it could be true, but before the Vietnam guy left he said he felt he and his family would die that night and the likely hood.... sad story...

continuing... Gary then got word Sharon was in Thailand and all Americans were suppose to evacuate Cambodia. However he did not have a passport on him. The pastor of the church he was working on took him to the Thai border leaving all of Gary's worker in Cambodia. (Later he found out the fighting had moved from Phnom Penh to where the church was at, and the construction workers were hiding in the fox holes with the solders and a few did not live. One of those workers is now a teacher at CAS) ... So at the border the Thai's did not want to let him through because Gary did not have a passport, but then this gentleman came over talked to the guards, went to Gary and said... "I'll take to Bangkok if you will stop at some place while I do some business" So Gary went with this guy and ended up staying at some General's house in Thailand and got to eat a huge meal, and get cleaned up. The man then paid for Gary's hotel room, and then got tickets for Gary and himself to go to Bangkok. When they got to the airport the guy paid for the taxi to take Gary to Sharon's hotel and disappeared. When Gary talked to the American Embassy to thank them for there help they had no idea what he was talking about. God was defiantly working in that situation.

During that time, Phnom Penh was not paved and there was no sewer system. Sharon talked about how when walking to school she would be wading up to her knees in swere water during the rainy season. Electricity was random and very few nice homes. Cambodia has come a long way since then.


Back to the day,... Then we had game night and an interesting character showed up. He seems to be the master of all trades. And trys to help all he can. He likes medicine so he would go to the hospital and say he was a medical student and observe, so now he treats the poor people in the area when they cannot afford health care. He has two children, both have cleft palot that he took in when no one else wanted them. He had a story of going up north to take medicine to the soldiers. And now his project is building a school which he will fund with a burrito stand for tourists. (He doesn't like NGO's...lol but likes us I guess, he is christian not SDA) lol I love meeting people here. So many interesting stories to hear


p.s... I am starting to notice I feel comfortable here. I can tell cause I'm getting clumsy again. My toes are bruised. Fell down the stairs two days ago and fell up them yesterday. I went down to get communion bread at the wrong time (after the deaconesses had already gotten there bread and wine), and i'm saying stupid amy stuff. haha... i'm back to normal. ;D

Things you will never see in the States

Yes I know... I didn't blog yesterday. My computer keyboard no longer works. The only letters that do are the top line such as qwerty etc. So by the time I figured out how to hook up another keyboard and figured out how to put some pictures on my computer, I was tired and went to bed.

Yesterday was a good day. After orientation Whitaker wanted to go to the market. I didn't really need anything but decided to go along to have something to do. We had received bikes that day and I thought it would be go to test them out. Pros (7th grade teacher and H.S art teacher) decided to go with us which I am so thankful he went. I thought motos are crazy... at least they are higher up on the traffic food chain than bikes. At one point we need to cross the street, so on a bike one just puts yourself out in the street and go praying that one will make it accross. At least that's what it felt like. I am learning the art of just doing it and going. It is important not to think about it too much. On the way back Pros had us try sugar cane juice. I have found my weakness. Now that is amazing stuff. Sweet but not too sweet and on ice it is very cold. Yummy. I'm scared what's going to happen when there is a cart selling it out side of the school everyday. :D

Today we just had a half a day of orientation and then Tim and Faye took us shopping and out for lunch. Good times. I got some more stuff for the kitchen. Faye and Tim are the parents of the compound. She is the one that worries about us and makes sure that all is well. I can go over to there house any night and just hang out if I get lonely. So far I have not had time to be lonely and there are too many people around to be lonely, but it is nice knowing I have someplace I can go.

Ruth and Dean invited a Korean group that is here for a short term mission trip and all the residents of the compound over for diner. Free dinners are the best! and lots and lots of fruit. I could live off the fruit. In fact I am craving some right now. There was also a Mom and a girl there who are here for a bit. The girl was adopted from Vietnam and so they are in south east Asia to visit her relatives and while over here decided to do some mission work and so they are volunteering for ASAP teaching a two Vietnamese schools in Phnom Penh. I didn't even know the Adventist church had two Vietnamese schools here. I keep on hearing about missionaries and it is exciting seeing all the work that is being done, and there is still a lot of work needing to be done.

I here so many stories of kids graduating from CAS and want to continue their education, but cannot because of lack of funds and to go to Mission college it is 6,000 a year. That is pennies to the USA. Often times if they are hard workers CAS hires those students to be deans or TA's, but it is sad because they deserve an education just as much as I do. Be very fortunate for what you have, because even though other countries may seem to be developing, equal opportunities to education is not an option for many people.

Programming: Welcome to High School.

Apparently when asked by an Aussie if you are programming it does not mean working at a computer writing code. Lol I was so confused today when asked that by the wife of President of the Adventist Church in Cambodia. It means lesson planning. New one for me. Aussies also call clothes pins, clothes pegs. It's like another language. It totally confuses the Khmers when she talks to them. haha... the English language is great. :D

Today in orientation it was high school classes we sat through. Some of the girls today tried to teach me some Khmer cause they kept on laughing at me when I would just stare blankly when they are all talking to each other. The words I remember are g'baal (head) and sok (hair). They really don't pronounce the k though. Strange stuff. I'm trying though. Whitaker can basically talk it already pretty well, and can understand a lot of it. He picks it up quickly and remembers it. When I am told a new word I maybe will remember how it starts. I still can't remember how to say no. (I just looked it up and it is dtay.) There is 35 constants and 23 vowels in the Khemer language and then another symbol thingy that can change the sound of any of the letters. I did learn how to write my name now :D

At the end of the orientation our class was science lab. The lab is brand new and nice then the labs in the states. It is a beauty. The cupboards are cheap, but the actual science equipment is nice. BJ has the keys to the room and is the official science room teacher. I have no clue what I am teaching now, because Kristy from southern is officially coming now. I am surprised at how many of the Cambodian teachers have never been in a science lab. Only about 6 of the 28 teachers have worked in a lab and three of them we're us volunteers from the States. I am glad that we have the lab, so that it may spark some interest in the students for science instead of just thinking it is boring.

It was nice because this afternoon the neighbor kids came up to my room to hang out. Naeha colored and I helped Avak with his homework. Samariah came up as well and I began teaching her how to write some words. She is a very fast learning. It's a good thing I mopped and cleaned the bathroom today because the mom Alia came up and looked around a bit. :D

I also learned electricity goes in and out, so now I have a flashlight handy for any time at night when it should go out. Surprised me today when doing the dishes and poof no lights. The generators kicked in quickly though.

Well... of to bed. Got another day of school ahead of me. I can't wait till I have my own classroom. I don't get one this year because I will be moving around :( but eventually I'll have one.

Hobbit Feet: Welcome to Middle School.

Today I noticed my feet are swollen. My toes are all chubby and red and my fingers are swollen as well. It is because of the heat. Every day the temperature is around 90 degrees F. I call my feet, hairless hobbit feet. LOL :D

In orientation, the focus was on middle school. I learned that I have the attention span of a five year old. Even when i asked a question and someone gave the answer I would start to daydream. Again, orientation consisted of us sitting through classes as if we were in middle school. However, today all the classes in the morning, were bible classes. Normally I would love bible class, but it got boring. At least in elementary school the kids get to color. haha ;)

I have become friends with some of the teachers. Mostly the young ones and the teachers helpers since they are more open to talk to me and know the most English. Most of the teachers cannot speak well English which makes me wonder how they teach all their classes in English... I wonder if they really do speak English to the class all the time. One girl, Ratana who is my age and is a teacher's helper told me she would take me to the river front this Sunday to hang out. That should be fun and I'm looking forward to it. The only conflict that has occurred while being here, is there are too many people to do stuff with. Sumariah and Nahah below me are always waiting to do something with me. Hannah and Grace ask me do go with them when I have plans with other people and now Ratana. I love it, but I am terrible at telling people no, I already have plans. I need to learn. I want to do stuff with everyone. :D At least it is a good problem to have. I could be lonely, but that is definitely not the case.

Lunch was yummy. The Khmer (Cambodian) food we had today tasted very similar to a mix of Thai and Chinese food with a little bit of french bread added in. Gotta love the mix of cultures.

After orientation I went to the Tinan Market with BJ, Whitaker, and Evek (I honestly don't remember his name. I need to know it though. He was the math teacher last year.)Anyways... Cross your heart... Whitaker drove a Moto with BJ and I went with Evek. It was WHit's first time driving one. Definiatly made it interesting. The first intersection we went through the moto stalled. haha at least he survived. :D I rode side saddle at first because that is how proper ladies ride. Boy, it does wonders to your back! That is why on the way back I decided to sit like a guy. Evek wanted me to sit like that in the first place anyways. The culture is changing so it does not have a Taboo like it use to. I'll probably sit side saddle again, just so I don't have to worry about offending anyone. (p.s. I remember his name now.. it's Vanak)

We stopped and had ice cream after going to the market and Swenson. It was Eveks first time going into Soryia mall. That surprised us. BJ left his camera charger at home so we also stopped at a Cannon store. The people tried to rip him off after he paid by bringing the wrong charger and saying it was the correct one. Moral of the story is, do not pay till you get the product! Eventually they did bring out the right one after a few tries.

Want to know what is funny. The sun sets at 6:30 at the latest and will only get earlier through out the year and the heat drains all energy, so by 9:00 I am ready to go to bed. That means I am up and full of energy by 5:30 and that is after waking up at 5 and going back to bed cause I have a few minutes. I enjoy it though cause I like watching the sunrise. My porch is 3-4 stories up so I got a great view over the town. The steeple of the church is right above me. Akrim says the cross watches over me. It would take a lot for anyone to get to my apartment during the day or night. This is how I get to my place.
1. Walk up a flight of stairs passing the mission offices and then walk past the church entrance
2. Go through a locked door.
3. GO up two flights of stairs.
4. Go through a locked door and pass Akrim and Alia's apartment.
3. Walk up winding stairs
4. Go through my locked front door.
(I knew living on third floor at Lamson was preparing me for something :D lol)
I did not include the locked gate with the guard at the entrance of the mission compound :D. So mom... no worries, I am as safe as can be.


p.s. the rich people's houses are HUMUNGOUS!!!! and beautiful. It seems as if people are poor or rich. Not much in between. A lot of the nice houses are Korean. A lot of the development that is occurring in Phnom Penh is funded by them.

p.s.s I also learned today that mission work in Cambodia started in 1992. So the longest any of the teachers have been Adventist is since 1992 and the one that has been one since 1992, his Dad's a pastor. The church is really young here. Also since most government officials are Buddhist, it is illegal to hold evangelistic series, or go door to door. Sometimes our church can do stuff however, because ADRA has been here for ages and has good standings with the government. There is lots of work to be done here. Two out of three children who go to the school I work at have no idea what a bible is when they start school(and that is an optimist statistic) However as one looks at older grades, the more Christians there are and a majority of the 12th graders are Christians, so that is a good indicator that the school is doing amazing mission work.

Wood or Would: Welcome to Elementary School

Today was the first day of teacher meetings at the school and the focus was on elementary grades. We (the teachers) basically sat through a normal elementary school day and participated on classes, observing how the teacher taught, and then through out the lessons, comments were made on how the lesson could be altered for different ages, or different activities that could be done. It was very interesting and I actually learned some stuff. Good thing I'm not teaching elementary ages. lol :D One of my many mistakes was trying to spell wood, instead of would. I also learned that I do not know my multiplication table as I should. Sometimes I do not feel like a math major. Hahgn (I don't know how to spell it. Cambodian's do not start names with A, but it sounds like it starts with a A.) caught both mistakes. I do not think he'll ever let me forget them.

The school is amazing! They are way more advanced then I ever thought they would be. The school has a brand new science lab and it is a beauty. Not much different than the states. They do not have as much supplies, but at least they have the basics. I still do not know what I am teaching for sure because there may be another girl from Southern coming, but I think I will be teaching physics since I was given the book.

After classes, I quick did laundry and then went to play cricket with some of the neighbor kids and Sumaiah. Sumaiah is a girl my age that lives below me and she is from Pakistan. She speaks Urdu and some English. I have a feeling we'll be good friends. No one showed up to play cricket, so instead we played badminton and then went and visited some Pakistani neighbors who fed us. I love some customs :D

I have to say that I have the best neighbors in the universe! Sumaiah's family invited me to go with them out to town and so we went and picked up cake and went to KFC. It's like I never left home :D except the chicken was kinda spicy in a strange way. Still tasted good though. Turned out to be Sumaiah's birthday. We had fun. There are two little kids Avik and Nahuh who are Sumaiah's nefew and niece and they call me Baji Amy, which means Sister Amy in Urdu. They are adorable. Nahuh is two and I can't walk down the stairs without her inviting me in their home. I have to tip toe when I am in a hurry. Apparently she does not take to people quickly, but she sure has attached to me right from the start.

So far I love it here. The only complaint I have is even though I washed my towel, it still smells like the market. Oh well, maybe a few more washes will take care of that.

Market Day

I am shopped out.

Today we went to the market(s) We went to Psha Manong (the wet market, wet because well... when it rains it's wet and muddy) That is the market close to the school where we can do quick shopping.

We then went to Saryia which is the airconditioned mall in the city. Very nice. It's like a mall in the USA but with Khmer words everywhere instead of English. We went to the Lucky store there which is basically a supermarket and got some basic supplies. Let me tell you that it is interesting trying to pick out laundry degergent when there is no English on the packaging. In the US, I take forever picking something out. I have to compare prices, look at the most hypoallergenic, find one that is environmentally friendly...etc. and find the perfect one. I have to learn here just to pick the one with the nicest packaging and is the cheapest. Makes it easier to shop. :D

After that we went to Chi Cha's which is an all you can eat Indian restaurant. AMAZING!!!! The meal cost me $3.00 for rice, chappatties (spellings off), daal, and a vegetable. Yum.

Then for cleaning... tons of cleaning... I finally started unpacking my suitcases and cleaning all the cupbourds. I have never killed so many spiders in my life. At least now the apartment is looking lived in and sparkly clean... with no spiders.

Sabbath

Happy Sabbath!

Today was my first Sabbath here in Cambodia and is was jam pack full of things to do. I'll walk you through it.

Woke up at 6 and got ready in my "pent house" It is an apartment above the church that looks out at the city. It is nice. I have a balcony and everything. I want to get plants and have a little garden... but that is in the future. I have a bathroom, of course, but it is very interesting. It has a toilet, sink and a shower all in the room. but not a shower stall. :D There is just a drain in the ground. It takes talent to aim the shower so not everything gets wet. I also have a little friend who lives in the bathroom. A geiko named Gieko. Yes... I know... it's lame but I had to.

8:30 I had English sabbath school with students and younger teachers from CAS (Cambodia Adventist School, where I'm working)

Right after that at 9:30 we had Khmer Church with is spoken in Khmer with English translation. That is the big church service where everyone come.

Then right after that at 11:30 we had English Sabbath school, which is where all the mission and ADRA workers come for sabbath school

Then right after that we had pot luck with lots of good food. The fruit is amazing!!! I will never be able to eat a banana at home again! When they are fresh they do not taste like any banana I have ever had before. Also the watermelon is bright red. not pink. They have mangostein, ramadon, hairy fruit (don't remember the real name, but is bright pink with pink and limegreen hairs coming off it) Those are the fruits I have tried so far.

Then before potluck ended I was invited to go to a home church in town that is a starter church. So Whitaker and I went along to see how it is. That church is how I image mission work. Here at the mission office and the students I have met so far are well off, since they are able to pay for school. I was starting to feel spoiled with all the luxury and it did not seem like Phnom Penh was a city with a lot of poverty and then when we went to the little church I was have to meet the "poor". If you have seen pictures of India when I went there, it looked a lot like that. Tin houses, children with dirty cloths, no shoes... like you see on TV. I'm excited to get involved with that. The people that we went to are the head and assistant head of ADRA Cambodia. ADRA is a big organization that helps with international development, and I always thought it would be nice to work with or for them, so it good experience to see what ADRA does.

Right after that came back for English church, and then went over to Tim and Faye's house (I don't know their official title, but I think he is the head of the missions office here in Cambodia) We ate popcorn and played some settlement game, which I failed at miserably.

Well... This is just a summery.

I'm doing great. I love the people and have made tons of friends! There are people form everywhere here. My neighbors below me are from Pakistan and the two little kids call me Baji Amy which means sister Amy in Pakistani (or abul i think is the name of the language... something like that) They already won my hear. I also have Korean neighbors my age, Hannah and Grace. Hannah was so excited to hear I was coming because I was a 20 something girl who was not married. They work for ADRA Korea. All they other volunteers are married. Alot of them are from Australia.

Well, I hope this gives you a little taste of what has happened so far. Tomorrow I am off the the market!

flights

Well, tomorrow I am off to Chicago for my flight. I will be leaving at 9:50 Wednesday morning and will be arriving at 9 p.m. Thursday Chicago time, and 9 a.m. Friday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I am finishing my last touches to packing, so hopefully I will not forget anything.

If you would like to write to me my address is

%Cambodia SDA Mission P.O.Box 488 Phnom Penh, Cambodia



Thanks for all your prayers!

Amy