Gifts Recieved

My package took weeks and weeks to arrive but it did! Kate took the presents to CCH Orphange along with one of her students from Northbridge School and his Mom. Inspired by what the parent saw at the Like Me's concert, she is now involved with helping the children at the orphanage.
This is Rak Smey with her new doll. The look on her face brings me such joy. She is so beautiful.

This is Lida with her gifts. I really think she likes her Justin Bieber T-shirts.


























This is Mousti, He is the 4th grade student from the Northbridge School. He is from Australia. His father works at the Cambodia Embassy. He is teaching the children about silly bands. I sent over 200 silly bands because I knew all the children could get one Here Mousti is explaining how kids trade and collect them.








That is Mousti's mom playing jump rope with the kids. From my understanding she has organized clothing drives and is visiting once a month with her son.







Special Thanks to Kate for taking these photos. A part of my heart will forever be at CCH Orphanage. The mail system in Cambodia is so unreliable. Now that Kate is no longer in Cambodia, I plan on still sending small gifts and hopefully they will get delivered from a parent or another teacher at Kate's former school.

Happy Birthday!

With Al's help we are putting together this small birthday box for a few of my special friends from CCH Orphanage. Those girls are Rak Smey and Lida and they both made a mark on my heart. We got the girls each a Justin Bieber T-shirt. Rak Smey is getting the groovy girl and Lida some Uno cards. Knowing that we can not send a large box, we then put in packs of "silly bands" for them to give out to the other children. I also put in all my printed pictures that I took of them doing the crafts. I suspect that it will take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive. I do not know that dates of their actual birthdays. The gifts will either be late or early, depending on how you look at it. In the three weeks since I have been home, a day has not gone by that I do not ponder and smile and think about how wonderful and amazing all the children are.

Happy Birthday Lida and Rak Smey!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Temples

Sorry for such a delay in my posts. When I came home life just continued with work and family, I have not made the time to gather my thoughts. I will cherish those mornings sitting in Kate's apartment in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city with only Nannie.

After a 5 and a half hour bus (van) ride through the Cambodian country side, we arrived in the the beautiful city of Siem Riep. This van drove unbelievably fast through the countryside. I captured this video with my tab. The best part was trying to communicate to our driver that Kate needed to use the rest room. He finally did stop. The other travelers in the van were not happy.

Adam our tuk tuk driver was phoned ahead from his brother in Phnom Penh and greeted us "limo" style at the bus station. Adam is a Cambodian Don Johnson. He made us laugh. He drove us to our hotel and said he would be happy to be our guide for the next day. He picked us up in the Tuk Tuk by 9 a.m. He has placed a white silk cover over the seat of the tuk tuk and filled a bucket with cold bottles of water.

We arrived first at the main gate. These statues line the rode entering into the area where the temples are located. It is like you are entering one of our state parks. There is an area where you pay to enter into the park.

View from inside the temple.



HISTORY

Angkor Wat was conceived and constructed under Suryavarman II (r. 1113—50). Angkor Wat and the complex of temples surrounding it, planned as a sepulcher and a monument to the divinity of the monarch and measuring about 1 sq mi (2.6 sq km), it is probably the largest religious structure in the world. It was built at the height of the Khmer Empire, which at the time controlled Cambodia, Laos, much of Vietnam, and a portion of Thailand.

The temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu (the Supreme Being, master of the past, present, and the future), and became the king’s temple and capital. In the 14^th or 15^th centuries, the temple was transformed into a Buddhist temple, the royalty and residents converted to Theravada Buddhism—but Hindu influence can still be seen throughout the temple complex. What we know of the history of Angkor Wat is derived mostly from a written account given by a Chinese ambassador to the Khmer Empire. The Khmer wrote on rendered palm leaves which do not last as does paper, so we can only examine the structure itself for the Khmer perspective.

Paraphrased from:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9793/9793.ch01.html

We spent the day driving with Adam from temple to temple. One was more beautiful than the next. The images carved into the stonework were amazing. I am so blessed to have seen such a wonder of the world.

View down one of the many "hallways".

Siem Reap

I am back from the weekend at Siem Reap. I will post pictures of all the temples when I get home. I was unable to post from the temples. It was amazing and inspiring. Anyway, I get back on an airplane in about 8 hours. It will be another 24 hours before I am home. I will continue to write when I get home and put up some pictures. See you Soon!

History Of Cambodia

I have spend much of my time here really trying to get to know the people and understand the culture. I am honest when I tell everyone I have met has been kind and wonderful. Theirs lives are centered around family and taking care of each other.

To fully understand, Kate knew it was important to learn a huge part of the history. Mr. Phalley and Kate took me to the Toel Slang Musuem. Here I got a tour guide and went in alone. This was once a public high school which was taken over and used to torture anyone who was perceived in the way of the take over of Cambodia. Each classroom in the school was used to torture men, women and children. I am not going to post pictures, it was pretty intense.

It is estimated that approximately 2 million Cambodian citizens died during this time period.

The Khmer Rouge was the name given to the followers of the Communist Oarty of Kampuchea. They are who were the ruling political party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot.

This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering, which resulted in genocide. It's attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases. The Khmer Rouge forced all people to country side to live simple and controlled lives. They were forced to work in the fields and to create irrigation systems. Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived elements (intelligent and educated people) Ultimately from what I understand they tortured and executed the countries most intelligent citizens as a way of taking control. So many people I have met here lives have been changed by this. This include Mr. Phally who's father was an engineer and was killed in 1976 when Mr. Phalley was eight. Nannie's husband was killed is the civil war leading up to the Khmer Rouge. She was left with 3 children under the age of 7. Her son was 2 months old when his father was killed.

This history is a huge part of life now in Cambodia. They continue to rebuild their lives and re-educate the people. Most educated men and women were killed. For years children did not attend school because children needed to work in order for what was left of the family to eat.

Today in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge is the reason why 50% of the population is under 21. Although most children want to attend the public school, children who attend the public school here only attend half day. Older school children attend in the morning and younger children in the afternoon.

Fishing along the river.

Today I am taking the 4 hour bus ride out to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat Temples. I will take tons of pictures. We are staying in a hotel there and will be returning in time for my flight home of Sunday. I am loving this experience but am getting quite homesick. If I can get wifi I will post pictures from Angkor Wat.

Children are Children

Yesterday when I left for "work" Mr. Phalley asked me if I would like to go on a tour before going to Northbridge. I of course said. "yes, akun (thank-you). We rode by all the embassy buildings, the important monuments, the king's palace, his son's school, his neighborhood, and the bridge where the tragedy occured during the rain festival where over 300 people lost lives due to overcrowding the bridge. They were crushed. I only heard/understood less than half of what he said but it sights were beautiful.



When I arrived at school, I went quickly to work. I felt like it was a typical work day at home. I finished up three evaluations, met with one teacher for a consultation, and then my favorite part of the day, I taught a lesson in a second grade classroom. I brought the letters from my class to the second grade classroom at Northbridge. In this room are 16 second grade children from all over the world. Some are from Cambodia, two American, Costa Rica, India, Korea, and the teacher is from South Africa. The teaching assistant is from Cambodia.

When I entered, they were finishing a writing assignment of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They were very excited to tell me all about it. The teacher introduced me and said that I had letters from USA and I would like to share them and that they would be writing back to the children in America. As you can imagine they were very excited. I told the teacher that if she needed to get something done or could use the time, that I was fine. She took me up on my offer and I had the group to myself. I brought the entire group to the carpet and explained again who I was and what we were going to do. The children then took turns telling me their names. I had eight letters and 16 children so it was perfect. I told the children to break into pairs and decide who was going to be the author and who would be the illustrator. They did this quickly. I then told them to return to the table and begin. It was fun to see them all work together and problem solve. They had many questions for me. One in particular was from a boy Erich. He is one of the children from Cambodia from a wealthy family. He asked me if the boy he was writing to from my class was rich or poor? Stunned a little by the question, because that is not typical at home to ask, I replied, actually by American standards, he is poor. Erich replied, I am wealthy and I will bring things for him tomorrow. Withing 40 minutes all the groups had finished, I had collected the letters and the teacher returned. While the children were cleaning up, I asked her about a boy named Raymond in the class. Raymond was clearly autistic. He spoke very little, only repeated phrases and spent the who time "stimming" with his matchbox car. The sweet little girl that was his partner did the work herself with no complaint. The teacher told me that she has no training in special needs and his parents do not recognize autism and that he will learn in due time. I thanked her for allowing me to teach her class and returned to Kate's office. My class is going to really love reading these letters and seeing the pictures.

A friend ask me about health care here. What I have come to understand that if you have money and have a medical issue or are having a baby you fly to Thailand where they have quality hospitals and doctors. If you do not have money there are these clinic all round. You can walk in and pay to see a doctor. I have been walking all around though and I have not seen anyone in any of them .


There are pharmacies on every corner where without prescription you can go in and buy whatever you want. The have antibiotics, pain medicine, anti-depressants, all that you want for a price. Interesting.

My Amazing Friend

Some of you reading this know my dear friend Katie. Here she is with one of my new dear friends Lida. Lida is only in the fourth grade and does very well with understanding English. She can communicate some.

I am one of the lucky ones who has some of best people in the world as my friends. They support me and are always their when I need them. Sometimes it just a nice card in the mail that truly can make your day. My friends are all so special to me and I need them all. Those of you who I love, you know who you are!

My friend is Kate is truly one of the most amazing people I know. Our relationship started when I was assigned to be her mentor at Mansfield Schools. I did my best to teach her all that I knew about teaching, interacting with parents, what to expect, what not to expect. After the first year, we decided that our philosophies of teaching and children were so similiar that we needed to team teach. We both so strongly believe that being able to connect with student's emotional and letting them know and feel that you care truly makes lessons easier to understand. Thankfully Mansfield accepted our proposal and thus our relationship grew stronger. After that year, Kate needed to return to Falmouth schools where she has taught until coming to Cambodia. During that time she went on to get her masters in school counseling. I tried to do the program with her, knowing that much of what I do is more like counseling and that I would be able to reach more children. The school demand was too much for me with working and wanting more to be with Al, Max, and Sarah than in school. Being home and keeping my house and cooking meals they love makes me happier. So maybe when everyone is older and they need me less, I will try again. Who knows what I will do next. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would go to Cambodia I am not sure of that answer. That year in Mansfield was one of the best years I had as an educator. I have had other classes in other schools that will always be with me but that was really a special year. There is ten years between Kate and me and we continue to learn so much from each other. Because I am spending the late mornings and early afternoons in her school, I again get to watch her magic. She makes every interaction with every child no matter how large or small special. Everyone wants and needs a piece of her. In this school she is the only counselor for grades PK to 12. In the morning yesterday she had a play therapy group for 3 preschoolers who are not yet talking socially then 1 hours later a group of 4 boys adjusting to life in Cambodia then an hour late a senior in high school, in tears, I am not sure why. I stayed out of that group. She is staying hear just the one year and moving on, but she will make an impact on these people and many of them will keep her in their heart forever. Thank you Kate for letting me tag along on your journey. What this has done for me can not be measure and I would have never had the courage without you. I am looking forward to the day when we are swapping grandchildren photos and talking about Cambodia.




This is Pov Nivath and she is three. She is a little diva and could quite possibly the only one to give Kate a run for her money. She is cute, crafty, and so smart. She is so in charge of that orphanage and getting her needs met.







Here you see Pov Nivath washing her own lunch dishes.


If you allow special people in your world you will have a more fulfilling life.

Everyday Life in Cambodia

People here are truly amazing. They live what appears to be very harmonious lives in such tight and crowded spaces. I speak and write the truth when I say, I have seen nothing but peaceful and happy people. They gather together in large groups in the open spaces and exercise, they sit around and talk, and everyone I have passed in the street and along the side of the rode smiles and waves. There is really something to be said about the statement, "it is all you know." Living this life is what they know. You can not long and wish for something that you are not aware of.

Driving along in the tuk tuk I spotted this sight and Kate said it was a wedding. They take place right along the side of the rode with tarps over the top and then beautiful decorations underneath. I peaked inside and they had an open pit where they were preparing the meal. I wish I had seen the bride and groom but they had not yet arrived.

I love weddings.

ALL along the road people are living their lives and trying to earn money by selling anything and everything. This is a typical "restaurant" found along the street. Most "restaurants" are carts and people are handed a small straw mat to sit along side of the cart."This one is fancy."


Seeing images like this are not uncommon:

[Sorry it is sideways but if you knew how long it takes to upload each image you would understand, and I have no idea how to flip it.]

She is sitting on a bicycle. Seeing a woman this age is rare. 50% of the Cambodian population is under 21 due to the Khmer Rouge. I will talk more about that in another entry.


This is the view from the apartment. It is taken from the balcony. We are on the top floor above a store. It is right along side of the river and really the prettiest part of the city that I have seen. This photo was taken at 6:30 a.m. which is the exact time each morning that the elephant takes his daily walk. In an hour from now the street below is completed filled with motor bikes, carts, some automobiles, and tuk tuks.

Mr. Phalley is picking me up in 20 minutes, so I need to pack up my bag with what I am taking to the orphanage today. I think I am bringing more plain paper and the dice so I can teach the girls some math games using dice.

Long Division and Algebra

I arrived by Mr. Phally's tuk tuk at Northbridge International School by 11:30 this morning. By then Kate had lined up three children who their teachers felt were struggling overall in reading. Because this is a private international school, some children are from all over the world but a good portion are wealthy Cambodians. These children speak Khmer (pronounced Khe-my) at home yet this school only teaches in English. I spent some time speaking with the English second language consultant. She said that determining whether the children are having trouble phonetically (meaning not correcting pronouncing words thus interfering with comprehension) or whether a general vocabulary weakness was interfering with comprehension. Never the less these three children all falling a little behind the rest of the group and knowing why will help to bring them up.

I spent about 45 minutes with each child, testing letter names, sounds ,sight words and comprehension. I will meet with their teacher tomorrow to explain what the results of the testing. I have two other children to test tomorrow and then I am doing a lesson with a classroom. I have brought with me from home the letters my Ascend class wrote and the Northbridge students will write letters back. I am really excited about that.

Anxious to get back to the orphanage, I left Kate at 3:30 and Mr. Phalley took me back over. Kate stays late after school each day to exercise. It is only a 15 minute tuk tuk ride. Talk about two different worlds. Country club to poverty. I thought the children would be back from school by the time I arrived. Only the upper school girls were there. Elementary children are not dismissed until 4:30. Some of the girls were the same girls that we took to the concert. I explained that today I brought coloring books. They were not so thrilled but two girls said they would come to the "library" with me. It was clear they knew I came with the best if intentions and did not want to disappoint. I set up what I brought and they each took a book and fresh box of crayons as did I and we colored. I started making small talk and asked if they had homework and did they need any help. They said no it was easy. Although they learn some English in Cambodian public school, it is not quality and communication was tough. I asked if they did Math and they replied yes but hard. Trying to get a feel for what an 8th grader did there, I wrote a long division problem on some of the plain paper. They shot right up with "yes yes show me"..
I did one out in front of them. I wrote one out for each and coached them through it. They were psyched. They acted like they had just won American Idol. They handed me back the pencil to make more problems. One girl knew some multiplication facts the other more. I showed them how to make a multiplication chart. I began making them more difficult and they would look back at previous problems to remember. While the one was finishing writing out her tables, I showed the one this: 6 + b = 15 b=? and explained this is Algebra. We did several together. I showed her how she needed to get the variable to one side and solve. Within a half hour she was solving equations like this 2f +6 = 14. I quickly hand wrote out a page of these and told her "homework". I then gave the other one a handwritten page of long division. They are expected me back to correct. I never thought I would be teaching any Math. Those who know me well, know it is not a favorite, but after today it is.


The girl on the far left was in my Math class today. :)

New words I learned today: "an seopol" which means read book.

Tomorrow using the computer in Kate's school I will print off as many Math sheets I can.





**As I was leaving the younger children began to arrive, I found Rak Smey and showed her that I left a stack of coloring books and crayons up in the library. As I was leaving the room began to fill with the younger children all happy to be laying on the floor with a new coloring book and a fresh box of crayons. All was well.



Remember the boy and the watercolors? When I left the orphanage today I did not see him. I got back in the tuk tuk and rode the 15 minutes back to Northbridge. As we waited at the gate for Kate to come out, a boy rode up along side in a bicycle. It was him, he had heard I was back and followed the tuk tuk to show me he still had the watercolors.

The Market

I am heading out to Kate's School this morning. Mr. Phalley, the tuk tuk driver is picking me up at 11. When I arrive, I will begin the reading assessments. This school Northbridge is a private school and has children from all over the world. Most come from wealthy families. However there are some children on scholarship. There are several able to attend because they have a sponser.

So before I leave I need to share some pictures of the market. All over the city are open markets. This is where all the Cambodians go to buy everything they need. They do have some closed grocery stores, but to Cambodians the prices are too high and they cater to westerners.






















Yes those are what they look like..bugs! Cockroaches, ants, and many that I had no idea. Cambodians were purchasing them by the tin can.
No, I did not try. I have been sticking to all American food.

Watercolors

.

.
Thanks to the generous donations of some wonderful people back home, I was able to watercolor paint with 40 children today. To spread the fun over time, I only brought 12 of the paint sets and a stack of paper with me today. They shared the paint and paper beautifully; not one bit of what I normally see when there is not enough to go around. The children were just so happy to have an activity on a Sunday afternoon. There is only one adult staffed at the orphanage on the weekends. There are 80 children there. Although I brought extra brushes there was not enough to go around. They quickly started using their fingers and created the most amazing art. Picture 40 children spread out on the floor just painting. It was beautiful.


This boy here is five. He didn't speak much but did paint many pictures.

Some children choose to copy from books. You can see on the right of the picture, he is drawing Simba. Most other children made creative drawings. One boy did the most amazing Spiderman. He has been wearing a batman shirt; he likes the superheros.



This was the "girly" group.
They all took their paintings to decorate their space.









The boy on the left is named Srey Pov. He is 14. In this photo he was just getting started on what turned out to be an amazing watercolor painting. I asked him to sign the bottom, and gave him a black pen. He was a little confused and spoke only little English. I told him that artists sign their work. He signed it and then presented it to me as a gift. I insisted that he keep it and decorate his room but he wanted me to have it. It is an amazing watercolor of the Cambodian country-side. I plan on having it framed and display it proudly. This a souvenir not sold in any shop.

When we were leaving, several of the paint containers still had a fair amount of paint remaining. I found Srey Pov and gave him some watercolors with several pieces of paper and told him he should continue to paint. He replied, I will, "acucharan" (thank-you in Cambodian) teacher.

I have learned three Cambodian words. My favorite I used over and over today..Suhad.which means beautiful.

Rak Smey

This is Rak Smey. She is an amazing little girl. She is in the second grade. Today was the second day I went to the orphanage. I was honest with the children and told them I was only visiting Cambodia. They have so many people come in and out of their lives. Most travelers usually only come once and don't stay long.

Today Kate and I went with the watercolors and plain white paper. We spent hours just painting. Most gave me their pictures!! They are amazing. I will try and upload those pictures. I am finding it hard to upload multiple pictures as the internet here can't handle it. When I left she hugged me and said "my friend teach." She knows little English, so this was huge.

Day One at the Orphanage

Today I spent the entire day and evening with the children living at "Children Center for Happiness" in Phnom Penh. There are 80 children here ranging in age from 3-18. We arrived about 12:30 in the afternoon and brought only foam art craft project.

I thought for the first visit we should only bring one activity and assess the situation. Max and I purchased these together. Sarah thought they were really cool so I thought it would be fun. There were colorful foam pieces that when dipped in water stuck together. They spent over two hours making all kinds of sculptures. Some made flowers, others made necklaces, robots, furniture, even a snail. The creativity was amazing and both the boys and the girls loved it. While kids were still creating with the foam, some of the children asked me to read to them and others wanted me to hear how well they read. One girl named Rak Smey read in such beautiful English. She read me the entire story Rapunzel. The smallest child there name PovNiivath climbed into my lap as I was reading to a little boy. While I was reading, she fell fast asleep. :) The other children showed me to her room where I laid her down to nap.

Each small bedroom holds eight or nine children. Each child has a very small space of their own. They have wooden bunk beds, only some of the beds have mattresses. The room reminded me of something you find in a summer camp, but much smaller. All the children were amazingly happy.

The orphanage has two internet computers and the children kept asking me if I knew singers such as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. When they get computer access, they go on you-tube and were so hip to American culture.

The second part of the day, we took 24 of the teenagers on a "field trip." Kate's school which a private school here in Cambodia was having a rock concert. It was hosted on by the school's Parent Group (think, PTA). They agreed to sell us the tickets at half price so we could bring the children from the orphanage. Kate, her boyfriend Dusty, a friend of Kate's, whom she met here, Kara, and I loaded these 24 teens into 4 tuk tuks and we took them to the concert. There was a DJ and then the rock band played. These boys and girls were so gracious and polite. They loved every minute of it. They have never seen this kind of a live music performance. Very similar to schools at home, the PTA had raffles. I used some of the money given to me for the children to buy the 24 tickets; one for each. THREE of "our" kids won. A boy won a box of chocolate (very expensive here), one of the the two girls won $20 cash (the average monthly wage for a Cambodian is about 50 dollars!), and the other girl won a "self defense" class at the school. I was beyond excited for them and of course I cried. What was most amazing to me was how the children that did not win the raffle congratulated their housemates and it was genuine. The funniest part was that they really had no idea what a raffle was, they only knew that their name was called and they got a prize.

[**I have the most amazing photos of the day. I was able to upload them onto Kate's computer but can not seem to get them onto the blog. I have been attempting this for an hour now. :( I will try again tomorrow or maybe facebook them.]

I'm Here!!

Where to begin? Well I will start with the flight. I so bravely posted about the wonderful airport and being excited, well I got to my seat, looked around, and lost it. I mean true sobbing. The screen on the headrest in front of me was written in all Korean as were most of the people around me and the flood gates opened and I began to cry. Still being on the ground, I texted Al this, "I'm losing it".
He quickly writes back take deep breaths, relax, you will be OK. If it was not for that I would have run off that plane so fast. I continued to cry softly in my chair for the next hour (or two). I was so overcome with emotion and I could not stop. The beautiful young Korean couple just kept smiling at me.

Although I knew the length of the flight, I was not prepared for how long 16 hours non-stop on an airplane. The crew was so amazing, so was the food and service but I could not really sleep like others did. Plus I packed way to much in my carryon, which was under my seat so I could not stretch out my legs. About 10 hours into the flight, I overhear an American women a few rows back talking to the flight attendant about the flight being behind schedule. I was confused because we did leave on time. This women was watching the flight on the headrest moniter (I of course could not figure this out) and noticed we were landing 2 hours later than scheduled. I panicked knowing that my connection was scheduled for only two later is Korea. I got out of my seat and asked her to explain this me. She said that all they told her is that we were late and they would keep us informed about our connecting flights. PANIC set in again. What was I going to do alone is Seoul on a layover? Yes you guessed more tears. All I kept thinking is Al will take care of it. I knew he was home watching this all online and would take care of me. I relaxed again, ate a delicious meal and had some wine. The flight attendants during the lunch service kept walking up and down the aisle with white and red wine refilling cups. This helped a little more. I watched one more movie and fell asleep for almost 3 hours.

Shortly after waking up, they let me know that the airline was going to hold my connecting flight. The kind women behind me who was connecting to another airport in Cambodia was not as lucky. Her flight left without her and the 16 other people in her group. They were a church group from New Jersey here for mission work. They were trying to figure out what they were going to do. I wished them all the best. We landed after 16 hours and I RAN to the next gate to get on the next plane for Phnom Penh. So much for my plans that I had for the 2 hour layover. I had fresh clothes and planned on washing my face ect. oh well. This second plane was very small. I managed to get through the next 6 1/2 hours. No tears. I knew I was almost here and Kate would meet me at the airport.

I landed and quickly and easily went through customs, got my luggage and walked to curb where Kate was waiting for me. She had never looked more beautiful. I was overcome with emotion again and we both just sobbed among all the people . She had a tuk tuk waiting for us and we loaded in my 3 enormous bags. She had a global phone all ready so I called home to let Al know I was safe.

We rode through the streets of Phnom Penh in this tuk tuk. A tuk tuk is a motorcycle with a covered cart that you sit in. It is all open air. It was close to 1 am by now and I was so surprised by the amount of people and children in the streets. There were food cart after food carts and open air "restaurant" everywhere. Picture the food carts you see outside of Fenway. One after the other but the food was nothing like I had seen before. Kate said she has never eaten "street food" or would not recommend it. As if I needed that warning. After about a 20 minute Tuk tuk ride we arrived at her apartment. We climbed the 6 flights of stairs with the 100 pounds of school supplies I had and entered her apartment. The pictures does not do it justice. It is beautiful inside. Clean and welcoming. I called home again, this time on Skype.

Kate and I stayed up for a little while talking. I told her I can not believe she did all this by herself. She is amazing.

I slept a little last night. The sounds and smells are all so different. Kate and Dusty were up early. I was up very early, we sat out on the balcony and had coffee. It was beautiful to see the city come alive. As we sat casually a man and his elephant walked by. As I am rushing in for my camera, I was told this is a daily occurance. OK. They left for school only shorty after the arrival of "nannie" This is the Cambodian women who lives next door. She comes every morning to prepare their lunch and then clean the apartment. She does not speak any English. I have been communicating with her all morning with smiles and nods. She scolded me in her language for trying to make up my bed and wash my coffee cup. She cut me fresh mango. There is not way for me to describe the incredible taste. I tried to nap, again orders from "nannie". No luck. When I returned from the shower, all of my clothing from the day before was washed and hanging out on the balcony to dry. I did my best to show gratitude. I think she felt it. I then showed her pictures of Max and Sarah. She smiled and said "beautiful"!

I am going to unpack and sort the school supplies. Kate and I are going first thing in the morning to the orphanage. I will put up pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that on Kate's computer. I do not have mine hooked into the wifi yet.

"Nannie" and I spend the rest of the afternoon together. She helped me to unpack and sort the crayons, coloring books, paints, ect. We did our best to communicate with each other. She loved looking through all the books. She brought over her son, who looked to me to be around 16 and asked him to try and translate. His English is a little better than her. His mom asked him to ask me if I was an "artist". I tried to explain that I was a teacher. I am not sure they understand. She continued with chores and I offered to help. At first I found her presence so strange. I didn't know how to act or what to say. As the day goes on, I find her comforting.

Airport

As I wait at my gate here at JFK I am overwhelmed with excitement and nervousness. The flight crew for Korean Air just walked past me. The women were so incredibly beautiful. I wanted to take a photo but feared being rude.
Going through security for this flight was quite different than other flights I have taken. The gates are all to Japan or Korea. Everyone, I mean everyone was so unbelievably polite and orderly. Quite different than security in say Orlando or Boston.

I board in just a few minutes. Wish me luck.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

My temporary wedding ring

Al and I decided that it was not a good idea for me to wear my diamond wedding rings on this trip so we purchased this simple sterling silver ring. Al decided that ring needed to be blessed. I thought he was going to church and dip the ring in the holy water by the door. Oh no. He called our church today and talk to Father Crowley. Father asked us to come down and meet with him so he could give me a prayer of safe travel. To be honest it really helped with my nerves. Thank you Father.

After that he said "temporary" rings do not need to be blessed. Good to know.

After the meeting we headed to Olive Garden to celebrate mom and dads birthday. We had so many laughs. I have the best parents in the world. There support of all my decisions gives me so much strength.

Sarah had a few tears when I tucked her in. Max was so sweet and told me not to worry, he would be nice to her tomorrow.

The suitcases are sealed and we are heaing to the airport very very early. Tomorrow will sure be a long day.
Thanks again to everyone who donated. Love Love!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Letter Writing

Today my class of fourth and fifth graders wrote letters to the children in Cambodia. They all wrote really sweet letters saying where we lived and how it is close to the Atlantic Ocean. They each wrote what they like to do when not in school. They all should be really excited to get letters back when I return.

Spent a little bit more time packing tonight. We decided that since the airline will allow 2 checked bags that I should really fill them up. I was given more coloring books, some money, and an entire stack of good drawing paper today. Tonight I found these great syrofoam puffs that the kids can use to make sculptures. They have no weight. I thought those would be fun for the boys. I then got the great idea of bringing string and beads for the girls to make necklaces and bracelets, knowing Sarah had so many bead kits in the craft area. I made a few calls to friends who I knew would have tons in the playrooms.

I fly out Wednesday.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

I am so thankful for Al's packing skills. He managed to fit all of this in as well as some creature comforts for my friend Katie. She has been missing stovetop stuffing, goldfish crackers, Reeses peanut butter cups, and Trader Joe's granola. All of that is in this suitcase.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Packing up all the supplies

I am filling my second suitcase with as many classroom supplies as can fit. Thanks to the generosity of many kind people I will be able to provide new supplies to many Cambodian children.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Packing

So I have layed out all the clothing that I am bringing to Cambodia. Comfort is prevailing over fashion for this trip. I plan on packing all of my clothing in my carry on luggage.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7