I'm Alive!

So I made it to Cambodia without any problems. We made it in around 11pm Thursday (at least, I think it was Thursday, I'm not quite sure). Surprisingly, we woke up at 7 the next morning, just in time to go with the BYKOTA kids to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 3D. The theater was nicer than the one at home!

The kids were playing ninja while we waited for the theater to open. 

 

Transportation here is crazy. The only rule here seems to be that the bigger you are, the more right of way you have. We used a tuk tuk, which is a moped with a sort of carriage attached to the back. It is quite fun to ride in. For some reason, I haven't been taking a lot of pictures, but I will be taking some more in the next couple of days, especially of the roads.

The Benz kids have been pretty cool so far, and I'm not just saying that because Seth is looking over my shoulder proofreading and commenting on everything I type. Baby Leah apparently has a hard time getting used to new people, but she took to me pretty quickly, which was surprising.

Baby Leah!

The rest of the kids have made it feel like they've known me for a long time. Sarah, one of the ones that I will be teaching kindergarten to, is pretty shy. But her favorite color is purple so she has fallen in love with my hair and asked if I could do hers too.

Rhonda warned me about the BYKOTA boys having pretty girl syndrome. Its actually quite funny. They don't have much English so they were trying to have a conversation with me while they were embarrassed and we didn't speak much of the same language. Chantal came out and told me what the boys were saying in Khmer.

Yesterday, Dad and I went to the Killing Fields, one of the places where the Khmer Rouge slaughtered thousands of innocent people. Rhonda said it was important to go in the beginning because it makes you see the country with a different perspective.  It was done quite differently than if an American had designed it. They built a large memorial and inside are many of the skulls that have been recovered. It is not done that way to be gory or distasteful, it is their way of honoring the dead.

After the Killing Fields, we ate lunch then went to the market with Hannah. She is another intern who is on her forth trip here and she's pretty awesome. The market was indoors and you could find anything from pirated dvds (Cambodia is outside of the international copyright laws so it's not illegal) to clothes, to groceries.It was crazy, because they crammed as many booths into the building as possible. There were so many people all speaking a language different to what I was used to. I was surrounded by so many new and different things. I loved it.  I got a few little things to send home with Dad. I didn't want to buy a lot on my first day, and I expect to do more shopping over the next couple of days.

Today Dad and I are leaving to spend a few days up in Sieam Rep seeing the temples. One I get back the real work begins! I am not sure what the internet situation will be up there, so I may not update this until Wednesday.

Traveling

I'll be writing things throught the day and posting them when I have an internet connection. This probably won't be uploaded until Thursday. 

Wednesday, 12:35pm est 

We woke up at 7 this morning (more accurately Mom woke me up at 7 and then I went back to sleep until she bribed me out of bed with doughnuts). After some last minute packing, we loaded up the car and made our way to the airport. We stopped at a gas station for some much- needed caffeine and the girl who rang us up noticed my Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder shirt and commented, "I thought that was a book!" Made me happy that someone else knew that. I had to fill her in on the musical and how wonderful it is. Of course, once we got to the airport I had to go and make things harder for myself by breaking ANOTHER toe by dropping my extremely heavy bag onto one of my toes. The corner of the laptop inside it hit my toe. At least I have Tylenol with me. 

We got a glove from one of the food places and filled it with ice. The swelling has gone down tremendously. Now we just have to board the plane! 

Wednesday 5:15pm est

I guess it's to late to turn back now! According to the screen in the back of the seat in front of me, we are currently over Canada. The airplane is pretty cool! We have much more leg room than an American airplane would have. They gave me the tiniest tube of toothpaste that I have ever seen! 

There is this fold down cup holder that doesn't fit the cup of tea I brought with me, as evidenced by the tea on my pants. At least it wasn't too hot. I have no clue why I am allowed to operate anything. Coordination isn't a strong point with me. Neither is thinking to take the things I needed out of my bag in the overhead bin before the plane took off. At least I had my Doctor Who Magazine in my purse! We were served dinner around 3:30. For plane food, it wasn't that bad. *PICTURE* 

I watched Tangled while I ate dinner and drank more tea. I think I might have a tea problem. 

The plane has this really cool thing where they attached cameras to the noes and underbelly of the plane so you can see what you are flying over. Currently all I can see are clouds. 

Wednesday 5:35pm est

My dad is watching Tangled! My dad is sitting next to me and actually watching a Disney movie! Maybe I am still asleep? This never happens.

Wednesday 7:56pm est

Apparently the airline wants us to go to sleep directly after dinner, which for us was 5:30. The closed all of the window shades and turned all of the lights off. Of course, I'm not going to sleep now. I watched most of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical before Dad and I felt the need to walk. We are currently over the polar ice caps, which neither of us had ever seen before. Unfortunately, all of the shades were down and we were sitting in the middle aisle. We found a small window in the back by the emergency exit. The sky was so blue and the ice was so white. There was a hazy line where they met and in that line I seemed like you could see all the way around the world. 

Wednesday 10:34pm est

They have turned the lights back on in the cabin and are serving us either dinner or breakfast, I'm not quite sure which. It's dinner food, but it's after what the flight attendant called "rest time". The food this time around is not as good looking, so I think I'm going to break out the goldfish and then try to sleep. We've got about 5 more hours until we arrive in Seoul. 

Thursday 6:07pm Seoul time 

We are at the Seoul airport waiting to board our connecting flight to Phnom Peh. The rest of the flight here was unevetful. They turned the lights out again directly after dinner/breakfast. I felt kinda like a baby, being fed and them put to sleep again. I slept for about an hour total, unfortunately. I will never understand people who can sleep sitting up. 

The Seoul airport is like a mall that had an airport attached, but without the food court. 

They did have a Smoothie King, which will have to do for dinner. I love being in a place where English isn't the first language. There aren't many Americans here. It's bother refreshing and unsettling because I know I stick out like a sore thumb. I'll post this while I have internet and will keep the two people who actually read this blog updated! 

An Important Discovery

Apparently, thinking about making a blog post and actually making a blog post are two completely different things. I had written out a couple in my head over the last couple of days about packing, being sick, and breaking my toe AGAIN. I am mostly packed, no longer sick, and am just going to let my toe heal itself.

Today was hard. I said goodby to some of the most important people in my life, my voice teacher, one of my best friends, and the Batchelor kiddos. Even though I know that I am coming back, it's still hard to realize that I'm leaving these people. I caught myself thinking today that I have to remember to go to work tomorrow. Somehow, it's just now hitting me that in the morning I have to get up and leave this place that I grew up in- all I've ever really known- and move halfway across the globe to live with people I don't really know. This is what a God wants me to do, but somehow it is just now starting to feel real. I've been planning this for months, but it still sort of seems like one of those things I plan out in my head that never actually is accomplished, like my blog posts. Saying goodby today sort of hit me over the head with the fact that I'm leaving tomorrow to live in another country. In a weird way, it sort of got me excited. I can't wait to get there and meet everyone, especially the kids. I'll get to visit Angor Wat- the temple I've been waiting to see. From the pictures I've seen, it's spectacular. I can't wait to arrive, even if it does mean leaving the people I love.

16 Days and Counting

So in exactly 16 days and one hour, my plane takes off. I guess I should start packing. I have absolutely no clue what to bring. Clothes are probably a good idea, toothbrush, some medical tape and an ace bandage for my broken toe. That's about as far as I've gotten. My packing strategy is to basically throw everything that I think I need in a suitcase and then have my mother go in and fix it.

It just hit me the other day as my best friends and I were celebrating Christmas at Olive Garden- a celebration complete with Santa hats and a mini tree- that I actually have to leave these people. Of course I knew that would happen, but that night the realization of  it hit me like a ton of bricks. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be going. This is the longest that the three of us have been apart since we became friends. We knew it was going to happen eventually, but I had hoped to keep pushing that day off into the distant future. At least I know that they will be here when I get back.