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.