My team spent this month in the jungle near Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. After 10 months on the Race, a lot of things that would shock a lot of people at home have become completely normal to us. We like to call these World Race moments: when radical becomes ordinary. Here’s a glimpse into what daily life looked like this past month in Cambodia.
5:30am – Wake up to the sound of roosters crowing and hymns playing in a foreign language from the nearby church. I’m nice and snug on my sleeping pad, shoulder to shoulder with my teammates and tucked inside my pink mosquito net that I like to pretend is my princess canopy.
6:00am – Get up. Walk downstairs and into the little outhouse the sits amongst the trees. Look around carefully to make sure the palm-sized spider that lives in the bathroom hasn’t come out from its crack in the bricks. Look behind the door and my heart stops when I see something black dangling down the wall. Realize it’s only a belt and not a snake. The bathroom is clear so I can use the squatty potty, brush my teeth and wash my face in peace.
6:10am – Put on clothes that are still damp from yesterday’s sweat. Nothing ever fully dries because of the humidity.
6:12am – Put on deodorant and hope it’s enough to cover the permanent stank that comes from my body. It’s month 10 so all my clothes are basically destroyed and there’s no hope for them ever smelling nice again. These ones are especially smelly because I’ve been wearing them for 3 days in a row.
6:15am – Bible. Coffee. Jesus.
7:00am – Breakfast time. The usual: pork, carrots, and rice.
7:30am – We still have time before our tuk-tuk arrives, so I walk back to the pig pen and grab one of the newborn piglets to hold while we wait.
8:00am – Pile 10 people into a tuk-tuk made for 6 and drive to the church. The World Race not only makes you a pro at fitting your life inside a backpack but also at cramming an unreal number of bodies into a vehicle. (Side note: this month I saw a new record of 6 people on one moto!)
8:20am – Arrive to school where 40 dirt-covered, smiling little faces are squealing with excitement in anticipation of our arrival. They run outside when they see our tuk-tuk then hurry back inside and sit quietly for us to begin teaching.
8:30am – Teach English to the sweet village children that come to school so they can play with the white people. This week we’re teaching the names of fruits and vegetables, days of the week, and family names like mom, dad, son and daughter.
9:30am – The little nuggets have lost concentration so we play their favorite game, duck duck goose, for the rest of class. They don’t understand the concept of saying ‘duck, duck, goose!’ so they hit light, light, light, then hard on each other’s backs. It looks painful but they don’t seem to mind it.
10:00am – Pile back into the tuk-tuk and head home.
10:30am – Nap time.
11:30am – Wake up dripping in sweat. It’s now almost 100 degrees and our second-floor room has turned into an oven.
12:00pm – Lunch time. Pork-stuffed tomatoes, rice, and fresh pomegranate for dessert. Mama Sophy is probably the best cook in Cambodia. She cooks all our meals over a fire and I seriously have no idea how she does it.
2:00pm – Squeeze into our carriage for the third time for our afternoon session with the kids.
2:20pm – Arrive to the same squealing little nuggets, this time with more energy.
2:30pm – Attempt to teach more English. It’s hot and the kids have a much shorter attention span this afternoon so we stop to play games and sing songs.
2:45pm – Wonder if I’m going to die from heat exhaustion from being inside a little tin building in 100+ degree weather.
3:55pm – Pray for the kids before we say goodbye for the day.
4:00pm – My favorite part of the day! All the little sweeties wait at the corner to wave goodbye and send us off. As we drive past they wave and blow the cutest little kisses ever! My little Sophea runs down the road and keeps waving until our tuk-tuk is out of sight. My heart melts……
4:30pm – Arrive back home. Realize I haven’t showered for several days.
4:35pm – Take a bucket shower. Keep a close eye out for mama tarantula. Giggle to myself as I watch the piglets chase each other from the opening in the wall. Pour some extra water over my head because cold water just feels so good! Who would have ever thought I would be so thankful for a cold shower?
5:00pm – Team time.
5:35pm – The sound of a blood curdling scream of one lone pig interrupts team time. We all look at each other, knowing what’s happening, but no one wants to say it.
5:45pm – Finish team time and walk downstairs for dinner. Grandma looks at us and makes a slicing motion across her neck with her finger, confirming what we all feared: the pig is being slaughtered. A few of my brave teammates walk back to the pig pen and find a 320 pound pig hanging upside down, squealing for its life.
6:00pm – Dinner time. Eggs with tomatoes, scallions, pineapple and of course, rice. Thankfully, no pork tonight.
6:30pm – Hang out with our hosts that now feel like real family.
8:00pm – Get my toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash and headlamp and walk to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Carefully open the bathroom door, ready to do my critter check, and I’m greeted by massive eyes reflecting off my headlamp. Mama tarantula has come out of hiding. Seriously, I didn’t know spiders actually got this big.
8:02pm – Keep my head turned and eyes locked on the spider as I hover over the squatty potty.
8:10pm – Walk out of the bathroom, thankful to be away from the spider, and notice the head of that poor squealing pig sitting on the counter. Keep walking and see the whole family by the well, cutting the pig into pieces. Mama Sophy is in her heart-covered, spaghetti strap tank top with a machete in each hand. Admire how BA she is then run upstairs and vow not to come out until morning when the pig’s hopefully gone.
8:15pm – Walk into my room full of sisters that I love, thankful that I have a place of refuge wherever they are.
8:30pm – Daily lice check. Winning for being lice-free thus far.
9:00pm – Crawl under the mosquito net into my place in the row of 8 sleeping pads. Tuck the mosquito net under my sleeping pad to keep the spiders and other unmentionable creatures out of my sleeping area. Pray together against the all the critters.
1:32am – Wake up and have to pee. Hold it and go back to sleep because I’m scared of seeing the pig.
4:12am – Wake up to another blood curdling scream, this time from a human. Jackie felt something fall on her shoulder, heard a squeak and realized it was a rat on her shoulder.
4:16am – Realize I still have to pee but now there’s a rat somewhere in the room and it’s still dark so I try to hold it for just a little bit longer.
5:30am – Roosters start crowing and hymns from the church start playing. It’s now safe to get up and begin another day.
Video credit: Andrea Chvatal
