I’ve been struggling for days with how to describe Cambodia to you
How to give you an idea of what we do
How to paint a picture of our life here
So far from home, but with God’s children so dear
Then somehow my writing began to change
my thoughts became poetic, my blog a bit strange
Then it hit me, the only way to show
you the beauty of Cambodia was to let go
Let the rhyme be free and just give it a start
So here you go, written straight from my heart
I hope it paints a colorful picture in your mind
of the life we live here, during this time
”Cambodia is….”
Cambodia is living in a village in the middle of nowhere
too small for a map, too small for cabbies to care
It is sitting through church services in a language I don’t know
and smiling and clapping as the kids do their show
It is people nodding even though they have no idea what we say
and us trying to act out what we mean each day
It is our hosts serving us entire heapfuls of rice
and us trying to eat it all, to be nice
It is orphans biking around alone to pass the day
with no one to watch them or shelter their way
It is humming the Macarena 30 times in a row
so the kids can learn the right moves on the 21st go
It is children watching us through every window
and us teaching them every game we know
It is bright sunsets that turn the dust to rosy red,
making the tin roofs glow above our heads
It is having little shadows constantly following along
and holding dance classes when they play a random American song
It is hiding from the blistering sun of the day
everyone cozy and cool in hammocks where they lay
It is mass graves that scar the ground
reminding of past travesties with every pit and mound
It is saying “A says ‘aaaaa’” ten times in a row
before the darling child in your lap looks up at you and says ‘o?’
It is stray chickens, playing puppies, and snobby cats,
horrible mosquito, huge ants, and numerous gnats
It is the common option of traveling to Thailand to earn cash
or bringing your children with you to collect and sell trash
It is learning that the little boy down the road is eight
not four as we thought because of his weight
It is throwing a giggling toddler high in the air
knowing her opportunities in life will be neither numerous nor fair
It is hearing people sing karaoke late into the night
only to be woken by Buddhist chants at first light
It is hanging your clothes all on a line
after swishing them in well water to wash them of grime
It is amazing people sharing all the food they have
and an amazing grandma covering your every mosquito bite in salve
It is smiling Church members with rotting teeth and dirty faces,
leaving piles of shoes outside the Church with no laces
It is dry and dusty and hard and fun
It is another step on a journey that has just begun
