This month Kiatera and the g:racers are living together at
New Life in Christ Church in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Here is a peek into a
typical day in our lives:
6:00 a.m. Wake-up & shower
Yes the water is cold, but in the
Cambodian heat a cold shower feels pretty good.
7:00 a.m. Kiatera/g:racers breakfast
I have been so excited about breakfast in Cambodia!
Asian cultures don’t do American style breakfast, but this month we are cooking
our own food so breakfast has been coffee, fruit, and pancakes, cereal,
oatmeal, or French toast. I am loving it!
7:30-10:00 a.m. Second grade classroom
I
spend my morning hanging out with my second graders in their classroom. I wish
I could do more actual teaching, but the entire morning is in Khmer and my
teacher doesn’t speak any English so it’s hard to be helpful. But I do enjoy
seeing the schools in Cambodia and playing with the kids during their recess.
10:00-11:00 a.m. Teaching English to 2nd-3rd
graders
For
one hour I have been teaching English to the 2nd and 3rd
grade classes. I really love getting the chance to teach again (even if I’m not
thrilled about the English program here). It’s so cute to hear the kids
chanting in unison “Good morning teacher Lisa!” They are so excited to be
learning English. The kids love to
come to the board to write words and sentences in English. Apparently Americans
have come before us because all the kids will do the traditional Cambodian bow
to say goodbye and then put their
hands up for a high five.
11:00-11:30 a.m. School Lunch
I
spend the last half hour at the school helping to serve lunch to the students
and cleaning up the cafeteria as they finish eating. You will see several World
Racers walking around the cafeteria with bowls of rice or brooms; you wouldn’t
believe how much food gets spilled in a cafeteria for kids ages 3-10.
11:30-1:30 p.m. Free Time
Cambodia
has a great tradition: 12-2 p.m. is naptime. The city practically shuts down
during these two hours. Everyone eats lunch and then naps. I really think
America should get on board with this concept. The best part about the
afternoon nap is that the construction that is constantly occurring outside my
bedroom window quiets during this time. I take advantage of the quiet to eat lunch,
sometimes take a quick nap, and spend some time with Jesus.
1:30-5:00 p.m. Happy Tree
The
first thing we have to do in the afternoon is venture down the market street
outside the church in search of a tuk-tuk. There are always interesting smells emanating
from the stands selling fruit, fish, and fresh meat. Navigating this road means
swerving between the food stands, tuk-tuks, motos, pedestrians, and puddles of
stagnate water from last night’s rain. We
make our way through the crowd and
find our tuk-tuk driver. We all begin to pile into the metal cart attached to
his moto and we are off to Happy Tree. We have been spending our afternoons at
Happy Tree, an AIDS orphanage housing 90 kids. We go every afternoon play, sing
songs and read stories with the kids. It makes a huge difference just to pour
out love on them and to see them smile for a while. The kids LOVE to sing “Ole
le”, play London Bridge, play with our hair, and just be spun in circles. It’s
been so much fun playing with them and loving them. More on this to come in
later blogs.
5:00-7:00 p.m. More Free Time
Some
of the girls are teaching adult ESL classes in the evening (instead of teaching
at the elementary school), but since I am not teaching I have more free time.
It’s been really nice after last month being so chaotic to have time to myself
to read, spend more time with the Lord, blog, just rest, etc. It’s really
refreshing.
7:00 Family Dinner
We
have a wonderful Cambodian cook who is preparing our dinners. All 9 of us
(Kiatera & g:racers) sit together each night for family style dinner. We
have been adopting the g:racer tradition of singing our prayers.
7:30-8:00 Internet
In
Cambodia it’s ridiculously expensive to have internet service at your house
during the day so we only have internet from 7 p.m.- 7 a.m. Usually right after
dinner you will find everyone sitting with their computers checking email,
skyping home, or posting blogs. Well, when it works…
8:00-11:00 Family Time
Each night we enjoy some family time. This always includes
being together and having some sort of snack (Jen’s fantastic popcorn,
brownies, cookies, etc.). Every night looks different; some nights we meet for
Bible study, worship, team meetings, card games, or movie nights. Our family is
having a great time laughing, growing in intimacy with the Lord and one
another, and just enjoying each other’s company.
11:00ish p.m. Bedtime
