Last Sunday some of my teammates and I decided to visit Angkor Wat, the largest religious temple in the world, located in Siem Reap, Cambodia the city where we are living & serving for the month. It’s also one of The Ancient Wonders of the World, built in the 12th century so it was a must visit on our day off.
The cool thing about The Race is we have two days off during the week, a rest day and an adventure day. Just like in normal jobs we have the weekend to relax and have fun. On these days my team looks up activities to do in the Siem Reap area, such as getting fish pedicures (the fish literally eat your feet’s dead skin), eating tarantulas, visiting Angkor Wat, going to a local museum, going to the market to buy souvenirs, etc. Some of these we still need to do.
On Sunday, we woke up at the crack of dawn. We planned to see Angkor Wat during sunrise which meant losing some sleep. Apparently, it’s a thing tourists do. So why not, we’re kinda tourists.
Since it was recommended we decided to wake up at 4am & make the trek on a bumpy tuk-tuk before the sun came up (please google tuk tuk Cambodia and you’ll know what I mean).
Thankfully we arrived before sunrise.
It was beautiful and well-worth loosing sleep.
We walked around the temple. Took pictures. Started feeling the heat in a few hours (the temperature gets to over 100 degrees here, plus humidity, so it’s not very fun being outside most of the time).
Anyway, we walked around and through Angkor Wat, then moved on to the surrounding temples.
Tan Prohm was by far my favorite. It has humongous trees growing on top and around the temple. It’s such a gorgeous view!
It was still very hot. We were tired from the heat so we walked & took pictures as fast as we could to get to our final destination.
As my teammate Denise and I were sightseeing around this beautiful structure, we hit the corner and got stopped by a little girl. I don’t know who she was and where she came from, I just knew she was Khmer.
She looked at me and pointed to her water bottle and coconut. Using her pointing and my common sense I fully understood what she wanted me to do, fill up her water bottle with coconut water from her coconut.
I was like of course, no problem little girl, I got you.
How hard can this be?!?
Well. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. I started spilling the coconut water. I felt bad. I saw her face, she was concerned that her water was being wasted so she put her mouth under the water bottle, making sure her water did not hit the floor of the temple.
Thankfully most of the coconut water made into the bottle safely. I felt successful.
I gave her the thumbs up, to show her that my job was done and that I was ready to keep sightseeing.
But she wasn’t through with me yet.
Again, she pointed to her coconut.
Now she wanted me to break it so she could eat the meat inside of it.
I’ll tell ya, using body language can really get you far these days. It’s definitely something I’ve learned to use a lot and appreciate on this trip.
As I held the coconut, I realized that I had never cracked a coconut with my bear hands. What a shame, I had always depended on my dad to do such things #DaddyGirlProblems
I did what l thought my dad would do. I hit the coconut with the side of the ancient temple.
I know what you’re thinking, I’m destroying an ancient wonder of the world.
Yes. Yes I was.
In that moment it didn’t cross my mind. It’s until now that I am writing this that I realize this insensitive act. Woops. Sorry, preservation society.
Anyway, after much friction with the stone temple, the green coconut opened. I pull out some of the shell, pull out some coconut white meat, and with a big smile give a piece to show her my accomplishment.
However, she wasn’t amused.
She pointed to her other coconut.
I guess my job wasn’t done just yet.
Finally, I cracked the second one. I was done! For real this time.
Denise and I talked to her for a bit. We asked her for her name. She must of been between 5-7 years old, no older.
It was about 9am so we asked her why she wasn’t in school. She said, “No money for school”. She was a witty one, I tell ya.
We noticed she worked at the temple. She was selling bracelets that said “Cambodia”. She pointed to them, wanting for us to buy one. Denise showed her that she had one already.
Strangely enough, she was all alone. Working. At such a young age. She wasn’t attending school but working. In a touristy location.
I write this not to remind you that child labor still occurs in third world countries.
I mean, it does. I know you know this already.
Really, I write this because this little munchkin’s sassy personality touched my heart. Maybe it’s because I relate to her sassyness (The Lord is definitely taming my sassyness, for my own good).
I just love that she knew what she wanted.
And I love that she asked a complete stranger to do it for her.
She was fully aware that she was too little to pour her own water and break the coconut so she was bold and asked.
Little Miss Sassy Pants will always be in my heart.
I pray that she meets Jesus one day and that she has a bright future. Because that personality will definitely get her very far!
It’s times like these, especially on our days off when the temperature is unbearable, I am reminded that living a life like Jesus is not a 9-5 duty but a 24/7 lifestyle.
Even if it means doing a small gesture like stopping to break a coconut for a child.
I’m human, sometimes I forget to do the right thing.
And, well, sometimes I just don’t want to.
…but God always seems to find the right time and place to remind me to be selfless.
Like on that ordinary day when I met, Little Miss Sassy Pants.
