So this week I was at a loss for what to write about. Cambodia is much the same as it was last blog. The only difference is that I gave up construction to teach another class and thats been pretty good. As I sat brainstorming, I realized that life here has become… normal. Expected. Average even.
Well, every idea is an idea. Even no idea, and I had none. I decided to write a blog about all the weird things that have become normal in Cambodia. Its been over two months, I’m obviously a pro, this blog is perfect. I pulled up a new note and started writing this:
“I think the most shocking part of the Race so far is the mo”
When all of a sudden, this CRAB was CRAWLING across the BEDROOM FLOOR at ME. I don’t know who he thinks he is or how he got in here (the room isn’t a crab habitat zone) but I FREAKED OUT. I yelped and jumped away from his path, so shook by this LITTLE WISE GUY ruining my blog about how NORMAL life is now.
And then I realized- life isn’t “normal” here. I’m not used to this lifestyle and I don’t know if I ever will be. Everything is strange, constantly changing, and sometimes really hard. Here’s a modest list of examples:
– I sleep in a room with eight other women. I use a bug net, not because of mosquitos, but to insure that I don’t wake up with a tarantula on my face.
– A street dog wanders into our room every night. The best way to get him out is with a chair.
– My team shares a home with three Khmer men. They’ve all been perfect gentlemen.
– There are chickens on the kitchen table.
– We get our breakfast from a street market and eat waffles almost every day. The fruits are sometimes spiky. The pineapples are sweet. Firm apples don’t exist. They’re all soft.
– My team visits the houses of strangers. People are honored that we drop in unannounced. We pray for God to give us words of encouragement for people we haven’t met yet, and He does. God writes me notes every day.
– The shop across the street sells iced coffee in a plastic bag. The coffee is less than forty cents. Each one has a cup of ice for a drop of coffee. The ice is crushed by a very sweaty man with questionable methods. Somehow no one is sick yet.
– The bathroom floor is always wet. There usually isn’t any soap. The butt sprayer is a better shower head than the shower head. Sometimes I take bucket showers just for fun. Squatty potties.
– Lunch and dinner are usually take out. We have mystery meat with weird bones, strange green vegetables, and noodles in almost every meal. Every meal has rice. I’ve learned the power of sauces.
– I teach Khmer children how to speak English. They always, ALWAYS come early to school. Some of my students are my age. We don’t always have a translator. I think the students are catching on that I don’t know Khmer. They speak more Khmer everyday.
– People stare at me everywhere I go. My hosts drives my team around in a tuk tuk or pick up truck. We always sit on the edge, even down the main road.
– There are mountains just down the road from me and rice fields everywhere. There are so many little beautiful flowers everywhere. The stars here are breathtaking. I’ll never be used to how beautiful this home is.
– I can go outside and pick myself a coconut. The locals won’t let me cut it myself. They laugh every time I try, so I tried when they weren’t looking. It was a success.
– There is no Fall. It’s November and I still sweat buckets everyday.
– Movie nights are crowding around a laptop.
– Western Grocery stores are a hidden treasure.
– My teammates hoard peanut butter like its the Great Depression.
– Sometimes my team hitchhikes. We once rode with a cow in a tuk tuk. It was a mistake.
I had to stop myself from continuing this list any further, but I think you get the picture. Everything is still weird in Cambodia. There are a lot of strange things here. At the same time, the idea of going home is just as strange. Having my own room? Sleeping in my bed? Driving my car? Not waking up to eight alarms each morning? It all sounds wrong. Even the world I grew up in seems foreign to me. I think I walk somewhere in the middle now- not fully adjusted to my new home, not really ready for my old one. I’m not the same person who left Minnesota, and I still have so far to go.
I want to say that the strangest part about my time in Cambodia is my encounters with the Lord. He uses me to reach people in everything I do, not just our “ministry settings”. He talks to me all the time, even when there isn’t worship music playing. He asks me to do the most random things, even if they aren’t convenient. He continually expresses how much He loves me, over and over again. Every time I think I understand how much He loves me, God tells me again in a new way and I am constantly in awe.
I can’t fit God in a box anymore. I want to say that thats the weirdest part of this trip, but I think the weirdest part is that I thought I could fit God in a box. A god who fits in a box isn’t worthy to be praised. I worship God, the only God that ever was and will be. He breathes out stars, speaks planets into existence, walks on water, and still has time to love every human in a unique way. Wow… thats the normal God.
If that is what God is on a daily basis, then maybe I do live a normal life in Cambodia. Maybe normal is suppose to be crazy and strange and more than I could ever imagine. Maybe normal means leaving your comfort zone to do the impossible with Jesus. Maybe God calls us all to be normal, but most people just live out the wrong definition.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think normal is suppose to be Jesus.
~CLS
