For a while my squad and I had been worried if the race would ever actually feel real. We kept expecting it to hit us at each journey marker,
“maybe once we are at the airport it’ll feel real”
“maybe once we get to Asia it will feel real”
I stepped foot into our home for the next month and was STILL freaked out that it didn’t feel real.
I am happy to announce that after about 2 weeks of launching, 49 hours of travel, and a week of ministry, I have finally realized that I am in Cambodia.
And this is what my life looks like!
(rooftop views from our home in Battambang)
A little glimpse of a typical week day:
5am wake up and shower
5:30 I spend some time in the word and journal
6:30 head downstairs for breakfast! the whole squad eats together before ministry
7 squad devotionals, we spend time praying over ministry and sharing stories about what the Lord is doing in us and the people we are serving!
7:30 hop on my bike with the team and head to ministry (one of my favorite things about this place is biking everywhere) We ride for about ten minutes before arriving at Pannasastra, a Buddhist private school where we teach English
7:30 to 10:45 try to control 20 adorable but crazy kindergartners who don’t speak the same language (usually I end up singing songs and reading stories)
10:45 head home for break!
11:30 lunch
12 devotional/quiet time
1:30 head back to the school for ministry
4:45 school’s out!
5 to 6:30 we hang out until dinner! maybe find some wifi at a coffee shop (like I’m doing right now), play some sand volleyball, card games, etc
6:30 DINNER
7:30 team time, we debrief the week, give feedback, write blogs together, lots of good stuff
8 to 9 down time (ideal for movie marathons)
10 lights out
When we aren’t at ministry, we explore!
Saturdays are a designated “adventure day” where if you plan it, and can be back by 9, then you can do it!
Sundays are our day of rest! Leadership encourages us to take it easy and do whatever we feel is needed to be rested for the upcoming week. That could be napping, painting, journaling, etc.
Right now, our days have a lot of structure which (at times) has felt restricting but the purpose for the first month to be scheduled is to give us an optional framework for how we want to organize ourselves later on in the race when we have more freedom 🙂
OVERALL
This culture is a beautiful one! One of respect and hospitality.
The people I’ve met so far have been some of the kindest I’ve ever known. Even today after ministry, school ended in the midst of a full on Cambodian Monsoon and one of the teachers offered to take us back home in her van, and proceeded to shuffle us all over under her umbrella. We’ve also had several bike breakdowns and each time have been helped/rescued by a local who happened to be nearby.
& just for fun, things that feel like HOME here:
– we bike everywhere
– tons of local coffee shops
– a host cat, named Ross
– CRAZY rain dumps
– thunder storms
– GREEN! everywhere
– Disney movies with the teammates
