I am sad to leave. I love it here and in honor of Cambodia I decided to list my top 10 reasons why I love it so much and my top 5 favorite memories!
Top 10 reasons to love Cambodia:
10. Cow and water buffalo walk everywhere. The wander free and into your yard and some times they have bells around their necks or ropes through their noses. Oh and cows can be fined if they find their way to the main road.
9. Most of the Cambodian food is delicious. My favorite is called Me Cha. It’s noodles, meat and veggies in a similar to stir fried fashion. My least favorite is the curry dish.
8. Even though April is the hottest and supposed to be driest month my team experienced some Epic rainstorms and thunderstorms. We have it all on video. Oh and let’s not forget about the Cambodian Market Crisis of 2011.…stay tuned for the video.
7. Remember when you were young and you didn’t really want to go to school and you begged your mother to let you wear your pajamas to school and she would always tell you no? Well here in Cambodia mother’s don’t say no they join in the fun. Pajama suits are a very appropriate and very popular fashion here.
(note the girl in the red pjs)
6. The Khmer people love to dance. And I love to dance. Therefore a great friendship is formed rather quickly while dancing the traditional dance around some random object. Don’t worry if you can’t dance the Khmer people are great teachers.
5. I love the Khmer language. I find it rather beautiful sounding, but a bit difficult to learn. They love it when you at least try to speak it. I know 1, 2 ,3, sweetheart, hello, goodbye, and how are you. Also they have a script like writing similar to Thai writing so I definitely can’t read it.
4. Volleyball nets are everywhere and it’s really easy to get a game going. Usually 4 on 4. I always went over to Joel’s (one of our contacts) house and played with the guys over there. They are very good and I was a little rusty, but had a few great saves.
3. Our main form of transportation for the month was bicycles. I loved my bike. It even had a convenient basket on the front. The only downfall to the bikes were the fact that if it rained you were stuck, the hills were never fun, and your butt gets sore. Who am I to complain though, it was a great workout.
2. I absolutely loved the worship at “church” The Khmer songs are awesome and I loved the guys who sang and played. It was always so peaceful and full of joy!
1. The number one reason I love Cambodia is the people. They maybe shy at first, but they quickly become your friend. They are always laughing or dropping by for a visit. I will greatly miss the new friends I made. May God bless you all!
Top 5 Favorite Memories:
5. While playing volleyball I was the first to serve. I had already racked up 7 points! However, when the time came to serve up number 8 something went wrong. My serve ended up being a line drive into the back of Thyak’s head. Whoopsies! Everyone was laughing and I was apologizing profusely. He graciously and quickly forgave me.
4. The day of Epic rainstorms and thunderstorms. It left two of my teammates stranded in the market, 2 of us and Meghan jumping in puddles, and all of us losing power. We made the best of it and documented a lot on video.
3. Mango Party to kick off the new year. A few of us went to the Gabriel’s and made mango cobbler, mango bread, mango jam, and mango icing for the sugar cookies we made. Then the party started with water balloon games and ended with dancing. It was a great way to open up to the people of Preah Vihear.
2. Hanging out with Meghan, one of our contact’s daughters. She reminded me so much of my little sister.
1. Meeting Malyn. She always made me laugh and we quickly became friends even though we didn’t spend a lot of time together and I didn‘t know a lot of Khmer and she didn‘t know a lot of English. Hopefully one day I can return and visit her!
