When we finally got the call the next day about our ministry site location, we were up and moving again! We traveled to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh for a day of training and then we were off to our new home for the month.
Ours: Kampong Speu
When we first arrived, I honestly had no idea what to think! We had been warned that there would bucket showers (that is true), there would be no air conditioning or escape from the heat (that is also true) but we were told that it would be unsafe to leave things even in our tents for fear of getting stolen (I’m not so sure of the validity of this statement any longer as I think we are in a different building than teams before us have stayed). We were also pre-warned that there would be no wifi (true) and that we would fall in love with all of the people of the village and none of that other stuff would really matter (completely, 100% true).
We live with our host – Ra, his wife – Noun (pronounced Noon), and their son – Charat. We are in a comfy little loft with wooden slatted floors and open, glass-free windows above the first floor of the house sleeping in our tents (or hammocks in my case). The house actually triples as a church AND our classrooms for teaching English, so we really are living ON our ministry site! The village is quaint and very beautiful. There is a lot of traffic through the area – mainly people who live in villages nearby and cut through, factory women heading to work in the town nearby, or kids who are going to the actual public school near our home.
We work from 9-11am doing physical labor putting together a foundation for Noun’s future restaurant (She is an EXCELLENT cook as we have found out)… then we break for lunch and planning for classes. After that we teach English classes from 1-6pm to some of the SWEETEST kiddos I’ve ever met! On Wednesday and Friday evenings we have youth group and church from 7-8:30pm or 9pm. So, bascially, by the end of each humid and hot day… we are drained and yet, so happy with where we are and what we are able to experience.
I’ve put together four videos so far — three of which I will post below. The fourth I haven’t been able to put on youtube yet, so I’ll have to update you all with that one later!
*** Side note: Technology has decided recently that it hates me… so blogging / photographing / videoing has been a challenge. My computer randomly died (STILL don’t know what has possessed it to quit working), the backside camera on my phone doesn’t work (only the front – selfie camera), all of my SD cards are full for my real cameras (because I have no computer to dump them on)… and a few other dilemmas and bumps. So, the quality of these videos you will be seeing for a little while won’t be as nice as I’d like them to be, but it’s what I can do with what I have left.
If you don’t have time to sit here and watch all three (6 minutes, 3 1/2 minutes, 3 1/2 minutes), then I’d suggest at least watching the third one… it gives you a good overview of what our life here in Kampong Speu is all about!
