When I saw the list of Race countries back in August, I have to say that Cambodia wasn’t one that I was jumping for joy about. Alas, God is good and knows exactly what I need. After being here for a month, I can’t imagine my Race being complete without. I have fallen in love with this country and the people in it. Here are some of my favorite memories.
Saint Patrick’s Day:
Our team decided to go out for some fun and see how Cambodians experience St. Patrick’s Day. We had heard of a restaurant called “The Blarney Stone” and thought a ton of people would be out to celebrate with us. We were shocked when we walked in and were the ONLY ONES in the place. Probably because we later found out the restaurant is part of a $300 a night tourist hotel, but we had a blast playing pool and singing karaoke!
Hanging out with my students:
One of my goals this month was to build relationships with my students and really pour into them, and this is exactly what happened this month. I was able to go our for coffee with Malin, go shopping with them, learn a dance for church with Peseth and Sophia, and just have a few really good conversations. One of my favorite nights is when I went to a concert at a carnival with a group of them. We sat on a mat on the side of the road, eating crickets and spring rolls, sang American pop songs, and then rode the fastest and rustiest ferris wheel I’ve ever been on. We had also the chance to go to Peseth’s house for a traditional Khmer dinner one night!
Christian Values Day:
Every Wednesday we taught Christian Values and the students would always come with really intriguing questions. Some of them I had the answers for and some I would just look at Dave and he’d answer. Of course we got the ridiculous questions like “teacher, does Jesus drink beer?” and “teacher, Budda has a wife but Jesus did not have one. Does that mean Jesus is gay?” But for the most part they wanted to go deeper in their understanding of the Lord. “Teacher, today you talked about forgiveness and my brother hurt me very bad. How do I forgive him?” and “My family really wants me to be a monk because all the boys in my family have been monks, but I want to follow God. Teacher, what do I do.” It was humbling to lead these students for are so desperate for truth a deeper understanding. This was definitely my favorite day of the week.
Teaching English:I’ve learned a lot from teaching Cambodians. I taught English for beginners, Conversation, Advanced English, Photoshop and Excel, and although I do not consider myself a teacher, I really enjoyed teaching (mostly because I loved my students). On our last day of teaching we combined all our evening classes and had a party for them. We played games, did skits (I also did my “Shout to the Lord” interpretative dace with some students), and got to share with them how much we enjoyed being in Cambodia and teaching them. At the end some of them stood up and thanked us for “teaching us and sharing our wisdom” as one student put it, and then we had a big Khmer dance party! The best part was when they asked us teach them an American dance, but we didn’t have the song, so they put on the song “Low” by Flo Rida, and we did The Electric Slide to the hip-hop song.
As always, it was hard to build relationships only to leave them after a month, but I’m grateful for my time here. The people and the city of Siem Reap have left a lasting impression on my heart.
Riding a moto to the cranival and Roslette and I.
The houses along our street with a big hotel behind it and the Spectacle girls our for Jenns birthday.
Malin and I on the moto. I was biking and my skirt got caught in the spokes and ripped off me on National Highway 6…ask me about it.
Below: Spectacle Does Cambodia! This was done on the fly with vids from my teammates cameras so pardon the low quality.
