It’s 4am on Christmas Day and I am waking up to the sound of
roosters crowing non-stop and loud music playing on a megaphone far off in the
distance. Unable to fall back asleep I lay in bed for two more hours thinking
of what the day has in store for me. I realize that it is Christmas Day and
things look way different than they normally would back at home on Christmas.
Back at home I would still be sleeping in a big comfy bed snuggled up inside my
warm fluffy blankets, I would probably then wake up to the smell of cinnamon
rolls baking downstairs. However on this Christmas morning as I lay in bed,
well as I lay on the floor, I am half covered with my sleeping bag because it
is warm outside, I listen to the rats running by my head and I open my eyes to
see a bright pink mosquito net hanging over me. There are no delicious aromas
making their way of the stairs because I still have to take a 15 minute walk
with my teammate to Teen Challenge to get my breakfast.
So around 7am we start walking to Teen Challenge and once we
arrive we sit at our usual table in the kitchen that is located outside and
swarming with hundreds of pestering flies. On this Christmas morning there are
no delicious bake goods like there would be back at home instead we are served
our usual breakfast here in Cambodia-rice, fried egg, and pork. After we eat we
all head back home to have our own little Christmas party.
Once we are back at home we gather around our makeshift
Christmas tree, which is sadly a bouquet of dead flowers. We than made hot
chocolate and marshmallows in little coffee mugs one of my teammates bought for
us.
Now it’s time for presents, we did Secret Santa’s and I give
my girl Aimee a wallet made out of old rice sacks.
Then I open my gift
from Nikki which is wrapped in a banana leaf and inside is a bright green hammock,
which I love so much, the rest of our day we spend watching Christmas movies
and relaxing.
In the evening we took a van over to Teen Challenge, kick
all of the boys outside and go to work on setting them up a surprise Christmas
party inside. After we eat dinner and
wait for the generator to turn on we finally let the boys in and they take off
running down the hallway, I’m pretty sure they noticed the balloons first
because right away they got to work popping all of the balloons around the
room. Once they finished that and began to settle down a little they noticed
the TV and DVD player in the room which we bought them for their Christmas
gift. The boys were very excited and screamed with joy, and then we all settled
down to eat snacks and watch The Grinch on their new TV. After the movie we
danced for a short time with the boys and then headed back home, to complete
our Christmas day with prayer before snuggling into our sleeping bags on the
hard wood floor.
