Myself and 7 other girls are living out in the Jungle Village of the Khmer people in Kampong Chnang, Cambodia. With it being month 10, I can say that pretty much all of us have found what once used to catch us off guard, as the norm. I like to call it “World Race Moments” when you almost go outside yourself and see that what you are experiencing is not ordinary where we’re from. We have adjusted so much that things that just seem unheard of in the states, are every day occurrences here in Cambodia.
So, here’s a run down of a typical day this month. I’m going to start in the evening to explain a little why my morning goes the way it does.
9:00 pm – everyone starts to panic because they realize it’s already 9pm
9:15 pm – nice and snug in our line of 8 sleeping pads all crammed under the bug nets reading our books. Teeth are brushed. The struggle is real to get that image of the palm sized spider staring at me while I was in the squatty. All the itching of the bug bites doesn’t help with distraction from our book reading.
10:00 pm – Set 3 alarms because breakfast is at 6:30 and gotta get that time with Jesus.
5:00 am – First alarm goes off, turn it off. Old time church music blaring in the Khmer language coming from down the road at the Korean church.
5:15 am – Second alarm goes off, turn this one off too…
6:00 am – Third alarm goes off, can’t turn this one off because my time is short to get ready, so I hit snooze.
6:08 am – Snoozed alarm ^ goes off and I must get up.
– crawl out of the bug net, defeated by the early morning once again.
– get dressed into clothes that are slightly damp from the sweat the day before and haven’t dried because of the humidity. They stink pretty bad considering this is the 3rd day in a row they have been worn. Throw hair up in a bun and we’re ready!
6:30 am – Breakfast (We have a winner Cambodian mama that knows how to cook!) This is also when we play Name that Tune with the church songs they play for the whole village.
7:00 am – Hurry up and Wait. Church music stops. Noise of 55 pigs gets very loud because it is feeding time.
7:30 am – Tuk Tuk arrives! Cram 10 into the 6 person tuk tuk. Enjoy the incredible view and cool morning air!
7:50 am – Arrive to school where 25 cute little faces with smiles that shine through the dirt around it, waiting for your arrival. All out in the field they run and scream at the sight of the tuk tuk, to get inside and be quiet seated students.
– Sing songs with a lot of action. Such as : Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. Hokey Pokey. Who’s the King of the Jungle?. Jesus Your My Super Hero. BANANA SONG!
– Wipe the sweat, get some water. Go in for next lesson in the ABC’s
9:00 am – Kids are getting restless, lets play Duck Duck Goose.
– They don’t get the part of saying “duck duck goose” so they hit lightly, lightly and then HARD! Good thing is, it makes you jump right up. Sweating even more, you can really feel the heat in that metal wall, metal roof place.
9:15 am – Finish lesson.
9:58 am – End with: more songs, prayer, and cookies.
10:00 am – The 10 cram back into the tuk tuk. That breeze feels even better!
10:20 am – Made it home. Hang the hammocks. Grab your Bibles. Time for Jesus.
12:00 pm – Lunch Time (Mmmm… may be a lot of rice, but Mama Pi does it right!)
12:30 pm – “What should I do now?” Laundry? Nah! Blog? Nah! Play volleyball? OK! At least till my clothes are drenched. Shower? Nah! … Naptime…
1:45 pm – Wake up in a puddle of sweat and to the sound of “Guys tuk tuk is here” “time to go” and our host’s sweet sweet giggle.
1:50 pm – Cram for the third time into our beloved carriage.
2:10 pm – Arrive to same sweet little nuggets, this time with more energy!
– Review morning lesson. Throw in a few games involving numbers or other easy english words. But mainly stick to routine done in the morning.
4:00 pm – Last and final time, for today, to squeeze in that tuk tuk. **The World Race not only makes you a pro at packing clothes into a bag, but people into a vehicle as well.
4:20 pm – Those who want to bucket shower do so. Those who have had a few too many itches on their head have a teammate search their head for lice.
5:00 pm – Team Time. This is also usually the time we see all our little and larger “friends” living in the cracks and corners in our room… The noise of the pigs goes up again, dinner time for them.
6:00 pm – Little Padeen comes to tell us dinner is ready. (Yet again another fantastic meal!)
THIS JUST IN: this past week, as I mentioned our host owns about 55 pigs; Cambodia has a national holiday going on and families gather together for the week. They eat lots of good food and have a grand ole time. This provides a great opportunity for our host to sell some of their pork.
7:00 pm – Hanging out in our room, just giggling, engaging in ever so great conversations when we here the loudest squealing, worst sounding, ear piercing noise you could imagine. “That is not a feeding time squeal! OH NOO!”
7:01 pm – A few of us rush to the pig pen to come upon just what we suspected. Yup, 320 pound pig upside down squealing for its life!
8:30 pm – Head of the pig has made it to the wooden bench so we can “peacefully” head to bed.
8:45 pm – Grab water bottle and head lamp, it’s time to brush your teeth. But, watch out for the angry geese quacking and hissing with beaks ready to latch onto any part of you. Go to the squatty and leave with heart racing because all you could do was turn your head every which way looking for that spider.
9:00 pm – Walk into a room full of sisters you love, crawl under that fully loaded bug net and pray together against the creepy crawlers. Ask the Lord for a peaceful sleep and sweet dreams. Tell each other “I love you” and lights out.
9:30 pm – Set 3 alarms.
