So here are some of the little things that drove me bonkers.
While I was in CAMBODIA-
- There is nothing I miss more than simply talking with my friends. Just knowing what is going on in their lives and helping make it easier as much as I can. Small things like- picking up Abby from work or running to Foodland to get tomato juice when Kylie is sick or picking up Ari for Church on Sunday or practicing with Amber. I'm not making anyone's life easier over here- I'm teaching for heaven's sake- I'm the one asking them to do something hard. It's great and I know it's good, but that's the only capacity in which I actively serve. Drives me crazy.
- I missed water. In Vegas I had pools and the lake. In Hawaii....it's an island. Phnom Penh has dirt. Lots of dirt.
- The OREOS were rotten and peanutbutter was $7 a jar.
A little bit in Hawaii-
- It was a shock to sing with a congregation that spoke my same language.
- I think the funniest thing was just watching people be awkward when they pointed out the obvious loss of body mass. People tended to step really carefully around it.
- Walking by the Temple was the greatest thing. It was such a comfort to be back close to a Temple again.
- Food prices in Hawaii. We have $6 footlongs here. $6 would feed me for about 5 days in Cambodia. Probably more. It was slightly disgusting.
- The weather. It. was. cold.
- Again, the expensive food thing, just not as bad.
- I went shopping with Mom for food, or maybe someone just brought food home from the store...but our fridge was full. Both of our fridges were pretty full. I just couldn't wrap my head around why we were buying more food when there was food in the fridge that we weren't even eating and didn't look like we were planning to. Drove me up a wall.
- This one I was pretty verbal about and I kinda feel bad. I know that culturally, it's just what we do, and there isn't really a good way to counteract that. My mom was good about letting me make us eat stuff that was in the fridge. She kept asking what kind of food I wanted and I was having a hard time with the idea of going to get something else to put on our table when there was edible stuff in the fridge.
- People complaining about bumpy roads.
- you. have. no. idea.
- Americans are very closed. I've talked to Cara about this, she lived in China for 7mos, and we've noticed that Asians are very real. Americans are just brought up to be fake. An Asian will tell you exactly what they see.
- For instance- An American walks by a girl she knows "I love your shoes" and the other girl says "Thanks, I love your shirt". And that isn't bad, complimenting is great, I'm all for it, I do it all the time. Asians don't compliment unless they seriously mean it. And sometimes the primary president will just come up to you and say "You are very tall. And your nose is very long." And that's just the way it is. Asians don't sugar-coat and they don't dodge questions unless you're getting inappropriately involved in their personal affairs.
- Traffic. In Southeast Asia, the car has the right-of-way, not the pedestrian. Sometimes that just makes so much sense
- So cold.
- We all sit in the same room and work on our computers or other smart devices....yup.
- I get up every morning to go to class, which seems like an EXTREMELY selfish way to spend time. Think about it. Why do I go to class? So that *I* can learn. I feed *myself*. I work to get money so that *I* can live.
- I used to get up every day to go to CICFO and get stampeded by kids. To teach them and love them. I never even see kids anymore and it's sad.
- The lack of substance in the layman's life. The lack of QUALITY time spent for something that it outside oneself.
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