2 days

Yesterday I did get up with my alarm and it was fantastic.
and the reason I'm still writing it here is because I have no idea where Bro Funaki would like me to put this.  We were never clear on the format of this thing so it's going to go here until I can figure out what to do with it.  Also, this is easy because I'll just print it off.

I did.  I got up with my alarm clock.  And then I read a little bit and fell back asleep. 
I have a bit of a sleep debt, I realize that.  I've got a couch, I'll have to go read on that....or run first.  I've liked doing that in the past.
Yesterday Spencer and I spent time with Kaylee and Matt.  We're going to have to do things more often.  We found a swing, Spencer and I fell off the swing (but that was not my fault, no matter what he says;  we would not have fallen backwards if he wasn't tickling me and no, it is not my fault for being ticklish).  Oh heavens that was fun. 

Today I did not set my alarm because it is Saturday and I did not have any particular place to be.  I went to the Hukilau on Hukilau beach....no really.  They pulled in a net of fish and everything.  And I missed calls from people to go paddleboarding and goat's island...because I didn't have my phone.  But it's all good because I was able to meet with Alex, the ICHope presenter for the ENACTUS presentation team.
It sounds all official.  It is.
And this means <drumroll>  that the ICHope blog looks fantastic. 
You should visit it.  And like it.  And read it.  And....if there are things I'm missing let me know :)

I think I'll try and find Spencer now.  Maybe he and the family are back.  I certainly hope so.

random things that I don't want to make individual posts for

Let's start with the most important thing, shall we?  I live in a country that is mostly Buddhist.  I don't know very much about Buddhism.  I know that the priests aren't allowed to earn money, so they go around and call down blessings for people who give them rides, feed them, or give them money.   I also know that they do not celebrate Christmas.  This means that there is no Christmas music outside of my new favorite YouTube playlist.  My playlist lacks a lot of my favorites because there are weird restrictions on which clips can be put in what playlists in whichever country.  This being said, there are no Christmas decorations anywhere and I was rather sad about this, that is, until I *finally* went to the market and saw

CANDY CANES  and my buddy Resae.

And there was much rejoicing in the land.


I think that this is, by far, the most important American import ever.  So I bought the over-priced candy canes and chalked it up to growing the American economy.






Also, we made alphabet cards.  Funny thing about it is that the paint is washable, which is a good thing, but when little dots of it come off (and they do that because, let's be honest, small children are not the most careful painters) they stick to your clothes and then your clothes actually have paint on them because it is so humid.   It washes out, yes, but the paint never completely dries.  Here is the little thing that I made for the ICHope blog because if I post too many pictures, Google will start charging me for the use of their space.  I'm trying to limit myself....hence all the picture collages.























Like this one.  This is play-time.  They think it's really funny to do thumb-wars with me.  They cheat.  That is also very funny.  I'm pretty sure my bike is everyone's favorite toy.  I still don't understand any of their hand-clapping rhyme-game-things, but there you have it.

finally

I've been working with the kids and it has been quite fun and tiring- mostly fun- and I decided to bring my uke to the orphanage.
It's quite the hit.

I love that Sarong is holding it like a baby.
Seiha (yellow) fancied himself a rock star
Yanpana (bottom orange) would not give it up
Rath looks like Jake Shimabukuro

I worked some more with Kanna on the piano.  FINALLY something I already know how to do.
Kanna already plays some, not a lot, but she does her hymns out of the simplified hymn book which is so great.

Problem- the keyboard is broken.  There is no power to it; so she plays, and she is very careful because she can't hear what she is playing because we can't plug it in.
When I work with her, I sing the piano part.  Whatever she is playing, I sing it.  It takes a fair amount of brainpower to sing what she is playing and not just however it's supposed to go.  There is a piano here at the house, and I'm told that it works.  I just haven't been able to figure out how to plug it in...or where.  The school schedule is about to alter itself a bit, so Kanna will be able to come with me to the house and we'll work on a working piano.  Very exciting.  No, really, it is. 

more footage

hello blog readers :)  we have some clips on the YouTube

footage

I know.  I need to work on my blog-communication skills.  Have you ever tried blogging?  It's hard.  I suggest you give it a try and see how you do.  I'll follow you, read all of your posts, even the boring ones, and comment occasionally.

 While we're here, I have footage for you.  I know.  You're excited.  Me too. :)
This is a video compilation of some of the videos that we took during our first week in Cambodia.

So glad I'm here with someone who knows how to video-edit.

Also here for you viewing pleasure today, here is a video from Akin Clothing.

Akin is another organization that was started through SIFE at BYUH.  The organization owner, Ben Howell, donated the uniforms for the kids here at CICFO.

On our way

We started our journey at the Canal house, where we were picked up by Natalie and her mom-in-law in a red truck.  Yes, a red, short-ish truck.  All of our stuff fit in the back.  We got pulled over for speeding and found that the officer who had stopped us had served in the military and did a tour in Cambodia in the 1980's.  It was cool talking to him.  We didn't get a ticket.
We breezed through check-in.  Soon we were on our way via KOREAN AIR.

Fly Korean Air.  You'll thank me later.

We flew over Japan.  By the time we flew over Japan, it was Tuesday instead of Monday.  So I waved and sang 'Happy Birthday' to my dear cousin, Elder Bame.  Didn't plan that.

The Korean Airport is beautiful.  McKae and I did some traditional printing because it was the activity of choice.

Then we boarded the plane, Korean Air again, to Phnom Penh.  There was a fair amount of turbulence. But finally we were in Cambodia!


On Wednesday, which was Tuesday night for you on the other side of the world, we explored a bit.
First, we went to the grocery store and the market.
Something you should know about traffic here.  There are no rules.  Well, there are, 1) Moto drivers must wear helmets 2) Watch where you're going.  You would think, by looking at how many vehicles are on the streets, that there are a ton of accidents all the time.  We've been here for a few days and we've only seen one accident.  It was between two motos.  Small kine accident. I think Cambodia people are better drivers because they have to be very aware of everyone around them- otherwise they'll get run over.
The food here- well everything here, but mostly the food- is very cheap.  Cambodia uses the metric system.  I think, deep in my brain, I knew that.  I'm not quite used to it. There is a, you know, slight language barrier.  It is so weird to be the minority tongue here.  Cool, but weird.  It tests your brain to see if there is any other way to get the point across.

After the market, we went to buy bikes.
In the terms of general population, I'm tall.  Compared to my family I'm not that tall, but I'm pushing 5'10''.   The bike store had 1 bike that was my size.  There was a different one that they had me try but the handles were really close together and my knees got in the way of my steering.
So we had our bikes.  Something that we didn't really think of until we were getting ready to leave was...how are we getting our bikes anywhere?  We have no idea where we're going, we don't speak the language, we have no idea how to deal with traffic, and we've only been in the country for about 14 hours.
I'll upload the video to YouTube later.  Natalie has it.
We followed the car- and the car drove slowly- to the orphanage.

CICFO
We walked into the orphanage and the children met us in the courtyard.  They greeted us with hugs- which is difficult because I am substantially taller than they are and I still haven't quite figured that out yet.  The kids lined up and introduced themselves.  "Hello my name is ____, I am ____ years old.  Nice to meet you."
After their adorable introductions, the kids sang for us.  They began with A Child's Prayer.  When was the last time you heard that song?

Heavenly Father, are you really there, 

and do you hear and answer every child's prayer?

I was a goner.  I started crying, it was terrible.  They're orphans and it was one of the sweetest, most touching things I've ever heard.  The thought that immediately followed yes He does, he knows you're here and he loves you was  Neco told me never to cry in front of Southeast Asians because they'll think you're crazy.   I started to sing with them to stop myself from crying.  We got through the rest of A Child's Prayer, I am a Child of God in English and in Khmer (pronounced kuh-my), Listen to the Still Small Voice, and I think there was one more but we'll leave it there. 

A few of the little girls started doing a traditional Khmer (kuh-my) dance for a few minutes and then we were done with the formal meeting and we went off to play.  McKae and I played with the kids for a few hours.  The taught us their games, they communicated in broken English, we ran around playing Tom and Jerry, duck-duck-goose, some other Khmer running game.  They showed us their dogs.   Oh man these kids are so cute!  

When it was time to go, the little ones bid farewell with more hugs and a few of the older children guided us back to Botevy's house so that we wouldn't get lost.  

The end.  There are lots of pictures on facebook that you are welcome to view, I can't post very many here.   

Life just got real.

Remember that time that I told you I was planning on going to Cambodia and didn't get the internship?

I got an email today and I'M GOING TO CAMBODIA!
Tentative leaving date is September 25th.
The other intern is the lovely Miss McKae.

For a little more information about the Cambodian International Children Friend Organization, click the name. 

My life is a dream. I don't actually believe that this is really happening.  I'm both excited and scared out of my mind.  Mostly scared out of my mind.