My first week and a half back in Cambodia...

Cambodians in Phnom Penh often sit outside their apartments in the late afternoon/early evening. This evening, I ventured out onto the street with my roommate and, after we walked up and down the street a few times, we sat down to chat with some people at the food stalls next to our house. We then spent time playing with the kids that live on our street since their parents were busy serving customers. The kids had a long string of connected rubber bands and they had come up with all sorts of games using this “rope” and they were trying to teach us. Each game started with a serious game of rock, scissors, paper, and the losers would hold the string for the others to jump over. Yeah, so imagine me trying to jump up in the air and catch my ankle on a rope of rubber bands that are about chest high. It wasn’t pretty. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who got to hold the rope next. =) There was also the one where you twist and untwist your leg around the rubber band strand while saying the days of the week (language practice!) and then skillfully untwist yourself at the end by jumping and spinning around (I never quite figured out which direction to spin =). While we were playing, a few of the kids took a break to buy and eat a bowl of noodles from one of the ladies who walks up and down the streets with food and dishes balanced on a bamboo pole on her shoulders.

This week I started actively language learning. I meet with a wonderful lady at the CAMA office every day for 2 hours and she graciously plays the language activities I bring her to help me with comprehension. She is also good at correcting my pronunciation and helping me differentiate between words that sound almost the same but have very different meanings. She has saved me from some potentially embarrassing situations! My other language helper I have found to be very patient, which is a blessing when I find it hard to be patient with myself (how many times have I seen and heard this vowel and still can’t remember which sound goes with it?! At least 5 times! Fortunately, my helper knows it’s going to take a lot more times!).

This week I started reviewing and relearning the Khmer consonants and vowels and am concentrating on the first series, which includes 23 vowels and 15 consonants, before I move on to the second series with 23 other vowels and 18 consonants. Then, there are the subscripts for all the consonants (called joong, meaning foot, since they are written beneath the consonants), plus all the other ins and outs of reading and writing Khmer. Thankfully, I have learned some of this before and am already able to read some short words! =)

It is wonderful to see friends again and reconnect with people here. My former coworker and good friend, Sopeat, is heading to Hong Kong in August for a year and a half to get her Masters degree in International Development. She and her mom have already fed me several times and I have enjoyed spending time with them again. Sopeat told me I speak and understand Khmer better than when I left, which doesn’t make much sense since I didn’t speak Khmer with anyone, except myself, when I was in the States. I told her maybe my brain needed a rest and she said after I study Khmer again, I should go back to America and then come back to Cambodia again!

It has been really hot here since I have been back, which is normal for here, but it doesn’t stop Khmer people or myself from commenting, “Tgni knee kadao na!” which means, “It’s really hot today!” Praise God that I have been in good spirits even though it is hot, that I am over jetlag, that I have a nice place to live, and that there are so many people here I can learn from.

My internet time is limited and not so consistent, so I apologize for late replies to e-mails. Thank you all for your prayers and continued support!

Going Back!

My support climbed up to 95 % only 2 weeks ago and, shortly after, I was able to buy a plane ticket! I leave today (I guess I am getting better at packing =), June 1st, for 2 more years serving in Cambodia. If you start thinking this has anything to do with me, let me tell you that God has been so faithful to provide! Friends and family have stood beside me, prayed for me, and spread the word about the work in Cambodia. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your love, prayers, encouragement and financial gifts! Most of all, thank you to God for His intense desire for all people to be saved, and that he called me to this work and is continually equipping me. Thank you for your prayers on my long flight and my readjustment in Cambodia. Love you all!!!

"They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it." Psalm 22:31