A Year Later...

A year later and...

I can say a total of 5 Khmer phrases. It's quite pathetic really.

 Hello
 How are you?
 (I am fine is the same as how are you - so really, I could count that as two)
 Sore throat
 Thank you
 Like a good Canadian - Sorry

Greg, on the other hand, is deep into his language training. He is amazing. After an early morning exercise, he leaves the house by 7:30am and does not return until 7:30pm. He puts in a full day of work and then heads off to language school every week night, only to practice/study after dinner. His commitment to learning the language is exemplary. He even still manages to wash the dinner dishes every night. My heart.

Driving is no big deal anymore. I will never forget how afraid both Greg and I were to drive the first time in Phnom Penh traffic. We are ol' pros now, dodging motor bikes, people, goats and cows all vying for the non existent lane. I did manage to get stopped twice in one morning by the police last week, paying the on the spot bribe fine.The GREEN light I drove through became YELLOW while I was going through the intersection, so I was stopped whilst others behind me driving through the RED were not stopped. The officer saw me rummaging through my wallet where I was looking for a $5 bill and he saw a $10 and loudly barked, "10 okay, 10 okay". So frustrating. I wasn't the most godly in my initial response but I am grateful for passenger friends who calmed me down. My other violation was turning right on a yellow light. The real violation is being a foreigner (barang) and driving downtown.(Hey, that's another Khmer word I know, so I'm up to 6!)

We have figured out how to parent from abroad, made easier by children who are committed to regular communication with us. Thanks to technology, this life is doable in terms of family. It helps that I was able be with them this summer and that they are coming at Christmas. The time difference makes it easy to connect every day with beginning of day and end of day communication times. We continue to edit papers, resumes, emails and advise on love lives. (my favourite part of parenting!) Greg's input is that missing the children has been a combination of becoming empty nesters and living so far away.

I am quite frustrated with our living arrangement in that our area has been experiencing long power outages. Living without power is not fun in mid 30 temperatures, not being able to even run a fan. The other issue is losing groceries that are not properly refrigerated during the outages. I am frustrated enough that I went apartment hunting as buildings have generators. Greg needs a little convincing. There are pros and cons to moving but now is the time to decide as our yearly contract is up.

We are settled into a routine of living and are quite happy. In many ways, we live with much less stress in terms of daily living. The only house responsibilities we have are grocery shopping, cooking and gardening. (Greg is enjoying caring for the plants and I enjoy the cooking and grocery shopping)There isn't much stress associated with either of our work places, so hopefully we are looking younger with all this lack of daily stress.

Greg's health seems to be improving even though he's been eating sugar again. His PSA numbers, which we monitor every 3 months since his prostate cancer diagnosis, have gone down from 6 to 2! Thank you Lord!

Greg has found an intelligent geek crowd for him to enjoy Ham radio with. In fact, there is a weekend world wide competition coming up that we are planning our holiday time around.(CQ worldwide DX contest) He's also back into his origami with copious amount of varied, well priced paper at the Japan $1.90 stores.

We have made life long friends in just a year. My favourite part of living in a developing country is that people have time for one another. I feel so lucky to have young, single girl friends not that much older than my daughter, and friends that are also living miles apart from their adult children. There are plenty of children to love and babysit. Greg calls me the neighbourhood Grandma, which I don't appreciate. :) People make this life doable.

We continue to feel called to serving the disadvantaged in Cambodia through the NGO work of Ratanak and by teaching the children of people who do amazing things for this country. When hard days come, like Thanksgiving weekend or 2 days power outages, we remember how God lead us here. We recount all the events that brought us to this place and we draw strength from His leading. Ratanak provides member care for us that included a 2 hour Skype session with a psychologist in Toronto last week.It was helpful to have someone ask the right questions and listen to our stories and experiences because he can't tune out since it's his job! :) We are thankful our NGO takes care of us in this manner.

We know all the hot spots to visit so now is the time to visit! Actually, elections are approaching this July so you should probably wait until they are finished. I cannot write or post about such issues further but you can google the politics in Cambodia if you are interested. You could pray for our safety during these times too, if you think of it!

A year later and it's hard to believe that 12 months have passed.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggitty Jog

Home is where the heart is...

In June, I made the long journey home to Ontario. I flew from Phnom Pehn to Seoul, enjoying a 3 hour lay over before the long flight to Toronto. I would hate to present as a travel snob, but Toronto Airport, Terminal 3 is pathetic in comparison to other world class airports. It's old, dirty and you have to walk miles to get to customs. The dirty walk was all worth it when I came through that gate and saw my precious son and my Mama. My girl had sent a welcome home poster, which said precious son did not hold up. After crashing for one long night, the visiting began!

Thank you to everyone who made an effort to spend time with me. I am grateful to you for fitting me into your lives. I loved every lunch date, dinner, barbeque, coffee date, walk and family dinner complete with nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. Nearing the end of my six weeks home, I began feeling panicked that there were people I had missed but did not know how to organize making it all work between Toronto, Stoney Creek and Niagara. I knew that my first priority were my children and so I parked at their apartment for that last week, making myself available if people would make the trek to see me. 

The kid's apartment felt like home. It is outfitted with things from our Niagara home, including some furniture, art work and kitchen essentials. I am pretty sure it was T and J's presence that made me feel like I had come home. I loved being part of their lives as they came and went from work. I was able to visit both of their churches, hear Jahred play his guitar at church, see their places of employment, explore Toronto and the University with them, cook for them, meet T's new beau, see their friends and best of all, feel like a Mom.

I enjoyed some time at my parent's house in Stoney Creek, where I have a floor to myself almost the size of the kid's downtown Toronto apartment. I am grateful for my friend Liz, who also housed me at her gorgeous house and cottage.

The strangest things made me feel like I had come home. Brita filtered water for one. I forgot how delicious water can taste. The cooler temperatures at dusk felt like heaven. Yes, Ontario experiences hot and humid weather in summer, but just take my word for it that it does not even come close to what Southeast Asia experiences most of the year. Probably the best feeling of home was the soaker tub at my kid's apartment. Sweet T made me a welcome basket complete with bath bombs and salts to enjoy a bath every night. Taking a bath in Phnom Penh isn't an option at my house. First, it would be difficult to fill the tub with warm water due to lack of running hot water. The tub is cheap plastic and made for small Cambodian bodies and is not sealed on to anything. That's right, it's just sitting on the floor without any support.

Meanwhile, in Phnom Penh, Greg discovered the bachelor life. After the first lonely week, he got into a groove as he was still attending language classes every night after work. He used a food delivery service - Meals by Lim - so his meals were waiting for him when he returned home for the evening. Greg had his own adventures, traveling to the Thai/Cambodia border to see the migrant access center firsthand. On the same trip, he visited the rice mill projects which are transforming rural communities in Cambodia. Although he managed to avoid eating boiled eel on this trip, he did come back to Phnom Penh with a funky tummy due to eating street food for a week.

Rice Mill - 

Six weeks flew by and it was time to prepare to come home to Phnom Penh. To be honest, my heart was torn as I was looking forward to seeing Greg and my new friends, but dreading saying goodbye to my family and friends in Ontario. Emotionally, it's a very strange place to find yourself. Ontario isn't quite home without Greg and my new friends and Phnom Penh isn't quite home without my family and friends from Ontario. No where can be home without my children. Living abroad requires one not to fret too deeply about such turbulent feelings as they cannot be defined. For me, coming to peace about the feelings I describe is simply being okay with them. It's okay to feel this way. It's okay that Niagara/Toronto is home and it's okay that Phnom Penh is home at the same time. Really, none of us get to call this world home forever.

Just as I hit the ground running when I arrived home in Ontario, I hit the ground running when I arrived home in Phnom Penh. Although I experienced much worse jet lag flying east, as in I felt like death for ten days, I was out visiting, having foot massages and lunches, seeing movies and shopping from the moment I arrived. Basically, I haven't stopped since. The Cambodian adventure continues...and calls me...home.

Reverse Culture Shock

I must admit, I have balked at others who have claimed to be experiencing reverse culture shock. However, after I experienced re-entry into Canada after 3 years of life in Bangladesh, I recognized it truly is "a thing". Even though I am visiting my home country after only 9 months abroad, some confusing, conflicting emotions and experiences have lead me to realize that I am experiencing some re-entry shock on some level.

 Habits form quicker than I realized. In Cambodia, we always handle money with respect, using either both hands to exchange it, or one hand on the bill whilst the other hand touches the opposite arm. I find myself handling money this way in Canada, and people looking at me strangely as a result. It's not really a "shock", but rather a surprise in how quickly the habit has formed.

When I went into the Zehrs Grocery Store at the Pen Center, I had a melt down. I cried. I can't determine if the extreme emotion was the shock of all that is available in one place or the pleasant memories of years of shopping for my family in that store. I can purchase almost everything in Phnom Penh that I can at home, but it takes a few stores and special trips out. My emotions are conflicted between the fun adventure of  grocery shopping in Cambodia and the easy convenience of a Zehrs experience. I may miss the convenience a little more than I realized.

 It is boring to drive in Canada. I remember feeling that way when we returned from Bangladesh. If you're stuck in traffic, which I am everytime I drive between Niagara and Toronto, you might as well have something entertaining to watch, like a moto filled with live chickens and ducks or people selling interesting things like deep fried crickets on the streets.

 I have a better understanding of how difficult it is to stay in touch with the time difference and the busyness of life in Canada. I best experienced this at a family barbecue that Greg wanted to be part of and Skyped in on. The connection wasn't great, people had just started eating and weren't really interested in connecting with him. I felt the pain of knowing what that feels like when feeling all alone and so far away aligned with witnessing that people at home simply don't understand it. They're busy. They're eating. They have lives. My sweet J understood how his Dad was feeling and they had a great chat. I have come to understand the commitment my children take in connecting with us everyday as it is a challenge to be available exactly when it works for Greg on the other side of the world. 

 People have grown and changed without me here as I have changed due to my experiences. Experts on the re-entry warn that most people at home simply aren't interested your life abroad, not because they're rude, but they can't relate. I am grateful to the many who have taken the time and interest to ask me specific questions about our lives and work in Cambodia. My sister's sweet son sat with me on the balcony, crossed his little legs and asked, "So, how's Uncle Greg?" Then he asked exactly what Greg did for work. It was very special.

 Canadians are stressed out. Wow. I have realized for quite some time that I live with less stress in Phnom Penh, but being back has emphasized that fact. 

 Canadians are very polite! Having lived in a country where the mentality is to get ahead in traffic and any type of queue, I realize why Canadians have the reputation of being polite. Every time I've been given the right of way when it's not mine, I am amazed.

 The biggest shock might be that Phnom Penh is becoming home. Although I grieve not living everyday life with my kids and friends, I find myself longing for my life in Cambodia. I miss Greg, my house, my space, the traffic, the easy pace of life and I really miss my friends.

My Top Ten

I was on a Skype call with a friend from home and she asked me what the top three difficult things were about living in Cambodia. Besides missing people, especially my children, I found it hard to come up with three difficulties. Instead, I am going list the top ten things that I like about living in Phnom Penh.

1. Fulfilling work - There is something very special about having the opportunity to work for an organization invested in international justice. Our personal contribution may be of little consequence, but we are aware that we are part of something hugely important. The NGO Greg works for is instrumental in bringing change to exploited people in Cambodia. The NGO is well established in the country and was here long before world wide government agencies stepped in to meet the humanitarian needs of Cambodia, post genocide. It is a gift to us that we became aware of Ratanak and it is worth your time researching to determine if it's a good fit for your charity support.

Teaching piano here has been much less stressful than in Canada. Students are less busy, say thank you and seem to appreciate the opportunity to take lessons.

It's not that our work at home wasn't fulfilling or making a difference, but the opportunity we have been given to live and work in Cambodia is humbling and exciting in a way we haven't experienced before.

2. Relationships - My experience is the people who live in expatriate settings need one another. People have time for one another and always make good on their suggestion to get together. I love that people in our borey (neighbourhood) will simply pop by unannounced for coffee and a visit. The richness in having friends from so many different countries is very fulfilling. It's fun to learn about different cultures, both differences and similarities, through spending time together. The Aussies are particularly "entertaining"!

3. Always Interesting - I think it will be years before we are accustomed to our surroundings. The newness of living in another country and culture is fascinating because things don't always make sense to us. Greg loves how the city comes to life at night. Pop up restaurants made up of plastic chairs and metal tables appear once the work day is through and people are out and about. The open areas are filled with people playing badminton, enjoying picnics and doing outdoor exercise classes. Our neighbourhood comes alive with people going for walks once the heat of the day has passed and cooled down to a mere 28 for night time walking. Just today I noticed a guy riding his moto with extra bike tires around his waist for transport. We see something new and slightly nutty everyday.

4. Cambodians - Our experience is that Cambodians are kind and welcoming people. To think an entire generation was almost wiped out with the Pol Pot regime is unfathomable, yet here we live among the surviving and the generation to follow. What the country endured is beyond belief and if you ever have the chance to visit me, the Killing Fields and Prison are must sees to have an understanding of what fellow humanity has suffered.

5.Our Church - We are attending an Anglican church, which is quite different than either of our traditional expressions of faith in Christ. We love it. We enjoy the reflective liturgy, sung and spoken, the use of Scripture throughout the service, the deep and meaningful prayer times all weaved with well chosen contemporary and traditional hymns. The Priest is well spoken, challenging and the congregation full of young families. There are so many babies to get my baby fix!

6.Opportunities to Travel - It's simply more affordable to travel throughout Asia than from Canada. Although we were blessed with experiencing much of Asia in 2005-2008, there are some countries we haven't explored. There are 21 statutory holidays in Cambodia that Greg's NGO recognizes, not to mention 3 weeks of vacation. May offered two long weekends! We recently enjoyed a trip to Thailand and although we've visited before, it was fun to remember and see what has changed. The amazing pop up restaurants on the streets are all but gone, which is very sad. The roads and big shopping malls seem to have only improved and apparently the Thai have a taste for Western fattening food because there was a shocking amount of overweight Thai people, which was a big change. 

7. Challenging - It's good be challenged and live outside of what's easy and comfortable. Greg is challenged by the Khmer (pronounced Kuh-my) language course he is taking. He works a full day, drives in the bucketing rain on his moto to the University for language class and comes home to study all night. It's a good challenge, a necessary challenge and he is committed to going deep into the language. Once I've become totally settled, I will take a more basic course that focuses on more conversational language rather than the reading and writing Greg is studying. I've had a flat tire driving home and learning how to handle that without speaking Khmer was challenging but entertaining. My tire was literally changed on the side of the road in 3 minutes. No wheel balancing needed for these roads! 

8. Less Stressful - I truly find life less stressful here. It's hard to explain but we live a much slower pace of life. I suppose becoming empty nesters contributes to being less busy although we are so thankful that our kids involve us in their daily lives. Nothing makes me happier than a middle of the night phone call to help them solve a 911.  Having a house helper three times a week takes the stress of house chores and not owning a house, less responsibility. Life is more affordable here. Our money goes further for "fun" things, like weekly foot massages, eating out and $2.75 movie tickets. (the latest movies too!)

9. City Life - It took me a long while to adjust to life in Niagara after living in Toronto for 7 years. I've come to realize that both Greg and I really enjoy city living. Our kids have also come to love big city living. 

10. Dependence on God - Living in a new culture means that many things we take for granted at home,such as where to buy sour cream, aren't obvious. Even though life seems more simple here, it's far more complicated in many ways. We've had a huge learning curve in order to have our basic needs met.(I know, I know...sour cream is not a basic need. :) When you need to pray about basic needs, your need for God heightens. It's our faith that gets through some of those challenges and we've seen God pull through again and again, just as His word promises - He is faithful.

I did it! Ten things I like about Phnom Penh. To be honest, there a few things that drive me mad about living here too, but we'll save those for another rainy day. 

The Heat is On

Someone turned the heat up in Phnom Penh today. We understand that the weather has been unusually mild for April, in the mid 30's, but today it feels dreadful outside. When you walk outside, it feels like someone has a hot hair dryer on you, full blast. It's back to sweaty backs and legs weather. We just have to abandon the North American attitude towards sweat and deal with it. I don't sweat, I *glisten*.

This weekend is Khmer New Year and the streets feel eerily quiet out there. Greg thinks the roads are more dangerous than usual because no one is obeying the street lights with the light traffic. When I went to the grocery store today, it kind of felt like Christmas at home as I couldn't find a parking spot and the store was packed.I had my purchases all ready to go on the counter and a lady just walks in front of me and hands her groceries to the cashier, bypassing the line. Grrr. She knew what she was doing was rude because she said sorry to me, in English.

Greg had a trip to the village last month to evaluate one of the projects. Ratanak is focussed on preventing exploitation, protecting the vulnerable,helping the trafficked return home and seeing the survivors restored. The project he visited was part of the prevention piece, an education project in the village. Community leaders are taught, via flip charts, to recognize risks in their community and how to avoid and report suspected crimes. The leaders, called "heros", then teach the other members of the community. He was away for two nights with his colleague and enjoyed experiencing village life, although his eel dinner made him happy to come home to my cooking! 

Village heros learning how to prevent exploitation within their communities.

Boiled eel for dinner, freshly caught in the family's pond. 

I managed two nights on my own in our big ol house, which wouldn't have frightened me except for the many recent robberies in our neighbourhood. Thieves climb the gates and saw through the window bars to enter homes and steal electronics and cash. There was a lot of prayer happening those two nights!

I had a weekend away with my friends in the heart of the city, celebrating my friend's 40th birthday. (she's a just a baby!)It was great fun to explore touristy parts of the city and feel like I was traveling somewhere exotic. It was shocking to see the cost of products marketed towards the tourist. The clothing prices were more expensive than home and in USD. We lounged around the hotel pool, ate our meals out discovering a great Mexican restaurant, enjoyed aromatherapy massages, binge watched "This is Us" and experienced high tea at an upscale hotel that overlooked the city and the stinky canal. :)

I had a driving incident not too long ago that was apparently more serious than I realized. Talking with experienced foreigners here is always eye opening. I was driving on a busy night, turning left. The driver of a large truck was also turning left onto the road I was on. At home, I would have the right of way. There is no such thing as right of way here. It's a free for all. Admittedly, I was showing off to my visiting passenger, and I wouldn't let the big truck go, blocking him. Well, he literally shoved me off the road into the ditch and I made the huge mistake of flinging my hands up in irritation at him, only to see that the truck was a large, fancy, police vehicle. My heart sank. My friend didn't think I could get out of the ditch, but somehow I managed. When I relayed the story to numerous friends who have lived here a long time, I was told I was lucky I wasn't shot. I laughed at that, not believing it could be a possibility, but apparently, God was protecting me that day. Lesson learned. NEVER make a local lose face, and that rule is even more important when dealing with those in authority. I am grateful to have learned the lesson by getting off easy. 

On top of two statutory holidays, Greg took the rest of the week off and we are flying out to Thailand on Friday. It is their New Year as well and they celebrate with huge water fights in the streets. That should be an experience! We will spend a few days in Bangkok, where there is an IKEA...yay...civilization! Some people go to Thailand for pad thai and the beaches. I am going for steak at the Sizzler and IKEA. But seriously, we are off to the beach as well. We will take a bus to Hua Hin and then taxi to Dolphin Bay and enjoy some down time there. When we return, there are only 7 weeks of teaching lessons for me and then it's fly home time! Everyday I am closer to hanging out with T and J for 6 weeks. From there, we will figure out when they can come next and see Greg as well.

I sure hope it cools down by the time I come back home to Phnom Penh! :)

Mysteries

Just when we think we've got this place almost figured out, we are reminded that we don't! It makes me feel better that my friend who has lived here for seven years still can't quite figure out how her washing machine works. My other friend shared with me that everytime she returns home from driving any distance, she is amazed she didn't kill someone on the road. 

Cell phone service is not even close to the cost in Canada, so I am NOT complaining, but I don't quite understand how it works and anyone I've asked to explain it to me seems to be in the same boat. We purchase time from a booth at the side of road, type it into our phone and boom, we have both phone service and data. It's unclear to me how much of that money goes to data and how much goes to phone service because according to my cell app I have over $100 left of data but my phone service ran out last month. The other mystery is I've never paid $100 towards service on my phone as we usually purchase about $5 a month. As long as my phone keeps working, I'll happily purchase the nine digit number from the side of the road.

Everyone in our borey pays the security guards at a $20 service fee. There is one family who have never been asked for it and they've lived here for years. It's not like there is an invoice that comes to your mailbox, but rather a guard will run you down and ask you for that money. There have been so many robberies in our borey as of late, that some people are refusing to pay the fee as someone is clearly sleeping on the job. Our neighbour who moved here a few months before us had never been asked for the fee, but then was chased down a few months ago and was forced to pay up. We haven't been asked to pay yet. We drive through the guarded gate everyday on both moto and car and I always wonder if today will be the day. Our friends can't figure it out and wonder if our landlord is paying the fee. It remains a mystery! 

Our house helper Chenine comes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon and I am very thankful for the help. Our home is three floors but we never venture to the third floor. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms up there and it has housed overnight guests three times. (if we count our kids as guests) She arrives at 12 and is supposed to work until 4, but she is generally just starting to clean the first floor - the area we live in and that is dirtiest - by 5pm. I simply don't understand what she could be doing on the 3rd floor for so long. There is nothing to clean as no one is using that space. One of these days, I will garner up enough courage to walk up there and see what she's doing.

The other day when I was filling out a deposit slip at the bank and figuring out how the system worked, I was reminded that the adventure of life here lies in figuring out how to live in another part of the world. The fun is in not knowing how basic things work and learning to cope and fit in that world. Just when it seemed I got the bank process worked out, my kids phoned me with the news that the bank machine system in Ontario has gone paperless. When I return, I will not have put my deposit, cash or cheque, into an envelope or type in the amounts I am depositing...it's all automatic! It seems more mystery awaits when I return home for a visit in June.

Four Months

We have officially been "in" for four months. It sounds like a prison sentence, doesn't it? To be brutally honest, sometimes it feels like one too. However, we have left the "shattered" stage of culture shock and we are reentering our host country through more realistic spectacles than during our honeymoon period.

Reentering means discovering things all over again after losing our bearings for a while. Our routine has certainly helped us in leaving the distress of adjusting here in the past. Greg's routine is to rise at 7am, get ready for work, have breakfast and off he goes on his moto to work. He isn't a huge fan of the moto and feels rather unsafe on it, but we all know it's better him than me. He was riding around with a mere bike helmet on but once he realized even the locals were laughing at his expense, he spent the whole $20 for a real helmet. Well, real for Cambodian. He splurged for a helmet imported from Thailand, which we can only hope is a little better quality for his noggin. 

Greg is on active surveillance for his prostate cancer diagnosis. He was finally able to meet with the Thai urologist at the best hospital here and have his PSA testing and physical exam. His PSA was down 3 points, which is either a result of cutting sugar entirely out of his diet or a different system of calculating the reading. He will have this test every three months and will have another biopsy in June to be sure the cancer isn't growing.

He continues to be enjoy learning the role of M&E and is looking forward to a trip out of Phnom Penh soon to meet with a project. The projects that Ratanak is involved with are diverse and can be read about here. If you are interested in supporting justice work abroad, Ratanak is long established in Cambodia, well respected in the NGO world and is involved in world changing justice mission. His trip out of town means I'll be sleeping in this big ol' villa by myself, which I'm not too thrilled about. There have been a few robberies in our borey as of late, which makes me nervous. 

Living here means daily life is filled with the unexpected. The unexpected continually entertains me, which helps in adjusting to our change in life. Today an entire herd of cattle was coming at me, head on, while driving in the city. Some traffic lights are to be followed, others not. Drivers get mad and drive around you at some red lights. However, Greg was stopped by the police for going through a red at a broken traffic light. He was following the car directly ahead of him and he wasn't stopped but Greg was. Well, you make a decision. You go down to the police station, go through the paper work, try and explain the traffic light wasn't working, pay a potential fine, or you pay the police officer $5 to make your troubles go away. Some people say if foreigners would stop paying the officers off, the traffic targeting of foreigners would decrease. Others accept this is how it works. What would you do? 

Life with my house helper is incredibly entertaining. Some people have house helpers who speak English, have some education and are literate, but I don't. My helper, Chenine is older, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge and very poor. She lives in a slum and I was introduced to her by a wonderful Cambodian man who helps Chenine out. If you've seen the new Gilmore Girl's series on Netflix, Chenine and I are a bit like Lorelia's mother and her house helper. I carry on in English thinking she will understand something and Chenine talks a mile a minute in Khmer and I don't get a word. Not a single word. Over Christmas, I forgot to tell her we were going away. When we returned, she carried on with great animation about something that had happened. So, I phoned our mutual friend for translation, and apparently, the water from our pipes was red. She thought we had been murdered and the water was pouring red with our blood. At first, I couldn't believe she could be so naive to think such a thing, and then I remembered that she has witnessed unfathomable sights that she will probably never share with me. She lived through the years of genocide where a good majority of her population was wiped out.

 Today she asked me, via a game of charades, to teach her how to do the laundry. I am a bit protective of my laundry and don't want my clothes ruined by someone who has never used a washing machine. I felt an inner rebuke that could only come from the Spirit of God, questioning how I could come all this way, live with a new people and not be willing to teach a new skill to someone who wants to learn. She was amazed by the process, examining the machine. She felt so valued bringing down my dirty laundry and learning to sort it. God forgive me for my pride and selfishness. I usually just leave the clothes in sorted piles outside on the patio tiles because the area is covered overhead. But, she put the sorted piles in plastic bags. Smart one, my Chenine. 

So, we continue to be humbled and to learn from our host country. Greg begins language training very soon. I likely won't learn the language as in depth as he will, but rather take a survival course. He studies the language every night with an on line program and has been interviewing private tutors to help him. 

We have booked some upcoming trips. We are planning to head out to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a week during the Khmer New Year holiday. We have been there before and really enjoyed our time, but we will miss not having T and J with us. I booked my trip home to Ontario and arrive on June 14 and stay until July 31st. So, we're four months in and it's four months until I'm out for a home visit!