New Challenges (Cambodia Life)

  We’ve been in Cambodia for almost 2 weeks now and that’s actually insane to think.  I feel like with a consistent schedule time just flies even faster.  I also feel as I get more comfortable with my team and change, the race in general simply flies by faster.  Thinking back to the first few weeks of training camp I thought this season of life would never end…. Now I’m praying it never does.  (Not really but I’m tempted sometimes). I had a 1-1 with our squad leader, Bill, this past week and he just expressed how he could tell I was doing so good. I told him he was absolutely right and I truly am thriving here.  Of course, we have our hard days but even what I found as discomfort a few months ago, has now become comfortable. I’m seeking out new challenges, ways to grow in life, and to grow with the Lord.  That actually leads to the perfect intro into our time here….

  On our very first day here, we visited PCL which is the school we are working at.  As we were meeting all the staff and gaining new information on what our jobs would be, I was praying God would give me a challenge.  They explained our schedule is 8 am-6 pm, Monday-Friday working here with a 2-hour break for lunch and team time. (Team time is a requirement daily for the growth of our relationships…. It’s essentially just us hanging out with space for deeper conversations). We also decided on 4 of us to go to early morning church and the other 4 to attend evening youth group. Typically we get a full adventure day and sabbath each week but here we have 2 half days and 1 full day due to the church schedule.  They explained our knees and shoulders must be fully covered while teaching school and no T-shirts. That virtually leaves us the option of dresses, Jeans, skirts, and blouses… which aren’t exactly our current world race attire.  Luckily the markets here are FULL of skirts and blouses for a very reasonable price ($3-10 USD).  Ironically, this is the hottest weather so far and we have to be the most covered.  Praise God though because they have AC in almost all of the classrooms and offices.  Anyways, they named the teachers and what level/age they will be teaching. Each of us got to choose who we wanted to help and I wound up with Annie (who I’m sure will be mentioned frequently here, I love her so much!!)  She is a full-time missionary here from the States and she wasn’t present while we chose our teachers but I met her on our second day at school.  In our first conversation, we found out we are just so similar and God truly ordained this partnership.  One of the jokes is not knowing if that’s a good or bad thing because we both won’t remember information unless we write it down haha.  Anywho, once we knew a little more about each other, she jumped right into explaining my jobs & responsibilities.  The biggest project she has for me is making the Friday class curriculum for the full semester (10 weeks) and teaching each Friday for the 5 weeks we are here. She added a whole list of other assignments that my whole team ended up getting to help with.  She said she is usually the teacher there who has the most work for her teacher assistants and believes the best way is to jump right into doing the things we don’t necessarily know how to do. This sounded like a great challenge which happened to be an answered prayer.  It seemed like a lot at first but we only have 1 class together which leaves lots of time for her other assignments.

  Everything else has been going well here since the first day!  I feel like this is the fastest that I have gotten into a routine in a new country… probably due to our consistent schedule.  The kids in my class are already getting to know me well and my favorite part is when they say “teacher, teacher” to get my attention!! They also give little gifts so many times after class… whether that’s stickers, a stencil, or blowing a kiss. It’s the thought that counts haha.  My main job in class is to check their homework and make sure they are pronouncing each sound correctly…. well besides Friday when Annie and I switch roles!  I taught my first class this last Friday and it went fairly well.  Annie makes it look a lot easier than it really is but all the kids listened well and definitely got the hang of the words, shapes, and colors that were explained.  Luckily it’s just basics at this point so how hard could it be, right?! We’ll pray it stays that way for now.  I will say, teaching isn’t my favorite ministry but I love getting to know the kids, culture, and staff here.  OH and we get to take these things called Tuk-Tuks to school and home each day!  It’s basically a motorcycle pulling a cart with seats… but with fancy cushion seats. 

  As I mentioned in my last blog, we live with the boy’s team (Banks Team- DOGS [Disciples of God]) and that definitely just makes our living dynamic different.  Our 2 teams are the only teams living together, so I’m grateful for this opportunity.  In my opinion, it was a little hard adjusting at first due to expecting to be living on our own, 16 racers on a somewhat small base, and the dynamic change of being around the boys.  I’m pleased though, with where we are at right now and have been enjoying getting to experience life with them.  It’s fun to live with brothers, through Christ, especially since I’ve only ever lived with my 3 sisters. God is doing so much in each of their lives and being any part of their growth towards Christ is so cool to see!  They represent Christ in such a kind and gentle manner with us!  Our prayer is for growth within both of our teams and to pick up on what the other team does better this month… hopefully putting some new growth into practice.  Each Wednesday we have what’s called MEGA teamtime where both of our teams combine for worship and a fun activity/ any updates the leaders have for us.  I actually have been learning guitar since Georgia and got to lead worship this past Wednesday.  I definitely will be practicing more but this was such a beautiful example of how this is a fail-safe enviroment haha.  After all we are here to learn more and worship God. Everyone is patient with learning whether that’s an instrument or basic relationship skills!! 

  As for everything else, our meals consist of white rice, chicken (or the occasional mystery meat), dragonfruit, pineapple, and the occasional veggies.  it’s a stable meal, you get all the food categories…. but especially the lunch I will say, we wouldn’t mind a good change every now and then.   It is such a game changer having the base staff prepare our meals though, so I also will say I am simply grateful for the time and energy that saves us.  We are free on weekends for our own food where we can order anything on their app here called, food panda, or go out to a restaurant.  We get $7 a day from our food budget. ( which is about 28,000 Riel ). As for the Khmer language, I know how to say Hello, how are you, please rewrite, good job and I’m still working on the rest… it’s funny how we learn random phrases in each country based on the work we are doing there.  My favorite overall part of living here is how much we get to walk and when we are walking places how everyone says hello to us… especially the little kids out playing.  It’s so cute and so evident this is a community-based country!   Oh yes funny story… I introduced myself as “cec” (my nickname) on Sunday and they informed me that that means horse in Khmer…. So that nickname will not be a thing in Cambodia haha!  Speaking of the language, the letters are veryyy different, definitely the hardest yet that we have come across!  First off there is no spacing and I couldn’t even tell you how many letters are in the language let alone the abbreviations above them…. A letter can stand for something complete different based off a simple arch above it.  The closest thing that I can think of to relate is how our “!” And “?”make our words sound different. 

  That’s about it for Cambodia! I’ve been thinking and praying about summer/ fall plans so if you would like to join me in prayer on clarity for that, I would appreciate that.  Our teams could use prayers for bonding (with each other and the boys’ team), general health (praise God that hasn’t been an issue since Guatemala), and continued blessing over relationships in ministry!  Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions, I always love receiving comments!! 🙂

 

First Class! 🙂

The Huge Market! 🙂

Adventure Day Things! 🙂

Our Tuk Tuk rides & a piece of art from one of Kara’s students!!