Good Luck To You

So, it's been a while since I've written but not because I haven't wanted to---I just haven't had time!

Last I left you, Val and I were excited for the arrival of our newest volunteer, Karly.

Karly's a 19 year olf photographer from NYC who had spent a couple weeks in Vietnam before coming to Siem Reap.



Unfortunately, though, our new posse only lasted for what, 2 nights? Karly's parents were in a bad car accident so she hurried home to be with the family. That was 2 weeks ago, I think.



The night Karly arrived, Ta, Val, and I went to a free cambodian concert! Some popular Khmer artists performed and one female artist did a cover of "I wanna make love right now na na" (or whatever that song is). Ta freaked when I knew some of the lyrics! I can totally appreciate that the concert was TONS of fun for locals........but, it was all in Khmer...which is a problem. Everyone was laughing at the skits they were doing on stage, though, so i guess it was hilarious. Makes me wish I knew Khmer better. But, I picked up some good local food, got some pictures, and it was my first time having someone ride on the back of my bicycle! I really throws off your balance trying to steer, not to mention there's twice the person to move. And theres no seat! I've since tried to ride on the back of one but yeah..noooooo way. Very uncomfortable and bumpy.

Another ritual Val and I had that definitely didn't suck was our Meridian trips. Two Saturdays in a row we paid a small amount to use the Meridian's (the biggest hotel around's) pool for the day. Those Saturdays were DEFINITELY the most glamerous I've had in 2 and a half months. We justified those days with the fact that we barely wear any makeup, never wear our hair down, bicycle everywhere in 120 degrees, and are generally covered in sweat and dirt every single day. Like you would expect from a huge, huge hotel, the pool was awesome--and sooooo relaxing!



We also went with Ratana to a local school. Not an english school, though. It's a dance school/music school teaching kids how to dance like Apsara and how to play some of the traditional instruments. It was soooo adorable. And we got to try out the instruments for a bit :)



Two Sundays ago, we also had a great day of excursions. Started the morning with the Artisan Center and the Silk Farm. Let me first say that in Cambodia, nearly EVERYTHING is made by hand. And it's hard to appreciate hand made things until you're watching people make them! The Artisan Center was great. They employ deaf kids to make silk paintings, and have a few other sections (carving, drawing, sewing, etc..) for people with other disabilities.
The Silk Farm was really cool cause we got to see the whole process---from worms to scarves! Silk worms are really rather cute and their entire purpose in life is to have babies--lots of babies. We saw them feeding the worms, collecting their silk, dividing the silk into "raw" and "fine", spinning the silk, dying the silk, all the way to weaving scarves to sell in stores all over the country. We even got to try weaving a bit! It. Is. So. Hard. Those ladies (and one guy) rock.


After picking up a few presents we took a long ride to the floating village. I had been there once before with Elderhostle, but not for sunset. And lemme tell ya, it was beautiful.




Life has gone on as normal for the past couple weeks. School has been especially fantastic, though. I did change classes, and I'm glad I did. I still talk to my kids from Sophannara's class every day, but now I get to know even more students. I now work with Bunleap (bun-lee-up) who is much more pleasant, too.

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween at the orphanage!! It was hilarious trying to explain the holiday to them....they were like "so you just dress up and get candy?" It was possibly the most fun I've ever had! ..btw caroline, they LOVE the song i got a feeling :) !! we sang it and danced constantly!



"Trick or Treat!!"

(please note the awesome Kung Fu Panda shorts)

We also did halloween masks at CLFCA...the kids were less into it (which was disappointing) but they seemed to enjoy themselves decently. For CLFCA we had some awesome prizes for scariest mask, prettiest mask, funniest mask, most creative mask, and best overall. The prizes were body jewel sticker things, a watch, fake jordan wrist bands, a miniature globe, and an english khmer dictionary. (Not bad if I do say so myself!) And then, of course, for those who didn't win a prize: candy!!


Another really incredible place that Val and I went last week was the Land Mine Museum:





A sign at the museum said that there were still somewhere between 3 and 6 million land mines hidden in Cambodia, along with "tons" of bombs dropped during the Vietnam War. The museum wasn't fun, but I was really glad we went. It was also really different from the Khmer Rouge museum. That one was actually really eerie. The land mine museum felt much more peaceful--it's in a really green area and the back half of the school has been transformed into a school/dorm room type space for children and teens who have been injured by land mines. There was a big board that had each kid's story on it. I'd never stopped to appreciate that I have hands before.


On a different note, the really big awesomely fun thing that Val and I did this past weekend was go to Laos! Experienced a different culture (although pretty similar to Cambodia) and added another country to my list.




In order to explain how cool it was, lemme just tell you what each day was like:

Woke up at 8 and took a lao tuktuk to an elephant rescue sanctuary. Maynam (our elephant), Val, Cook (our mahout), and I walked through a river, up steep hills, through a little village, down some steep hills, and all around the mountains for about an hour.




After our elephant ride, took a lao speed boat (definitely different than western speed boats...more like just, a fastboat) to a nearby waterfall (the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen)




After climbing the rocks and playing around for a while, we fastboated back to the elephants, ate a delicious traditional lunch, and then got in our kayaks for the 3 hour trip home--I love kayaking! We went over "rapids" (like level 2 max) and it was so relaxing to kick back in my kayak and float down the Mekong, looking at the clouds. It was so perfect!





And that was just day one! The second day was relax day--got a massage, ate some delicious Lao food, climbed a mountain to watch sunset (and to see the fullest, biggest moon ever), and did a ridiculous amount of shopping.

Day 3 was hiking day. We set off around 9 AM to trek through a small village about an hour outside of Luang Prabang. We trekked for 3 hours through valleys and some jungle, constantly keeping an eye out for monkeys and tigers, until we reached another waterfall and the bear sanctuary-----and we still made it back home in time for a massage :)

(We climbed a boulder; those huts are scattered around the mountain sides for farmers to sleep in or to wait in if there's bad weather; waterfall #2 = awesome)

Also, we had the pleasure our first night in Luang Prabang to meet Tatyana who, for Halloween, was female. (It reminded me a lot of camp haha!!) He was a cute girl, though! Hanging out with these guys for the night (Tatyana was from Iowa, his buddy was from Cali) made me miss Americans quite a bit. But also, they really didn't help our stereotype: loud and obnoxious. Tatyana went up to every male who walked by and asked for a hug. Laos culture is a lot different, remember, and that sort of behavior is really looked down upon.
So, I was torn between laughing hysterically and being embarrassed for my Americanism. Either we were obnoxious or everyone else is stuck up. I think I'll go with the second!



So, we got back from Luang Prabang on Wednesday around 1 and still made it to school by 2. This was Val's last week in Cambodia, so most of our days were spent at the orphanage and saying goodbye at schools. It's kindof a mini-culture shock not having her all of a sudden. I mean, I lived here alone for a month and a half before she got here--i can do it. It's just different..less fun. Also, with her going I realized that I only have 3 weeks left!!

I remember when I first got here thinking to myself, "god i'm gonna be here for 3 MONTHS?!" and now, all i want is more time. I'll be going on one more trip outside of Cambodia, too. I signed up for a gap trip to Thailand for a week that I think is gonna be really awesome. We travel a lot, backpacking, overnight trains, staying with a mountain tribe for two nights, but I think it's gonna be tons of fun! (not to mention, everyone on the trip will speak English so I might make some cool friends) And half of me is SO excited to see another country and eat the food and live how they live......but the other half can't believe I'm leaving my kids. So, I'm gonna buy them some cool present(s)--don't know what yet. Val left CLFCA with some Red Sox stuff and a Boston calendar that they really like. They love looking at pictures of all the snow! To them, snow is magical and mysterious.

Time for bed here--and don't forget, if you were an hour ahead of me, we're now exactly 12 hours apart. If we were the same time, I'm now an hour ahead. Way to go daylight savings...

"Goodnight! Good luck to you! Happy Dreams! Safe Home! Goodbye!"
(typical parting words in Cambodia....no, really.)

"Rea Trey Suo Sudei! Chou'up kuh knee uh t'nigh s'eye!"

p.s. - stay fett, sister!