Quick Update

I just wanted to give a quick update on what I have been up to this week. On Monday (aka yesterday) I started my language lessons. As of right now, I am schedule for 2 hours of language lessons a day, 5 days a week. So far I am enjoying my lessons. I have two different teachers. I like working with the second teacher as he is very conversational and so I have to actually practice what I am learning.

Secondly, I signed the lease for an apartment today. The place is really nice and I really like my landlady. I feel blessed because I was able to find a place that has a stove top, a fridge, hot water, and some furniture. It also has a balcony with a really nice view (which is a little treat for me). The only thing I will really miss is an oven. I told Gary and Bev that I might randomly come and vist them to use their oven for baking. I am also blessed in that I was able to find a roommate for the first 3 months. She will be coming from the Netherlands in the middle of July. I look forward to meeting her and pray that we get along. (I will really miss living with all my wonderful housemates from Wakil!!!!!!!!!)

Thirdly, today I had a meeting with the orphanage that I hope to be helping out with. I fell in love with the children the minute I first laid eyes on them! They are way tooo cute! If anyone has some good craft/game ideas that I can do with them let me know. I also had an interview at the assessment center and I hope that all works out as well.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Today's Adventure!!!!!!!!!!

It is 4:48 on a Friday night and I am zonked and wishing it was bedtime. So today I was on my own and I decided to go wander around the city and familiarize myself with it and then I had a meeting with someone about renting their place. I walked a bit until I found a tuk tuk and it took me to the waterfront. I was too soft and so he overcharged me for my ride. Then, I wandered around a bit and an English speaking tuk tuk driver found me and offered to take me to the memorial for the killing fields for $2 so I said okay. While there I took one of the paths which took me to a deserted area filled with begging children. My first reaction was to clutch my purse, say no, and coward in fear. I was shocked that that was how I felt. Yes I was all alone, but they were children who could use some attention and so I tried talking to them and getting to know them. This picture is of four of them. The one in the pink and orange is Tom and the tall one is Wii. Wii walked beside me a told me that he attends university in the morning for math and then in the afternoon he begs. We had a good conversation but whenever the other children were around he would start begging me for money again. It broke my heart. This boy has so much potential and yet here he is begging.

This next picture is of a skull from the killing fields. It was a very sad experience to walk around and see the marked spots of the open graves.

Afterwards I took my tuk tuk to the Russian Market to have lunch. When I got out the tuk tuk driver decided that instead of $2 he wanted $15 US. I was able to bring him down a little. After lunch, because I was frustrated with tuk tuk drivers trying to overcharge me, I decided to walk to the house that I was going to be looking at. I got really really lost! I nice Cambodian French man found me and took my map and started to walk with me showing me where to go. He invited me to his place, which was a little sketchy, but I said no and so he just continued showing me where to go. He walked me all the way to the place where I was going. He was a really sweet 73 year old man, but I have to admit I was a little freaked out (especially after spending a year studying sex trafficking and recruitment methods). But God was with me and God definitely used this experience to open my eyes to a number of things!

So those are the highlights of today's adventures!

Please pray for wisdom as I decide if this place is where I should be living.

Love you guys!

Random Pics

Unlike me, I have only taken a few pictures so far, so here are three random pictures that I have taken.

A) This is a picture of KFC in Cambodia with a tuk tuk and many motos parked in front of it.

B) This a picture taken of the "vehicles" in front of us at a red light. Notice that one is a cart being pushed by a man walking, motos, a vendor cart and cars all crowded in the street. The lines on the road mean nothing. Actually, it is not uncommon to see people driving on the wrong side of the road coming right at you.

c) A picture of an elephant in the middle of the park as a tourist attraction. The blanket on it looks exactly like a wall hanging that my grandma used to have.

I'm Here!

I have finally arrived in Cambodia and all my luggage made it here safe and sound too! It still seems somewhat unreal that I am actually here. I am definitely in the honeymoon phase of being here as I love it! However, I don't know if I would every want to drive here, and that includes riding a bike here, as the roads are crazy but I love it none the less. I went to the market this morning and found that I can get gap t-shirts for $3 US!!!!!! Sweet eh?! The only problem is finding my size. The heat is bearable and I am adjusting to constantly being wet from sweat. The Laings, who I am temporarily staying with, are really great and they have a beautiful house.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go with Bev Laing to interview a family for child care plus. The kids were so adorable. They do not have the same social constructs about colours as we do and so it is natural for guys to wear pink or to drive a pink moto. One of the children was wearing pink at the interview and so we had to ask to see if it was a boy or girl as we couldn't tell. Anyhow, I really hope people sponsor these children as they are so sweet and sponsoring the children enables them to attend school and provides medical care for the family.

So that is just a breve summary of my first little while on this side of the world. I can't wait until I am able to communicate with everyone, at least a bit, other than just saying hi, how are you, and thank you. Well now I am going to go practice some basic language.

God Bless!
Bec