Truly 3rd World

Because we have become so accustomed to life here in Cambodia, I sometimes "forget" we live in a 3rd world country. I know it might sound silly, but some of the 3rd-world-ness must be ignored in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle here. Because of this "forgetting", I tend to think we live somewhere normal. Until the following happens.... :

Yesterday I was watching TV after school in the back part of our house. All of a sudden, I heard a LOUD noise coming from near the street. I figured it was an old jalopy car or moto whose muffler had maybe fallen off, and this was the cause of the noise. I tried to ignore it, and I continued watching American Idol (YES!!! we get it here), but the noise didn't go away. I finally got up and walked out on our deck that overlooks the street. What I saw next horrified me.

There were tons of people who had also come out of their houses, stopped their motos, etc. to "watch" whatever it was making the sound. My eyes searched the street to find where it was coming from. Is it a funeral procession, with moto after moto filing down the street? No. Has a helicopter landed in the near vicinity? No. Finally, I spot the noise-maker. It was 2, normal sized pick up trucks driving on the very edge (in the gutters) of each side of the road. In the back of each truck were buckets of some sort of liquid, a hose and a fogger-like machine. Out of the fogger was being sprayed some green substance. I knew in an instant that these trucks were spraying chemicals up and down our street. My assumption was that the spray is for mosquito control.

There was no warning given to the people, like, "At 4:30pm we will be spraying toxic chemicals. Please stay indoors, and close all windows." No. In fact, the Cambodian people were standing in spray's path watching the whole thing!!! They were not afraid of the toxicity, they were not trying to get out of the way of the green spray...they were watching it, as if entertainment had just set foot on their once boring street. My heart broke, but my instincts also kicked in and I went inside as quickly as possible...closing all windows and doors. I could not believe that this country is not educated enough to know the dangers of spraying toxic chemicals into the faces and homes of its people. Or do I come from the overly protective country of America, where lawsuits over this kind of stuff are a dime a dozen? Ah, I don't know!!! It is hard to have lived in 2 such extreme places, and find the middle ground for what makes sense.

Education is knowledge, and knowledge is power. I am so thankful to at least be from a country where the people are educated. I am also thankful to be in a profession where I get to educate others on a daily basis. For now, me and my green spray-filled lungs need to get back to work.

:: You Know You're In Asia When.... ::

• Your rice cooker breaks, and you FREAK OUT and think, "Now what am I going to eat!!?"

• Everyone around you refers to their height in meters.

• Crazy drivers are not just a small fraction of the driving population, but the majority of the driving population.

• (specific to Cambodia) Police pull people over just to make a buck. And if you get into an accident, you simply assess the damages and pay the victim right there on the spot.

• Rat is on the menu at local restaurants, as well as running down any given street at night.
  

• Big, colorful fruits grow on most all trees.

• There is a "siesta" (nap) time everyday from about 12-2pm. All stores and vendors close down, and hammocks are strung up everywhere...full of sleeping bodies.

• Lizards are the size of small cats.

• Diaper-less babies are everywhere.
  

• Men stop on the side of the road to pee, not trying to conceal themselves from anyone at all!

• There are poorly, but hilariously, translated signs everywhere. (see picture below)

• You cannot, for the LIFE of you, remember if it is normal for steering wheels to be on the right or left side of cars.

• Your shower consists of a spout coming out of the wall: no curtain, no bathtub...nothing between you showering and the entire rest of your bathroom.

• Most buildings are adorned with fancy gold stuff.

I suppose that just as it has taken us this long for Asia to feel like home......it will be a weird sensation coming back to the "normalcies" of life in California. When we get home, if we crave rice, ask if we can set up rat traps in the house, are paranoid about large lizards, take naps everyday from 12-2pm, and drive all crazy like........please forgive us. We are officially Asian now, and we will have to become re-Westernized once we get home :o)

What Have We Been Doing?!

Warning: this blog is going to be completely random. There is no creative way I can cohesively get all of these bits to flow together, so, here you go. Here is what we've been up to these past few weeks.
Last week we had a Monday off of school, and that same day a large group of students and staff (including my hubs) left for High School Bible camp....about 6 hours drive from the city. The girlies and I decided it would be a perfect day for the pool, so we set off to relax and have some fun by the water. Here are some fun pics from our day.

My toes, the gorgeous pool, and some very Asian building in the background.

Two great women: Joanne (from Hong Kong) and Polly (from PA). I love these girls!!


Me and Jo, having fun with camera angles in the sun :o)

Here are a few pictures from our neighborhood. People are staring LESS at us now, because they see us around the neighborhood daily. I love to photograph the daily lifestyle of the Cambodian people, they are SO relaxed and live very simple lives: the ladies take their baskets to the market each morning around 7am to shop for the day's fresh produce and meats; the men hang out playing cards or checkers on the street corners; the children find random things to play with, and are outside in the mornings and afternoons, and the food stalls are hopping as soon as the sun goes down!

Some of our adorable neighbor children, playing unsupervised ALL the time.

This is the main corner in our neighborhood. People sell everything from used shoes to fresh fruit. The moto drivers you see spend their entire day waiting for potential customers.

This is the old railroad track: trains used to run frequently all over the country before the Khmer Rouge. Now, people have entire communities next to the tracks. They live here.

This last week, I (K) had the opportunity to visit a large school in our city that hosted a Field Day for all 3rd-5th graders. We took the kids out on buses, and they participated in numerous track and field events! It was a great day to watch them show off their athletic talents! Here are some pictures from our day.

All the different schools represented at the Field Day. We are the light blue ones!

Some of my beautiful girls! All 3 are Cambodian.

More beauties! From L to R: one of my Korean students, a Filipino, an American, a Cambodian, and a Canadian! Some of these guys made up our relay team, who ended up taking second place!

Brian and I had a fantastic Valentine's Day together yesterday! We celebrated by relaxing at home, taking naps, going out for a nice dinner, having Swenson's ice cream for dessert, and buying some new DVD's to enjoy. Basically, I could care less what we do on these somewhat silly holidays....as long as we're together. Here is a pic of us in front of our favorite fancy restaurant, Le Duo. They make fresh pastas daily, and have fabulous pizzas and salads, too!

A Day in the Province

Cambodia is a relatively small country, when compared to the United States. If the roads were highways, and there were no pot holes, cows crossing, flooded pathways, or millions of moto drivers.....it wouldn't be Cambodia. But, it also would take a lot quicker to get places! Cambodia is a bit smaller than the state of Oklahoma, and so if the roads were highways, I think it would take about 6+ hours to drive the thickest length of the country. Regardless, the roads are NOT highways....in fact, the "highways" here that take you from one major city to another are often barely big enough for 2 cars to drive side-by-side. It is a slow, bumpy, dusty, animal-filled, rice paddy traversed road to go anywhere outside of the capital where we live. That being said, I (Karie) LOVE to get out of the city because it is where you truly see the rural-ness of the Cambodian lifestyle. I truly find beauty in this side of the country! Of course there are plenty of animals I can look at and laugh at as well: chickens, running crazily around the road when cars pass by; water buffalo with their mean looking faces, wallowing in the muddy rice paddies; anacondas, crawling up the Cambodian peoples' legs...........ok, just kidding on that last one! Here's a great picture I found on the internet of a water buffalo: yes, they always look this ticked off.


All this to say, I love going out of Phnom Penh and into the areas otherwise known as the provinces. There the scenery is like none other: mountain peaks, lime green grasses, palm trees laden with coconuts, thatched dwellings, and LAND as far as the eye can see! I have had the privilege now twice to take a day and visit one of the surrounding provinces. See my previous post on going to the orphanage, which was in the ____________ province.

This past weekend, a friend of mine who teaches Kindergarten at our school, invited me to accompany her to the Takeo province, about 2 hours drive from Phnom Penh. I gladly took her up on the offer, and had an incredible, unforgettable day! Let me tell you the brief history of our visit: another friend of ours who is Cambodian grew up in this province, specifically in the village we visited. Polly (K teacher) and Srey (our Cambodian friend) visited this village last year; Polly's heart broke as she went to the local school and peered into empty classrooms. A school room with no books, no supplies, and some rooms even had no desks. It was from her initial visit that Polly decided to take action. With support from her church back home in Pennsylvania, she was able to get enough school supplies donated to create 500+ school kits for the kids in this rural village school. Wow. Her Dad and cousin flew out to Cambodia earlier this year with the kits in hand. This past weekend was the commemoration of a long, prayer filled journey to bring these school kids hope and joy.

So many stories came out of this day, but I will save them for when we are home and can tell them to you in person!!! (16 weeks and counting.......). Some brief stories I will share are that we were able to share the gospel message with these 500+ students, teachers, and even in front of a Buddhist monk! Some of the kids had never seen a foreigner at all; we got many stares and a few smiles! The kids were more beautiful than I had even seen, and they were so thankful and deserving. The classrooms were bare and the school has no electricity. The village is made up of traditional dwellings, up on stilts off the ground. There just might have been more animals in the village than people. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Here are some photos from our time. I cannot wait to show you the over 80 pictures that came from this beautiful day, again, in PERSON!

One of our 2 vans, loaded up with abundant blessings!!

One of the women selling sun-cooked meat to us when our van stopped at a local market area.

Beautiful school children, peeking out the windows of their school.

People come in different colors??!

This school was militant about straight, quiet lines.

Enjoying coconut milk with Soapon and Stephanie; they gave us each our own coconut when we arrived!

Passing out the kits to the grade 6 girls.

The small pond on the school campus.

The Kindergarten classroom.

Walking to visit some of Srey's relatives in the village: to our left are empty rice paddies.

Truly the simple life: I will miss this greatly when I leave here.

Shy, precious kiddos in the village.

Cows, loving the village life. Tied up to a tree all day with green grass a-plenty!

Day-2-Day Joys

If you haven't heard, we have decided through much prayer to return home after this first year of teaching. Since the decision has been made, both Brian and I have agreed to consciously make the most out of each day we have left in this multi-cultural, international, so-different-from-home country. Personally, I have tried to search out the things that bring me joy here, although sometimes they are hard to find. I have also decided to go out on the weekends and document, through photography, more pictures of the Cambodian way-of-life. We have a lot of pictures of things we've been doing and enjoying, but I feel our over 1,300 pictures is lacking the lifestyle of the Cambodian people. Needless to say, today's blog will be all about those things: life's joys, and the Cambodian lifestyle. Enjoy! I sure do.

Here is my landlord's dog, Timmy. Contrary to popular belief,
Timmy is not a boy dog. He is a she. Timmy brings me much
joy for many reasons: he/she has an under bite, which can be seen
if you enlarge this picture. He/she also loves to grab whatever scrap of material can be found on the floor, and proceed to ask me (how only a dog can) to chase her around the driveway. Precious.

This pure joy goes without saying. The flowers here are bright, bold, and bloom year round!








There is something about clean, colorful laundry that my camera loves to photograph. It is very common in this country for homes to not have a dryer. Actually, many homes don't even have washing machines. Either way, laundry gets done, and it is always hung outside to dry.

Life long friends are hard to come by, but we were so blessed by the friends we made right when we got here. In this picture is Tess, me, Dean (it was his surprise 40th birthday bash), and Jo. It is so fun to be able to be goofy with these people, and then to work side by side with them throughout the weeks. I love you guys!




This is a view through the fence at the public junior high/high school next door to our house. The public schools here are in very poor condition, and the education follows suit. Trash is everywhere, the fences have barbed wire, and the students are expected to attend school 6 days a week here. It is very hard to see schools in this condition, but it causes us to be grateful for schools like ours where students can learn in a clean, safe, environment.

My favorite, local, Cambodian coffee shop!! My friend and his family own this shop. I recently found out that his entire family believes in the Lord!! I love to come here weekly, to encourage him and to support his newly opened business. I typically order 2 iced coffees (they are very small), and the total bill is $1.00. Gotta love it!

This is a typical Cambodia restaurant. They are most always found on the sidewalks in the open
air. The food is cooked over a simple propane-fueled burner, and it is very cheap. If we ate at these street food restaurants, which we don't, we could probably both eat for under $2-3.00.

Not Me

I did not find two, beady-eyed mice staring at me from under our toaster oven yesterday morning.

I do not freak out now, every time I enter the kitchen...anticipating the rodents running out from small hiding places.

I am not feeling cold in this knowingly hot and humid country's "cool season"; and we for sure did not sleep with the air conditioner OFF last night for the first time since we have lived here.

I did not get hit by a moto last weekend while riding my bicycle, and my leg was not burned by the hot tail pipe as I fell on top of it.

We have not already been here 6 1/2 months, and we are not counting down the days until we will be home free (.....147....).

I do not have a class of 27 pre-pubescent 5th graders, representing 10 different countries.

A store called "USA Doughnuts" did not just open up down the street from the school, and they do not carry a bunch of items in bulk that they ship from Costco in the US. And we defiantly do not love going there, because all of the items on their menu are made with ingredients from the United States.

I do not find myself speaking in simple, choppy sentences.....making sure my Cambodian friends understand what I am saying. And I for sure do not find myself speaking the same way to English-speaking co-workers...

Oh no, not me.

::Craftiness::

Being in a truly 3rd world country, the chances of finding the resources to enjoy your favorite hobbies are slim to none. I thoroughly enjoy using my god-given craftiness back at home, and I miss being able to run down to the local Michael's to pick up ingredients for my next creation. At home, in my free time, I enjoyed scrapbooking, putting together creative gifts, decorating my home, looking through magazines for new ideas, taking with my sister about baking, and just plain being creative in every day life.

I think that is a BIG part of what I am missing in Cambodia. I get no chance to enjoy my crafty hobbies!! Well, while in one of Bangkok's many HUGE malls, I discovered a crafty store and was in heaven!! This store sells appliques (little things to add onto bags, purses, etc.) of all kinds! They also sell bags, shirts, baby clothes, etc. to iron things on to! Brilliant. By the way, their website is www.appliqueshop.com. I asked, and they DO ship to the USA.

I got this wonderful, crafty idea to make baby gifts (I know 3 people in Cambodia about to have babies, and my cousin at home just had a baby as well). I am all about personalized gifts. Anyway, needless to say, I purchased some appliques and wallah! See the photos below:

The beginnings of something fabulous!

The iron on's chosen for baby Jeremiah (my Cambodian TA's first baby)

The final product: 3 personalized baby onesies!