Cambodia Crew

Last Day :(

2008-08-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

We never thought this day would actually come, i dont think any of us were ready to say goodbye to Pursat, 3 months went by way to fast. We have met the greatest people in the world here, and have made so many great friends. This had to be one of the greatest experiences of our life! Any of us would go back in a heartbeat, and hopefully we can sooner than later :). Words really just cant explain how incredible this was for all of us. We have learned so much, and are taking so many great experiences and memories back home with us.

Going away party

2008-08-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Before we left we had a going away party with all of our kids and everyone else that we worked with in SC. We prepared some delicious food, and enjoyed a fun night full of singing and dancing. Hanging out with all our kids for one last time was a blast!

Saying Goodbye to our preschool children

2008-08-04T15:58:00.001-07:00

Saying goodbye to our little preschool at children in Mung village was definietly our hardest goodbye. I had prepared a slide-show of all of our pictures from preschool to show all the kids, and Lauren had brought these wooden "Happy Factory" cars to give all of them as a going away present. Knowing that this was the last time that we were ever going to see those sweet faces was the hardest thing in the world. It got to the point where all of us were crying non-stop. They kept telling us dont cry teacher in Khmer and wiping the tears off our faces. All of us are going to miss those kids so much, it was such a great experience to spend the time that we had with them.

Ta Prohm

2008-07-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Once again this was another temple that we had the opportunity to go visit :). This was the one I was looking forward to the very most! The entire temple is just surronded by these gigantic trees whose roots have grown over the temple. It made for some very cool pictures that's for sure!

Bayon

2008-07-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

This was another temple that we vistited in Siem Reap. The tops of the temple have these carved out heads on all four sides that were amazing! We also got to see the temple for a whole new perspective...riding on top of an elephant!!! The ride was definitely a memorable experience :)!

Angkor Wat

2008-07-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend, after months of anticipation we all went to Siem Reap to go see Angkor Wat! It was so massive it took us quite some time to see the whole thing, that and we were all so disoriented we never really knew where we were haha. Overall it was very cool to finally see it :)!

Teaching

2008-07-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

This is all of us teaching our 6:00 english classes :)! All of us absolutely love our kids, who are all so eager to learn it amazes us! Having to leave them will be so hard, we have had such a great time teaching.

The Washdown

2008-07-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today we did the funnest thing with our preschool kids! We pretty much just washed them down from head to toe. A lot of the kids come to school with no clothes on anyways so stripping down naked wasn't really a problem haha. They have never smelled so good, and looked so clean! Dont the t-shirts look so cute on them?! Thanks for sending those mom, the kids absolutely loved them!

More of our Preschool Children!

2008-07-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

We just cant get enough of these kids! They are all so darling, and all of us have the greatest time with them! It didn't take Jess long at all to get involved, she jumped right in :)! Spending time with them is by far the best part of our morning!

Back to Pursat

2008-07-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

It was a fun vacation but all of us are really happy to be back in Pursat. Me and Lauren have really missed it, and Jessie is so excited to get going with the projects here. Now to explain the pictures :)! I know its hard to believe but yes all of us fit on this one moto with this little Khmer man haha. I really dont know how we did it, and im pretty sure he had no room to sit down the entire ride back to our hotel. But he really wanted our money, and all of us have gotten very cheap so it worked out for both of us in the end haha. All of us thought it was a pretty funny and memorable experience. And this is a picture of me and Jess in front of the school when we arrived back to Pursat, home sweet home :).

Sihanoukville

2008-07-11T22:15:00.000-07:00

After Phnom Penh we took a little trip down to the coast of Cambodia. We stayed in this cute bungalow that overlooked the ocean, and just enjoyed everything that the beach had to offer :). We spent most of our time swimming in the ocean, and just loving the cool weather which me and Lauren havn't felt for more than 2 months haha. It was so nice to get away from the crazy city life of Phnom Penh, and just relax :).

4th of July

2008-07-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Even though we are half-way across the world, and thousands of miles away from home we were still able to celebrate our American Independence Day in Cambodia :). The U.S. Embassy had this huge party and put on this awesome firework show. Sadly we weren't able to get into the embassy because they were all out of tickets, but we were still able to watch the show! We had our own celebration with sparklers, and american junk food haha. It was a lot of fun :)!

Tuolsleng Genocide Museum

2008-07-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

While in Phnom Penh we visited the Tuolsleng Genocide Museum. Tuolsleng use to be a highschool but during the Khmer Rouge it was turned into a prison and torture chamber. There was definitely a very eerie feeling there, and it was heart-breaking to see all of the pictures of the people who had died and suffered there. It was so overwhelming to think that something this awful actually happened. It was a very humbling experience for all of us, we are all very grateful for the opportunity to have seen this, it definitely opened our eyes.

Hanging out in Phnom Penh

2008-07-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

We spent about 5 days exploring around Phnom Penh. We pretty much just visited all the sites, did a lot of shopping, ate A TON of food, enjoyed our amazing AC in our hotel room, and just had fun :).

Jessie is in CAMBODIA!

2008-07-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Me and Lauren headed up to Phnom Penh a little more than a week ago and picked up Jess! I didn't even recognize her with her new "boy" (Jess made me put that haha) haircut when she was running up to us. Its been so much fun having Jessie with us, the trip is now even better than it already was :).

Lizzie's English Class

2008-06-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

I just realized that i havn't put any pictures on the blog of my english class! And once i get some pics of Laurens class i will post those up asap :). Well pretty much I absolutely love my class! They are all so cute, and i always look forward to seeing them! We always have a blast together, class always ends up being entertaining haha. And they are all so eager to learn, i have never met so many kids that are so excited about school. All of my kids are so awesome, and being a teacher here has been so much fun!

Hygiene Class

2008-06-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago me and Lauren prepared a Hygiene class for Mung village focusing on the importance on brushing your teeth! Instead of just giving them toothbrushes and toothpaste, we thought it would be a good idea to try something a little more sustainable :). So we figured out how to make a simple toothbrush using a stick, some string, and a piece of towel. And just using clean drinking water or salt water as toothpaste. We put on a presentation and showed them how to assemble and use these tooth brushes. Luckily we had Tino, one of the SC student volunteers as a translator :). It was so awesome to see how excited they got about it! Lets hope it continues to be a success!

Rice Transplanting

2008-06-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago the SC staff took some of us volunteers around Pursat and the different villages to see all of the other projects going on. The organic gardens, animal pass-on, and bio-sand filters were a few of them. We also had the opportunity to try out rice transplanting, even though we had no idea what we were doing! After a while we sort of got the hang of it...but not really haha. It was so much harder than i expected. This is the time of year that all the villagers start transplanting the rice plants to get ready for the rice harvest around october or november, and they do it all day for hours and hours! I really dont know how they do it, I was seriously having a hard time after like 15 min. Pursat and all of the people here continue to amaze me!

Weekend Trip To Battambang

2008-06-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Randomly me, Lauren, and another volunteer Elaine all decided we wanted to take a trip to Battambang this weekend. Our last visit there was awesome, but we didn't have enough time to see everything. So the next morning we got on a bus, and we were off. I ended up being the last one to get on the bus and all the seats were taken up except for this random one next to the bus driver. I got to be right next to the AC and go an awesome view out the front window :).

Banan Mountains

2008-06-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

I thought this was one of the coolest sites that we saw in Battambang. The locals refer to it as a "Mini Angkor Wat". You climb up hundreds of stairs and reach the top to see these gorgeous ancient temples that are hidden away in the Banan Mountains. We also made a few friends here, well sort of... just because i think they just wanted our money haha. These random ladies just came up to us and held on to our arms up and down the stairs while they fanned us. And they kept wanting to take pictures and be in pictures with us, it was pretty entertaining. I look like an amazon women compared to this tiny lady haha!!

Phnom Sam Ph'ou

2008-06-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

This is a mountain that has pagodas the whole way up, and its name actually means "Ship Mountain". It was definitely hot and tiring as we hiked up, but it was definitely worth it and the view from the very top was gorgeous! I think Laurens favorite part was the monkeys :). There was also some caves on the way up that we explored as well. The feeling in the caves was definitely eerie because during the Khmer Rouge thats where they executed a ton of people. It was cool to be able to experience something where so much history has taken place.

Ek Phnom

2008-06-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is an ancient temple that is away from Battambang City in this really secluded area near the mountains. It took us an hour or so by moto to get there. We had a lot of fun just climbing around, and taking pictures :). It was funny to see everyones reaction to us when we climbed up to the very top of this temple. At first we thought people were getting mad at us, but turns out that they were just fascinated that we were actually climbing it and they were worried we were going fall or get hurt. Coming to this temple was definitely a favorite!

Peanut Butter

2008-06-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

Oh yes we made home-made peanut butter!!! Everyone who knows me is aware of my absolute LOVE for peanut butter, I honestly cant live without it! You cannot find peanut butter anywhere here in Pursat, so me and Lauren decided to get crafty and make some of our own peanut butter. Some of the other volunteers told us they had done it before, so we knew it could be done :)! So we went to the market, bought some already roasted peanuts, went back to the volunteer house, and started cutting and smashing away. It definitely took some manual labor on our part, its pathetic but my arms are actually kind of sore. But in the end we actually got semi-creamy peanut butter! YAY!

Easily Entertained

2008-06-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today in Preschool we didn't really have a lesson plan of what to do so we just thought we would wing it :). We ended up just playing this matching game, playing with finger puppets, and giving them some tootsie rolls to eat haha. The thing that they loved the most though was we put tape on these little foam shapes and stuck them all over the kids. Its funny how something so simple could make these little kids so happy. Even the Khmer preschool teacher from the village got into it. As always preschool is a blast!

Saying Goodbye to Laura, Ali, and Nicole

2008-06-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we had a going away party for some of the volunteers that we had spent time with since we have arrived in Cambodia. Laura (the one in the black) has been here the longest and was one of our first friends that we met here in Pursat. Her sister Ali, and here cousin Nicole came to visit this past week. All of us have had a lot of fun together, and we are going to miss them so much! We spent the first part of morning preparing the food, and then had a big dance party that night along with a delicious meal that we helped prepare. Overall it was a very fun day :)!

Battambang

2008-06-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

On our trip home from Thailand we spent a night and half the day in Battambang. Its about 2 hours away from Pursat. We were in a desperate situation because our taxi driver who drove us from the border to Battambang told us he would arrange another taxi to take us all the way to Pursat. But by the time we got to Battambang it had gotten really late, the other taxi driver was really sketchy, and he was charging us $50 for a ride to Pursat which is absolutely ridiculous! So we told our original taxi driver to just take us to the nearest hotel. The Banan hotel is where we ended up staying and it was absolutely AMAZING!! Our room was so nice, the air conditioning was awesome, and the beds were incredibly comfortable and glorious :) haha. We both had the best nights sleep we have had this entire trip. Pretty sure we spent most of our time in Battambang in those incredible beds. We only left them for breakfast, lunch, and to buy our bus tickets back to Pursat. Another highlight of our little side-trip to Battambang was these amazing drinks called "Sand Ice", we got pineapple ones YUM!! . Seriously they were soooo good!! I hope we are able to go back to Battambang atleast one more time haha.

Thai Massage

2008-06-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

This had to be one of the best things that we did in Bangkok haha. Im not even kidding, it was absolutely incredible. It was really cheap and in an hour we got our feet, legs, shoulders, and hands completely massaged. The boy who was doing my massage was so cute, he would just smile non-stop. He just seemed like a very happy person, that or he might have just felt really awkward or something im not really sure haha.

Grand Palace

2008-06-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

One of the really popular tourist sites in Bangkok is the Grand Palace. We think its where the King lives, but were not really sure haha. Anyways its basically the Versailles of Thailand. Its absolutely MASSIVE and everything is so extravagent and over the top. The gardens, buildings, and temples are all so beautiful. Words really dont describe how lavish, intricate, huge, and overwhelming this place is. Maybe the pictures will show it better than i can describe it :).

Church in Bangkok, Thailand

2008-06-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Bangkok we also were able to find a church there. I owe it big time to Lauren because she really took to the intiative to contact people, and get directions. It took us about 2 hours to get there, but eventually we found it! The church is beautiful and there are over 200 members. We went to an english speaking ward so there was a lot of westerners. We havn't been to a place with that many english speaking white people and mormons all in one room for about a month haha. Another great part about church was the awesome western food that they were serving afterwards outside haha! Overall an awesome experience :).

Lauren cut off her....HAIR!!

2008-06-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hello this is Lauren speaking. I've been wanting to chop my hair off for a while but never really had the guts. Dealing with my long hair over here has been a pain so when I got to Bangkok and heard that I could get a good hair cut for cheap, I just decided to go for it. Everyone was so shocked that I could just chop my hair off and not be upset about it but I was totally fine. I just wanted my hair gone and was ready for a change. So I chopped my hair off and left it in Bangkok...here are the pictures to prove it :).

Wedding

2008-06-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

So the main reason behind the trip to Bangkok was to attend Nick and Aranya's wedding. They were both former volunteers from SC before we arrived so the first time we met them was in Bangkok. We didn't have the intention to go to the wedding, we just figured we would do our own thing that day while all the other volunteers went. But Nick and Aranya both insisted that we come and were really sweet about it. After much deliberation we decided to go, at times it got a little awkward because we hardly knew them but overall it was really fun and we had a very good time :).

There's a first time for everything.....

2008-06-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

This past week me and Lauren went to Bangkok, Thailand! And we definitely had tons of memorable experiences :). I got my first burn on a moto, and i had authentic Pad Thai from Thailand. Lauren tried sushi for the first time, and this is for sure the first time she has ever sweat this much haha. We also went to go see a movie for the first time at a Thai movie theater.

Little Miss Attitude

2008-05-25T00:40:00.001-07:00

We have named this little girl "Attitude", she just cracks us up because she seriously has so much attitude in everything that she does. She's a little bit of a brat sometimes but we still love her haha. The other day she came to class with a mango in a bowl and a gigantic knife (for a little girl atleast). Me and Lauren were both a little taken back, we weren't sure what we should do because she was not about to hand the knife over to us. We were so worried that she was going to hurt herself, but in all honesty she knew exactly what she was doing. She was able to cut up the mango into little pieces into her bowl, and then she just sat down and ate it. The kids really do just learn to take care of themselves here, nonetheless that experience really freaked me and Lauren out, but at the same time we were fascinated haha.

Preschool at Mung Village #2

2008-05-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

I will be posting tons of pictures of our kids from preschool, they are our main service that we are doing here in Cambodia, and who wouldnt want to see their adorable faces! The kids here dont really understand when we ask them what their names are, they just repeat what we said even if its in Khmer haha. And even if they did tell us what their names are it would be impossible to pronounce and remember them. So we have taken the initiative to give them our own names :). The little girl by Lauren is named "Giggles", its very appropriate because all she does is giggle. She has the sweetest laugh and we hear it non-stop throughout the morning, i absolutely love it! The little girl im holding is named "Abby", she reminds me so much of my little niece abby. She is always on the move and running around everywhere. You turn your back for one second and she is going through the toy chest and pulling out everything. Now family doesn't that sound exactly like abby???haha. The other little girl i have named "Caroline", she reminds me of another one of my nieces, Caroline. She is definitely the most clingy out of all the kids. She is always wanting to sit on my lap, for me to pick her up and hold her, hold my hand, etc. I love it so much!

Market

2008-05-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today we took a trip to the market to get some fresh vegetables and fruit. Going to the market is always a crazy experience because there are people, motos, and bikes wherever you go. The smell of raw meat, rotten food, and fish is all around you. And since its the rainy season mud and animal poo gets mixed up in the smells also. Ah... the sweet smells of Cambodia haha.

Biking

2008-05-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

The other day me and Lauren had quite an experience with this bike haha. All the Khmer people ride their bikes like this, and we figure that we could as well, i promise its looks so much easier than it really is! So we were riding back from lunch and we were about 20 feet away from the school when Lauren said that she wanted to try driving with me on the back. I warned her that it was really hard to stay in control, and sure enough after like 30 sec of biking we ended up drifting down this way steep hill. I jumped off and grabbed Laurens shirt to help her from falling, according to Lauren here life flashed before her eyes haha. Luckily the bike was the only thing that fell over and we were both ok, way to many people were around when it happened though. They would not stop laughing at us, and we couldn't stop laughing at ourselves haha. This picture was taken about 5 minutes before all this happened!

Khmer

2008-05-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

This board is in the Sustainable Cambodia school, i thought this would be cool to post up so everyone could see what the Khmer language looks like. You can compare it to how its translated in english below it :). The picture is not the best, but just click on it to get it bigger and you can see the wording really well.

Shoes

2008-05-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

One custom that they have here in Cambodia and a lot of other asian countries is that before going into any room, building, shop, etc. you have to take off your shoes. Its a very traditional, and respectful thing that everyone does here. Its also very practical as well, its a way to keep places more clean by not dragging in more dirt on your shoes :). In exchange my feet are getting pretty gross though haha. Its definitely taken us some time to get use to, we constantly have to be reminded but slowly we are catching on!

Preschool at Mung Village

2008-05-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mung is the preschool that me and Lauren will be mostly working with during our stay here in Cambodia. Mung Village is about 20 min away on a bike, and the ride over there is beautiful! However the children there are even more beautiful :). They have the most adorable faces, and everytime you look at them you can't help but smile. They just smother you with hugs the minute you walk into the room. Spending time with these kids is by far the best part of our day! I had the hardest time deciding what pictures to put up because every single one of the kids is so cute!

Church in Phnom Pehn

2008-05-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

During our little side trip up to Phnom Pehn we were also able to go to church! It took us about 45 minutes to walk there, and although we were tired, hot, and sweaty seeing that building made it all worth it! It is a gorgeous building (sorry the pictures dont really reflect that) and everyone was so welcoming and made us feel right at home. We bumped into a boy we went to high school with named Spencer Black who is serving a mission in Cambodia, along with a sister missionary named Ally Hatch who is from Utah as well. Its amazing how the church is the same no matter where you go.

Trip to Phnom Pehn

2008-05-18T23:58:00.001-07:00

This weekend me and Lauren took a little side trip back up to Phnom Pehn. We had some visa stuff to work out, and we also thought it would be fun to explore around and get more famliar. We went to the National Monument, the Central Market, ate some delicious Thai food, and of course did a little shopping :).

Laundry Day

2008-05-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

We have dedicated thursday as our official laundry day :)! We were able to find laundry detergent at one of the local stores and basically we just dump our clothes into our tub and wash away. Afterwards our hands are pretty much raw from scrubbing and ringing out our clothes. Doing laundry in this fashion is one of the many things that we have adjusted to, and is very humbling. What i would give for a washer and dryer right now haha.

Floating Village

2008-05-15T02:08:00.001-07:00

Today we set off for an excursion to this place called "The Floating Village" with some of the other volunteers. Its a village that is completely surronded by water so the name is very fitting obviously. It took us a little less than 30 min to get there, mostly because the guy driving the truck we were all pilled in the back of was going so fast, i was kinda scared for my life at times haha. Fortunatly we arrived at the village alive and traveled in this little boat around the village, and enjoyed a nice little picnic we had prepared. The Floating village kind of remided me of Venice and Lake Powell in an odd twisted way, that was the best description i could think of haha.

Humidity

2008-05-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

No matter what time of days it is or where we are, we are constantly sweating and that sticky feeling is ALWAYS there. Pretty attractive huh?? haha. You have no idea how much we cherish and adore our fans and our semi-cold tile floor. Seriously i don't know what i would do without either of them. It is so nice to have relief from the heat and humidity for even just a second. Ah... the simple joys of life!

Our humble abode for the next 3 months

2008-05-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to move into our room at the "Happy Lily". Although we had to leave the treehouse behind, our new room is a lot more convenient. Its so nice to get settled in and unpacked, and have a home away from home. Our walls are pepto bismal pink, and aren't our mosquito nets fashionable? haha

Preschool

2008-05-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the Preschool for the first time today! This is where me and Lauren will me spending most of our volunteer time for the next 3 months. The kids are absolutely adorable, and so beautiful! The only english word that they can say is "hello" and we can't speak any Khmer quite yet, so it should be interesting haha. A smile is definitely worth a thousand words down here in Cambodia.

Streets of Pursat

2008-05-09T00:10:00.001-07:00

Me and Lauren decided to take a little bike ride around Pursat to explore and get familiar with the place that will be our home for the next 3 months.

Volunteer House

2008-05-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is the place that we stayed in last night and will probably stay in tonight because our room in the "Happy Lily" is not quite ready for us yet. It reminds me of the treehouse from Tarzan, that is probably the best description haha. You have to climb up a ladder to get to it, and the balcony looks out over some of the other nearby houses.

Oliver

2008-05-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is our little friend Oliver, one of the other volunteers found him as a baby practically dead at the orphange and was able to bring him back to full health. He lives at the volunteer house and eats all of our left over food, and pretty much follows you around everywhere until you give him some attention.

Bus Ride to Pursat

2008-05-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

After a 3 hour bus ride, sweating to death, and drinking tons of water we were able to make it to Pursat! The only problem was that once the bus dropped us off, no one was there to pick us up and we were stranded on the road with all of our luggage during a rainstorm haha. Luckily we were able to figure things out by using this random cambodian ladys phone to get in contact with the other SC volunteers. Modern technology is a beautiful thing :).

Tuk Tuk

2008-05-08T04:06:00.000-07:00

This is called a "Tuk Tuk" it has pretty much been our mode of transportation since we have arrived in Cambodia. And pretty sure anytime we were wandering the streets and looking around Phnom Pehn we were asked at least 100 times if we wanted a ride, they are very persistant people :)!

Arriving in Phnom Pehn

2008-05-08T03:59:00.000-07:00

Phnom Pehn is the capital city of Cambodia, we spent a little less than two days here. I have never seen, or felt anything like it. There are these gorgeous temples throughout the city, and surronding them are some of poorest people and living conditions i have ever seen. The heat and humidity is a lot to handle as well. I dont think i have ever sweat this much in my life!

Plane ride over

2008-05-08T03:50:00.000-07:00

Leaving the U.S. on our way to Taipai Taiwan, there is no going back now :)!

Classic

2008-04-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

This is me getting stoked for Cambodia. Pretty much im way excited as you can see.

Life before Cambodia...

2008-04-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

As you can see, nothing is on the blog yet haha. As of right now i am busy preparing for finals, and getting packed up to set off to Cambodia! I promise once i actually get to Cambodia i will start posting pictures and news of whats going on :)!