Christmas in Cambodia

Christmas is in fact celebrated in Cambodia, although I am learning bit by bit about what that actually looks like. Christmas trees appeared at the beginning of December in some of the shops and restaurants, complete with blinking lights, tinsel garlands, and big "Merry Christmas!" signs hanging under the stars at the top of the tree. I've also seen some lovely little Santa outfits for babies and toddlers--if you've been looking for one, now you know where to find it :) And advertisers and stores have partially adopted the idea of getting people to shop for gifts. I don't know if Cambodia's Buddhists (the majority of the population) do much beyond these examples to celebrate. For the Christians, however, families and churches enjoy celebrating, although it is not important to actually celebrate on Christmas Day. The Christmas celebration at the Khmer church I've been attending was on Sunday the 14th. It was a full-morning event, complete with visitors from local political leadership (a very big deal), lots of song and dance presentations, a guest preacher, and a big shared lunch. Many people stayed for an afternoon of singing and games as well. This video is from a few days after the celebration--a group of kids from the church who went caroling around the neighborhood and stopped by our house. It's a little dark and quiet, but turn up your volume and squint a bit and enjoy!

Biker Chick

So, if you haven't seen this picture yet, here you go--the official shot of me on my motorcycle! I've basically gotten the hang of driving it around--as in I feel comfortable on it, although I still take is a little slower and more cautiously that the average Cambodian :) The basket in the front is very handy for after trips to the market or grocery store. And I don't get saddle sore anymore, either, which is good :) If you also missed the bike details and are dying to know--it's a Honda Wave 100, made in Vietnam. A cheaper option than bikes made in Thailand or Japan.

Cabahl knyom hot hie!

Which means: "My head is tired!". A very useful phrase in Khmer which I made sure to learn. I can say it approximately ninety times a day when my poor brain is weary from studying and from all the general learning associated with being in a new culture. Lots of new things to absorb! As of one more tutoring session this afternoon, I will be happy to have made it through my first full week of language studies. I now am able to muddle through the entire Khmer alphabet and am starting to read and write some simple words--like going through kindergarten again! Fast fact of the day: "Khmer" is the name of the Cambodian language and is actually pronounced "kuh-my", rather than "kuh-mare". Khmer is also the word used for "Cambodian", in the way we would use "American."
And now--I have one more short study session before I get to take a break for lunch!

Bangkok

I don't know how closely the situation in Bangkok has been watched in the US news, but being as how Thailand is one of our next door neighbors, we have heard quite a bit about it. I am no expert on the situation, but if you don't know much, here are a few basics: there has been a strong anti-government group in Thailand for some time. This group has staged many demonstrations and done things like surrounding the Thai Parliament building in late November so that the parliament could not longer continue their session. A week ago, the anti-government group filled the two Bangkok airports with protestors, effectively shutting down all airport operations. This had a fairly major effect--imagine if all air traffic in and out of Chicago was halted--planes in the air enroute to Chicago would have to be rerouted to land elsewhere (other cities or military airstrips),people in the airport would be stuck there or would have to find lodging in the area and alternate forms of transportation out of the city, no air freight or shipping could move along, and so on. All of this happened in Bangkok. And because Thailand as a country is wealthier and more developed that most other South East Asian countries, Bangkok served as a major hub for the entire region. So, in Cambodia, this meant that American expats trying to fly home for Thanksgiving often had their travel plans changed at the last minute or spent some extra time in Bangkok (although the Thai government, the Thai protestors, and the airlines themselves all did quite a lot in providing free lodging, food, water, blankets, and ticket changes to those affected). Cambodian mail and imports/exports ship through Bangkok, so these services have been on hold all week. As you can imagine all of this has a huge and immediate impact financially in many ways, and a future impact as well: what blow has this dealt to the Thai economy when the worldwide ecomony is already in recession? Will Thailand be judged too unstable for tourist flights and shipping to continue to be routed through Bangkok as a major hub, and will these operations shift to another country and another city? We shall see! Here's a news link that just came up on Yahoo--the anti-government protestors got their wish and the Thai government has been dissolved:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_political_unrest;_ylt=AvSSPWHgYYC2G99_cj93VCBvaA8F

What It's Like...

So, I am once again long overdue on getting something blogged on here. And my time before lunch is running short, but here's a few tidbits about what it's like to move to Cambodia. This will sum up my first two weeks here for your reading enjoyment! More pictures and info and hopefully a few video clips will be coming, hopefully before too long.

What it's like to move to Cambodia....

*You spend your first week living in a hotel while you look for places to live. American style quarters are available, but pricey and removed from the Cambodian people. A good option are pteah-la-vangs, combo apartment/townhomes. Or, you choose a third option--renting a room with a Cambodian family in a traditional wooden home. In my case, I have a room with one of the FH staff and her sister. Her brother's family and an Australian lady also live in separate residences on the same property. Picture:

*You start attending services at a Cambodian church on Sunday mornings and an international English-speaking church on Sunday afternoons.

*You realize the city of Phnom Penh has plenty of Asianized Western food available (pizza, bagels, burgers, ice cream, etc.) for prices that are cheap compared to the US but expensive for Cambodia. Cambodian food is much more affordable, and quite good--now you just need to figure out what exactly are the best ways to access this food...

*After three language tutoring sessions, you learn to recognize, pronounce, and write all 33 consonants and all but 7 of the 21 vowels. At least you learn all this in theory.

*You also in theory have learned how to drive a motorcycle. Now to get good at it and also learn how to drive it in some interesting traffic....

*You got to celebrate Thanksgiving with a full-blown traditional feast and some other Americans!

Watch Your Step

Landmines: yes, Cambodia has them. This is another topic I am often asked about. Cambodia actually has quite a few landmines, remnants of years of conflicts between several different factions. Buried in the ground, they were originally intended to kill or maim enemy soldiers or to explode advancing tanks and other heavy equipment. Unfortunately, even though the conflicts are over, the mines are still present and dangerous; they are set off by farmers, animals, or construction traffic. Cambodia today has some of the highest rates in the world for number of amputees (due to landmine injuries) and number of mines in the country. So--the general rule of thumb in rural Cambodia (and most of Cambodia is just that: rural) is to stay on the beaten path. While de-mining operations have been under way for awhile, they are a tedious process, and there is a lot of land that has yet to be made safe. Areas that are known to be heavily mined (particularly along national borders) are often marked, as in this picture.

If you are curious for more information about how the presence of mines impacts life in Cambodia, and how the de-mining process works, check out this recent episode of a show called In Harm's Way about dangerous occupations. It is informative, although I warn you that you'll be getting your info along with a hefty dose of melodrama and suspenseful music :) Here's this link if you want to watch all or part of it (on the right, click on the landmine episode to view it):

http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/in-harms-way

Alaska??

So I never imagined that my itinerary to SE Asia would include a journey via Alaskan Airlines....but such is reality! And having an itinerary means that the good news of course is this--my funding is all in, and I am headed to CAMBODIA! The time has actually come! It has been good to see God's provision throughout this process and now to see His timing as well.

Back to itineraries: I leave exactly four weeks from today, on November 17th (a Monday). I'll leave Denver at 8:00 am to fly to Seattle--this would be the Alaskan portion of the trip (too bad I can't take a side trip up through Anchorage or something :) ). From Seattle I head to Seoul, Korea, via Asiana Airlines, and from there directly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I land in Cambodia around 11:00 pm on Tuesday, the 18th. People always ask how long the trip actually takes, and I have never done the math, but I believe it's right around twenty-four hours of travel. The upside of long flights is that they still serve you food en route, and even for those of us who fly economy class, there are movie, game, tv, and music choices galore to keep us busy when we are not trying to snooze. Anyone who feels inspired can pray that I also get to sit in as many window seats as possible as I travel :)

So yes--the long awaited time is here. God is good. Thanks--many thanks--to all of you for all of your help and support and interest and prayers! Only another month until you get real live Cambodian updates!

It has arrived...

...fall, that is. I'm still wondering why spring and summer are no longer around. Spending the year in limbo, with no set schedule and each day looking very much like the ones before and after it, has left me with a floating sense of time. But, with fall just beginning, I am still hopeful that I'll be in Cambodia before it wraps up. On that topic, things continue to get closer. My one-time funds have been officially in for a couple of weeks now--good progress! And as the one-time funds continue to grow and overflow, they help build up my monthly funds as well, which are now at 90% of what I need. So close! Support raising is now a manner of trying to find just a few more committed people.

In the meantime, I plan to enjoy some apple cider (we've even found an orchard where we can press our own!) and switch from mowing the lawn to raking up leaves. Maybe I'll even do something involving a pumpkin--the good old orange American kind, because once I'm in Asia the common pumpkins are smaller and a bluish-white color (although luckily still tasty :) ). The other highlight of fall in country Colorado is the opportunity to drive by local farms that cater to harvest-themed entertainement: corn mazes, pumpkin patches, tractor trains, and so on. One of these farms has the added excitement of a giant inflatable "creature"--reportedly, for those so inclined, you can walk through the creature from mouth to tail and even enjoy the gurgling sounds of digestion during that part of your journey. Any takers?

Grab the Popcorn

I've been in the mood lately to watch movies--which I suppose means I should go rent something. But--just in case you also wouldn't mind watching a movie or two, here's a few video clips from Cambodia :)

Here's a clip during a church service at the KFC Church in Anlong Veng. Anlong Veng, you may recall, is the town I'll be spending most of my time in in northern Cambodia. And while the church is called KFC--sorry, no fried chicken involved: KFC stands for Kampuchea For Christ (Kampuchea is the name of Cambodia in Khmer, the Cambodian language). I had the chance to attend this church service while I was in Anlong Veng in April for the staff training session. Currently, less than .5% of Cambodia's population is Christian, so churches are not highly common. However, I believe that there are several KFC churches throughout the country, one of which is the one that happens to be in Anlong Veng. The service was conducted in Khmer, including the songs. In the early 1900's, the Christian and Missionary Alliance had a missionary presence in Cambodia, and one of those missionaries used a number of traditional songs and tunes as the basis for a Cambodian hymn book. That hymn book is still in common use among the country's Christian gatherings.

FH's work in Cambodia is centered in Anlong Veng, which has a population of about 10,000 in a province that has numerous small villages. The villages surrounding Anlong Veng are where FH is involved in deveopment work. This clip shows some village homes on either side of a road, where I happen to be "filming" from the back of a moving motorcycle. You'll see the back of the driver of the moto, John Tuggy--country director for FHCambodia.

Update on the Latest

Sorry, no pictures this time, just a quick update on where things stand! As of this week, my support needs are down to about $400 a month and only $2000 in one time funds--great! Things continue to progress, which is good, and which is also an encouragement--although I am also sitting down today to make the official list of all the details I need to take care of before I actually head out: go to the dentist, get things squared away at my bank, buy a new suitcase, etc. etc. I am hoping to head out around the end of September or thereabouts. August has been the month of fundraisers--two picnic/donation events, one garage sale and one more this weekend, and a book sale organized at my home church. Those have all contributed to bringing my one-time needs almost to completion! And that's that--nothing else too exciting to report on!

"Hmmm, what should I blog about this time? Let's see, what pictures haven't I used yet?...Oh, transport, perfect!"

So here you go :) Yes, motorcycles (motos for short) are quite the common and practical mode of transport in Cambodia, and yes, I will have one myself. And yes, as you can see in the picture, helmets are available and I will have one.

While many people in Cambodia's cities have cars or trucks, these modes of transport are very expensive to buy, due largely to import taxes of easily up to 100% of purchase price (no auto manufacture exists in Cambodia). So car and truck ownership is limited to those that can afford it. Many people own small motorcycles instead--a good option pricewise, and also good for weaving around traffic and potholes and parking in small spaces. Motos are not always affordable, either, though--a good number of people travel by bicycle. And in addition there are public transport options such as buses, taxis, and the ever-available tuk-tuk: a small cart that seats 2-4 (or 6 or 8, if there are children involved or Cambodians who are good at creatively seating many people in little room) which is pulled by--what else, a motorcycle.

Motos are also readily used to transport more than individuals--anything that can be lashed or balanced on the seat is game. Motos can often double as pick-up trucks, minivans, ambulances (why not drive home

with your IV on a pole?), or the options below:

Getting Closer, and D for D....

So--on my official support report from earlier today (I get them once a week), I am now at exactly 70% of my monthly support needs! And in a close second, I have 68% of my one-time funds. So what does this mean? It means that I need another $702 pledged each month, as well as a little over $8,000 more in one-time funds. Compared to my total needs ($2330 each month, and $25,600 one-time), these remaining needs are a little more palatable. So, while I still have some progress to make, it is encouraging to be this far.

And D for D...that would be Discipling for Development, the approach to development that is in the process of being implemented in Cambodia. Community development seems like a simple concept at first glance: some communities do not have their basic needs met, so through "development" these needs are provided for. Upon seeing the problem of an unmet need, the most obvious solution seems to be the following: those who have give to those who have not.

However, while simply providing for a need (giving food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, etc.) does meet the need for the moment, it rarely addresses the longterm nature of the need.

This is where D for D comes in. Discipling for Development is an approach that was constructed by Mission:Moving Mountains, which is a ministry of the Navigators, a well-known Christan evangelistic organization. This is how M:MM describes D for D on their website : "Discipling for Development® is a ministry that helps people in community to become all God intends them to be. This is a God-empowered, relational process, in which experienced facilitators assist the people of a community to grow in their ability to solve problems and to reproduce this process in other communities. Ongoing transfomation of individual and collective thought and behavior results in personal growth and improvement of community (health, agriculture, water, and relationships) for the glory of God" .(http://www.navigators.org/us/ministries/movingmountains/)

Did you catch all that? :) Traditionally, development has simply been the process of providing resources (which a community may not want, feel they need, understand how to use, or feel ownership of). With an approach such as D for D, the process of meeting needs is different. The community is enable to define and recognize their own needs, and decide on how to meet these needs. Then the community is able to meet their immediate AND future needs.

Lots of big concepts to try to grasp! It's a lot for myself and the Cambodian FH staff to grasp as well. So, several individuals from the Navigators will be doing ongoing training for the FHCambodia staff in D for D over the next few years. One of these training sessions took place when I was in Cambodia in April. The following pictures show some FHCambodia staff during these training sessions.

Say Hello!

So the tidbits from Cambodia continue...just like in any culture, Cambodian culture has typical ways to greet people. For us Americans--we have the "Hey, how's it going?," a smile, maybe a handshake and some small talk. In Cambodia, a greeting is often accompanied by a gesture (as seen above) called a sampeyar. Similar gestures are used in cultures in India and elsewhere in Asia. In Cambodia, the hands are held flat, with palms together, in front of the center of the body. This is done by both the greeter and the person or people being greeted, often at the same time, and often while words of greeting are spoken (the equivalent of our "Hello, how are you? I'm fine"). There are many subtle variations of the gesture: holding the hands at chin level, at nose level, at forehead level, bowing the head slightly or bowing to a greater or lesser extent from the waist. These variations are meant to convey differences in respect, based on the relative positions of the greeter and greetee in society. You show more respect to those who have a higher position than you, and less to those below you. In general, the higher the hands are held and the deeper the bow, the more respect is being shown. For example, an child greeting an adult would hold the hands higher on their body. The variations are subtle and take time for an outsider to learn. This may seem complex, but consider our own culture: we greet people differently based on whether they are old friends or new aquaintances, our boss or those we supervise, family members or restaurant wait staff. These differences are subtle as well and are difficult for outsiders to categorize: how brightly should you smile? give a handshake or a hug? a delicate hug or a bearhug? should the person be addressed as sir or m'am, or not? do you greet an individual differently than a group? what variations are acceptable for personal preferences?

One of the challenges of entering a new culture is realizing just how much of our lives and actions are dictated by culture--and how differently things can be organized in each culture. Entering a new culture requires one to relearn all their cues for how to live--from the subtleties of how to greet someone or say goodbye, to traffic laws and shopping etiquette. Adjusting to the loss of familiar cultural cues and struggling to learn a vast set of new ones leads to what is commonly called culture shock or culture stress. This learning goes deeper than learning a new set of behaviors--values and worldviews are vastly different in each culture as well. Entering a new culture brings these deeper differences to the forefront, and brings up many questions as well: do I value something only because of my culture? Does my original value mesh or clash with the values of my new culture? Is either of these values consistent with Biblical values, or both, or neither, or something in between? and so on.

Dance, dance...

For your viewing enjoyment...a little video of Cambodian dancing! This was the last night of the FHCambodia staff retreat, at the end of my second week in the country. After a big and tasty banquet, it was time to party! Karaoke and dancing are a common way to celebrate in Cambodia--at events such as this one, at weddings--we even danced a few times as a fun break during our staff training the week before. The hand gestures you see here are based on traditional Khmer dance movements. Called "apsara," the movements are highly controlled and symbolic when done formally. Less formally, if you want to join in--walk around the room in a circle with everyone else, and copy the hand and feet movements, and you'll fit right in. Khmer dancing is similar to dances done in Thailand and Laos, and representations of the movements are found carved in the ancient Cambodian ruins at Angkor Wat. If you are curious, you can check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_classical_dance

Another video clip with more dancing and the karaoke setup:

Twister...

A little break from Cambodia news...as you have probably heard, a series of tornados went through several Western/Midwestern states the end of last week. The first of these touched down just outside of Gilcrest, CO, where I am currently living. Right in town we had some pretty crazy wind, but we didn't even know there had been a tornado until after it had passed. A few houses, barns, electric poles, etc. were damaged, but we did not have any of the major damage that other towns did. But--we did get to drive around a few hours after the tornados and take some pictures. Here's a link if you want to check them out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25585897@N04/sets/72157605215301524/

BBQ

I figure I might as well stick with the food theme--get ready to learn all about Cambodian cuisine! As you can see in the picture, yes, we often ate with chopsticks. Although using a fork and spoon--one in each hand--is just as common. Typical meals start with white rice, to which is added various soups and stir-fried dishes. Cambodian food is not spicy, although sometimes it has a little kick, and you may add chopped red peppers to your meal if you desire. Fish and shrimp are common, as well as beef, pork, and chicken. As for spices and flavors--unfortunately, I am no culinary expert, so my descriptions will be lacking--but I do know we had dishes flavored with lemongrass, Cambodian curries, cashews, white and black pepper, and fish sauce.

Once night we got to eat barbecue, Cambodian style--check it out in the picture above. In our regular meals, soups were always delivered to the table in an elevated bowl that had a flaming Sterno-type heat source below--kept the soup warm throughout the meal. So having something burning on your table is not unusal. The BBQ apparatus above was something along those same lines. Underneath the food cooking on the top, you can just see the hot coals through the slits on the pedestal. The hot pot and the raw food arrived at our table, and we proceeded to cook away: beef went in the center, on the top of a dome right over the fire (the Cambodian name for this meal translates as "cow climbing the mountain"), and the veggies surrounded this in a sort of trough that we filled with oil. Pretty tasty, once it all cooked...

Tropical fruits also abound--small bananas, mangos, limes, coconut, watermelon, pineapple, and others you may or may not have heard of: manogsteens, durian, lychee, jackfuit, and more. Soft drinks and desserts are sugared right up, so if you like things sweet, this is the place for you!

Yum Yum...

As of Saturday night, I am back in good old Colorado, enjoying the spring weather after managing to go to Cambodia during their hottest season of the year...And so, my plan now is to give you a virtual tour of what I saw, complete with photos, a few video clips, and plenty of factoids :)

Say you're in Cambodia and want a snack, local style--one option is to buy a few of the round, green things on the head of the girl in this picture. These are lotus flower seed pods, about as big around as a big saucer. Your goal is not to munch on the pod, but on the seeds inside. If you look closely in the pic, you'll see bumps on the top of each pod--each of these bumps shows you where a seed in enclosed. So--buy a seed pod, crack it open near a bump, and pull out a seed. Each seed is shaped like a grape, but slightly smaller. Peel off the outer green skin of the seed to reveal the white munchie inside, and pop it in your mouth! Lotus seeds are firm but moist, with a mild flavor. Best of all, because the seeds are dug out from inside the pod, they can be eaten without any special cleaning or preparation--good when you want a snack on the go.

If the seed pods are not harvested to eat, but are left to grow, eventually they'll grow into lotus flower blooms, like those in this second picture. Lotus flowers can be white or pink, and grow in many of the ponds and lakes in Cambodia. The pink ones are the most common, and in fact, the Khmei (Cambodian) word for "pink" is the same word as "lotus flower." Lotus flowers hold significant meaning in Cambodian (and Buddhist and Southeast Asian) culture. The petals may be used as dishes to hold food, while the shapes of the closed buds and the open flowers are re-created in traditional architecture and dance.

The Official First Cambodian Post....

Well....I am now posting from Cambodia! Which of course is exciting, but also means that I have a slow internet connection, and to my pictures would not upload :( So--those will have to wait until I'm back in the States. But--you are lucky enough to be able to to read about how things have been.

I've been here a week tomorrow, and after a day and two nights in Phnom Penh (the capital city), we headed by car to the northwest part of the country. This region is where FH Cambodia is currently working, in the villages around a town of 10,000 people called Anlong Veng. The purpose of the time here: to attend a training for the staff . Led by a group from the Navigators, this training is working to better equip the staff to facilitate programming in the villages. For me, it's been a chance to meet many of the staff, be in the loop about what they are learning in order to reinforce it with them later on, and start observing the dynamics of the group. And, of course, to jump into Cambodian culture and start figuring out my way around.

This weekend we'll head south to Siem Reap, Cambodia's second largest city, and lucky for me, a very touristy place (i.e. somewhere near where I'll be living to stock up occasionally on good old American food). For this week it will be the site of the staff retreat--more good opportunities to start connecting with people and getting a feel for the country and culture.

So--that's the brief overview! More details and stories will be coming later--this trip should provide plenty of blog fodder for a while to come.

Thoughts

So, I keep thinking how much easier it will be to blog when I'm actually in Cambodia, because I'll have a ready supply of cultural pictures and anecdotes to share. Right now I could tell you how I spent my day doing laundry, e-mailing people, and so on, but that's not quite an interesting as if I were telling you how I did laundry by hand in a Cambodian stream and hung it out to dry under my house on stilts to keep it out of the monsoon rains...you get the picture, things will be a little more interesting once I am overseas. So I apologize for the length of time that tends to pass between blogs for now--it's not because I don't want to be communicating, it's just that I have to rack my brain for an exciting topic to write about :)

I will say, though, that as you are probably aware, my life for now mostly consists of support raising. Like most people, I had a vague idea of what this entailed before I started doing it, but also like most people, I did not really have a clue what all it involved (and I am still learning about it, to some extent). The biggest surprise (and biggest challenge) of support raising so far is the sheer amount of communication it requires. Based on the personal experience of other support raisers, the most effective way to encourage people to be financially involved is through speaking with them face to face. Doesn't sound bad--but to make that happen requires a number of steps: meet and interact with an individual on some level so that there is at least a minor relationship already in place (whether this is an established friendship or a brief conversation at church or the post office), call the individual to ask them to meet with you, call a second time because they weren't home for the first call, meet with the individual and ask them to consider being a supporter, call and/or write to follow up for the meeting, call or write to remind individual to follow through with their new commitment by actually signing up as a supporter, write a thank you note after you receive their first gift, keep up the relationship through various means of contact....

...and now multiply the above by a hundred or so potential supporters. Also add in several speaking engagements, newsletters and blogs to write, and time to pray about all of it--lots of communication! So, lately I am busy communicating, or taking a break from communicating and psyching myself up for another round :) Just a little insight into the world of support raising...

Money, Money, Money

I'm usually not consumed by thoughts of money, but support raising has a way of constantly putting the issue in front of your face :) Add to that that it's tax season, and that Food for the Hungry works to alleviate poverty--and you end up with lots of topics involving resources and how to obtain them and what to do if they are lacking.

For me personally, this whole process has involved quite a bit of learning. Learning about trusting God as provider when my income will be coming through different means than it has in the past. Learning what my role and actions should be in the support raising process, and how what I do can be an exercise in trust--or an attempt to control (or avoid!) things myself. And learning about how take a somewhat sensitive topic, like money, and broach it with people in order to discuss, educate, and ask.

Anyways, sometimes a little perspective check on the topic is healthy. Check out the following two links to take a look at your current wealth (or lack of...), and to learn about world poverty:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php --where do you land on the list of the world's wealthiest people?

http://www.fh.org/hd_introduction --take this interactive journey through the life of an individual living in a developing country, and see how your choices affect you and your family.

Way down South...

One of the big upsides of raising support is that it means spending lots of time with people--old friends, new contacts, and everyone in between. Lately this meeting time took the form of a classic roadtrip through my old college stomping grounds in Toccoa, Georgia, as well as Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Not a bad way to spend a week! One of my old roommates, Bethany, shared her car and her time and made the rounds with me (see us hookin' up with some new buds at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, above). We got to visit most of our other college roomies, as well as a couple friends of mine who are living in the South after stints at Open Door Ministries and Bear Trap Ranch (two of my old employers in Colorado). It was a whirlwind of a trip, but a good one all around! It was wonderful to catch up and hang out with everyone, and also to share about my Cambodia plans.

A few numbers:

*8--how many cities/towns we spent time in

*$3.22--highest gas price we saw (thank you, Charlotte, NC!)

*72%--sanitation score of the Chili's we ate at in Atlanta (according to Christine)

*5,012--approximate number of songs we listened to as we drove along

*1--number of giant chocolate chip cookies I purchased at gas stations along the way (suprisingly, only 1)

New Arrival

I have a new nephew! Ethan Douglas McMurdo popped into the world in the early morning hours of Jan. 18th, weighing in at around eight pounds. I had the chance to go visit him and his family (my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces) at the hospital, and he and his momma were both doing well. I've got to soak up all the niece and nephew time I can while I'm still in the country! Now to go shopping for baby clothes...

The times, they are a changing...

It is official--I am no longer an employee of Open Door Ministries. A huge responsibility off my shoulders, but I will miss aspects of it all the same. I was well sent-off, with a goodbye party with the kids, another with staff, flowers, cake--the whole shebang! The pic here is some friends (I'm taking the photo) at the staff goodbye party after-party (or something like that :) ).

So now--on to support raising as intensely as I can! As any of you who have ever raised financial support can attest, it is quite a bit of work, most of it involving communication with potential and actual supporters. I am learning as I go how to best approach people, how and when to follow up, and most of all--how to simply ask!

Hopefully in the coming months I'll also have a chance to begin studying Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia. This will be easier said than done, seeing as I know no Khmer speakers at this point, and so am trying to orient myself a little bit using books and cd's...we'll see. Check out the Khmer script here:

http://www.cambodia.cc/learnkhmer/khmer-alphabets.asp