Life and Times

So I usually post about something to try and be informative--this time, I figured I'd just give you a little glimpse into what's been going on. In general, my days are as follows: wake up around 5:45, leave for the office a little after 7, attend staff devotions at 7:30 for 45 minutes or an hour, spend the rest of the morning doing language study and online communication and whatever other meetings, etc. need to happen, lunch at 12ish (usually I eat Khmer food with some of the staff at the office, or bring a sandwich or something, and maybe once a week or so I go to a restaurant), relax or run errands, tutoring from 1:30-3:30, more office time until we head home sometime between 5 and 6, do stuff or chill until dinner between 7 and 8, relax, shower, go to bed. Weekends--Saturdays I wash clothes (and by that I mean that I myself wash the clothes, not put them in a machine), do errands, do something fun, etc. Sunday is Khmer church in the morning and English church in the afternoon/evening. That's the basics.

For some specifics, let's see...last Saturday I did the usual laundry, did some reading, got all showered up, and then went with my Cambodian roommate to the hairdresser. She got her makeup, nails, and hair done; I stuck with the hair. I perplexed them a little bit because they insisted my hair was too short to curl or pin up. So, I ended having all the ends carefully curled out and up and away from my face--they thought it was great, I felt like Farah Fawcett. Oh well, it only cost a dollar to get done. The reason for the hairdos--we attended a wedding that evening for the children of some FH staff members who are working in Anlong Veng. Cambodian weddings traditionally take a day or more to celebrate and involved numerous outfits for the wedding party; sometimes you can attend the actual wedding ceremony in the morning, or more commonly, do like we did and show up for the party in the evening. When you arrive you are directed to the nearest open seats, and once your table is filled up, you receive the appetizers for a 6-10 course meal. The courses follow one or two at a time. Later in the evening is cake cutting (but not eating) and traditional-style dancing (involving hand movements and walking with a group of people around and around in a circle).

Sunday--the usual two church services, watched a DVD on my laptop. At the afternoon service I joined the worship team to play the guitar and will do this on a somewhat regular basis. After church there is a felllowship time with yummy baked goods, and then usually heading to dinner with people.

Monday--regular day, except I skipped tutoring to visit the US Embassy and register my presence in the country. The theory behind this is so that, in the case of emergency, the Embassy knows where all the in-country US citizens are and can contact them with relevant information. The Embassy can also be helpful for things like voting from abroad. To register, I went through two security checks with metal detectors, leaving my phone and camera at the first one (no electronics allowed in, apparently). Then I waited in the right line (much shorter for me as a citizen than for people of other nationalities who were there for visas, etc.), filled out a form, turned it in, got my stuff, and left. Mission accomplished.

Tuesday--after tutoring, I ran errands--got gas in my moto (usually $2-3 per tank), stopped at a local bakery because I am a foreigner and like things made out of wheat, and went to the grocery store (yes, there are a few international-type grocery stores in the big cities, with local and imported food that foreigners like to eat). I got pulled over on my moto by the police on the way to the store because I don't have a license plate yet (something that is easier said than done to get)--they wanted to fine me ten dollars for this fact. More truthfully, as they told me themselves, there were five of them and they wanted some beer to drink (accepting bribes is very common in many professions here, and is not shocking--many jobs do not pay enough to live off of, and the system of accepting payouts is thus in place). With my small Khmer vocab, I managed to joke them down to $5, and then with a phone call to my Cambodian roommate to talk to them better than I could, we go the price down to 5000 Riel ($1.25).

Today (Wednesday)--normal day again. We all went to lunch as a staff as a goodbye thing for a man from Canada who has been here on a short-term trip for the past three months. Tonight I am eating dinner at the home of another American who I met through church and some other people.--yum yum.

Coming up--two more days of work/studying. This coming weekend we have a retreat for all the international FHCambodia staff--two Japanese staff members (one has been here over fours years, the other almost one), one Burmese lady (Burmese as in Myanmar) who has been the accountant for over a year, a Phillipina lady who got hired the end of December, a Swiss couple who will be starting soon, myself, and the country director and his wife (also American). So, I am working with one of the Japanese staff to lead worship for the event--need to get that ready by Friday, and then for the retreat itself we are using the pool and a meeting room at a local resort-type hotel, and then going home to sleep (doing it on the cheap!). Sunday--there is a potluck at the International church for two pastoral candidates that they are considering asking to co-fill the pastorate.

And I think that is enough for now! Just about time for me to head to dinner. :)