Monday, August 30, 2010

First month in Asia: Quick update of this month :)

So, as you can tell, I am not a very good blogger. It has taken me a month to post something. August has flown by leaving behind a whirl of yummy foods, tuk tuk price haggling, class full of screaming toddlers, new friends, and complete lack of Khmer language knowledge. I've been really blessed with the ability to live off of a half-day schedule and have my afternoons free to enjoy being abroad and volunteer. I could spend the next 7 days sitting here typing if I were to even attempt to explain all of the things going on in Cambodia right now.

School: I am teaching an internationally diverse group of 20 children who don't speak English and I love it. They are so cute! My classroom:Church: So giving and welcoming. Everything is in Khmer but there is interpretation via headphones, which is great. A week ago I was welcomed into the Teen Ministry with a giant card full of pictures and names of some of the teens... it is going to come in very handy.

Sisters of Charity: The Senior Teacher at my school introduced me to one of the very needy orphanages here. It is about a 20 min walk from my place and the 23 children there are absolutely precious. It is run by a group of Catholic nuns and all but 2 of the kids are under the age of 5. I don't even know where to begin talking about this because it is very overwhelming and is a constant reminder of how many needs there are. I am really praying for the adoption laws and all that jazz to be mended up so that these little ones can have the hope of having a family. I am very inspired by them and I love them so much already. It just breaks my heart to know they they have no chance for a normal future free of prostitution, gangs, and suicide. I've been told that 1 in every 10 orphans commit suicide. Hope that's not true.

Villa 21: Pretty awesome. Especially Casey, of coursssseee. This week, another teen worker, Ah Houy, just moved into our floor. Gerlinda had a band come over for dinner tonight so we had yummy Philippine (sp?) food for dinner.