Monday, June 21, 2010
I arrived at William Carey International University about 1:30 PM today. The flight was AMAZING! I got to see the Grand Canyon from 35,000 feet and I think what was Lake Tahoe.
So far it's been pretty great. I keep clinging to Deuteronomy 33:27. Any encouraging verses or prayers please pass them my way! Email me at any time. I hope church was great today. I missed being there.
Here's a little tidbit for ya'll to read. A list of similarities between me and 2 of my SE Asia region teammates (we did it as an icebreaker):
We've all been to Disney World
We all love Asian food including sushi
We are all fish killers
We all prefer water over soda
We all love to swim
We love camping
None of us own binoculars
All of us own pocketknives
We can set up a tent without help
We love the TV show "The Office"
We're all right handed
We all have brown eyes
That is not exhaustive but I thought it was fun. Here now is a list of my teammates you can be praying for:
Teresa, Michelle, Vanessa, Hannah, Caitlyn, and Elizabeth.
They all seem really nice. I haven't met Elizabeth yet but she should be here by tomorrow. I hope that everyone is doing great! It's just now midnight in Forsyth. I'll continue to pray for your blessings. Love ya'll!!
Blessings,
Sarah
Monday, June 28, 2010
Soo-ah s'day!
That is "Hello" in Khmer. And I am LOVING Cambodia! I'm sitting here at a little coffee shop with WIFI and air conditioning. I'll upload photos of my house soon so you can see how I'm living. Everything is great. It is very hot and humid but the people are very nice and the children just love westerners. We live across the street from a family of several children that are always in the street riding bikes and playing in the water when it rains. Our house is awesome and HUGE. It reminds me of an old antebellum mansion and we believe it was once lived in by a government official here. It's a little run down around the edges but it's right in the city so we get to walk everywhere and be among the people. There are Buddhist statues everywhere and some goddess is at our doorway for protection. I know Who is my Protector though. We are meeting with Bonnie today. She runs the summeer program for the school and we will also be finding out where we will be teaching in the afternoon. The school is amazing and brand new. We drove past and met some of the students from the boys house called "House of Hope. The girls house is "House of Faith". They are great kids who love Jesus and are hungry to know more. I'm probably most excited about getting to know our neighbors and the children on our street. All of the children understand "hello", "no", and "bye". I'm ready for them to learn my name and I theirs. I'll update more when I can. We're in a time crunch right now. Love you and miss you!
Love,
Sarah
Monday, July 12, 2010
I'm sitting here at my desk at Logos International School watching my students work on math worksheets and I was just thinking about home. Things are great here. Its hard to write updates because there is so much going on that can't be explained with words. I've been taking pictures and videos but even that is not a satisfactory explanation of what I'm feeling and the internal and spiritual struggles happening. First of all, I love living here. It is hot, and humid, I smell bad most of the time, the food sometimes scares me, and I feel like I should be singing some kind of death chant when I have to cross the road to get to the coffee shop. Let me tell you though, the coffee here would be worth getting run over by a tuk tuk or moto. While we're talking about motos I'll give you a quick vocab and useful phrase lesson:
Tuk-tuk - a small cart driven by an 'on it's last legs' motorbike. These are used to carry anything from goods, to people, to livestock. Sometimes they fall over.
Moto - another word for dirtbike or motorcyle. This is the main mode of transportation here. They weave in and out of traffic with no grace and often get in accidents that people may of may not walk away from. If they do not walk away, their pockets and purses get cleaned out and the ambulance sometimes arrives within 30 minutes. I've ridden one moto but it was in the 'country' of Cambodia where most of the traffic is pony carts.
Phnom Penh - the capitol of Cambodia
Toul Kork - a suburb of Phnom Penh where I live
Phnom Penh Thmey - a suburb of Phnom Penh translated 'New' Phnom Penh. This is where the school is located.
Pony cart - similar to a moto except driven by small grumpy ponies.
Ox cart - same except driven by giant skinny oxen
Soah S'Day (soo s'die) - Hello!
Aw coon - thank you
K'Nyom cha mua away... - My name is...
Cha mua away - literally translated 'what name?' when you ask for someones name
There are a lot more phrases I have learned but these have been the most helpful so far. We went out of the city this past weekend and went to a small village in the Baray district of Cambodia. The pastor that owns the homestay we slept in told us that this district is considered 'cursed' or 'dark'. I didn't catch the reason but he said that people often avoid going through this district and will travel miles out of the way to avoid it. I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I actually bought a painting of it when I got back to Phnom Penh. It was the Cambodia you see on TV. No clean water, self sufficient homes, naked children playing in puddles and running out to greet anyone with light skin. The houses are made out of leaves and sticks and need to be reinforced every rainy season and completely rebuilt every 3 years. Every single house is on stilts also. The houses are raised not only to be above the rainy season floods but they also keep livestock under the house to keep them cool and dry. I can't explain the beauty of this place. I can only say that there is no place like it in the world. I love you and miss you all. I'll see you in 3 weeks!!
Love,
Sarah
