I am here! After a long day of traveling around the world I made it. The flights were all smooth and non eventful however, I did not sleep at all. Ugh! We arrived to the airport in Cambodia went through customs and got in our large Mercedes van with our 14 bags, Rackmae (Worker for STAR Kampuchea), and drove through the streets of Phom Phen, Cambodia. When we got to the Tat-Too Guesthouse we recieved our room assignments and we all took some much needed showers and turned the A/C on high!! I am in a room with Tabor and she's great. When I was finishing up getting ready for bed a thunderstorm came in and knocked out the whole hotels electricity. Thank God for Walky-Talkys and flashlights because this was our savoir. I could not sleep at all because of the time difference and being over tired and it seemed I wasn't the only one in this situation because 4 of the other Cambodia Crew groupmates had the same problem. So, I ended up all falling asleep in Mrs. Gutmann's and LM's room. It is about 100 degrees here with humidity and it is not fun sleeping when every part of your body seems to be stuck together and you have to drink water and wipe your face all night long. Just remember the A/C is out so it makes this situation just that more dreadful. Ha!
When I woke up in the morning I was still very tired but ready to tackle the fun day ahead of me! I started off my day with breakfest from the Tat-Too Guesthouse's volunteer menu. I had a tomato and onion, omlete with a side of exotic fruit from Cambodia. Then, I took my first tuk-tuk ride to STAR Kampuchea where we had our orientation. I listened to Ben and Svjena give us backround information on Cambodia and learned the basic sayings of Khmer the language spoken here. After we had our orientation we headed to the Russian Market. This is an outdoor market with everything you could possibly think of and more. Our group had some rice noodles and some springrolls to eat. At a market like this though, it is all about bargaining. This is quite a show when they don't speak much English and they don't want to lose a sale to an American. The orientation lasted until 6:00 p.m.. but LM thought it wasn't necessary so we headed to the orphanage!!!! As I and my Cambodia Crew piled into the back of a pick-up truck and merged around motos, tuk-tuks, pedestarians, and other large vehicles we couldn't have been more anxious and excited to see the kids and the surrounding of this orphanage. As we pulled up in our truck we could see the beautiful, happy faces of the children. I got out of the truck as they ran to all of the us yelling Lisa Lisa Lisa. So adorable and amazing that it brought tears to all of our eyes.
After meeting all of them, Ritchie the director of the orphanage showed us the pig and chicken pens. It is a total dump and here come the rain boots and gloves tomorrow because we have some work to do. I played with and hugged every kid more than once. They will hug you and hug you and give you so much love. This is what I have been waiting for. We will be bringing our supplies to the orphanage tomorrow. Can't wait to see the smiling faces tomorrow when I arrive!
Love and miss all of you.....
Anna
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