He's in the Little Things

So it is officially the rainy season here. (Although to be clear, I have been told that rainy season lasts 8 months and this is the 'light rainy season' followed by the 'heavy rainy season')

We have begun doing daily outreach where we go buy some fruit and bring it to a karaoke club near us. There are often at least 10 girls playing cards and hanging out, so Bella and I go and visit with them. We do this five times a week, and have begun to be expected, and I would even go so far as to say we are welcomed most days.

This week, we have a medical clinic going on and needed to pass out fliers to the karaoke girls as well as to the surrounding community. So Bella and I set out on our bikes to pass out fliers, buy fruit and then go visit with the girls. We got about a block into our journey when it started to pour rain. We thought about trying to wait out the rain, but decided it would be better just to hurry on our bikes. As we were riding, the rain was coming down in huge drops. The wind was blowing hard, making it difficult to stay going in a straight path and making the rain sting. It was hard to see and if you can possibly believe it- it was getting chilly. Over the sound of the wind and rain, I hear Bella singing "Oh happy day! Happy day! You wash my sins away!" In the middle of what could have been a potentially discouraging moment, Bella was singing praise songs! I was so proud of her! We spent the rest of our bike riding trip praising God.

When we got to the karaoke club, we were soaked. Drowned rats might be too harsh, but you get the idea. The girls there couldn't have been nicer. I was warned it takes awhile for the girls to trust, and even longer for them to treat you normally instead of as a foreigner. I don't know if it was the fruit, the drenched clothing, or more likely the grace of God, but the girls did something that has never happened before- they didn't offer me the red chair, they had me sit on the ground by them! This may not seem like a big deal, but it has so made my day. As if that wasn't enough, Bella was able to join in their conversation a little and was sharing in their jokes AND they stopped their card game to talk to me in broken English!!!!! Oh God is so good!

I know it might seem like little stuff, but let me tell I have never seen God more than I have by watching the little stuff. I see Him singing in the rain, sitting on the ground, and the pause in the card game. He's so in the little things, and I am so blessed by it!

In one of the English classes I teach, we've been talking about how to have conversations about countries (you know, "Where are you from?" "What country is she from?"... that kind of stuff.) Rather than simply writing the names of the countries on the board and then having the students repeat after me a bunch of times, I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a project out of it. 

So, I brought in some paints and assigned each of the students a country. They were supposed to paint a picture of their assigned flag and write three sentences about the country and then were going to present their flag to the class. I was very excited about this, and even a little proud of myself for switching things up a bit. But I have to say, the wind was taken out of my sails a little when I was handed the flag that was supposed to be the American Flag. Instead of red, white and blue, I was handed an orange, white and purple flag-with no stars...

I was a little bit shocked. I'll admit. I looked at the sweet girl, Keany, who handed it to me and explained that what I was holding was not an American flag. Keany looked at me, then at the flag, and then back at me. "Yes it is." Was the response I was met with. So I began to explain that the colors were of the flag were not actually orange, purple and white, but rather red white and blue and that there were supposed to be stars on the flag. Her response: "No. That's not what the American Flag looks like. This is."

Flabbergasted.  It's really the only word that comes to my mind to explain how I felt. I couldn't help it. I started laughing so hard. I couldn't believe that I had just been told basically that I did not know what my own country's flag looked like. The two of us worked together, and after three attempts it finally looked like the flag I grew up seeing. 

I really love my job!

Worth the Price of a Cockroach

My day has been rather different so far. Well different than what a normal Thursday for me would be, but not different by Cambodian standards at all. Instead of going over to Rahab's House to teach a Bible study, English classes and manage the salon, I went over to help Jayme clean up from last's nights Khmer New Year Party.

When I got there, the whole downstairs smelled like rotten meat (a telltale sign that a Khmer party was a good one). Jayme and I set out to clean. I moved a shelf in an attempt to clean the floor thoroughly, but when I did a cockroach came scurrying out. Someone who sounded a lot like me screamed and jumped back. Jayme came running in to my defense, and upon finding out that it was a cockroach that had scurried past me, ran just as quickly back out of the kitchen. When Jayme came back, she was armed with a can full of Raid and held the can lethally close to the intruder as she released half the can on it. Meanwhile I smacked at it with the broom I was holding; both of us screaming. 

I know what you're thinking. "What a heroic story Brittnay. How incredible that two grown women killed such a vial creature!" And you're right. It never stood a chance. What can I say, we're legit...

No, but really. The cool thing happened last night. We held a party, an outreach so to speak, for the local community and the karaoke girls specifically. We had music, games and food out of the wazzoo. Since we've never thrown a Khmer party before, I'll admit, I was a little nervous at how it would turn out, but God showed up. We had several Karaoke girls we knew, and some we had never seen before come. Some students from our English school, and even a  random German tourist came (which was a little weird, but kinda funny). The night went so well! People had fun and felt welcomed. There was singing, dancing, games, a raffle and a lot of laughing. It was such a blessing to see the joy that people were experiencing and it was such a gift that it was at Rahab's House. Our salon was jammed packed last night, and people hung out for hours. I pray that this is only the beginning of things to come!

So after being apart of last night, and then also being apart of this mornings clean up of last night, I can safely say that last night's fun was definitely worth this mornings cockroach find.

You teach Me, I'll teach You and We'll go Cycling Two by Two

I'm finishing up my second work week here in Siem Reap, and I finally feel like I've hit my stride...kinda. ;)
On Monday I took over teaching an English class in the morning. Wednesday, we started a new English class and already have 15 new students. For the first three days of teaching I was able to have a translator. The last two days, not so much. But I mean come on, who really needs a translator while trying to explain the English language right?
The 9am class I teach is much more advanced in English since it has been in session for three months now. So, I walked into class on Thursday armed with a Khmer/ English dictionary and with their help I knew we would be fine. We spent the next hour teaching each other. They were learning the verb "to be" and I was learning how pronounce all the words in Khmer needed to explain the verb "to be".  And on the whole, I would say it was a successful session. In the second class at 10am, they learned  the names of the letters and the sounds that they make. I learned how to say "vowel", "consonant", and "sound". Again, pretty successful.
But today...whoa dang, it was awesome! I was teaching the tenses in the first class and learned how to say them all in Khmer AND they understood me!!! But in the second class, that's where you know God stepped in and was like "I got this." One of my students, Malai asked why the vowels sometimes say their name and sometimes say their sounds. Now, she asked this in Khmer mind you, and there was no translator, but I understood EVERY word she said!! Granted, I did have to have her repeat it, but I understood, and I was able to explain why IN KHMER!!!!!! (broken Khmer, with really bad grammar, but we're not going to focus on that). I was so very excited. (Content sigh)...
Today at the end of class, one of my students announced with a big smile that I teach them and they teach the teacher. Yes, yes they do.

While my mornings have been full with teaching English, in the afternoon, my main job is still to focus on the beauty salon and its outreach to the local karaoke girls. So, Jayme (who also works at Rahab's House) and I went for a ride with fliers to pass out a karaoke club near by. Now, we don't speak the language, so of course we needed translators. Jayme hopped on her bike with Bella on the back and I got on my bike with Senet on the back of mine. Riding a bike, or driving a moto, in Cambodia is kind of like a never ending game of chicken. No one has to stay on their side of the road, and as long as you honk your horn to let people know where you are, it really doesn't matter how you drive.
So there we are, two white Americans riding single file down the road. Each carrying a Cambodian girl on the back of our bike. I couldn't help but laugh. All I could think of was "and they came to the ark two by two". The on lookers must have found the humor in the situation as well since many of them couldn't help but laugh.
In spite of our silly arrival, the karaoke girls must have liked us because the salon is really taking off and the English class specific to karaoke girls is almost full!

Siem Reap

So I've been in my new home now for five days and I am loving it! It is so beautiful here and the traffic is so much better than in Phnom Phen.
 I spent the weekend trying to get used to the new city and getting settled with the things that I still needed, but Monday I hit the ground running. I spent Monday and Tuesday out in the city with the girls who work in the beauty salon, Sony and Srey Oun and out translator Savry trying to find materials for the salon.
 When I was told I needed to find a long list of items, including a school to send girls to to learn hair, I was more overwhelmed than excited about the adventure. But it turned out to be such a blessing! Since I don't know the language or city, and can't use the internet to find supplies, I had to rely heavily on Savry to take us to the right spot and negotiate good prices. Spending the day with Sony and Srey Oun really helped establish a relationship between the three of us, and although we're not best friends or anything, there is joy in seeing each other-which is a huge blessing since I am overseeing them for the foreseeable future.

We've gone out twice trying to canvas the neighborhood and invite karaoke girls to come to our shop at Rahab's House. The first night we weren't allowed in any of the housing complexes and only were able to talk to a handful of women. As a result we only had three women come into the salon. Today, we went out canvasing again. We finally found out that many of the girls we were trying to reach out to were actually already at the karaoke bars. We talked to the community and the few girls that weren't at work yet and headed back to Rahab's House. When we got there, the salon was jammed packed with women! I can't even tell you how stoked I was to see that sight!
We got the green light to actually go into the karaoke bar right by us to pass out fliers while the girls are working later on this evening. So right now we're just regrouping before we head out again! I'm excited to see how God is going to use this time and pray that things go well tonight!

The Ultimate Coverage

For the past two days I have been helping Isaac get his new office painted. Now, I don't want to brag, but I've painted a wall or two in my day and done a pretty much awesome job-just sayin. So when Isaac said that I could help him paint, I thought "Sweet! We'll have this room finished in 2, 3 hours max!"Ahhhh, so idealistic of me....
Since acts of service happens to be one my love languages, I decided to try and help Isaac by starting the project. I got the roller full of paint, and started to roll. Only one little problem...the roller (usually of the curricular persuasion in America) was mostly round, with one flatter side, making it more of a square roller than a curricular one. As one might imagine, paint went everywhere when I tried to apply said paint to wall.
Since using a drop cloth was not part of the plan for this painting expedition, and no rags were anywhere to be found, I decided to be resourceful and used my hands to mop up the paint so that the floor wouldn't be paint covered. (The brilliance of this plan is overwhelming is it not?)
Well having managed to clean up the floor so Isaac wouldn't see, I now had to wipe off my hands. Again being resourceful and without a rag, I used the wall. It's going to be painted anyway right? This way no one would realize my ridiculousness. And had my hands not been dirty, this plan would have worked. But alas, the dirty hand smudge marks spoke for themselves. Needless to say, I lost roller privileges and was asked to simply cut in.
Now, the electricity here can be a little sketchy, so after painting in a dark, poorly ventilated room with no air flow, one needs to find ways to make the time a little more enjoyable. While Isaac painted with the square roller and whistling Jack Johnson, I cut in the corners. We had worked for about an hour when Isaac finally looked at the wall he had started on, looked at the roller and then in a very frustrated voice declared, "It's fake paint!" After about two coats, that paint only had a whitewashed looked, which was unfortunate since we were painting over yellow to make solid white...
To make a long story short; after a solid six hours, at least 6 coats of paint, almost an entire bucket gone (not a gallon, but a big bucket), and lots of time praying and laughing, the room was finally finished. And let me tell you, the cutting in around the walls look FABULOUS!Thank you very much!
Ironically enough, the brand of paint Isaac bought was called "The Ultimate Coverage". I hope this isn't an indicator of the quality of goods for the next two years ;)

Motos, Motos,and more Motos

So, I've been in Cambodia for four days now, and although I am pretty sure I've lost close to 5lbs in sweat, I am SO loving it! God has been so good and blessed me with such a great group of people that have been so thoughtful and welcoming. I'm staying in the capital city of Phnom Penh until Friday when I will be moving up to Siem Reap and living there for the next two years.
Right now Don (the director of Agape) wants me to feel comfortable before I jump into things so right now I'm just acclimating to the time and hot humid weather, but don't worry, I'm not bored. ;)

So far I have learned to not only ride on a moto, but ride on a moto sidesaddle in a skirt! AND even more importantly, I learned how to drive one! Now, if you ask my friend Isaac who taught me, he would say he was scared the whole time riding on the back while I drove, but I'm just saying....I was awesome! Otherwise, there is no way he would have let me drive 20 minutes from home to work.

Today was the first day getting to see people that I have been with when I came last summer, and what a joy! It was such a blessing to not only have the people on staff remember me, but all the kids. After the Kid's Club ended, the kids were so excited and wanted to give me high fives. I gave so many high fives my hand literally turned red and hurt for a solid 5 minutes. It was wonderful!

God has really blessed me so far! He's blessed me with new friends, a warm welcome and lots of laughter. I'm really excited to see what's going to happen next.