Best Laid Plans...

They may not celebrate Thanksgiving and Easter and Fourth of July in Cambodia, but there is certainly not a lack of holidays here. The most recent one was called P'chum Bun and I happily took a few days off for a little rest and relaxation. My friend, Eileen, and I planned on going to one of the northern provinces, but at the last minute, we had to change our location because of mass flooding throughout different areas of Cambodia. It is still a little unclear to me if we really would have been affected by the water, but it all got so complicated and messy (it's a long story) that we decided to go to the good ol' standard backup vacation spot...the coast.

I love escaping the busy-ness of the city, enjoying lazy days, sitting and reading, eating food right on the beach (...and it's cheap!), having great conversations with an amazing friend...what more could I ask for? Well, for starters, I would have preferred less rain. {Sidenote...it is the rainy season here in Cambodia. This means that on the average day, it rains for a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon. Let me assure you though, it is certainly not restricted to this schedule and it unfortunately rained a good portion of the few days we were there. And if you throw a typhoon off the coast of the Philippines in the mix, there is bound to be a bit more rain than normal.}

I am not necessarily a beach enthusiast, which is surprising since I am from Florida, but then again not so much since I manage to get sunburnt in record time. Even in the shade...it's a talent. This beach is very different from those that I always went to growing up, though. Lining the beach are papasan chairs, lounge chairs, umbrellas and restaurants, women walking around selling food, others offering massages, manicures and pedicures.
If you follow my blog, you know that I am doing a photography project, taking a picture each day that says something about what I did, what I saw, what I experienced that day. I have realized that many of those pictures are food. Sometimes out of the curiosity in my mind when it comes to food differences between the States and Cambodia. Sometimes out of pure delight because I love that particular food so much. My picture for Wednesday was a combination of both those reasons...

If there is a name for these wonderful little treats, I don't know what it is. I do know, however, that they are GOOD! They are little balls made from rice flour with a palm sugar filling, topped with shaved coconut and a brown sugar/sesame seed mixture. Every where we went, we were on the look out for them. We were so excited when we found the first lady, we paid her initial asking price and didn't even bat an eye really. The second day, as I went to purchase some, the seller was quoting a price to another customer...in Khmer. So when I asked how much they were and was given a price that was almost twice as expensive more than the guy two seconds before, I quickly (and gladly) used my Khmer skills to tell her that I wanted them for the same price the other guy got. I said it all with a smile, of course...and she smiled too as she realized that I spoke the language enough to get the local price instead of the foreigner price (which are never the same!)...but trust me, even not knowing, I would have paid the higher price for them. Yes, they are that good!

My language "skills" (I use that term loosely) did not kick in a couple hours later, though. It comes and goes apparently. I am going to be heading back to this same beach in a week and a half for a youth camp with English students from our church. It will be very similar to the one we took back in January (to read about it, click here). We tend to rent a section of beach to play games and eat dinner at, but we didn't have the phone number for the people that have their shop there. Eileen and I went to that same place and saw signs posted on the trees, all with the same two phone numbers, so figured these were for the owners.I came back to work yesterday feeling like I was going to be very helpful with this phone number that I got so we could plan and organize ahead of time (as I very much enjoy doing). I passed my phone to a co-leader and he had a strange look on his face and then showed it to someone else. There was a very confused silence in the room for a second...which was broken by laughter. This was not the phone number for the owners, but for a locksmith. You know, in case you lock your keys in your car at the beach. I don't understand why it was posted on all the trees, as if you would need to see it 10 times in one location. But there it was. After they told me what it said, then of course I could read and understand it, but only after everyone had a good laugh. But no one is going to be laughing if we lock our keys in the van next week!!

NOT from a can...

I would consider myself a fairly "on the ball" type of person and I very much value common sense...but sometimes, the reality of things catch me off guard. There are things -- maybe conveniences is a better word -- that I am so accustomed to and when I faced with them in another light, it feels foolishly foreign. Case in point...

Food products that I usually buy in a can in the States don't originally come in a can.

Yes, I am aware this statement may sound a bit ridiculous and may also elicit the "duh" response in a few readers. I had this first "crazy realization" last Christmas as I made pumpkin pie and couldn't just run to the grocery store and buy a can of pumpkin. You can read about that here.

This time my revelation came in the form of a coconut...or rather the milk from coconut to be exact. I know that there is water inside the coconut. I know the "meat" inside the coconut is dried and shredded. But I have never thought about the milk that I have always so conveniently bought in the form of a can. On Saturday, though, I learned the non-can process:


Step one: Shave coconut meat and put in a bowl
Step two: Put a little water in the bowl, squeeze the coconut shavings and place said shavings in another bowl.
Step three: Strain out left over shavings.
Step four: Repeat process until you have successfully gotten all the milk out of the shavings.
Step five (optional): Smile and try not to get frustrated as Heather documents this process with her camera rather than actually helping. Heather appreciates the smiles ;-)


This is Phansy (pronounced Pan-see). She was in the Harvester class at the beginning of 2011 and is an amazing cook. All of this coconut milk process was to make a delicious curry that we ate on Sunday. Making the curry took much longer and was so much more involved than I ever imagined. I was so blessed by Ma Phansy and all her help to make our meal possible!

Waldo and a Rice Field...

I must say my Khmer language skills could be much better...or better yet they should be much better...but I am not completely lost. So when I was walking through the bookstore last week, I totally understood the conversation the workers were having. It went something like this:

A: "Did you see her? Come here. Look!"
B: "Wow! She has really white legs" (...I was wearing a skirt...)
A: "Yes, REALLY white legs!"
B: "So white."

I wish I was exaggerating, but alas, I am not. Nor were they exaggerating on the glowing whiteness of my legs...unfortunately. But they all want white skin here, which for the life of me I don't understand. I would rather have their beautiful, brown skin. When I am in pictures with people, there is never a challenge to find me. It is like the opposite of "Where's Waldo?" I pretty much stand out. With that said, you understand why I kinda laughed when I saw this picture from the most recent Harvesters outreach... {Oh, the white legs! Do you see me?}
All joking aside, though, I did smile when I saw this picture. We were walking around the village and stopping at different houses to talk to people. When we got here, we were told that the lady who lived there was out back...so we went to find her...working in the rice field.
One of the highlights of this group I was working with was their willingness to do whatever was needed with no hesitation to serve and love. Without being prompted in anyway, they all got down and started helping her pick the rice shoots to transplant them. I don't fully understand the entire rice growing process, but I do know they plant it, then transplant it into water and then harvest it again later once the rice has actually grown. The students knew the only way they were going to get to share truth and love with this woman was to help her in the field. And they did it willingly. It opened a door for them to talk with her and show the love of Christ in such a real, practical way.
I had to get a quick crash course in what to do, but I was happy to participate. Granted, I didn't last as long as they did since my (white) legs are not used to the famous Khmer squatting position that they all find so natural and simple. But I did what I could.
Below is one of the woman's daughters that was also out in the field. Something about this picture kinda grabs my heart.
The irony of the situation did not pass by me. Here are the Harvesters helping with the harvest. I love it. I love that this is my "job"...I love that this is my life!

[I am also grateful for the wonderful, photographic eye that my friend, Seyha, has. He is the one that took all these pictures.]

Partying it up...Khmer style...

I am big on birthday celebrations, especially when they are a surprise, even if they do involve getting icing in my nose and eyes and ears. I wish I was joking.

It is tradition to have an icing fight at birthday parties. This isn't even the worst that I have experienced when it comes to icing wars, though. Some of my friends and students surprised me with a cake this afternoon to celebrate me and I loved it! I must say, my heart is full and I am blessed...


{I only had my phone to take a couple pictures so they are not exactly the highest quality but you get the idea.}

Overlooking the Unusual

This is sort of a continuation of "Only in Cambodia"...trust me, I could start a whole blog just dedicated to that.

Do you have those things that you see or hear every day and they don't really strike you as odd because it has become a part of your "normal"? There seem to be a lot of those things for me around here...in various categories and various degrees of "did-i-really-just-see-that?!"

Like this:

This is the property across the street from the church. It only recently struck me a little odd. What exactly is the purpose of the door? I am all about "decorating," but functionality is also an important factor to consider and that seems to be lacking here...

And then there's things like this:

I eat less meat here than I normally do in the States. I am not a vegetarian by any means, but seeing this makes the whole thing a little more real. In America, we have trucks that semi-hide the chickens...here, you use what you have...a trusty moto.

Or this:

...a wheel-less back half of an American school bus. They don't have school buses here, which makes this that much more "hmmm..." to me.

Grammar...no thanks!

My English students LOVE idioms. I think they would be OK if I started teaching just those and not much else. I am not sure that would be very good curriculum, but it would get me out of having to teach grammar. The book I teach is a communication/conversation course and so obviously you have to include a bit of the dreaded grammar in there, too. Today it is on relative clauses. One of my recent lessons included gerunds and if I am gonna be honest, I don't remember every hearing that word and I am still not exactly sure how to explain what that is. I am sure I studied it years ago, but I had to sit and study in preparation yesterday. I even had to get a lesson from one of the Khmer teachers so that I could understand. Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of grammar? It does not equal my dislike for math, but it is up there. I am very grateful that this part of the lesson was a review of things they have learned already so I wasn't teaching it to them for the very first time. I just read the sentences from the book, had them repeat after me to work on pronunciation, and then happily went on.

Grammar is just something that I innately know how to use, but I can't explain the rules. I am asked a lot of questions because it would serve to reason that since I am a native English speaker, I should understand all these rules and terms and exceptions. Sorry, friends, I do not. I can tell you if something is grammatically correct or not, but not always the "why" behind it. My students are very gracious when I smile a bit embarrassingly and tell them "I don't know, but I can find out for you." I do appreciate how eager they are to learn and improve in their language skills. They practice and are faithful to learn.

I could learn a few things from them...practicing language and being faithful to learn. I have been here in Cambodia for nine months and I should be speaking a lot more Khmer than I do. I hear it all the time and am not completely lost in the world around me. I understand some...but it should definitely be more. I get some of the words and can piece together the main idea of what is being said. People say things or ask me questions in Khmer and I respond in English. I joke that I am being self-less, allowing them to practice their English skills. And while that may be the result, that is certainly not the motivation. I am a bit of a perfectionist and do not really enjoy looking foolish. There is no graceful way to learn a language. You sound foolish. You stumble over words. You mispronounce. You WILL be laughed at. You make mistakes in grammar. You "say" things you had no intention of saying. I once asked someone to make sure the guard opened the gate for me at 6:45 the next morning and they somehow got that I was asking for someone to make me breakfast at 6:45 the next morning. Those words sound NOTHING alike and I never mentioned anything about food, but that is what they got. Luckily the cook was informed of the mix up before actually making me breakfast (...or maybe that is unfortunate). There have been more embarrassing mispronunciations than that, but suffice it to say, there are some words I try to avoid saying just so that I won't accidently say the wrong one.

10 out of 245

Fact: It is currently day 245 of the 365 days of 2011.

Oh, the things you learn about me from the items I choose to take pictures of...some of them are insightful and deep, reflecting on truths that I am learning...and some of them are just fun and reflect nothing by the randomness that floats around in my head (and trust me, there is A LOT of that)!!

That being said, I am posting 10 more photographs from my picture-a-day project...

203/162...spot-on gift

I love fun jewelry and so I was super excited when one of my English students, Sotheavy, gave me this necklace for no apparent reason beyond wanting to bless me. I was even more touched when I found out that he made it himself.

205/160...addiction

I admit it...I have become addicted to iced milk coffee, or in Khmer..."cafe dteuck dah goh dteuck gahw(k). (I know you are all trying to say it right now!) I never drank coffee in America and yet, here I am wishing and wanting to have one of these tasty little treats every day...in large quantities. The actual flavor of the coffee is good, but then they throw in the sweetened condensed milk, and buddy, you have a winner! They only cost about 50 cents so when I have a craving in the office, I smile nicely at one of the boys I work with and offer to get them one as well if they will jump on their moto and buy me a coffee. There is little wonder as to why I love them...the coffees, I mean, though the guys are pretty great too.

213/152...noodle phenomenon

My friend, Eileen, introduced me to the famous Chinese noodle restaurant. GREAT food...cheap prices...authentic and fresh. The guy stands outside and makes the noodles non-stop throughout day. We got huge bowls of noodle soup (campbell's doesn't even deserve compare), a plate of 12 dumplings and a huge plate of garlic green beans and it was $3 each. I am looking forward to going back soon!

214/151...dragonfruit

Walking down the street in Phnom Penh offers a lot for the senses...sights, sounds, smells (and not always good ones)...I very rarely taste things as I walk, though. This fruit was an exception. My friend and I saw this huge stand of organic dragonfruit, one of the things that America is greatly missing out on! In an effort to make a sale, the vendor cut one open and let us try some. I have eaten the white ones a lot, but never the red kind. These were SO good, but the red definitely stains your fingers.

215/150...it's about time

I finally paid some long overdue attention to my hair, getting it trimmed and colored. It is now all back to brown with no more three-toned nonsense going on.

221/149...firsthand account

I asked one of my students to write a testimony of what God did in his life during his time in the Harvesters class. I will be including a translated version of it in my next newsletter.

227/138...shining through

Being that it is the rainy season, I see a lot of the inside of my umbrella. As I was taking this picture (in the safety of my dry room) and saw the light on the other side, I had one of those "get ready, a lesson is coming, God wants to teach me something" moments. The umbrella guards me from the rain, but eventually the rain stops and I can stand in the sun again. I can't stay under the umbrella forever or I will miss out on the good stuff. God covers me from the rain...during the times when I am weak and my heart is hurt, He hides me in the shadow of His wings. But eventually, I have to step out from the shadows. Stepping out is risky. Life is challenging and sometimes it hurts. But not forever. And the warmth of sun...the warmth of God's love...makes is all worth it.

229/136...rambaldi?!

This is the design on the wall around the church. Often as I look at it, something inside of me involuntarily jumps with an odd mixture of emotions that I can't quite make out and yet, I must say, makes me feel a little embarrassed by. This design is eerily similar to the Rambaldi symbol from Alias. If you are not an Alias fan, well, then you are going to find me even more peculiar than you might have already thought up to this point. If you are, however, also an Alias fan, you probably have the same mix of 1. fear (thinking that Rambaldi...and thus Sloane and all his minions...have some sort of connection to this place), 2. worry (that one day the world is really going to end with a giant red ball of water), 3. excitement (that there is a chance that Vaughn will come save my life...wouldn't that be great!), and 4. foolish (because none of it is real). Commence laughing at me...now.

237/128...i don't like hell

I am not attempting to state the obvious or to say a "bad" word, but just wanting to point out a little funny irony that I find in the Khmer language. The word for spicy hot in Khmer is "hell"...so when people ask me about the food that I like and don't like, I have to tell them "Ahwt joel jet hell" which means I don't like spicy...I don't like hell.

239/126...gleekin' it up

I love Glee. I mean, REALLY love it! So when I found out that the one and only real movie theater in all of Cambodia was going to be playing the 3D Glee concert movie, I was elated. This is Eileen and I, in all our Gleek glory. I had to display a great deal of restraint to not bust out singing through pretty much the entire movie.

Wearing My "Hats" Well...

Every single time I have ever done a personality or giftings test, the results are always the same: administrative, critical thinker, etc. This probably comes as very little surprise to those that know me. It's like stating the very obvious...like saying the grass is green. Not much to debate. Sure there are different shades of green and I am not much for debating that. The fact is...the grass is green. And the fact is...I am wired to be administrative and a critical thinker.

In many ways, though, I let this become my identity rather than just a part of how I was made. I would naturally fall into doing administration wherever I was. I could organize projects and tasks in my sleep. My head was able to look at a task and figure out the best way to get it done. My friend, Chris, once told me that I was good at making plans. And if "Plan A" wasn't working, my "Plan B" was figuring out how to make "Plan A" still work. "Plan C" was then coming up with a different "Plan B." I laughed when he first said this to me, but only because I realized how true this was. It is not a bad thing...and I am the type of person that helps keeps things running with you work with lots of visionary, big picture leaders. I knew my role. I reveled in my role. I knew who I was.

A few years ago, I felt led to start working more with people and less with projects. Yes, there are still things to organize when it comes to working with people, but the difference is the hearts of the people are involved. My focus was not necessarily being changed and my administrative gifts were not being thrown out the window...that would have made Chris panic on more than one outreach ;-) No, it wasn't erasing every way that I was made...it was broadening that focus. I joked that projects were easier because they didn't talk back, they didn't hurt my feelings, they did what I created them to do and if not, there was usually a clear cut, easy-to-see way of fixing the problem. People...not so much. I was in for more of an adventure than I thought I signed up for and, truth be told, it was probably better that I didn't know at the time because I may not have agreed.

I began working with schools, outreaches and a lot more people-focused ministry. This doesn't mean that I was a super introvert that avoided people at all costs before, but I was the behind-the-scenes person to the core...and yet had a great passion for people. God is working on me...a lot. He has shown me so much of Himself through this type of ministry. He put this "hat" on my head with a lot of grace and directed my way. It was through staffing the schools and outreaches that I even came to Cambodia in the first place and God was able to fully awaken the love for this nation in my heart. I actually find it a little humorous (in my own sort of way) that my main ministry focus here is discipleship and leading teams...all "people" stuff. And I love it. Not as a pat to my back, but I would say that I possess fairly good interpersonal skills...and learning to utilize these in an inter-cultural setting is always interesting. Stretching. Challenging. Exciting. Fulfilling. I am humbled that God pours Himself through me and into the Harvester students, my English students, the small group, and hopefully anyone else that I meet. The most recent Harvesters group just completed their three month course and we had a small graduation ceremony this past Sunday.


Lately, I have been doing more and more administrative tasks, helping the pastor with organizing incoming outreach teams, writing church newsletters, doing communication with foreign contacts and, in general, wearing the "pastor's personal assistant" hat. In the last few days, after meetings and making calendars to organize things, there is something inside of me that is breathing a sigh of relief for being utilized again...and also groaning a little like a muscle that hasn't been used extensively in a while. But I love it!

Please pray for me as I work on maintaining the proper balance for the different ways that God is using me...the ways that God is continually developing me. And if anyone ever wants to come to Cambodia for an outreach, rest assured that I will be planning your time with the utmost care and skill...but making sure there will be fun in there too!! ;-)