Three weeks in and my life here is starting to feel more familiar. I go to language class three days a week where I study Khmer with a 19 year old girl named Retsmee. I've loved getting to know her and she has been very patient with me and my insecurities in learning a new language. I met with the dorm leader this week and we talked about me doing some conversational English with the dorm girls and hopefully building in some class time on specific things they need help with. I'm excited about just getting to hang out with them to start with and hoping this will be a helpful avenue for me to better learn the language as I try to help them with my own. Here in Cambodia learning English really helps with job opportunities because you are able to communicate with locals and foreigners. I also found out this week that there is an anti-trafficking ministry here that helps people who have physical handicaps and have been emailing with that ministry hoping to volunteer with them some. Other than that I've been studying, hanging out with Carrie some at Daughters and doing a variety of other things to learn more about the culture and to get to know the team here. This next week I will leave for Thailand for a women's retreat which should be a pretty neat experience. As promised here are some pictures to get a better feel for life here...

The girls who work with Carrie (my roommate) at Daughters, an anti-trafficking NGO, are making these for the rooms at the White Linen Hotel. They made me this bouquet and taught me how to make the flowers. Mine didn't turn out nearly as well. If you'd like to learn more about Daughters you can go to their website at: http://daughtersofcambodia.org/about-us/what-we-do-why

Carrie and I went to dinner one night and excitedly ordered egg rolls... they brought us this omelet :)

This building is a memorial at one of the more well known Killing Field sites, Choeung Ek. It used to be an orchard but became a killing site for the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. 

One of many views on the way to our team meeting.

This is the street that goes in front of my apartment. 

The Russian Market is about a block from my apartment and a few of us took a stroll through it yesterday.

Something I haven't captured yet but is pretty fascinating is moto's driving with live chickens hanging on the back upside down. Pretty sure this is their fate.

        

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

It's Tuesday night here in Cambodia which means I've been here for only three days. In walking the streets, riding a tuk tuk, (the taxi system here) eating in a few restaurants and speaking with a few locals, I've wondered how I could describe Cambodia. It's a place filled with extremes of both poverty and places that feel like home. The locals here have been very kind and any attempt to speak their language (Khmer) has been received with a graciousness that is very humbling. I think the best way to portray Cambodia will be with pictures so I will try to post plenty of those. A lot of my time so far has been getting oriented and settled with the team and with Phnom Penh. I will update soon with more information about what I'll be doing while I am here, but for now here are some pictures of my first few days...

My first tuk tuk ride

The view from our front balcony

Setting up my room

My guide in the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Getting to hear her own story of what life was like during the Khmer Rouge is something I will hold preciously. 

Thanks to everyone for all of the encouragement and prayers. They mean the world to me. 

“May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.” 

-Trenton Lee Stewart

In route to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and I'm so grateful to be here at this point. I'm so thankful God has called me to work with young women in Cambodia and for the ways my family, friends and church have loved me as I've prepared to go. There have certainly been days when I'm more fearful or sad than thankful but not today and I am thankful for that too.