It has been a crazy week and too hard to find the time to post. Between dealing with the flood waters and having our last week of instruction we have been pouring ourselves into bed at night completely exhausted.
Our quiet little home here has been filled with so many new sights, sounds and smells! The 12 girls from Rehabs house (4 of them are our students) became our roommates on Tuesday (including the house mom and cook). It is like a cross between living in a sorority house and girls boarding school and all of us here have embraced it and love it. It was a cool way to spend our last week and see their lives a little more up close and personal. The joyful sounds from their rooms and in our halls has been so refreshing and fun. They are such wonderful, sweet young ladies of God and AIM is doing a great job with them.
The only part I personally have not gotten used to is the smell from the kitchen. It permeates the house, halls, bathrooms...I think the smell will be in my nostrils for weeks after I return. :) Everyone here has such a servants heart and just go about their duties with grace. The cook gets up and starts cooking in the wee hours of the morning for the girls' breakfast. It usually consists of some type of soup that is put over rice. I tried it yesterday (to the delight of the girls and the cook) and really enjoyed it. I believe it was some kind of lemongrass soup and was quite tasty. As far as lunch goes, we share that meal with our students. It serves as a bonding time and it is wonderful to sit and visit with them. They love to watch us try the different things and are always piling them onto our bowls. Now that we all live at our place we sit on a mat on the floor of the downstairs. I can get down okay but the getting back up part is hard! They may be watching me eat but let me tell you, I love to watch them. They love their food and eat it with great passion. They make this dip that is some sort of fish paste and use all kinds of strange veggies to scoop it up with. Different types of leaves, long green beans, types of cucumber and cabbage...they love it, me...not so much! I had no idea it was fish and the first time I popped it in my mouth I wanted to spit it out so fast but wouldn't dare since all eyes were on me. I smiled politely and made the "yum" sound which pleased them greatly. Got that bite down and hid the rest they had put in my bowl with a leaf of some sort. I have avoided that dish since!! Most of it is quite good though and always accompanied by rice (thank goodness). Some other tastes I have tried (or passed on) is pork gut (I am afraid I got that on into my mouth before I knew what it was again...when will I learn!?!?), chicken organs, fish soup, chicken feet, and somethings I was afraid to ask about. All in all it has been incredible to witness and taste some of the things they consider a normal daily meal. I give thanks and praise when given it for I know there are plenty of people here not as lucky.
Little red hot chilis are in EVERYTHING!!! They are great in small portions but if one sneaks up on you in some food you certainly know it. They slice it up in their soy sauce, and put it in just about every dish, even their morning soup. My favorite thing they use it in is this stuff they make to put on green mangos. It is made with sugar, coarse salt and the chili peppers. They dip the sliced mango into it and it is delicious...hotter than heck but delicious. The trick is to get it past your lips without touching them and straight into your mouth. Once it is there it is great!
Okay, we have graduation today so I had better go get ready. I will certainly post again tonight or tomorrow to fill you in on how it goes. They girls are taking us somewhere afterwards as a surprise...can't wait for their big day. I am soooooo proud of them all and can't wait to honor them for their hard work and commitment.
Sorry I do not have time to include pics on this post but I have plenty that I want to share with you to give you a little taste of the sights of Cambodia...stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment