Left Behind (Bangkok, Thailand... Again)

Well, I'm here again in Bangkok, now for the 3rd time in 4 months. I'll probably be back about 2 or 3 more times. I still haven't even really seen all the sights here because I'm waiting for Jeremy (and hopefully my friend Jenny) to get here and see it with me. So for the time being I'm just hanging out on Khao San Road, this trendy backpacker area. I'm sick of it. Luckily I'm catching a bus at 6pm to work my way down to Singapore. This will take me about 2 days, ouch, 2 days of sitting in a bus won't be very fun. At least when I was in India, I had a somewhat comfortable train where I could sleep and move aroud. I just got to Bangkok last night, that one was a 16 hour bus ride, but thankfully the route taken wasn't the bumpy one. I'm also glad that I'm not staying in Bangkok for more than 24hrs. Get me outta here!!

My Aching Heart

As you probably all know, I've just spent the last 18 or so days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. What you don't know, nor can I really explain to you is how much I'm going to miss the kids at the Lighthouse Orphanage. Holy shit, I cannot believe how badly those kids stole my heart in such a short period of time. So, not only did I leave behind 26 adorable children, but I left a piece of my heart.

My last day there went like this. It was a Sunday so none of the kids were at school, it was nice to be able to hang out with all of them. It was just a regular day of playing, painting and resting. We played a Cambodian style Duck Duck Goose and this interesting game of Dodge Ball where the losing team has to sing a song as the other team approaches and gives the losing team a high five. I guess this a big hit during Cambodian New Year with the adults as well. I also performed a dance for the kids as they sang, I tried to imitate their "Apsara Traditional Dance" which ended up with them laughing really hard on the ground.

I let my driver go home early because we also had a mini bus there to take us home. Soon after he left I realized that I needed him to translate the fact that I won't be back tomorrow, or the next day or the next day. So at the end of the day, I began to say goodbye. I told Chumrun first and he said "See you tomorrow". I said, "No Tomorrow". Earlier that day were reciting the months of the year and said them from Feb to Aug. He soon understood as his face dropped. I then took him to some of the younger boys and Chumrun explained for me. I then learned how to see 6 months in Khmer so instead of saying see you tomorrow I was able to say "See you Pram Mouy Sabbadah". As I picked up Nee and hugged him I felt tears coming to my eyes. I stopped myself from crying, I have to be stronger than the kids for their sake. I hugged Chumrun and then saw tears in his eyes, we looked into each others eyes and at that moment, it didn't matter that we couldn't speak the same language, we knew exaclty what we wanted each other to know. I then went on to hug all the other kids one by one, very tightly. Then again and again. From the man that lives their, SreiLyda's husband, I shook his hand and he took it and in Cambodian style gave me the most heartfelt thank-you I've ever had. That too almost made me cry.

Our Mini Bus went missing, as he drove some volunteers home earlier and never returned. So the 4 of us volunteers had to find a couple moto taxis off the street. The kids all walked with us down the street and clutched us with all their strength. This was the sweetest farewell I could have ever asked for. Once we got to the street and were able to communicate to the drivers where we wanted to go, we hugged again and again and again. Each time saying "See you pram mouy sabbadah". I'm glad they understood that I'm coming back. Then as we were about to go, our driver came!

Since then, I've thought and thought the kids and looked at their pictures. I will truly miss them.

The Best Money I Ever Spent

You're probably all wondering what I did with the money that was given to me. First off I need to thank:

Norma Estrella
Dave Estrella
Tammy Gurr
Dawn Burden
Andie Marshall
Jane Gillespie
Dillan Koropatrick
Pearl ______ (?)

In total I was able to raise $488.50 CDN which equals $368 USD. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!

A few days ago, Chumrun, I've spoken of him before, was able to form a sentance, (wow, that's an accomplishment all in itself right there) and he said "I like..... go to.... English school." I was like "What did you say? You want to go to English school?, hold on, let me grab Thom so he can translate for us." I grabbed our faithful Moto driver and soon found out that for a child to take English classes costs $2/month. However, if the child is from a poor family (that's an understatment) then its only $1/month.

Thou shall be done! The next day I walked over to the school with Chumrun and Aroon to gather some information. Little did I realize that the school is also where all the kids go to for regular Cambodian schooling.(If you're wondering why Chumrun and Aroon weren't at school, its because they go early in the morning and the other half go in the afternoon). Next thing I knew So Saroup and Sokohn were running up to me and hugging me. I looked into some of the classrooms and saw a lot of the kids waving at me. I guess it must have been exciting for them to see me at their school. Well, to be honest it was pretty cool to see them at school in the classrooms and it made me feel very special to have two of them run up to me. Anyway, turns out that there's no english speaking teachers/administrators there during the day and I had to return at 5pm.

So at 4:45pm, I grab Chumrun and Aroon again to see if they want to walk with me again. They both go into my pocket and grab my watch and look at it. Chumrun gives me this smile like he has something to say but doesn't speak. So 3/4's of the way there, he finally says out of the blue, "Five..... twenty.... twenty.....five." I reply, "What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me that we're too early, we need to be at the school at 5:25?". I pull out my watch again and he says again with more confidence "Five, twenty-five!". Okay, so we're a little early no big deal, we get to the school at 4:55 and wait and watch the children congregate in the play area. Finally, after the kids have pulled out my watch to see what time it is like 3 or 4 times, I say "Okay fine, lets go back and come back later." So we walk to the orphanage again, this time with the rest of the kids running and catching up behind us.

Five minutes after we get there, Socheat says "I go to school". There are already 6 kids that attend the English school. I was going to join them so I could speak to the teacher, next thing I know everybody is talking amongst themselves and the 6 kids turns into 12. The previous day, we spoke to the lady (Sreilyda) who lives there and she basically knew what was going on. There was obviously some kind of miscommunication though because she sent the 6 other kids with me, but I just wanted to get some info. Anyway, back at the school, I finally get to talk to the teacher and she explains a few things to me. The problem is, the school isn't very organized, much like most Asian institutes. I didn't really get all my answers. However, in the end, all 12 of the kids joined the class, with the intention that the following day all 28 kids would join the class. I walked back all by myself. This was a tremendous feeling. I can only imagine what it would be like for a parent who's raised a child for 5 years and brings them to their first day of kindergarten. I'm sure my feelings at that moment don't really compare to that of a parent, but I gotta tell you it was triumphant for me.

So, the next day I didn't have a good english speaking translator at the orphanage, but a guy who was able to get by. I spoke with SreiLyda and tried to explain to her how I thought the schooling process would work and my concerns about them eating dinner and going dancing on some nights. We decided that on Monday, everybody would start to take the English classes, including her! The thing is, there was a huge miscommunication and it turns out that instead of all the kids going to the school each day, a teacher will come to them! I guess they set it all up for the teacher to come twice a day in order to teach the kids that aren't at regular public school at that time. Unfortunatley, I left one day too early to actually see and meet the teacher. I'm still waiting for an email to tell me how it went. So to all you donors out there, please be content in knowing that you're paying for 6 months of education that will help these children get ahead. Thank-you! When I return to Cambodia in August I've still got left over money, this will most likely go towards another 6 months of english lessons! On top of all this, your money has paid for...

New Clothes

Yup, for $50 USD, we were able to go to a market and buy a new outfit for each child. Man, this was fun! We went to this market that was like a maze and eventually found some good clothes for the kids. I was able to practise my Khmer that the kids have taught me and bargain a little, well bargain a lot. We got some really cute dresses and skirts, shorts, pants, white button-up shirst for their school uniforms, t-shirts, blouses, panties, briefs, boxers and bras for the older girls.

The next day we had all the kids sit down with boys to the right and girls to the left. We started with the underwear and had all the girls laughing at the boys and vice-versa. One by one, we handed out each piece of clothing and one by one, each child was ever so grateful. It was amazing at how well behaved they were. We thought that they'd be grabbing and fighting over items, but it was actually quite tame. They were also very considerate of each other, saying that this shirt would be better for so and so or what about some pants for so and so.

We were also expecting them to put their clothes on right away and all be running around in new outfits. Instead what they did was, as we handed out one piece, they'd all take it and roll it up and stuff it into their pocket or under their shirt. It was something that was theirs and no one could take it away. After it was all done, a few of them tried on a few articles and then put their old clothes on again. By the end of it, all of them had gone to their plastic bag that they have hidden or hung somewhere within the house. They all tucked it away. Within the next few days we all began to see the new clothes coming out and they were all slowly wearing new items, quite proudly. Once again, I thank-you (the donors) for helping me do this.