God bless the children

I am down to my last week in Cambodia, so next time you all hear from me, I will be back in the States (barring anything strange happening, anyway). I can hardly believe it; the time here has passed so quickly. It will be so hard to leave the boat, the Khmer family I have found in the crew (it feels like I have many older brothers who all look out for me and make sure I am ok), especially knowing that when I come back, whenever it is, things will be different. There will also certainly be some reverse culture shock. I am quite enjoying the simplicity of living on the boat, the only having what I brought, eating whatever Linh, the cook, makes, and sitting out at night on the back deck of the boat, staring at the stars, thinking, and talking to whoever comes out. There is something about a river that fills the soul.

The team left last Saturday, so things were back to normal on the ship, except that Dr. Rick is now here so we have a dentist and a physician on the ship, and triage involves a few more people. I've taken to calling people downstairs when Piseth is busy, and those waiting on the deck are very entertained at my bad Khmer. If I check people in, which involves asking name and age, those who are waiting are also very good at yelling the Khmer word for name at the patient if they give me the blank look with which I am so familiar (since I give it all the time). Still, I am getting more comfortable using the Khmer I know, which is exciting for me, and am finally doing what Hai told me to a few weeks ago, which is just speak it and get over the bad pronunciation, the need to be perfect, and the fear. That is thanks in large part too to a bunch of kids.

The last village we were at had a whole bunch of kids, my little friends as the captain calls them. They knew a bit of English, and so would stand outside the boat and shout hello to me as long as I would shout it back at them. We had a jump rope, so Saturday I went out with Piseth and Dr. Rick, and Sunday with Hai to play. The kids also love this game that involves someone hopping on one foot and trying to tag others....I don't think I ever tagged anyone when it was my turn, but I was pretty entertaining to watch, I think. The kids were a constant source of joy all week. I think every day except maybe Monday I went out to play with them after clinic ended. They were all so incredibly beautiful. On Thursday, I was with some of the crew at someone's house eating fish paste with some other strange things (not my favorite dish that I've had here, but better than it sounds), and the children ran back and forth from the house, where some older girls were waiting, to me, asking questions and dashing back with my answers. The questions ranged from what is your name and where are you from to do you love me? They were also fascinated by my camera, and as a consequence, I have about 200 pictures of little kids. It was so hard to leave them Friday. They all kissed my cheeks and wrapped their arms around me, and stood to wave until the ship was out of sight. I wonder what will be come of them, if they will remember us.

I will have taken something like 1000 pictures by the time I come home, and so I will certainly spend some of the week I'm home posting some for you all to see. It's impossible to capture anything close to what it's like here though, much in the same way there are no words to really tell you what I'm seeing here and how it is affecting me, what it means. To leave you with something fun though, the crew has realized that I will try almost anything and have made it their goal to get me to try as much as possible. Thus far, I've had sugar cane juice, fish paste, many different fruits and dishes, rice things, something in flour and tumeric, and I almost tasted rat (but Linh made me nervous--he tells me it's good...for people like me who like it). They also make soup with whole fish (including heads...which I don't eat), and entire chickens. I had a chicken foot once, and I looked at Hai and asked what do you do with it? and he told me to put the whole thing in my mouth and eat it, then laughed. Oh, the barang who knows nothing about how to eat Khmer (though I am learning!).

I will write again when I come home. Stay well, God bless, love you all! Thanks for listening :)