Day 10

July 6, 2005
Hi everyone!
So in yesterday's entry did I mention the gecko's in the hotel rooms in our new hotel? Well, despite the reptile roommates we had a pretty good night. The kids made friends with the other teen adoptees and the geckos didn't seem to matter anymore. This morning we got up and Jim and the kids went downstairs for breakfast in the dining room. They said there were eggs, pancakes, rice soup, and the usual Cambodian breakfast delicacies. No smoked fish and cheese for Brennan though. I was upstairs having a panic attack because I hid my money too well. But after a few tense moments I found it. Hidden in a sock in my suitcase. :-)

We left by shuttle bus to the headquarters for Tabitha Cambodia which is a place where locals are hired to do crafts which are then sold in their store and over the internet. Beautiful silk pieces... even bedspreads. Wish I had more room to take stuff home. We then had "orientation" with Jan, the Director. She is a strong willed Canadian woman who has been working with non-profits in Cambodia since 1992. She's in her 60's I would guess. She gave a mini-history of Cambodia (from her perspective.) She was rather harsh on the US involvement over the years, but perhaps that is fair. She feels that knowing Cambodian history is necessary to understand the Khmer people as we go out to do the housebuilding. For example, because the Khmer Rouge killed everyone with glasses (assuming only intellectuals and educated people would need glasses) people in Cambodia even today who need glasses are often reluctant to where them. During the Khmer Rouge regime all records were destroyed.... birth certificates, real estate documents, etc., etc., so home ownership has come very slowly, especially to those living in villages. She also laid down the law for our housebuilding. The villagers will not understand our generosity and our work, even though they are thrilled to have a home. Therefore, we are NOT allowed to hold babies, because the villagers will wonder what we want in payment and if we hold the babies they will assume we want the babies. We were told that there is to be no touching between the sexes in public. We were told not to share our western style lunch (bread, cheese, soda) with the villagers because chances are it will make them sick and they will believe that we have given them evil spirits and then refuse to move into the houses. She said that they have two houses right now that villagers refuse to live in because this happened. We SHOULD smile and laugh a lot as we build, interact with the children by singing songs and playing games like duck, duck, goose. We SHOULD stop and participate immediately in mandatory water breaks in order to avoid heat stroke. The lecture went on for an hour and a half and it was overwhelming. I think we all wondered what we had gotten ourselves into!

Jan also talked a lot about first coming to Cambodia in 1992 and how bad it was and how much of the country was still ruled by Khmer Rouge, etc., etc. I just sat there quietly thinking... hmmmm... we were here in 1991? Nobody told us this stuff!!

When we left Tabitha, Brennan & Kaley went with the other teens to the home of one of the Tabitha workers who lives in Cambodia. Later in the day they were going to a pool at a local school. It was sort of weird to see them go off with so many Khmer people, but I knew they were in good hands and needed to interact with the other kids. When we walked outside, there was dear Yoen waiting for us with the van. We had left it that if we had the afternoon free we would call him and he would come.... but there he was.

Jim was hoping to find a new camcorder battery charger to replace one we had burned out so this became our quest. Yoen took us to a couple of camera shops that wanted big bucks for one - $110 or $165. Given that they were selling the camera for around $350 that seemed crazy. So he took us to Central Market - which is like a big overwhelming flea market and lo and behold we found them. Jim bought two for $45. And they work! I bought a few more trinkets. Beggars followed us around as usual. It is so hard to just turn away. One boy followed me around with a fan that he waved over my head the whole time. He earned a small tip. :-) A couple of other boys followed Jim around and danced for him. They still didn't get anything. :-)

Battery search successful we stopped for lunch again at Java Cafe for good salads and bread. Yoen then took us to another little shop where handicapped Khmers sell their wares. Since we hadn't visited Wat Phnom, which is a park right in the middle of the town, we decided to make a stop. There is an elephant there that you can ride. Yes, it's the same elephant as in 1991! We didn't ride but we got lots of pictures and I got as close as I care to be to such a large beast. There were also many monkeys hanging around in the park being fed bits of fruit and nuts. They are strange looking creatures. Lots of families hanging around - lots of water fountains that seemed to be used for bathing by street people. I think the beggars here were the worst that we have experienced. It was very difficult. Lots of amputees who have lost limbs from the land mines... lots of hungry old women... lots of children.... but worst of all were the children carrying the babies on their backs. A couple of times I looked carefully to make sure that there weren't any other beggars in site an slipped a small note to the girls with the babies. It really is about as heartbreaking a sight that you could see.

The US is building a huge spanking new fancy embassy right next to this park. Even though the park has become a tough location full of homeless and beggars, this area is still prime real estate because it is smack in the middle of the city. I wondered why we, the US, would need to be dropping a ton of money clearly to build a large and opulent looking embassy building in this location. Derek pointed out that an optimist would say that this our way of telling the Cambodian people that we are very committed to them, while a pessimist would say that this is our way of saying we are big, powerful and rich so don't mess with us. I guess that's a question that we really can't answer. But it is rather interesting and will be quite the beautiful and well protected embassy when it is finished.

By the way.... I didn't mention that today was hot. Really hot. We may have sweated off about 10 pounds each. I know that I sweat absolute buckets. Yuck. Should make for an interesting housebuilding experience.

Yoen dropped us at the hotel an we said our goodbyes for now. He will pick us up once again when we return from the housebuilding. Jim and I hitched a ride with a fellow housebuilder to an Internet cafe and in moments we will head back to the hotel in a tuk tuk. In the rain. I can hardly wait.

The kids are running around the hotel with their new "friends." I'm glad they're having fun. Tomorrow morning we board the bus for the 2 hour ride to Sihanoukville on the coast. I'm not sure I'll find a connection there but I'll try. If you don't hear from us assume all is well.
Hope all is well with all of you. Hugs - Lisa & Crew