Christmas is here!

I'm sure most of you will be caught up in the joys of Christmas over the next week or two, so I won't be too hurt if you don't have time to read this post.  However, if you do have time here it goes!

On the 10th, which happened to be the last time I wrote, one of the service workers, Amanda, had birthday cruise on the river here in Phnom Penh.  After months of anticipating one of these river cruises it was exciting to finally get on one of the boats.  The boats are pretty nifty with seating area on the upper deck as well as the lower deck.  Most of our time was spent on the lower deck eating, talking and dancing.  Yes dancing on a Mennonite river cruise.  I'll admit there was not a lot of dancing on my part, some toe tapping, but not too much dancing.  You might be wondering why the dancing?  Well turns out Amanda's husband is in a bluegrass band and so we were treated to a couple hours of their music.  We got a lot of peculiar looks from the Cambodian's on the boat as well as other boats passing by.  All in all it was a fun evening, and a good chance to catch up with all the MCCer's.

The following Monday MCC had there Christmas party at the water park here in Phnom Penh.  The party was organized by our national staff here in Cambodia and it was the first chance for me to meet some of their extended families.  It involved a number of games including a scavenger hunt, Christmas songs both in English and Khmer and some baay(rice).  It was a little chilly in the morning so the plan was to swim in the afternoon, unfortunately I had to work in the afternoon so there was no swimming for me :(

On to this past weekend...

The weekend involved some sleeping in which does not happen very often and a number of different Christmas activities.  Friday a group of us went to a local restaurant to partake in some carol singing.  It was packed with a lot of kids running around so we didn't end up staying to long.  We escaped to the solitude of a nearby cafe, where we could actually hear ourselves think.  On Sunday the Khmer church that I go to had their Christmas program.  The whole family attended, which is the first time that has happened since I have been here!  It was full of singing, drama, dancing and as usual a very inspired sermon from the preacher (he does a great job of keeping your attention for the 30-45 minutes he speaks).  After the service we had a meal together and then it was back to the church for the afternoon youth program.  I stayed for a little bit of the youth program, but after being at the church for 4 hours, I was getting a little overwhelmed and decided to slip out the back at get some alone time at home.

In the evening I went to the international church and once again took part in singing a number of Christmas carols.  It was a little more satisfying this time around as I could see the words and actually hear myself singing.  We even sang one verse of Silent Night in German.  Talk about feeling like I was at home for a little bit!

Talking to people who have been here for more than a year, Christmas has become a lot more commercialized here in Phnom Penh.  When you drive at night you can see lights and Christmas trees, and lots of restaurants are playing Christmas music.  However, it still does not really feel like Christmas, and more than likely this weekend will pass without too much hoopla.  And that might be a blessing for me.  Christmas has always been a time to spend with family and close friends and this year it will be a new experience for me.  So Merry Christmas if I don't talk to you before Sunday and also a Happy New Year.

P.S.  Tip of the week - Teachers make sure you erase everything you write on the board before giving out a quiz 

No clever title to think of

I seem to get into these spurts were I am able to post multiple blogs in a very short window.  It has been just a short few minutes since my last post, but the actual time between these two posts is closer to 1 month.  So a quick update of some of the events of the last couple weeks.

• I was an honorary American for American Thanksgiving last month.  The MCC workers down in Prey Veng put together a dinner, which rivaled any Thanksgiving dinner I have ever had.  The fellowship and the food was great, and it was also really fun to get out of the city for the weekend and spend some time with my hosts, the Bades.  And I had my first hot shower in Cambodia while I was out there.  Funny that I had to go all the way out to the country for that!
• I have started going to a local International Church on Sunday evenings which has been a blessing so far.  It has been nice to hear God's word in my native tongue especially around this time of year.  
• I also recently started running at the Stadium here in Phnom Penh.  Now I have never fancied myself a morning person, but I have been running at 5:30 in the morning.  My body keeps asking me why, and my brain keeps answering 'they say its good for you'.
• There is about a month left in the semester so things are heating up and at the same time us teachers are already looking to next semester.  I have become more comfortable in front of my students, but there are still times where I fumble to get the right words out or explain the meanings correctly. 

That kinda sums up my life in the past few weeks.  When there are no holidays there are definitely less adventures to be spoken of.  I will add that the weather has been very pleasant recently.  It is hovering around  the mid to high 20's, but most days there is a breeze.  It also rained a couple times this past week, which it hadn't done in a number of weeks, so that has also helped to keep it cool as well.

Lastly I battled a cold all last week, and this week I have been up and down with flu like symptoms.  Wednesday I was in bed nearly all day, and I'll spare the details.  I just ask that you keep me in your prayers not only for the health reasons, but also for this holiday season.  It will be a new experience for me being away from family and friends, and I suspect that there will be some hard days along the way.

As always God Bless and thank you for the support!

And the remaining two days of my adventure...

On day 4 we were up early for some complementary breakfast and back onto the boat.  Most of the morning was spent cruising through the Delta and the floating markets.  It was quite a site to see and probably the highlight of the tour.  We also got a chance to walk through one of local markets which was neat, but really not much different than any market here in Phnom Penh.

After another long bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh we found some home cooking in the form of Pizza Hut.  Overall the pizza was pretty good, but the pasta was awful!  We spent the rest of the night at the market and Crazy Buffalo.  While relaxing outside the Crazy Buffalo we were treated to an impromptu Vietnamese rally.  The street in front of the Crazy Buffalo was completely shut down as hundreds if not thousands of mottos clogged the street.  Many people had flags and were chanting “Vietnam! Vietnam!”  This went on for a good 15-20 minutes.  During our trip, the Asian games were being played and on that specific night Vietnam had beaten Brunei 8-0.  Experiencing that was definitely another highlight.

Our final day included a trip to the Notre Dame church to take in Sunday Morning Mass.  The church was beautiful, maybe even a little too beautiful as half way through the service I began to feel a little light headed.  I knew things were not looking good when the sound around me started to fade out.  Now I have never fainted in my life and wasn't in mood to make that my first time so I made a somewhat labored dash for the door.  I found the nearest local vendor and quickly replenished some of the electrolytes that I was in need of.  Moral of the story don't skip breakfast, and go to a stuffy hot church.

And that there really wraps up the end of the trip.  Our bus was slightly delayed coming home Sunday, but that was about the only excitement to speak of.

Stay tuned for another update shortly!