Updates

• On Saturday, we went to Choeng Ek, a killing field. During the genocide, 1975-1979, people were shipped from a torturing/interrogating facility in Phnom Penh to Choeng Ek for execution. There are 129 mass graves there and over 10,000 corpses, including children. Today, it is the sight of a monument and museum to remember the dead. During the genocide 1 in 7 Khmers were executed plus deaths related to overwork, starvation, and harsh conditions. The whole place had this heavy feel about it. You can read about human atrocities and ponder their meaning, but when you are standing there surrounded by ghosts, it takes your breath away. I wondered, is it better to remember and memorial or forget and move on? How does a society recover from genocide? Why would anyone go on vacation to visit the killing fields? This trip was very moving and shocking. Above is a picture of peace cranes in the monument.
• On Sunday we were invited to the Khmer mennonite church. Of course, we couldn't understand anything but we were welcomed with a lot of love. Everywhere we go here, we are honored guests just because of our skin color and the work we came to do.
• I feel like I haven't written a lot about my fellow SALTers, but they are all great. Liz is from California, but has lived in Seattle since she graduated from SPU in 2009. She will be working at an after school drop in center for high schoolers. LynAnne is from the Fresno area and went to school in Kansas. She will be working doing design for a fair trade organization. Michael is from Illinois and went to school in Indiana. He's the overall tech guy for MCC and its partners. I've been loving getting to know everyone. We are totally different but bound up together in this adventure. I think we're going to make a very good, balanced team. Good for laughing, relaxing, getting to just act American for awhile, and supporting each other.
• On Sunday night, we had a dance party on the roof of the MCC office. It was awesome. Best night in Cambodia so far for sure.
• Tomorrow I move in with my host family. I still don't start working until the 13th, but my routine will change starting tomorrow. I'm excited and super nervous.
• As for Khmer lessons, our vocabulary grows everyday. It will be easier to pick it up in our host families too. So fun fact about Cambodia. Greeting: bow with hand together at chest level. And you say chumriep sua. "What is your name" is neyak chmuah a-vie-e? "My name is" is kinoum chmuah Nicole. Khmer doesn't have verb conjugations and the structure is relatively similar to English

Bye for now!

Pictures

This first picture is of the group of friends I made at orientation in PA. We called ourselves a cleeque. The story behind this is that one guy, Tyler, (on the front right) thought that it was a Canadian thing to say cleeque for clique. It turned out it was a Tyler thing. In this picture there are people going to Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Kenya.

This picture is from the royal palace. The royal palace is a huge complex. The architecture is very Khmer, but the layout is very French. The French controlled Cambodia for about 90 years, ending in the 1950s.

While in the throne building of the royal palace, we got caught in a monsoon. This is the Cambodia SALT team (Michael, me, Liz, LynAnne). Also, while waiting out the rain, a random Chinese tourist took a picture of us. I'm guessing they were thinking "look white people in Cambodia" or something like that. lol

We also visited the national museum. There were a ton of statues from the Angkor period when Cambodians ruled most of SE Asia. That period dated from 800 AD ish until 1800 AD ish. I think.

Arrival in Phnom Penh

Highlights in Phnom Penh thus far:

• After 35 hours of travel, I arrived in Phnom Penh on Saturday morning here. (There is a 14 hour difference ahead. As in it was Saturday morning here and Friday night at home) Everything travel and visa wise went extremely smoothly.
• The first day consisted of the MCC staff trying to keep us awake. There are quite a few staff members- 2 country reps- a couple, 1 couple doing other work, 2 reps for SE Asia as a whole- a couple, plus several Cambodian staff. There are also 2 couples in Pre Veng, a city about 2 hours away. We went on a tour of the city by Tuk Tuk (a carriage pulled by a moto (motorcycle))
• Yesterday, we checked out the mall and one of the markets.
• At Wat Phnom, the original buddhist temple in Phnom Penh, we saw monkeys and an elephant.
• So far the four of us SALTers have been out on our own twice. Breakfast this morning and a mid day snack. We're figuring it out slowly but surely.
• I've had delicious Khmer (Cambodian), Chinese, Indian/Bangladeshi, and Western food.
• Today we started our Khmer lessons. Wow. Intense. But I've made some flash cards and its only day one. Its going to take some serious work though!
• Monsoons are awesome. The sky just opens up all of a sudden and it gets cool. The weather has been hot, but then in the evening it rains and everything cools off. The hottest season is March/April. But right now the weather is pretty great (meaning that it gets down to like 78!)
• I'm having a good time overall. There have been a few overwhelming moments, but it is definitely a take it step by step, day by day sort of thing. Who would have thought I would be here doing this? Its really pretty amazing.

More Orienting

In just 8 hours I will be on a plane to LA then Hong Kong then Cambodia. Wow. I feel ready and excited and at peace. A huge group of us heading to Southeast Asia will be traveling together all the way to Hong Kong. It should be a party.

But before that happens, let me give all of you a few more fun facts about orientation:

• In addition to the e-coli outbreak, I experienced another first this week. A tornado warning. Yeah. On Tuesday night at dinner a staff member stood up and calmly told us to all evacuate to the basement. (By the way, this was a first for SALT orientation. Tornadoes are not common here) We were only down there for about 20 minutes, but the whole thing was hilarious. But, the story gets better.
• On Wednesday morning at 5:30 AM, my roommate and I woke up to a horrible siren. I mean a 2 minute long, bombs are about to be dropped on us, harbinger of death siren. We open our eyes at the same time, look at each other, and say "that's a tornado siren." Our response is to go to the bathroom, put on clothes, and head outside. I was expecting a crowd of 100 panicking people. But instead, we find 3 other people, staring at the sky. No one else woke up. We are a very prepared group of 5- we've got clothes on, water bottles, and in a few cases, our passports. We go online to see if there is a tornado warning and there isn't. Then, after about 20 minutes we read in a notebook that those sirens mean that the volunteer fire department is being called to duty. The town is so small the firefighters sleep at home. At breakfast, people didn't even believe us! But, if there had been a tornado, we totally would have saved everyones lives! It was pretty hilarious overall.
• And yes, afterwards I realized that if tornado sirens existed, they would have gone off the night before. What can I say? I'm good in emergency situations : )
• On the last night, we had an international talent show. I was part of an act doing America's national and only original dance- Cotton-eyed Joe or in other words, line dancing. Gotta love it. But it was pretty great joining with dancers from Africa, South America, and the Middle East.

This whole week has been amazing. A good learning experience. The people here are so beautiful. From every continent, sharing their love for Jesus and their desire to serve humanity. Its truly been a privilege. We are living proof that mankind can live together in peace.

Orientation

Hi friends,

Highlights from the first half of orientation in Akron, PA:

• Awesome facility, wonderful people from 30 countries, private bathrooms, great roommate who is going to Cambodia with me (Liz)
• Discovering a new trading card game called Bohnanza. You literally trade bean crops. How awesome is that?
• Making friends with a ton of Canadians. Relearning Canadian geography. In Saskatchewan they call hoodies "bunny hugs." Watching youtube clips of silly Canadian children's shows like Mr. Dressup (who has a tickle trunk full of costumes, don't ask lol)
• Learning more about the Mennonite Central Committee. Their main focuses are peacebuilding, relief, and development. Also, they seem to be better at long term work than most organizations. They stay places long after the world has forgotten about the war or the hurricane or the earthquake that caused the problems to begin with. The staff are all wonderful and interesting. Two of them have lived long term in Cambodia.
• There are 4 people from Cambodia here. I am living with one of their families, the girl, Sodaleap. Its been great to talk to her about her sisters. (I will be living with 3 sisters and one brother in law of hers, ranging in age from 34 to 17) Also, all of the Cambodians have heard of Peace Bridges, the place I will be working, and think it's great. So far I've learned how to say how are you? I am fine. and Where is the bathroom? in Khmer. Well, it's a start!
• The three other people who are going to Cambodia (Liz, Lynanne, and Michael) all seem awesome. We definitely have a lot in common. I've also befriended two girls going to Laos, a guy going to Vietnam, and several people going to Indonesia. We will all be on the same flights to LA and then Hong Kong. And we already have potential plans to go to Hanoi, Vietnam in October for the 1,000 year anniversary of Vietnam's existence.

So basically I love Akron, MCC, Canadians, Cambodians, and traveling thus far. : )

Leaving in 3 days

Hello all,
Today is Sunday and I'm leaving for Pennslyvania and orientation on Wednesday morning. It has come up so fast! I fly from Seattle to Detroit and then onto PA. There will be a couple of SALTers on my flight I think, including a girl I know from Whitworth and one of the people headed to Cambodia with me.
I will miss everyone and this whole leaving/saying goodbye experience is completely surreal. I will write as soon as I get a chance to tell everyone about orientation.

Miss you and love you all!