Cambodia questions.

I've had some questions come my way about what life looks like for me in Cambodia at this point in time. I figured I'd field them here instead of in multiple e-mails :)

The first question is, do I have to cook?

The answer is, no :) Although Josh and I have a wild evening in planned tonight after work to make nachos (we splurged and bought $7 cheese today...a pricey indulgence here) and watch Seinfeld. So some food preparation will be involved there. But when we're here in the office we eat breakfast on our own (we also splurged and bought some milk and cereal today) and then the office provides lunch and dinner on the weekdays.

I have yet to try some of the more exciting foods (tarantula, duck egg, and the ever popular "dog.") I'm sure that day will soon come.

The weather is pretty hot and humid (right around 85-90 degrees). I don't really mind it (so far). I'd rather be hot than cold :) It's coming up on the rainy season (haven't seen a whole lot of it while I've been here) and my favorite part of this is the thunder and lightning :)

The people here in the office are great. The majority of the staff are Cambodian and then there's Ted and Sou, Josh, Emily (whose love of Starbucks in the morning has warmed my heart and filled my senses), Tabea (who is leaving in a week, sadly), and Chris (who can speak roughly 782 languages). They have morning devotions here in the office and church services each week are all in Khmer (this Sunday will be my first experience with that).

Speaking of Khmer, I went to my first language lesson today. Many people know that I had made some terribly impressive Khmer flash cards while at home back in February. I will be selling these on the internet. Learning the language is one of my highest priorities at this point in time. I can say "hello." I can say "this is a pen." And I can say "eyeglasses."

And all of this after only 1 lesson.

Oh, and today I learned (courtesy of my husband) that 1,000 "riel" is equal to a quarter.

You're welcome.

I am loving Phnom Penh so far. I had a profound moment of gratefulness today while driving with Josh into town to try to find a table for our room (unsuccessful), both for this new season, and for my new husband who I absolutely adore. I couldn't imagine anyone I'd rather share this journey with.

There are a great deal of "Western" conveniences I didn't anticipate here. Iced coffee, italian restaurants, a book store, a donut shop, Pringles, office supply stores (glorious).

Though we didn't find a table today, we did purchase a rolling office chair for me. Now we both have one in our room (for races and nerf basketball tournaments and such). Our room is great and also includes our first baby, a small Olympia guitar that we purchased to take out with teams and do worship. We're excited for this part :)

We take our first team out this coming Monday. They'll come in from Malaysia and we'll spend a few days painting an orphanage home not terribly far from Phnom Penh. We'll also get the chance to travel through Siem Reap for a day or two. It will be my first time there and I'm very much looking forward to seeing Angkor Wat. I also have yet to see the genocide museum here in Phnom Penh (the teams go there as well). Josh told me it was a school which was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia has quite the tragic history. I am grateful to get the chance to understand where these people have come from, and also to play even the smallest part in experiencing where they are headed and the hope that is slowly unfolding.

More to come as life here continues...

Comments

Anna said…
hello mrs. ferguson! yay, i get to be the first to comment on how excited i am for you and you're awesome adventure! i've heard from tim that the spiders make for a good snack if you can't find any pringles:)
miss you and continue to pray for you guys!
love anna

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