the images that wouldn’t leave

Has it really been 19 days since we left?

Every night in Cambodia, I would write down each day’s events in my little black book. here are the special moments, the images that wouldn’t leave.

the road. i’ve described the traffic conditions of Cambodia to many people (including my driving instructors haha!), but I doubt my descriptions do any justice. Singapore is so ordered, it is really hard to imagine a place where cars and motorcycles come from every direction. Left-hand drive vehicles drive alongside right-hand drive vehicles. There are motorcycles ferrying everything you would not expect on a little bike. In the beginning, I thought it was mighty scary to cross the road. But after 10 days, I’m proud to say that i’m a brave pedestrian with lots of faith. :D

the stars. the whole experience of not having to find a star was amazing, unlike in Singapore where half the handful of stars we see are probably satellites. at the village, the stars were just there, hanging from every part of the sky. beautiful. when i gaze at them, i always wonder how many light years it took for this starlight to reach my eyes. and the more i think about it, the more i realise i cannot comprehend or begin to understand so many things. we stood there for a minute, and suddenly someone shouted ’shooting star!’. ‘where??’ ‘THERE!’ ‘huhh where got?!’ i didn’t see it. but shooting stars or not, it was really lovely.

the lovely people from Bermuda.We met them on our second day at the MTI headquarters. Chatting with them over lunch and exchanging info about our countries (Bermuda is british colony! I didn’t know that), it hit me that my God is THE God of the universe. He knows the small island in the Pacific, He knows the little red dot 1degree north of the equator. think about it, God must know singlish which does not fit into my mental model of Him. (gosh why do I have a mental model of Him?!) Meeting the three Bermuda-ians reminded me that there are tons of people around the world striving to walk the narrow way too. the knowledge that I’m not alone is very comforting.

AMOK! a local speciality dish of fish and curry. the local food we had in Cambodia were really yummy. haha thinking about the food brings to mind

MANGOES! they were so so good. Ai taught me how to eat a mango without slicing it into three pieces. basically, you just tear the skin off and eat it up which made my hands all mango-ey. but hey, i ain’t complaining. <33

the origami. honestly i didn’t think that the origami activity would work out. I worried that the kids would be bored, that they will find it too hard, that they will find it too easy, that they would make it but refuse to colour it, that they will make it but refuse to wear it blahblah. but everything turned out great! we took a very nice pic of all the small kids wearing the origami hats they decorated! some of the older kindy kids even wanted to do the tougher ones, so i taught them how to do a heart and a sanpan (with alot of hand gestures because we couldn’t understand each other!) i remember the exact spot we sat at in the classroom,  it was a very special moment. (:

the gravel. haha i’m not too sure about the guys, but i reallyreallyreally enjoyed this activity. there was this patch of soil at the side of the kindergarten, which they wanted to cement because it wasn’t good for growing anything. that’s where we city kids came it! armed with a faulty wheelbarrow, 2 shovels and one hoe, we laid the whole strip of land with gravel. I’ve always wondered what CIP projects were like, when teams would build schools or libraries. now I know! (well, sort of). it was really fun haha.

the good samaritan. our team prepared two skits for the young people we were going to meet – the good samaritan and the prodigal son. initially i worried (yes, again) that we wouldn’t put up a good skit. firstly, none of us are actors. secondly, we were doing a skit without dialogue because Yap Ai thought of a brilliant way of presenting the skits that were easy to translate. at the end of the good samaritan skit, yap ai would ask the audience who the good neighbour was. and i admit, i was always afraid that they would give the ‘wrong’ answer. We presented the skit twice and both audiences got the ‘correct’ answer!! haha the second group were the kindergarten kids (ages 4-6), yet they were so enthusiastic about their answer. I remember the moment when the kids pointed to the good neighbour very vividly. they shouting in a language I did not know yet I knew they understood. I felt very happy then. haha thank You so much!

Eta. the beautiful kid of Sohn, who owns the land the kindergarten stands on. i miss her alot.

shopping. haha we played the shopping game which was so amusing. i was labelled the old cow twice!! haha but it was really interesting, though i doubt singaporeans will enjoy it very much. (i think i have very low expecations of singaporeans, which is quite sad)

little elvis. haha our dear Chee Huan who stays just next to the kindergarten. I will never forget him on his bicycle, riding in and out of the kindergarten. I would raise my right hand whenever I see him (like a Hitler greeting), and the cute boy will do the exact same action back. haha.

angkor wat. we took some many photos at that place, it’s hardly surprising i can remember so much of it. haha

Kim Leap. During the 6-hour trip to Siem Reap, we stopped at a place with many small stalls selling food. We got off the bus to stretch our legs, and many young people approached us with their various food items. One of them was Kim Leap, although I didn’t know her name then. She was selling pineapples, but I declined her offer because I was afraid for my stomach. On the way back from Siem Reap, we stopped at the same rest stop and I met Kim Leap again!! I saw her even before I got off the bus. haha i was so glad to meet this very pretty girl again,  bought pineapples from her this time. she knew a little english, so I asked her whether she went to school or not. she in turn asked me how old I was, where I came from. i wonder how she’s doing.

…

it was a good trip. even as my doxy supply is steadily decreasing, Cambodia becomes a more distant memory as each day passes. would we expect otherwise? yet at the same time, how can it disappear so quickly? post-trip issues are really tricky.