Hmm... blogging

I used to blog some. Maybe I'll do it some more. Looking back at my last blog post makes me miss Cambodia. Christmas is soon. I'm glad that school's over for a little while... it's nice to have a break. Storm is 7-0. I don't know where I'm going to college.

C A M B O D I A 2009

B ES T trip EVER.

Where do I even start? I have so many stories, experiences, and things that I have learned, I don't even know where to begin! I'll start with some of the things that I learned I suppose...

One of the most encouraging things that I experienced was the joy of the Khmer (pronounced k-MI: which is weird, because it doesn't look like how it's spelled at all) youth and all the people in the church. We had the awesome pleasure to spend time and get to know many of the youth there (the youth is anyone who is not married and basically those between like 14 and 22 or so). Anyway, there were so many tasks that we did, that seemed quite hard to us, but the Khmer never ever complained and always smiled. They were all such a blessing to me because of their hard work and their joy while doing their seemingly strenuous work. Sombok was a testimony for our whole group. He is a Christian from a non-Chrisitian family who doesn't support the fact that he is a Christian. He works for the moringa business that the Strong's have and we got to help him in his work for a little bit.

Planting the trees, cutting the branches, getting the leaves off, and then grinding the leaves into powder can be pretty hard work - especially if you're Sombok and you have to do a lot of it by yourself. We got to work with him while doing this, and it was so cool to see him work. He never complained, never quit, and always smiled, laughed, and was ready to have fun while working. His Christianity was truly real and anyone could tell that Christ changed his life.

Another person who I had the pleasure of meeting and working with was Lon Choen. She is a woman, about 50 years old, infected with the HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure if her disease is still classified as HIV or AIDS, but just know that she has this horrible disease that will one day take her life. Her last husband left her, with eight kids to provide for (two of which are now married). Lon Choen works hard daily to provide for her family, despite her disease. She and her family live in a very small house, you could call it a shack. An example of how little she makes is this: she worked for two weeks planting rice, I believe, and she made $2.50... for two weeks. Some of us got to help her take the branches down off her moringa trees, because that is one of the ways she makes money. When she became a Christian, about three years ago, I think, she was the first to bring her offering to the church.

She was a huge testimony to me how Christ changes lives. Oh, and when we left, she wanted to pray for us. That was so amazing to me.

One of the days we were there, all of us were split up into small groups or individuals and we were each paired with one of the Khmer youth. A lot of the youth take English, so this was an opportunity for us to see how they lived, and for them to practice their English on us. We got to go hang out with them for the whole day. Anna and I were together with Ralin and Linda, two sisters. We spent time with them for the whole day, it was so cool to see how they lived. We got to help them make a meal, they showed us how to eat a bunch of cool fruit, and we just talked and learned about each other's lives. I got to eat coconut, which was pretty cool. The inside juice was really good, and I got to eat the white stuff inside - it was pretty good too, not as a good as some of the other fruit though. Dragon fruit is delicious, and so is lychee. And so are other fruits that I can't remember the names of! Oh, the bananas are really really good too.

We experienced all modes of transportation, including the lorry, tok-tok, trains, buses, ferries and taxis (in Hong Kong), planes obviously, riding in the bed of a truck... all sorts of transportation. Oh my goodness! The traffic there is crazy. Basically the bigger car wins, and traffic lights are only a suggestion. The mindset is... "if you cut me off, it's okay, because I'm going to cut you off too." Riding in the front is a scary thing, you come inches to side-scraping the guy next to you or rear-ending the guy in front of you. Phnom Penh was the worst! There are so many motos and cars that the road is jam packed, everyone going somewhere. I don't know if I'd be a very good driver in Cambodia.

Also, it takes a long time to get anywhere because (1 it's busy, and (2 half of the roads we traveled on in Battambang weren't paved with lots of bumps, so it took awhile driving on those roads.

We got to experience the life of a Cambodian first hand by digging a fence, and by planting rice. Boy, did we get showed up! The Cambodians are so good at what they do. We all were so slow digging those holes for the fence posts. What we did in 5 minutes, took them like 30 seconds. Also the 

rice planting... for me, I would put down a little plant, take a long time compared to the Khmer next to me, and then mine wouldn't even stand up straight! For them, they would quickly stick up the rice plant, and it would stand up straight.

The rice planting and fence post digging day brings me to another thing that I learned. Cambodians are really really good at what they do, and they don't need all the stuff that we have to be happy. My mindset before the trip and when we first got there was sorta narrow. It was easy for me to think that I could go in and teach them something and help them. But really, I think they taught me more. It was about going in and working side-by-side with the Khmer... not our group doing stuff FOR them. 

Well, that's not even everything. Ask me sometime, and I'll be happy to share with ya anything else! 

Rainy Friday Afternoon.

I was driving home after dropping off my sister a little while ago and it was pouring! 

Some of my thoughts...

Summer is so soon.

Summer = no more homework.

I have to take the dumb SAT tomorrow and I am in no way looking forward to it.

Basketball is fun and I really need to practice.

High School Hangout is tomorrow.

Panera has good food.

How come good and food don't rhyme?

I need to clean my room.

I have to wake up early tomorrow.

I have awesome friends.

the end.

Baha.

Maybe I will now learn some good comebacks.

April the Twenty-Six.

Today is Courtney's birthday! If you have not already told her, "Happy Birthday!" I really suggest that you do so. Don't you like it when people wish you a happy birthday on your birthday? I certainly do. 

Today is also Sunday. I really love Sundays. I didn't get to stay in church though because it was my Sunday to help with the babies in nursery. It was pretty fun, and all of them were very mellow, contently walking around, sitting, or playing with toys. However, at the end, one of them started crying, and that spurred a couple more to cry also. So when the parents came in, there were 3 crying children... oops. Poor Evie started to cry when I was holding her because she was ready to leave and see her dad. She stopped crying when he came in though. 

Today I went to youth group - which was awesome. Are we really following Jesus? Are we a witness - someone who can say Jesus is risen and someone who believes He has authority?

"give us picture of Your face
 show us the measure of Your grace
 reveal the love of the Father
 put within us tenderness
 release from us all selfishness
 we'll consider them better
 we are Yours
 give us hearts of servants"

Lobsters.

I had a lobster for dinner tonight and it was really good. My grandparents brought lobsters with them from MA for us to eat... they brought them on the plane with them, live. 

Today started out with math, and then went into cleaning, and then YRAP. I cleaned a bunch today.

We played Eddy Ball today at DB&OS and I did a horrible job of splitting up teams so there was one team with 5 extra people... oops. 

My ankle's getting better thankfully! It's sorta still colorful, but I should be able to play soon. 

the end.

Thoughts from Monday.

Today was a pretty good day, even though it's not over yet.

We dissected a fetal pig today in anatomy class. It was a little gross, but it was actually really cool. It was neat to see all the organs and such. Courtney and I named our pig Prunella because she was a girl and she was pruny. (I don't think pruny is a word. Oh well.) We get to see her next week too... hopefully she doesn't smell. I wonder how our teacher is going to keep all the pigs from smelling putrid. Ew that is gross to think about. I guess she will figure it out.

So I have this paper to write about the Khmer Rouge, but I'm having a little trouble getting motivated to write it. I guess I am just ready for summer. SUMMER IS SO SOON. Or maybe I am distracted. I think I am distracted... distracted by the eagerness for summer. There's only like 3 or so weeks left of classes though! Yahooooooo! :)

Well, if I want to get a good grade on this paper I suppose I should go write it.

au revoir.

Not again!

I seem to hurt my ankle a lot... maybe I should stop doing that.

Today I was helping at Next Level and I came down on my ankle. It rolled and I heard a popping sound. It sorta hurts like mess and it's sorta swollen, but I think it's just sprained. It's like the 100th time that I've hurt one of my ankles. Actually, that's not really true, but it seems like it. I'm such a dummy... I should have worn my ankle braces. 

Well, that is all I have to say.

the end.

Just a Thursday.

I think that besides Saturday and Sunday, Thursday might just be my favorite day of the week.

Why you ask? Well, I have a few reasons....

1) Wednesday is the day before and I am happy to have Wednesday behind me. I don't really like Wednesdays all that much since I have monotonous classes allll day. I mean, my all classes are not always boring, but collectively they are pretty much boring. I don't know if that sentence makes sense or not, but whatever.

2) I play with kids on Thursdays, and it's pretty awesome.

3) I have nothing to turn in for school until Monday, so I am usually never stressed because of school on Thursdays.

Those are the reasons that I like Thursdays quite a lot.

I went to Dick's today and bought a jacket... it's pretty sweet.

If you're reading this and you think that it is dumb, then don't read it. 

the end.

Psalm 141

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the doors of my lips.

Psalm 141:3

How many times a day do I forget that verse? Way too many. It's so easy to run my mouth and saying anything that comes to mind. The words I say might not necessarily be considered "gossip" per say, but they might not be uplifting to the ears that hear them.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29

Father, let me say only what is pleasing to you.

To blog or not to blog?

Here I am, not wanting to do homework. I think I will write a blog instead. Doesn't that sound like a lot more fun? :)

I really should finish my history homework, but I really have no desire to do so. Actually what I really want to do is go outside and play some basketball... maybe I'll do that in a little while.

I miss Storm practices and games a lot. I miss seeing my friends everyday and just plain playing basketball - I really love it.

Ugh, I suppose I should go do that homework...

peaceout.