in cambodia. for real!

i am in cambodia! in phnom penh, the capital. it's winter here, so during the day it's only in the 80s. it promises to be even warmer before the three weeks i'm spending here will be up. especially after temps in the 20s and 30s being the norm for the past few weeks or longer. but, for now it's nice to wear sandals and not worry about bringing a coat anywhere. i can't describe all that i have seen and experienced, even though i only arrived late last night. one major blessing is that the whole time i am here, my friend and colleague, shelly, is here. we communicate with each other pretty well, and are both artists and introverts. so it is a gift to be here together, experiencing this together! here are a few snapshots in words. (for the next few weeks, both shelly and i will be sharing our thoughts here. one possible way to differentiate between us might be the use of caps... :)

- one of the teammates lives in a very poor part of town, on the north edge. it turns out that most of the houses are built over the small lake. as we walked through his house and were able to rest a bit, we looked down and could see water through the floorboards. there are open windows and nice breezes, although the lake isn't the cleanest water i've seen...

- traffic flows pretty well. lots of motos (like small motorcycles), a few cars, some motos pulling small covered wagons that will seat 4-6 people easily, and a few bicycles and pedestrians. if it's hard to make a left turn, one might pull into oncoming traffic and slowly work one's way onto right into the correct side of the street. there are lights, but apparently they are fairly new and also somewhat optional. but .. no accidents so far. people seem pretty adept at avoiding others and knowing exactly how big their vehicle is.

- Dave Everitt's thoughtful words to ponder, spoken over breakfast: "Compelled is when my heart can't say no." (This refers to his compelling sense of call to the rural people of Cambodia.)

- Here's something else we've learned. Having a long nose and light skin makes you beautiful here. Who knew. Strange how different people develop ideals of beauty. From our end, (speaking for Abi too), we have seen many BEAUTIFUL people. Kind smiles, warm big brown eyes. Curious and gracious.

- squatty potties. woo hoo!!

Cheers and God's peace!
Abigail and Shelly