Heading outside the city.

Ok, so today, more out-and-about. This time, I want to show you our trip outside Phnom Penh/Tahkmau.

The village. Yes, there are people. No, they don't do 'YMCA'.

 This is the village of Roka Kapuha (this is phoenetic - good luck finding it on wiki or maps). As far as I can tell, this means... something. Yes, you're going to have to wait for me to get a translation (looks like maybe has to do with a tree). What? I'm a geek, but there's not exactly a 'what's-this-name-meanipidia.com'.

So, why is this place so important? Why, it's where I'll be working!

...sorta.

What? You thought I just did nothing but blog and take pictures all the time?

Harsh dude. Harsh. :)

Anyway, I will eventually be teaching out here. Now, by out here, I mean that Saang (S'ang District on wiki if you are curious to see how little there is about this place) is a decent drive down a 1 and 1/2 lane road from my place in Tahkmao. You pass a number of rice and lotus fields on the way, and if you are lucky, you pass traffic. If not, you get stuck behind a dump truck carrying 5 times the U.S. legal limits of weight, or a troop carrier converted to other uses.

Father's House. A place for those without a home.

My job will be to teach English to people. First, some of the staff of the ministry, and then to the local populace.

Am I intimidated? No, not at all! I'm an awesome teacher! Just ask Aidan...

Ok, yes, I admit, I am nervous about it. Who wouldn't be? Haul your family 10,000 miles away and try not to think about the possibility of failing at what you do. Hard, isn't it?

Mainly used for storage now. 

This place has grown a lot in the last decade. Eric and Ginny started off in the little building over on the right there, and then moved to the big building above.

There are several orphans living there. This is basically their home. They eat here, learn here, and go to church here. I had the chance to meet several of them, and I was impressed.

Why impressed? Because, they are happy, healthy, and prospering.

We also got to attend the Saturday program for the village children. This, too, was awesome.

Solomon teaching. Yes, the same guy whose name I misspelled 2 posts ago.

I got to see a good 50+ children dance, sing, and just enjoy being there. Aidan got to do a bit more than that. Everyone wanted to be his friend.

Center of attention. Every 7 year old's dream, yeah?

Truly, as a dad, it made me proud to see him take to things so well. Considering how in the States he was bullied a lot, it was also heartwarming to see not 1 child - not 1 - do anything other than want to be around him. No laughing at him. No throwing balls of paper. No making fun behind his back... just clean, innocent joy.

Sorry, did I shock you? Yes, such a thing really does exist. Don't give me that look....

Always remove shoes before entering a building!

After, I got a tour of the inside of Father's House. It was quite nice. The first noticeable thing was that it was cool in there. The second was all the Angry Birds stickers (very, very popular here. They even have shirts with made-up birds. The developers should come visit and get ideas!).

The children were playing snooker of some kind on a makeshift table. Aidan stayed out and made a passing go at it.

See what they did there?

All in all, it was a good visit. I'll share more in the next post about the difference this place has made in the lives of the kids.

Girl's side. Boys across the hall. My room was never this neat...

We ended the tour in the classroom. This is where I will be doing some computer teaching, and possibly English. They've managed to procure some Windows machines (what do you mean, no Apple? Feel free to donate. Also, don't forget those cookies you promised me!) and software, and the children are learning bit by bit (no pun intended).

Computer class. He's making notes on Excel.

This is all the tip of the iceberg. I'll go into detail on the things that go on here on the next post. For now, I thought you could use a bit of fresh air after that last post.












So far, Aidan hasn't been able to get at the blog. Batgecko rocks.

Ever dance with the gecko in the pale moonlight?