Dad's big day!

Hello again! As most of you know, this past Sunday was Father's day!

I bet you can't wait to see how we celebrate that over here. :)

That's right! We dance around. Ok, to be honest, this was our church service. It was quite lively and festive, but this isn't the part with the Dads. That came later.

The hair was the best part!

They did a skit about fathers disciplining their sons and the sons not listening. This resulted in a hilariously acted-out drunken motorcycle crash. I'm not sure about the rest of the episode, as it was all in Khmer, but I am certain it had to do with respecting your father.

So, respect your pops or risk a moto accident! You've been warned. :)

Yes, that's me way over there. I look goofy, so I generally try to avoid the camera.

Then we all came up and were given gifts. Specifically I received a Krama (see the fashion post. No, I won't be using it as a hammock... at least not until someone shows me how.) and a bottle of soap (stop snickering at me. Everyone got soap!). They were nice gifts, and I was thankful for the prayers and the other dads who stood beside me... especially one older gentleman who must have been a grandfather. That was a real honor, as we've discussed already the issue with lifespans (what they had to survive, remember?).

What's that? My dad?

You sure ask a lot of pointed questions. My father passed away when I was about 13 from cancer. Don't get all feeling-bad on me though - Eric is a great role model as my Father in Law, and really, it helps me relate with half the people here.

You see, since coming, I have not ceased to hear of people whose fathers either got sick and died when they were young, or left the family behind. In fact, most of the people I've met or know have some sort of story to tell. If you want to pray about something, start there. Those wounds tend to run real deep, and they almost always stick around a long time.

That's not mentioning the dads that mistreat their kids or farm them out to bring in income for the family. Honestly, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to teach people how to live and take care of their own. 

Ok, enough heavy stuff - let's move on. To continue the festivities, we dads did what dads are supposed to do. We took our kids somewhere!

What? Yes, we have a water park. Close your mouth already. ;)

Yes, we went to the water park! It's a great way to beat the heat, as well as watch people who have never seen a water park before try to navigate the slides.

Aidan and his friends. No, there's no river monsters here.

Aidan was in this group, as this was his first-ever water-anything. First Wave Pool, twisty water slides, and water playhouse.

Considering it's Cambodia, the park was excellent. It had a large slide that people tried to ride in pairs of... 20. It also had the other things I mentioned.

Just... careful letting the water in your mouth. No bugs here, but the chemicals they use to clean it may not be exactly healthy, yeah?





Aidan even braved the big slide. He only got kicked in the head once! :)

See? Didn't expect this, did you?

After that, we wound up our day by going to see....

It was more fun than a barrel of... pigs...?!?

Strange pig carriers! What? Ok, not really, but we did go to the Airport.

What? You don't believe that one either? Here:

See? :)

No, I'm not kidding. We went to the Airport. Oh, you want to know why? That's easy! Why does anyone go there?

Yes, you have to pay airport parking to come here. It's only 2,000 riel though.

To eat dairy queen, of course! Why else?

I love the looks you give me. :)

This is presently the only dairy queen in town. It's a full-on true dairy queen. The menu is limited, but you won't find any trace of biscuit flavors, rice, or anything un-pronouncable here... just good, old fashioned, creamy goodness.





What? You wanted some cultural background on Father's day, and what it means to the people?

Well, to be honest, I didn't see much of that. Mother's day there were specials, and free meals at that hotel. For dads though, I think it's a holiday that's going to take some serious work to get implanted in people's minds. First things first though - train the dads to be good fathers and the children to listen, and the holiday will come naturally.

I got a scoopie on my card too!

As for me and my house, well... we'll keep doing our best, and loving each other. God, the Father, can handle the rest of it.

Till next time. Try not to get run over by any herds of cows, ok?