Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity...

As you all have probably guessed by now, a lot goes on here. Why haven't I blogged more? Well, it's mainly due to a lack of pictures. At today's event, however, I made sure to get plenty!

Pre-party warm-up

What did we do? Well, in simple terms, we had a party!

You see, here in Cambodia, we just recently celebrated (I use that word loosely) Pchum Ben. This is a 15 day festival wherein the gates of hell are supposedly opened temporarily to allow spirits to return. People then 'celebrate' by giving food to monks, and feeding the dead.

Chinese Burial Mound (Small lake not originally included). They tried to celebrate here, but left when it became obvious they'd have to swim.

Let me recap that for you. In America, we celebrate holidays by giving people a day off, usually with pay. Sometimes we give gifts, or just give thanks. In Cambodia, the holidays take. They take food and money from people that shouldn't have to be without, and give to the dead, or to people who say you need to honor them to not wind up being one of the hellish spirits that return (Wikipedia the word Merit and this holiday if you need more info).

I don't have words to describe how I feel about this, so I will let my stand-in express this non-verbally:

"...really?!?"

So, that brings us to today. Now that the 'holiday' is over, we decided to throw a party of our own. One that celebrates life, and the next generation.

Cambodians will fight for their right to party!

How did we do this? Well, their holiday took the food from their mouths, and gave it to the ah... "living challenged". We did the opposite! We put food in their mouths!

A whole lotta 'dogs.

Serving up a storm!

Yes, we fed them giant hot dogs (the buns were basically small loaves of bread), snacks (including lobster flavor, which is a real treat here... ew.), and a drink. We brought all the kids to the upper room and sat them down. Solomon said some things to them and played a little game, and then they prayed over the food.

He prayed, then they repeated if they wanted.

How many children came to our lil shin dig? Over 200.

In a word, loud. :)

After everyone was fed and given juice of some kind (Aidan skipped the juice - he wasn't a fan of "preserved wax gourd" flavor), they adjourned, allowing the kids to wander off and play around on their trip home.

Happy party goer!

All in all, it was a successful party. The kids had fun, and so did we.

See the smile?

So, what did I learn from all this? Well, I learned that:

1. Hot dogs are universal.

2. I need to take more pictures - I miss writing these posts!

3. I've been here 6 months and still get funny looks.

4. ...and lastly, that the best way to come against a culture that throws away its meager earnings, is to show them a better way by giving without asking for anything in return, and not demanding recognition or honor (and teaching them too, but that's for another post).

We also learned it's not fun to be sat on. Well, at least Rhiannon did...

Until next time!