Oct 5th

Pagoda

Today we took some of the children to the pagoda. It’s a big Cambodian Holiday here right now (Pchum Ben "Ancestor's Day", a Cambodian religious holiday when many Cambodian Buddhists pay their respects to deceased relatives by cooking meals for monks and making offerings to the "ghost" of the deceased relatives) so they go to the temples to pray. We have about half the children left in the village while the others who have some sort of relative to visit has gone to do so…therefore it feels extra important to give the children left behind some extra care and loving right now.

So, the drive there was just over 1 ½ hours long, which wouldn’t have been so bad thinking in western terms where everyone would usually get their own seat on a comfortable bus. Well, we have THE Truck, the one that takes us to the market, the one that gives the children a ride to school, the one that does most everything around here…and this is what it looks like when you try to squeeze more than 40 people on it…

...and what your ass feels like after 1 ½ hour with a little boy sleeping in your lap, I won’t even mention.

And then there was the huge amount of food that the truck also had to carry

Food that more than just we got to enjoy

Time to climb about a 1000 steps to go to pray for good health and luck

A little to touch for the smallest ones which made for a good work out for me and a nice shiny forehead.

But well worth it as the view was spectacular

And it was great to go into the pagoda and have the children show me their traditions...they just loved it!

A really nice day spent with both the older and the younger kids that also offered some great sights and cultural knowledge

A nice break from yesterdays work on planning the schedule, getting the registers all in order, setting up for my art project and arranging the volunteer work.

Oh, and not to forget that I finished my day off with trying out chicken feet for dinner! Taste was good, but it's extremely chewy and hard to swallow.