A weekend of discovery...

I'm leaving this email to be described by photos... the stories behind them I will hint at, but will need to be told in person.

On Friday, we had a group of 4 Italian people come by the orphanage and visit.  They were very sweet and we chatted for a bit.  When they left, I was regretting not trying to make plans to meet up before they left on Sunday. They seemed incredibly fun, although the couple (Marco and Lucia) were the only 2 who could speak English (Marco typically spoke for them all).

Friday night was really fun with Merel & Laura... we each shared a lot about ourselves and our stories, and compared our lives back home.  It definitely assured me through talking about it, that although our country has some things to figure out, I am proud to be from the USA.  We had delicious food, walked around the 'touristy' places which we had all avoided until then, and then parted ways.  It was so fun, and made me excited for the first time I will see all my girl friends back home!

Well, after my girls dinner (which was SO FUN!), I came back to the hotel only to find the Italians hanging on the patio outside of our hotel.  Ha! How awesome?!!  It turned out we were all going to do sunrise at the temples, and they asked if I wanted to hang with them for the day.  As much as I enjoy time to myself, I gladly accepted, especially knowing sunrise was going to be somewhat emotional.

The day was an adventure from the start, and it quickly felt like I had known them for a long time.  

We watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the most well known of the temples), visited 2 of the other main temples, took a drive out to one of the less visited 'floating villages', ate lunch at a floating restaurant, took a swim in the little pool at the hotel, then went out to watch football (soccer), eat pizza and drink wine (they had already checked out all the Italian places and this one was the best pizza in town!).

sunrise over Angkor Wat...

Bayon & Angkor Thom...

my favorite, Ta prohm...
(my camera battery died, but Marco promised to send more of their pics other than this one!)

We spent nearly 20 hours together nonstop, and I laughed out loud constantly in between being mesmerized by how beautiful their language is.  Although I didn't understand anything when they spoke, and it was hard for 3 of the 4 to understand me when I spoke, it was exactly what I needed.  God blessed me with them for sure, and we were all sad to say goodnight (they left super early the next day).

Sunday morning was hard (per previous blog post), so the temples alone that day was very fitting.  I went around to 5 other smaller temples, hiked to watch the sunset, all in a light drizzle of rain that kept it cool, kept some of the crowds away, and kept me feeling refreshed.

Pre Rup temple...

Preah Khan temple

being silly, and yes of course I walked through this way...

sunset on Bekeng mountain...

It is now the start of my last week here, and I am trying to soak in every last minute with the kids.  Yesterday was a great start, with us playing lots of games, including a simplified rendition of bingo, that proved to be AMAZING.  Winners got candy which made it extra popular, and the little ones took naps after (of course they slept on the desks...why wouldn't they?!)

We also had a large group come in to visit from Australia, and the kids were so excited they decided to put on a show of Aspara dancing.  They get lessons every morning and afternoon (before I get there and after I leave) so it was the first time for me to see them dance as well.  So fun!!



Oh, and I got caught in the rain on my bike ride home (looking at the monkeys again!), and when I say rain I mean down pour!  Probably the biggest storm I've ever been in with no shelter other than trees.  Thankfully, a guy nearby in the same position had a 'dry bag' that I quickly swapped my computer and camera into.  Whew, that could have been bad!  After figuring out it wasn't going to stop, we biked back into town through the rest of the storm, and it was actually quite invigorating.

So strange to think I am leaving in less than a week! As Leng said today (photo below is him looking over his catfish pond), it's a shame I am going, as I was just starting to really look Cambodian. Ha!