One Week Back

So today marks one week since I've been back in the U.S.  It's been a crazy week!  In some ways I feel like I have been here for a long time already.  Most likely because so much has happened in the last week.  We rang in the New Year and I have gotten together with so many friends and family to catch!  It has been great to see everyone.

Sometimes I feel like everything here is just as how I left it.  Everyone & everything looks the same for the most part.  My house is still the same with the same room & I have all the same amenities that I had when I left.  But there is something different.  I think that I have changed.  And now some of you who have already seen me might say that I'm the same, and that's probably true.  I'm still the same Jeremy that is loud and has a loud laugh and everything, but I know that I'm a different person.  I continue to change even as I come back into American culture.  It's difficult at times being back.  As those of you who have maybe traveled to other countries, especially developing nations, may know, coming back to America can be very "weird".  Our mentality of some everyday things can be drastically different.

I think I have an overall different understanding of the word necessity.  I look at the things I thought I needed before, and realized that I've actually lived without them and did just fine.  With my work in Cambodia, I learned more than I'd really like to share in a public blog.  I have a broader view of what the world is like.  Some things good and some things not.  But also a realization that in many ways, we can be just the same here in America.  Not at all to say that I dislike America for any reason.  This country is such a privilege to live in.  I think I might see that more now.  But at the same time, I see our habits and our culture and have a new perspective on things.

I know this is quite vague and maybe even confusing, but I don't think everything is meant to be said somewhere so public.  And quite frankly, I'm still learning from the things I experienced in Cambodia.  I might be six months down the road and still learning.

So I just wanted to let you all know that I'm safe and sound, and that overall my trip was an absolute success on so many different levels.  Thank you all for your support in so many different ways!  I will continue to periodically update you all on my projects that I am now doing back home, and anything else I feel need to be shared.  So stay tuned!

The things I look forward to....

I do look forward to some things at home.  Here are some of them....

- FAMILY
- FRIENDS
- hot showers
- Taco Bell
- No cockroaches (or at least not a lot of them)
- a normal front door
- less humidity/heat
- being charged prices that everyone gets and not according to my skin color
- so many opportunities
- driving a car (although probably in about a week I'll be wanting the moto back)
- good hearty chicken that does not have tiny bones you have to pick out of everything

Just a few of the random things I missed when I wasn't home.  Some more than others.  Some just little quirky things.  That's all!

The End... but not quite!

So I've said many goodbyes today.  Rode my moto for the last time, had my last lunch with the staff, walked through the market for the last time and actually tried to take in the horrid smell just so that I might remember it.  It's my last day here and I find myself mentally logging all of my "lasts" just as I had logged all of my "firsts" when I had just arrived. 

It's been a much more difficult day than I had expected.  I woke up and went to run some errands near the water front and found myself actually getting teary eyed as I rode through the insane traffic and weaved and dodged tuk tuks and Lexus SUVs for the last time.  My life has been changed by this place!  It's left a mark on me that will never really go away, and I like it that way.  This place and these people have taught me things that I never would have learned from home.  As hard as it was to be away from home at times, the experience has branded me for a lifetime.

However my trip is not over.  Because there are things waiting for me to do when I come home, I feel as if maybe the second part of my job is just beginning.  God has opened countless opportunities for me back home with the work I have done here.

As I am excited to see my family & my friends, I will miss this place dearly.  In spite of it sounding extremely cliche, I leave a piece of me here and have made a special place for Cambodia in my heart.  Thank you for how you have changed me and will continue to change me!  Goodbye for now & I will see you soon!

A Moto Adventure w/ Aimee & Jeremy

So Aimee and I went out on our moto the other day and made a video of it!  I'll have to say, this might be my best video yet!

A Sunset Boat Ride

So every month, Chab Dai does a spiritual retreat with the staff.  They take time to have quite times by themselves as well as do devotions with each other, and use it as just a time to slow down and really focus on the purpose of our work here in Cambodia.  Last week we had one of these spiritual retreats.  I was actually not able to attend the first part of the retreat because I was working with another organization that day, but I met up with them later in the evening.

We had rented a boat/ferry to go on the Mekong river at Sunset.  We also used this as a time to do staff photos, which of course I was in charge of.  It was wonderful to be out there in the breeze at sunset to finish off a very hectic day.  We ate some great Khmer food together and really just sat and "dar laang" (to hang out).  I was so greatful for that time!

Once the food was over, they started the karaoke.  Now you have to understand Khmer people and their Karaoke.  If there is one thing that the people here know how to do, is blast music as loud as they possibly can and at the highest frequencies as possible.  For some reason, Karaoke is one of the things they really like to do & they just let their whole guard down and belt it out.  It was hilarious to see some of the people from the office that I would consider to be "more reserved" walk right up, grab the mike and sing away.  I seriously couldn't stop laughing for like a good 10 minutes, with tears rolling down my face.  It was great.  The day was great and it was an awesome time to sit and talk with the staff, not about work but just about whatever.

Here are a few pictures from our trip on the boat!

 

 

 

 

Helen & I

(She's the director of Chab Dai if you didn't already know... and kind of my boss... I guess not kind of)

 

The Chab Dai Staff

A Foreign Christmas

So as Christmas has been approaching, the least I can say is that it really didn't feel like Christmas.  I have never been hot and sweaty and as tan as I am now around Christmas.  I haven't seen many decorations and those I have seen have only been a pathetic rendition of what is thought to be done in the west.  With the business of my last weeks here, I have been so pre-occupied with other things, that Christmas definitely took a back burner.  But today was Christmas Eve, and I had become determined to make it feel like a Christmas I somewhat found familiar.

The day started by teaching the Chab Dai staff in a Photography Workshop I had been asked to put together on just how to take better pictures as well as using Child Protection Policies that are put in place with our organization.  Pretty fun stuff ;)  We then actually had a Christmas party with the staff with some great Khmer food from one of the restaurants I love (thanks Aimee).  Complete with "I heart Cambodia" T-Shirts as gifts and some Christmas Hymns.

After the party I left and ran a few errands around town, including picking up the custom dress shoes I had made (such a steal you have no idea), then went home to take a nape while watching the Grinch who stole Christmas.

I then pulled out the roomates ironing board, pressed my slacks and my collared shirt, tied my tie (rolled up my sleeves due to the heat) and boarded my moto.  It was quite the site to be dressed in shirt and tie with a helmet on riding the moto, but no one seemed to take notice, as even the business men here do the same during the days.  I went with Aimee and a few others to a service at the Anglican church.  It was so nice to sing Christmas songs and just have a church service with scripture reading and fellowship. 

Then after stopping by Aimee's, then my own house to change, we headed over to some friend's Dan & Amanda, for a fun evening.  We had some snacks and sweets and drinks and basically just hung out.  We also had a little gift exchange with some pretty sweet stuff from the market.

Overall the night turned out great.  I had my apprehensions of feeling comfortable in the setting and everything, but it actually was great to hang out with other people tonight and enjoy Christmas together.  They actually all stayed the night there, but I opted to come home and sleep in my own bed, but I will be going back in the morning for more festivities.  There will definitely be some pictures coming soon.

While being in a different country than my own this Christmas, a lot has come to mind.  They typically do not do much for Christmas here.  In fact many of the Chab Dai staff even thought they were going to be working on Friday.  It's so interesting how cultures can differ so much.  Without all of the big craziness of the Holiday this year, I start to see the things that really matter.

A friend Lisa shared this small piece that she had written in her Christmas newsletter with our house group last week that I thought was really great, and wanted to pass it on, as it has somewhat become something that I have been thinking as well.

I imagine a nation groaning in anticipation for someone or something to set them free from the
great despair, oppression, and hopelessness that fill everyday life. Despite the greed and
corruption of the business and governmental leaders of the nation, the CITY is where the seat of
power is and thus, the place of greatest influence. This (as we imagine it) is where the change
should begin and the point where the rescuer should intervene. I imagine a young woman,
shunned by her community because of the shame of pregnancy before marriage… the community
doesn’t ask questions- have you been violated? What were the circumstances that led to your
situation? Do you need help?- rather, because she is poor, because she is a woman, because this
pregnancy was likely due to her own “fault,” she is regarded as insignificant. What they do not
know is that miraculously, unbelievably, the child she is carrying is GOD. And when He is born, it
is not in the CITY, it is not where He can have the most power and influence. Rather, He is born
in a rural province. The first announcement of His birth is to the neighboring rice farmers, who
barely eek out a living despite laboring day and night in their fields, because they too are
regarded as worthless to the rich and powerful of the nation. Because they had nothing to gain,
their response was simply worship- for Emmanuel, God with us, had come.
 
In some ways, I feel like I “get it” for the first time- Cambodia in all of its groanings and pain has
helped me to see the richness and wonder of what God has done for us. From my favorite
Christmas hymn: Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its
worth; a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.

Just as so many other things do now, Christmas took a different meaning for me this year.  It has been so simple, yet has been just as meaningful as so many other years, if not more.  As we sung the hymn "What Child is This", in church to this, the last verse really caught my attention.  So I want to leave you with that.  When I read the words, they hold so much power of the most incredible gift that I can't even fathom.

"So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh
Come, peasant, king, to own him;
The King of kings salvation brings, 
Let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise a song on high
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy for Christ is born,
The babe, the son of Mary."

I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and cherishes what's been given to them, from the time with friends and family you enjoy, and the King of Kings we celebrate!  Merry Christmas!

Video Blog #9 - A Little Song for You

Aimee learned a song in Khmer so she taught it to me.  We sing it in this video.  Basically it talks about being clean, staying out of the dirt, taking showers & so on.  Sorry that the subtitles didn't work out.