Its a long road to civilization

So, my trip to Cambodia has been nothing but amazing experience after another. I am struggling with finding balance between poverty and beauty here. By this I mean that to me, everything is so beautiful, simple, free. When we choose to vacation, we choose simple stress free places with no connection to the outside world No cell phones, sometimes no TV (unless you're my husband who needs to have it on 24/7). We choose to stay in huts in Bali, or Tahiti or Fiji. But in Cambodia, its not a choice for the majority of the population. They live like this because its the only option. We visited a village yesterday where we have 10 girls in the community who are on our Room to Grow scholarship and reality set in when we entered the village. It actually set in much before that as it took about 1 hour off the beaten path to even get to the fishing village where these girls lived. We had to take a bus about 45 minutes from Siem Reap. Then from there, we had to all pile into the back of a truck to be transported another 45 minutes to the village. In the rainy season, this area is flooded so we would have had to go by bus, then truck, then by boat to get there. So these girls on scholarship with Room to Read can't even live with their families at all while in school because it is impossible to commute every day by bicycle, their only mode of transportation to even get to school. They have a very generous teacher who boards them until they graduate. The teacher lives about 30 minutes from their secondary school so that they CAN ride their bicycle to class every day. They rarely see their family in the village but are so thankful to be given the opportunity to be in school. Their parents also spoke to us about why it's important for them as well. They know that they are not educated and would like to see more for their children and also hopefully more of a future for their community. Now I know why Room to Read is doing amazing work, so people like these girls and these communities can have access to education so that they can better their own lives and bring back their knowledge to better their community. All of the three girls we visited in their village said that they wanted to be teachers when they graduate from secondary school, because they feel so lucky to have the opportunity to study and learn. All of them said thank you to us, but really, all of us on the trek feel the same way, that those girls are an inspiration to us all that they have to sacrifice so much and go to such lengths to go to school. I wanted to hug each one of them and cry. They are my inspiration!




Kristie Wagner , Debra Lee Loke and Jen Pyle, Thank you so much for being amazing educators and teaching your kids about social entrepreneurship and Room to Read! I have heard how much your kids have raised so far selling wristbands and saving quarters. I know that by the end of the school year 4 more communities will have access to 4 new libraries and 4000 books because of you! Perhaps this village in Cambodia will be one of the beneficiaries. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting this amazing organization and changing the lives of so many children!

Below is a clip of the fishing village we visited yesterday. It may make you cry.... and if it doesn't, I certainly have footage that will.....

Pictures from our visits to the Room to Read Projects!

More Beijing Pictures!

I realized I had one more set of pictures from my last couple of days in Beijing. These were of the art district and going out my last night in town. We didn't quite make it to the World of Susie Wong, but I'll save that for my next trip there with Booty.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=xzebhg9.6k8vwzfd&x=0&y=k084js&localeid=en_US

Cambodia-Room to Read Site Visit

Hi All,

I am sorry I havent had much time to write while Cambodia. Internet has been hard to come by, even at the nicest hotels, and the connection is slow, so pictures were taking forever. Now we are at Siem Reap at a much nicer hotel. Pictures are still slow to upload, but I have some good stuff to share. For now, I thought I would upload a cool video of the kids from the school we visited today. Room to Read put in a library for the primary school and we got to interact with the kids as we toured the school! The whole experience is so overwhelming and amazing! I can't wait to share my stories!

Beijing Part 3- Pictures!

I everyone. Its really hard to upload pictures from Cambodia because the internet is so slow but here are the last of my pictures from Beijing! Enjoy and hopefully I'll have some up from Cambodia soon!

Miss you all!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=xzebhg9.5dml2rkp&x=0&y=-t383jr&localeid=en_US

The Arrival

I really can’t believe I am in Cambodia right now. It really is crazy, and I love it. But before I go into how much I love Cambodia, I really want to tell my Booty Butt that I love him so so so much and I wish so badly that he was here sharing this amazing life changing experience with me. I feel like I will forever look at the world differently after this trip and hope to convey this experience as much as possible through my blogging.

So, I arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital last night (Saturday night at around 10:30pm) Room to Read hired a driver to pick me up from the small airport so even through my flight was delayed and I haven’t had any communication the global office in a few weeks, I was just hoping someone would be their with a sign displaying my name. I was in luck. The San Antonio sign was present, and off I went into someone’s car and off to the Phnom Penh Hotel, a very upscale hotel to Cambodia standards and even to US standards. My roommate, Stephanie was waiting for me in the lobby so after dropping my stuff off at the room, we went down to the lounge and got to know each other better. I couldn’t have been paired up with a better person. Stephanie has traveled all over Southeast Asia and was in Cambodia 8 years ago. It was nice to be with someone who has been here before and can help guide me through it!

This morning we woke up early and decided to do the Lonely Planet’s walking tour of Phnom Penh. We took a tuk tuk (a taxi-like vehicle that entails a motor scooter pulling a carriage) to the starting point, Wat Phonm. From there we walked through the streets of downtown Phnom Penh to the central market, through the French colonial district, by the national library, by all of the embassies, etc. We saw a cycling race just end and awards being given to the first, second and third place finishers. We saw whole families of 5 squish onto 1 motorscooter and ride off into the traffic of Phnom Penh. We walked through the central market and saw local fish and fruit being sold to local people. We also saw monks in their orange robes walking around town or hitching a ride on the back of the motorscooters. There were elephant rides in the parks, and children asking us if they could shine our shoes (I was wearing flip flops btw), and mothers breastfeeding their babies in front of us asking for spare change. I felt like in the 5 hours we explored the city, we got a good taste of the flavor of the Phnom Penh. And I am so glad we got to see if on our feet and in the mix.

May is the beginning of monsoon season in Cambodia. So in addition to the temperature being high 80’s and about 200% humidity (worse than Florida or any place I have been for that matter), it also has crazy rain and thunderstorms in the early and late afternoons. They are usually actually refreshing since the weather is so hot. And trust me when I say that it is impossible to look cute here. I tried. There really just isn’t any point. It is so hot and you just soak through your clothes that you constantly feel dirty and sticky. RAW. I love it. And, now I know I can sleep in a few minutes longer in the mornings. Booty, you know that makes me happy. Just one more snooze!

The people of Cambodia are extremely beautiful, especially the children. I haven’t seen cuter children anywhere in the world, including the US. Much of this country is corrupt and crime is high, but when walking around the city in daylight, I see the beauty of the country beyond the undeniable poverty. It is a place that is trying to get back on its feet after many years of civil war and deterioration of its political trustworthiness and success. It is a country who needs help to build back up their education system so that children have the ability to know or grow to know their fullest potential, to move forward in life, and make a mark somewhere in the world. We stopped half way through our walk when we ran across a tea lounge that serves refreshments. I ordered a banana milkshake and Steph (my roomie) order coconut juice. And off we continued on our walking journey. Streets are chaotic around here although everyone drives fairly slow. I think its just different that no one follows the line going down the middle of the street. I was getting very hot so I bought a hat in a cute little French artict who has a store/booth in the foreigner section of the city.

Okay, I am exhausted..more later... I am falling asleep and it's an early morning tomorrow!

My Biggest Fear

My biggest fear about this trip was being alone in the airport and not being able to figure out where to go. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of the language barriers or signage being in only 1 language. For some reason, it terrified me. So getting to China was fairly easy but somehow, on my way to Cambodia, I messed up and my biggest fear became a reality!

So, our planes had just landed in Guangzhou, China to pick up some other passengers, let some off, and then continue onto Phnom Penh, Cambodia, however, instead of letting the passengers who are continuing onto Phnom Penh stay on the plane, everyone must exit. So, after realizing I was the last on the plane before the flight attendants kicked me off, I quickly gathered my belongings and made my way off the plane. I followed the people in front of me, since I didn’t really know what else to do but still didn’t quite understand what the heck was going on. The flight attendants spoke poor English I couldn’t understand and “Everyone else was doing it”, so I jumped on this shuttle bus and when it stopped, jumped off and followed the passengers into this building…. Okay, I am definitely in the wrong spot. I followed the passengers whose final destination was Guangzhou and found myself in the baggage claim and immigration area. Oops. So, at this point, I am in a random city in China where no one speaks English, and I am supposed to figure out how the heck to get back to my plane that will probably be leaving at anytime now. OMG! So, I get mild anxiety just thinking about it. and make my way to the nearest help desk, speak with 4 people before I find someone who can finally speak English, then get pointed to another help desk, walk over there, more freaking out, the second person at this counter can speak English and can understand that I messed up. Embarassed but relieved, this airport security dude comes to get me and escorts me through all of the checkpoints I could have avoided had I gone the right way the first time. I go through customs, through carry on check, through this and through that while this security guy is laughing at me for sure. I am sure this happens ALL the Time by people like me…. Or so I am letting myself believe so I don’t feel so darn stupid! I arrive to the gate just in time to re-board the flight. Phew. I made it. Barely. And everything is okay. And now I can laugh at this wonderful memory I just added to my life.