Days 12 & 13: Skype date, wine @ VIP MiniMart, Meeting another Mutual Friend

My second weekend in Phnom Penh! This Saturday (9/25/2010) was a relaxful day. It started off with a Skype date with my mom and sister. Cambodia is 14 hours ahead of Bend, OR. So in order for me to talk to people back home it takes some planning (and praying) my internet will work. We talked for about an hour after losing the connection a minimum of 6 times.We worked around it. Thankfully Skype video chat is free! It is really cool to be able to see the people your are calling. It makes it a lot easier being so far away.

After the Skype date I did some laundry and made my way to Gloria Jean's Coffee Shop. I am fastly becoming a regular! So much for me giving up coffee while I am here! Nothing hits the spot like a small, iced, non-fat vanilla latte in 80-100* weather! Delicious!

About an hour later I walked back to the apartment. I go to the coffee shop to get away a bit, journal, enjoy the locals. I also try my freshly learned Khmer on the nice girls who work there. Only problem is when they respond I have no clue what they say! haha! Oh well! I at least want to make an effort to speak their language.

Our friend Melinda from Wat Opt orphanage came to visit this weekend. It was her first time in the city. We walked to the VIP Pho Mini Mart and shared a bottle of wine. Then the four of us went out to dinner at Flavors of India. Once again the food was soo good and we ate way too much! Thankfully we could walk a little bit of it off on the way home. Melinda has traveled to several places so it was cool to hear her share her experiences.

The AC in my room went out in the middle of night (again). Soon a cool, comfortable 75* quickly became an uncomfortable, unable to sleep 86*. Ugh!

Sunday (9/26/2010)
First thing today I told the house owner about the AC going out. It cannot be fixed until Monday so i will just have to sweat it out- literally! Thank god for cold showers and Gloria Jean's iced coffee and air conditioning!

My sister emailed me some great info on Singapore. The girls and I are thinking about taking a trip there if we have a long weekend where we can get away. Very exciting! I am going to try to do as much traveling as possible when I am here. On the list: Angkor Wat (of course), Singapore, Laos, and Vietnam. We will see how many of those I can conquer!

This afternoon I met up with my best friend Kellie's friend Hing Kim. Kellie met her over 4 years ago while she was at the riverside here in Phnom Penh. They have stayed in touch ever since. Kellie is such an awesome person. She helps support Hing Kim and her family. Hing Kim is now 19 years old and has a beautiful 4 month old baby girl Lele. Kellie wanted me to meet Hing Kim and see if there are any schools she is interested in that Kellie can help her get into when she comes here in January. Hing Kim was interested in an English school near her home by the riverside. She was also interested in becoming a hairdresser or tour guide. Her English is good and she is such a pretty girl that with the right education she could go far in the hospitality industry here. We chatted for about 2 hours. Hing Kim lives in a two bedroom home with 8 others- all family members. Since having Lele she hasn't able to work to help support the family or go to school. I am going to try to get some more information on schools that Kellie can help get Hing Kim into. My translator said she might be able to help me too. It was cool to meet another person here that knows someone back home! Great connections! Hing Kim said I can call her and she will show me more sights around the city. I will have to take her up on that!

Hing Kim, Lele, and I.

The day concluded with a dinner with my roommates, Melinda, and some mutual friends of Melinda. Two of the older kids from Wat Opot orphanage were in the city for a yoga retreat so they came to dinner also. It was fun to see them experience something outside of the village and orphanage. There was one boy 17 years old and one girl about 15 or 16 years old I think. Later that night Melinda told me that the boy lost both of his parents to AIDS. He has five brothers and one sister. Before HIV hit his parents, his family was quite well off. They had a house, car, and attended private school. Then when his parents died of AIDS, him and his brothers and sister were orphans. Their extended family has money and the means to take care of them, but has since disowned them. Another example of the stigma associated with AIDS. None of the kids have HIV, but still their extended family refuses to have anything to do with them. Extremely sad. So these kids know what it is like to have a family, parents, good schooling. And now they know how fast all of it can disappear. The boy's oldest brother is studying to be become a nurse because he knows it is a respectable profession and he wants to help his siblings someday. Very inspiring! I am learning so much and I am so grateful!