day 2 and 3 or 6/29/12 - /30/12

Day 2 or 6/29/12 Friday was a day full of hard work and laughter. The day started out with us arriving in the tuk-tuk to the orphanage and the kids ran out to us and are normal greetings. Then all of us went inside on the stage and druze in some coloring books. Srey May and I colored angry birds because in Cambodia angry bits are the new cool thing. Then Mallory and I went to the volleyball court to play volley ball with the boys and they are so so good. We played vollybally for and hour or more.

Then we went to the garden to help out. Two kids stayed and played with the orphans. In the garden we had to upturn the soil and make a bed for plants to be planted. We all got special tools to re-surface the soil. We worked on the garden for 2 hours and it was sooooo hot we were all sweating so much. Although it was hot there was a final result. All of the hard work had paid off. That made everyone so happy.

Then we were all coloring and someone found a crayons gun and they started shooting the crayons at everyone and then there was a crayon war. We were all running around laughing and having such a good time. For me that was the best part of the day. But then all of the crayons were gone because they had fall through the cracks in the floor. So we all had to crawl under and pick up all of the crayons. That was the end of the crayon war. While we were having the crayon two of the girls had to clean the bathrooms because they needed to be cleaned. Once we finished picking up all of the crayons and the two girls finished both of the bathrooms we had a limbo game going on. For most of the time the little kids would walk through they did not even have to duck they just walked right on through. Even with their advantage Camryn won. It looked like she was laying down and walking at the same time. Some of the kids slipped or fell. We also go tons of great laughs.

After that Camryn, Mallory, and I got to go and talk to Sopia. Sopia was a 28 year old man that has been at the orphanage since 2004. But when he was 4 he was walking with his friend and a land Mine blue up causing him to be blind. But in his mind he likes the color blue and red. He LOVES to play music. He is also a music teacher. Sopia says," I am sooooo sorry I can't see you and I will never forget you. Will you ever forget me?" We all sayed," we would never forget you or your story." then he sayed,"that's good and I miss the other group but mostly jack and he is a good boy." I could talk to Sopia all da but I only got 1 hour before I had to help out with the other kids. That was the end of the second day and my journey is still going but one day shorter.

Day 3 or 6/30/12

We drove up to the orphanage and we got our normal morning greatin greatings; which are all the kids running out saying, " Hi, Hi, Hi." then we went inside to the stage where all the kids play and we got to hang out with the kids for about 5 min before we had to start our morning work which today was planting the plants. The plants that we were planting were called pei. It is a leaf that you put in soups or make tee. How we planted the plants were we dug a whole and held the soil back while we took the plant and folded it into a U shape. We had top do 3 across and a ton down. I think we had planted well over 100 plants. then in the next 2 rows we had to dig the soil so it made a little divit in the center so we could put new leaves and sticks in to fertalize the soil. On top of that we had to plant the plants. so in the end we ended up doing 4 rows of planting. We were all exhausted after doing that but when we took a step back and looked back on what we had accomplished it gave us that extra push that made us finish the day.

Then we got to play with the kids. The little kids LOVE candy; but the middle kids like to color and draw; and the oldest kids like to play vollyball. So through out the day you do all of the different things you can. The kids there are so creative because they use sticks and create all different kinds of games. like the one where they take two sticks and hit them on the ground going in on 2 and out on 3 so the pattern is 3,3,2 and people jump in and out. we got everyone through the game durring the day. the kids will also sing while you did the jumping, and the kids have a whole dance they created wioth the sticks.

we got to talk to Sopia again today and he taught us some khmere and he told us he only gets to see his family once a year. that made me so sad and he rarely gets to leave the orphanage. Then we were talking monkey child was poring water on his head then pored it on nikko that is how the WAR began. buckets of water we being pulled up from the well. At the end we were all soaked execpt the adults. There were so many laughes.

Then after we ate lunch we went to the slums. You do not know the true definition of "slums" until you go to see how they live. While we were there we got to go to the school and the library of the orphans. I loved the school and how they were learning English. The teacher would say a word and the kids would say it after and he would see if they could spell e word if not he spelled it. While we were still in the slums we got to see Srey Tok's house. We saw her godmother and we woos went to Srey Mey's house and we got to see her parents. She was pulling me ahead of the group to show me first but I had to stay with the group. Then when we were walking through Srey Mey's house out the back door was a path to the orphanage. I thought that it was so sad seeing how most of the parents live. I wish I got to see more of the slums. It made me so sad but gave me a better perspective on life and the stories behind the kids lives. Then we played monkey in the middle and vollyball. But while we were playing it started raining so hard so all of the kids ran out and started taking their shower by the well. One of the kids decided to dump a bucket of water on the ground and everyone was sliding through the mud. Then Bret was running from Nerot and he did not see the mud and was running full spread and takes a huge digger. Then he is all muddy for the tuk-tuk ride home. Right before we were about to leave everyone got together and started singing and it sounded so pretty. While they were singing Srey Tok fell asleep in the middle of singing a song and she was so cute. That was the very best way to end the day. Then we got in the tuk-tuk Lisa-Marie made all of the wet and dirty kids sit on one side and the dry and clean on the other. We got our normal goodbyes which are the kids running after us and Nerot made it the furthest. My journey is still happening and I love it and there are many more days to come but one less as yesterday. Thank you for you time reading my blogs. Miss ya

6/28/12

WOW!!! is all I can say. This has been a wonderful journey so far. today has been amazing. It was full of suprizes. Waking up at 6:30 and not knowing what you are doing for the day. Today was also the first day on our journey.

The first place we went to was orientation. Orientation was at the STAR kampuchea and is the place where you learn about Cambodia, its language, and its history. Everyone went in being so excited. As a group we had an introduction, then we played a game, then Cambodia's history, and finally the language. The people introduced themselves in the intro. Then for the game we all got a stack of papers and had to build the biggest building we could in 3 min. my group was Ava, mallory, and my self. After that we learned all kinds of facts about Cambodia. finally we all got to speak khmer (the language.)

The second place we went to was the Genocide Museum. It was so so sad seeing pictures and hearing the story of our tour guide. The pictures almost made me cry. Even thinking about how someone could control all thoses people being tortured and killed. The ruler was Pol Pot. There were 20,000 people that died and only 7 survived, and there are only 2 alive today. We met both of them in the museum.

The third place we went was the killing fields. It was and audio tour. We got to hear stories of the people who were in the killing fields and only 2 escaped. The other stories were family members. The busses started out bringing 40-50 people in 3 weeks then turned to 300+ every week. There were remains of bones and clothing. when they got to the camp it was night and they were blind folded and there was loud music so the people could not here others screaming and crying.

Last we went to the orphanage . We pulled up to the orphanage and all of the kids were surrounding the car.  We all got out of the van and started talking to us. is seamed like we had known them for years. We only got to go to the orphanage for and hour and it seemed like we were there for 5 min. as soon as I walked inside i made my friend she stuck out of all of the orphans. Here name was Srey Mey. She was so nice and her smile could brighten a room. Srey Mey made my day. When we left the orphanage all of the kids were surrounding the van once again. Once we started driving away they started running as fast as they could after us.

Today has just come to and end and it was the first day of my journey. I can not wait until we go back to the orphanage exept for longer. So tired and now heading up to bed. Thank you for your support.

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. ~Author Unknown

7 Days Until My Dreams Turn into Reality

Excited yet nervous. In my head the time is winding down. Every day the time starts winding even faster and soon enough I will be there in Cambodia helping out.  Just the thought of helping out half way across the world and changing people’s lives makes me anxious to just be on the plane heading out to help the orphans.

The nerves are building up I can’t even wait until I am there in Cambodia helping out even if it is 100 degrees and it is humid and I am sweating in places that I never knew could sweat. That’s all fine with me because if you bring it to reality you think we are only here for 17 days to change the and our way of living and I need to remember we are only here for such little time so I need to WORK. That means pushing everyone to their limits shedding tears, sweat, and blood. That means every second of every minute of every day we need to work. I also need to keep in mind how much effort and love we put in to help these kids is going to be magnified for them because this is not an everyday thing were they get to have people around them that TRULY love them.<3 <3

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. ~Author Unknown

Ignite. Inspire. Empower.

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work." Colin Powell

Yesterday I finished most of my Cambodia shopping. When we were checking out people thought we were crazy because we were buying lice spray, bed bug spray, lice treatment, etc. It took all day and I am not exaggerating. We had to buy bug spray with a 30 deet. We could not find the 30 deet we could only find ones with a 25 deet and well we are still looking for that one because I would rather be safe than sorry. I had also gotten my shots and boy did the typhoid hurt it made my arm hurt for 3 days. And I have finished all of my fundraising.At the time when I started the fundraising I thougt I would not make enough money but I got some extra mone to send one of the kids to a good school. Well that is the easy part now I have to figure one thing out which kid to send to school. I am so excited to go to Cambodia on this once in a life time trip.

Ignite. Inspire. Empower.

"A dream Dosen't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work," Colin Powell 

“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.” ~Jacques Prévert

I can still remember the day I got the call. I was on my way to the Vail Preforming Arts Center to see what the dancers have been training all year for. So we were about to go into the parking structure and my sisters phone was ringing so she pulled out her phone and it said Lisa Marie. Therefore Maddie told Crissy (friends mom driving) “Can you please stop I need to answer this.” Crissy said, “OK but put it on speaker phone.” Then Lisa Marie says, “Hi, this is Lisa Marie and I am so sorry you are going to have to be away from home for a while!!!!” We are all so happy and Crissy is crying because she was so happy. :) thanks to Lisa Marie my sister Maddie and I would  be going on these amazing trips. Maddie is going to Nicaragua and I am going to Cambodia on the second trip.

"Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it." ~Jacques Prévert