As one of the "newbies" to Cambodia, I am happy to say the first day (and a half) have been a success! Yesterday was a great day spending time the the team. Many of you reading know one or two people on this trip, but let me tell you this is an amazing group of 11 individuals.
We spent our day yesterday exploring the city. The morning was emotionally a very hard one. First we went to the church, which was fun to see. It was much larger than I expected. After that we went to S21, the concentration camp used for the people in Cambodia. Seeing the faces of thousands who were not just killed, but tortured then killed was heartbreaking. While it was difficult to see, it was important to understand better what many people who live here had been through. It was amazing at the end to see one of the seven survivors!
Lunch was after S21. We went to a great buffet where we were able to try LOTS of local specialties. The food was great (the smells when you first arrived... not so great). After lunch we went by a local grocery store, think a Whole Foods of Cambodia. We ran around like kids looking at all the unique items. Ice-cream flavored Oreo's were just one of the specialties.
Next we went to the market. Hundreds of vendors in a huge space selling every (fake) name brand anything you could want, clothes, paintings, and food. We spent the bulk of our time here walking around to see everything and buying fun gifts.
We left for dinner at 4:30 as Mike predicted people would be falling asleep at dinner if we went much later. He was right as most of us were delirious when we got back to our hotel about 7.
So far, it's been an amazing trip and I know there are lots of great things to come! Off to tackle day two...
**This was written very quickly and not proof-read, sorry for any errors :) **
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27
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