February 12-16, 2012

It's been a long time since we've posted, but here's a little blurb from February.

Sunday, Feb. 12
It's still windy, but the high today is supposed to be 75 degrees--yea!  I keep hearing the news in Tyrone reporting how cold it is there... sorry, guys.  At least you're not sweating away like Jordan and her friends.

Here is an e-mail from Jordan's group:

Good evening mothers and fathers, Today started off great because we were able to sleep in. Last night, we went to the night market and shopped for what felt like forever. Amazingly, though, most of our money was left unspent. Everything was so cheap! We got lots of gifts for all of you. We rode to and from the market in tuk-tuks, which were mopeds connected to covered carriages. (Just Google them if you don't understand our description.) Most of the rides home went well, except for two of the tuk-tuks, whose drivers didn't speak English well enough to understand where our hotel was. But don't fret! Thankfully, after stopping at two different hotels, a policeman helped translate for us and we ended up at the Goldiana safe and sound.    Today was our day off from work. We got up about two hours later than usual and started off the day by going to the Russian market. That is where most of your money was spent...sorry. For lunch we went to a buffet where we tried a lot of new and interesting foods...but nobody tried the chicken feet. After that, we went to a sketchy little shop called Dr. Fish Massage, where fish of different sizes ate the (sorry for the upcoming grossness) dead skin off of our feet. It sounds really disgusting, but they tickled a lot and in the end, our feet were so smooth! It was ridiculous because most of the squealing and laughing we heard were from the boys in our group! (The girls did their fair share of squealing and laughing too.) Don't worry, we took a lot of pictures and videos for your entertainment.    When that was over, we went back to the hotel for a little while and relaxed until it was time for us to go to the river cruise. We had lots of fun eating Western food (pizza and KFC) and sightseeing Cambodia from a different perspective while watching a beautiful sunset. We ended the day by walking back to the night market to finish up our shopping and drink those delicious sugarcane juices! Tomorrow, we'll return to the work sites to make our feet all nice and rough again. Hard labour, here we come! We love you and miss you! - Angie and Alex (and Jordan...and Danielle!)

Monday, Feb.13
Reese and Brooke went to AWANA tonight at the elementary school--that's where Reese works on memorizing Bible verses.  Brooke and I helped listen to the kids recite their verses and then Brooke helped with the games.

Tuesday, Feb. 14
Happy Valentine's Day!  I woke this morning to Shadow barking as Brooke was standing on a chair outside my door.  She was trying to fix a bunch of pink balloons to fall on me as I opened my bedroom door.

As a surprise today, I am giving Brooke and Reese a half-day of school and taking them to the mall to paint pottery with Cene's and Sharyn's kids.  I called the same driver and because he works nights, his brother will give me a ride at noon.

Here we are in the van, ready to go!

Here we are at the pottery shop with the Burrow family and the Law-Davis family -- all homeschoolers.

They give the kids a free meal when they paint.

Reese and Gabrielle.

The kids have finished painting and the older girls have put on their abayas... we're ready to go back out into the mall.

Here are the pieces we painted.

Here is Sharyn painting a mug for her husband.

You can see a lady in her abaya, sitting there painting away.

Even the outside of the store is pretty.  That was a fun way to spend the day!

Outside the pottery store is a carnival in the mall.  We said goodbye to everyone and then Reese and Brooke rode a few rides before we rode the bus back to camp.

Reese tried to make Bruce and I a Valentine's Day dinner, but I kept her out too late at the mall, so she created a romantic atmosphere for Bruce and I and lit candles.  Bruce bought me the roses!

Thursday, Feb. 16
At 3:30 am, Bruce and I went to the high school to pick up Jordan after her week in Cambodia.  Here are all the dads waiting by the bus (the wives can't drive).

This flash was a bit too bright  for Jordan and Bruce, but I was so excited to see Jordan.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Pattie -