Back in the US

I wanted to call this blog, "back home," but then I realized there were a couple problems with that. First, we aren't in our home yet. We came back a little earlier than originally planned for Janaya to join marching band, but our renters don't move out until the end of the month. We are so thankful for the friend from Messiah College who has allowed us to move into her house while she has been gone. She had our cats for the year too, so it has been nice to get to know them again. However, it isn't our house, and starting this weekend, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Second, for some of us, it is hard to say where "home" is. Not everyone was equally enthusiastic about coming back. That would be the truth. So, what is it like being back?

Our unanimous comment would be that "nothing has changed." Here we have learned a new language, made all new friends, worked new jobs, attended new schools and learned how to get around and find what you need in a brand new city, but everything seems the same here. The biggest change we have noticed so far is that one of our cats got quite fat and lazy while we were away! There is one new house in our general neighborhood - but we are very happy there aren't more! The truth is that there have been a lot of changes at Messiah College. Due to finances, the academic departments have been restructured, I have a new Dean and assistant. Others have lost their jobs. But since I haven't started working there yet, I haven't really noticed those things yet.

Without a doubt, it is incredibly beautiful here! While the Cambodian countryside can be very lovely in the middle of rainy season, it can't compare to the rolling hills, forests, farmland and 100 year old houses and barns around here. Plus, there isn't trash everywhere! We have all noticed that big difference.

There are a lot of choices in the grocery store, but frankly, I don't think the produce section can shake a stick at the varieties found in the local markets of Phnom Penh. And everything looks so large, and perfect! What should one worry about more? The pesticides used in Cambodia or the chemicals used in the US to make fruits and vegetables very large, and very beautiful? The peaches and blueberries we are getting from our local orchard are helping with this adjustment.

We've eaten a lot of Mexican food - something that was pretty rare in Phnom Penh. At home, at taco bell (closet prices to Cambodia we have found) and Chipoltle (new in Harrisburg since we left). Some of us are really wishing for rice and m'hope Khmer (any Khmer topping for the rice...)

Honestly, Janaya is having the hardest time adjusting. She began marching band mini-camp just two days after arriving home. Playing again after a year and learning to march for the first time is certainly challenging. But far more challenging is the feeling that she has no interest in what the other teenagers are talking about over lunch. She really loved school in Cambodia, so I'm sure the adjustments to public US high school will be difficult.

Acacia, on the other hand, is spending nearly half of her time with her two best friends. This must be at least in part to the difference between spending a year cross-culturally as a 10 year old, vs. a 15 year old.

But, it sure is nice not to have to carry around a sweat rag and toilet paper at all times!

Well, by the time I'm ready to post this, we have moved into our new house. Busy, busy. Maybe I'll post one more summary to our year abroad and move back home in a few weeks. We'll see.

Roseann

On the way home

We've been home now for a week, and I feel so blessed to have had the experiences we have had this past year. I love adventure, and new challenges - but my children, especially, I hope will be forever changed by the experience. I feel fortunate to have worked for Mennonite Central Committee, much better understanding their work and their role in relief and development better than ever before.

Time, however, for one last experience. As we looked for tickets home, we looked for a stop somewhere that wouldn't cost much more than a direct flight home. It is quite unlikely that we will all be together in Asia again. A stop through Delhi turned out to be this trip. India is a large, very diverse, very crowded country. My coworkers in Phnom Penh told me that we would either love it, or hate it - and five days was just long enough if it was the latter.

Sure, there were a lot of people in Delhi, but most of them were in cars or on buses. Because of that, it didn't seem much more crowded than parts of Phnom Penh. Cambodians have seemed to us as very patient people, not terribly concerned with the frequent traffic jams that occur in the city. It didn't seem the same in India. In Delhi, drivers honked their horns as soon as a light turned green - impatient to keep moving. The city is preparing to host the Commonwealth Games this fall, and I think many improvements are being made. New Delhi had many beautiful parks and boulevards. India isn't so shocking when you've lived in Cambodia for a year. In the cities and towns outside of Delhi, however, it was very crowded. Lots of people, almost all men, moving around mostly by bike. The women, regardless of where you saw them, the street, in the fields, at parks, were beautifully dressed.

Over five days, we visited three cities, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, and the forts, palaces and monuments that make each of those famous. It was very, very hot. Rainy season is late in coming to northern India. As we know from Cambodia, daily rains really help beat the heat. I think our favorite sites were the Amber Fort in Jaipur, Fatehpur Sikri between Agra and Jaipur, and of course, the Taj Mahal. They all were beautiful. For the week, we had a van, driver, and an English guide at each place. What we didn't know came with this tour was at least one stop every day at a local handicraft shop. It was a little annoying to get the heavy sales pitch every day to purchase something we didn't necessarily like and probably couldn't afford. But on the other hand, these places were air conditioned and they usually offered you a complementary cold drink!

In Jaipur, we stayed a little ways out of the city. The streets were quieter. I enjoyed watching the camel carts moving along the road, the elephants heading to the fort each morning, and the people moving in the streets. There, we were even comfortable enough in our surroundings to walk and find the local Indian sweet shop, where we tried several kinds of homemade Indian candy.

Our trip ended with a sound and light show telling Indian history at the Red Fort in Delhi. After that we headed to the Delhi airport for an all-nighter, before boarding our plane at 4:30 in the morning for home. A long night in the airport, but I think the lack of sleep helped all of us readjust our clocks better upon returning home!

Roseann

Trip to Malaysia

It seems a bit odd to write a blog about our experiences in Asia after we have returned home. But we won't see many of you for a while, and that includes all our closest family members, so we will tell you some of our last stories.

After finishing my work at the university we left the next day for a trip to Malaysia. There is a cheap southeast asia airline, and we booked this trip a while ago. Malaysia is a diverse, fascinating and colorful country, as we found out. Most people there are Muslim, some Hindu and the clothes the women wore were beautiful. Kuala Lumpur was a very modern city, with a very good sky train system that we used every day. On our first day we went a short ways out of town to the Forestry Research Institute, where we went hiking. The hike included a canopy walk high in the trees. I think, however, there were far too many people there to see much wildlife.

Our hotel was near Little India so we were able to find great Indian street food to eat, and on Saturday night we found a great night market. Since our suitcases for home were already full, we shopped only for desserts, enough for the next three nights. That was fun. Later in the week we went to Chinatown and the street market that is most popular there. I think we will miss shopping at markets after we get back to the US.

A trip to Kuala Lumpur these days is hardly complete without a trip to the world's tallest twin towers, the Petronas towers. We got in line for tickets before 8 in the morning, and I was the second to last person allowed in. After a two hour wait we got our tickets, and returned in the late afternoon for our 10 minutes on the skybridge between the two towers.

In the middle of the week we headed up into the mountains, a cooler place to be. This was the first time we adopted a backpacker mentality in our travels, and didn't have either transportation or lodging arranged ahead of time. After a 30 minute sky train ride to the edge of the city, we purchased tickets on a bus that would take us 2 hours out of the city. We were dropped of in a small town where we purchased tickets for a more run down bus that would take us up into the mountains. It sure helped that most Malaysians speak several languages, including English. The Cameron Highlands were very cool. We enjoyed visiting a tea plantation there, walking, and eating great Malay, Chinese and Indian food. Austin, finally, got to use his Christmas money from my family for 18 holes of golf with Ron. Janaya was pleased about the bus ride home, a very nice bus without a transfer in the middle. But the heavy perfume worn by the Muslim women on the bus, combined with the windiest road we have ever been on soon made her sick. But we don't think she was the only one that needed a bag on the trip down the mountain.

On the last day, Acacia cashed in a birthday gift for a fish massage - something we had seen in several places across Asia. She put her feet in a pool of small fish, which quickly removed the dead skin from her feet. It tickled her quite a bit.

After a year in a developing country, Malaysia was very different. Modern transportation, cleanliness, rest stops along the major highways and public restrooms (for a fee) were all pleasant, after a year without these things. It was also the most culturally diverse place I have ever been. We are fortunate to have had the experience.

Kep, Cambodia

We went to Kep on June 10 to stay and visit the surrounding areas for 3 days. On the first day we got there around lunch time so we went down to the crab market for our first lunch. That lunch we all had crab for lunch with Kampot pepper. To me the crab wasn’t worth it because it took to much work to get the meat out. So I never had crab again. Then we went to the pool at the hotel to swim for the rest of the day.

For supper that night we went down back to the crab market. For supper we went to a tapa place for supper, but only Acacia ordered the tapas. For supper Janaya, Mom, and Dad had mee cha (fried noodles) with seafood and I had a whole fish (I literally mean the whole fish, eyes included) with veggies for supper.

The next day we took a early boat down to Rabbit Island after breakfast for the day. Rabbit Island is so called the best beach in Cambodia (which isn’t really much). The stay there was to be a relaxful and peaceful time to rest. There Acacia and I got snorkels to snorkel and Janaya got a innertube. For lunch Acacia had a pancake (Crepe) with banana and chocolate while the rest of us got seafood again.

The next day we were going to go to the caves outside of Kampot and for lunch to the “The Rusty Keyhole.” The “Rusty Keyhole” in most western food reviews is said to have the best ribs in Cambodia. The caves weren’t the best and were covered with the smell of incense and Buddhist shrines so they didn’t turn out as expected. So we left for Kampot. When we got to the river in Kampot where it was supposed to be, we found out that the restaurant had moved farther out of the city. So we went on and found it open and had lunch there. The rest of the day we swam at the pool. - Austin

Favorite things in Cambodia

What I will miss about Cambodia:

Tropical fruit
Riding in a tuk-tuk
Riding on a moto
Sugar cane
Cheap food

Austin

What I will miss about Cambodia:

My most recent pet, a kitten
Nice people
Tropical fruits
Tuk-tuks and motos

Acacia

Weekend in Prey Veng

Two weekends ago we went out to the province to see friends in the town of Prey Veng. I like going to Prey Veng because it is very quiet there, except for the dogs that bark at night. Our friends have two cats and a dog. I liked the dog the most because I’ve never had a dog. My friends are lucky because they have a yard to play in.

When we were there, they borrowed bikes from friends so we could all bike together. One night we went out to monkey island, where we saw five monkeys, and a duck farm.One morning we got up early and biked a very pretty road that had trees on both sides. We biked to the riverside, which is not filled with water right now, because rainy season has only just begun. During rainy season, all the people that live on the river have to move up to the sidewalk along the road.

One night other MCC workers joined us for a wiener roast. We also had some fireworks to set off. On Sunday we made pizza, and I helped Ruth cook. I would have liked to live in the province except I do not think I would have had as many friends.

by Acacia

What I will miss about Cambodia?

What I will miss about Cambodia?

Big smiles of the Cambodian people

The group of tuk-tuk drivers that greet me every morning as I bike past “their corner”

9 Hours of sleep every night

Cucumbers all year long that taste like they are from your own garden

Mangosteens – my favorite tropical fruit

Meeting and talking with people from all over the world

Family home together most every evening

Unexpected holidays when the administration cancels classes for odd reasons

Sunny blue skies every morning

Geckos on the walls

My Cambodian students

Lunch on the roof at MCC with new friends

Bicycle repair a half block from my house (Ron will really miss that...)

Afternoon downpours during rainy season

Okay - and a few things I will not miss...

Looking like I wet my pants every day

Traffic in Phnom Penh

Rewriting your syllabus every time the administration cancels classes

Trash everywhere

Mice in the house

Not being able to find the simplest of supplies in the chemistry department

Roseann