Let me tell you some of the things that happened. (Keep in mind this is all happening in hot humid weather.)
"Ice cream" was the dominant feeling of the day, but I'll start with a "chili".
I spent the morning at three different hospital-like places. A friend of a friend is sick so we went to visit her and give blood for her. She's been sick for months, has three kids and a husband who is often drunk. She was lying on the bed crying and crying. As her husband drinks they don't have enough money for food. She said she didn't mind dying as her life is so hard anyway. But I guess other times she worries about what will happen to her kids.
Hospitals here don't have all the staff that ones in Oz do. If you are a patient you need family to stay with you to cook food and look after you. She had her kids and her mother with her, and my friend brought her some take away meals and fruit.
So overwhelming thinking about this sick ladies' life. Others from her church have been bringing her food as well, even thought they barely have enough food for themselves each day.
Knowing there are so many sick and poor people in Cambodia is overwhelming.
After visiting her I went to give blood, the doctor wanted 300ml so they took me to a place that does it. I've given blood in Australia, but this was the first time in Cambodia. I was a little nervous- wondering if I would understand all the instructions, wondering if the needle was clean etc etc. Luckily the form I had to fill out was an English version, although the lady who had to read it couldn't read English. When they were about to stick the needle in me I was trying to watch so I could see if it was a new clean one, but at the same time not wanting to watch. So I guess that was a bad experience as such, but a second intense thing for the day. (I went to the toilet there just before I gave blood- there was a sick but with no taps in the sink (there was another tap else where though)- perhaps a little different from medical buildings in Australia.)
And now to the "Ice cream". The Bible school had their Khmer new year celebrations yesterday. In the afternoon we had a chapel service, then games outside. We ate dinner together on the grass, then back to the hall for a singing competition and dancing.
As well as students and staff, others came including people from church, old students, my old language helper, some Aussie friends. So it was really fun to see everyone. The students had spent the last few days decorating the hall. (photos below)
The chapel service was fun for me, we sang some songs that I know some of the words to. I would have been able to sing more if I had the words in front of me, but I was still able to join in a bit.
Some of the games were so funny to watch- they had a sack race with TWO people in one sack. So funny!!!!
Other games were tug of war, and throwing black round seeds to knock other ones over.
In the midst of all the fun, someone ran into some glass Coke bottles. The next thing I knew they had picked him up- all I saw was a bloody foot in the air. He was put in a car and raced off to the doctor.
During dinner I sat with our Aussie friend and people from our old and new church. Then if was back into the hall for a singing comp. A rep from each small group got up to sing a song. It was so funny to watch- during the singing people kept running up to the singer to give them flowers. Everyone was very excitable and there was so so much cheering and clapping. (Not sure how to explain this very well, I guess you had to be there- it was so so funny.)
The boy who hurt his foot got up (half carried) to sing too, much cheering. He was given a seat to sit on.
Things got a little crazy towards the end. When people ran out of flowers they started grabbing pineapples and watermelons from the hall decorations. Students had created a centre-piece to dance around, but it ended up doubling as a source of presents for the singers.
Soeun's small group won!!! A student in his small group sang a song that he (Soeun) wrote about Romans 8.
After that it was time for dancing. Soeun and students played music and others danced around the fruit thingy. The students tried to teach me khmer dancing but mostly they ended up laughing- it was fun! I thought after giving blood I would be tired but I ended up dancing and hanging around for ages. The fun that had started around 2pm lasted until about 10pm!!!
But then I got a message from a friend. They had their bag snatched on the way home. Not pleasant. Travelling by moto or tuk tuk is dangerous at night, esp around this time of year when people need extra money for New Year things.
So that's why I'm feeling overwhelmed and tired today! Also I've been thinking about traffic accidents lately as the other day one happened in front of my as I was riding up a main street (Norodom). And did I mention it's hot and humid these days?
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