A very Khmer day

-Heather and I went to a Khmer church. We understood little of the words but spent the time praying and observing those around us. There were some songs that we knew. They had been translated into Khmer. There were others that seemed to have been written in Khmer. These were my favorites because even though I can't sing along with them, I like the thought of the church members having their own songs written in their heart language.

-We hung out after the service and learned our 10 new Khmer words of the day. I am going to start practicing my guitar with  some of the guys in the worship team next week. It will be so great to learn to sing in Khmer!

-We got a ride home on a moto. They can fit up to 6 Khmer people on a moto, but we were doing good to get one Khmer and 2 Americans on one! Almost everyone here drives a moto. Everyone yields to everyone else, they go through the tiniest of spaces, they drive on either side of the road…and surprisingly they don't crash. The flow of traffic is slow and just accommodates everyone…somehow!

-Jenny, Heather, Lauren, and I bought bicycles!!! People really don't walk around as much as I thought they would (the sidewalks are too uneven and filled with parked motos). Instead they ride bikes…so that is what we wanted to do. Our awesome tuk-tuk driver found a place for us to buy bikes and helped us bargain prices. We decided to get used bikes that were from Japan instead of the new bikes from Vietnam across the street. According to the advise from our tuk-tuk driver, that was the best thing to do! We payed $45 for our bikes and they threw in the basket, bell, and lock for free! Of course we bought colored helmets on the way home!

–PLANTS!! Even before I moved here, I said one of the things that I wanted to get right off the bat to help make my room more homey was to get some plants. So today after buying my bike, I rode to go find some plants. I got a beautiful purple orchid (already named Juliet) and a leafy green and pink plant in a sweet pot. I am unsure of its name, but I think I'll name it my favorite Khmer word, I just don't know what my favorite word is yet!

-Before dinner, we played a Khmer game with our neighbors. It has the same idea as hacky sack. You can use your hands or feet to hit it though. It was fun to open up our gate and let whoever wanted to play come and join. We had a neighbor, her boyfriend and a tuk-tuk driver from the corner. Our first street party!