I decided to head to a café I had visited before (ok, I am playing it a little safe here). If you saw my FB post, then you know about the four young Americans sitting near me and my comment about them. So sad to hear their empty and selfish conversations. What a contrast after they left and the next four Americans entered: Kevin and Jill Kane and Gary and Lois Engelhardt. I had a few minutes to chat with them and make plans for that night and the next day (since I don't have that phone yet) before my tuk yuk driver arrived to pick me up.
I asked Mr. Lim if he would stop by a store to see if I could find a shirt for Zac. Zac loves the styles here for teens. Unfortunately Zac is already out of the xl size for teens. But Mr. Lim was determined to help me find something for Zac, so he drove me around to several shops, landing lastly at the best shop in town for quality. There Mr. Lim even tried on the shirts to help me get an idea if it would fit Zac or not. We finally found a shirt that fit Mr. Lim in the shoulders and was too long in the sleeves. That should fit Zac! It isn't the style I was looking for because we had to go to the adult shop and buy an xl there, but Mr. Lim said maybe Zac would be happy that his mom got him something more than it be stylish. So, how many taxi drivers you know who go that far to help their passengers? This guy is pretty cool. He is the driver Zac and I met last year. He was a new driver and was just learning the business. I gave him a few tips on how to make his business a success, especially transporting Americans. This year, when he picked me up (six months later), he had a new tuk tuk and said his business was going ok.
Mr. Lim then drove me out to Asia's Hope. As we were driving down their road, many of the students were heading back for afternoon school. They all waved and smiled as we passed. All this made an impression on Mr. Lim. Last year I had the opportunity to share with him about AH and what and why it is there.
Sorry, no pics of my afternoon at our GP homes. I was just enjoying the time playing with all the kids that were there. I split my time between the two homes and loved every minute. At five, I had made arrangements to meet up with the DeWitts from Canada here working with Bight Star. They were teaching a group of brand new English classes. When we arrived, one of the teachers was late, so John asked me which group I wanted to teach. LOL, no materials or anything. Kind of reminded me of my first teaching job. At least here I had a piece of chalk! So I took the middle group. Luckily for them, the teacher arrived shortly and I went back to John's beginner class to help him. 200 students total in three classes. They originally thought there would be about 40. These kids come from the poor neighborhoods and their parents really want them to learn English to give them more opportunities. They were awesome. When class was over, several of the girls came to say goodbye and did a 3-cheek kiss goodbye giggling all the time. Not sure who taught them that as an appropriate greeting for Americans, but no problem because I have many friends from places where that is. So fun. There was such delight in the eyes of these children as they were excited to be with us and learn a little English.
After being dropped off at my hotel, I grabbed a bag of clothes for Lois that Connie sent along and walked the few blocks down the street to another hotel restaurant to meet them for dinner. The restaurant is on top of the hotel and the food is prepared fresh. I mean, I watched them cut my vegetables. Yum Yum. I had so much fun catching up with Gary and Lois, hearing about the ministry God has given them here and learning a little more about the Cambodian culture. The food was delicious too. After dinner they gave me a ride back to my hotel for safety reasons. It is really dark by now. After my second shower today (the dust here is so fine, you felt like you never really get it off), I dropped into bed. Tomorrow is a day with the Kanes and hopefully with GP kids for a little while.
LOL, I forgot to get the phone!
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