Sandra's Adventures in Cambodia

Almost forgot about Saturday! Kat signed us up for a fabric printing class at a little art studio called Nowhere Art Studio. (Instagram lollipark). She is from South Korea and has an art studio in downtown Phnom Penh. She is extremely creative and teaches all sorts of mixed media class. This one was on Block carving and fabric printing. We carved a design on a piece of rubber that resembled an eraser. I remember doing something similar on a rubber backed block in elementary school. That was when they allowed children to have dangerous tools in art class in the 60’s. It was fun we learned a lot about positive and negative space and thinking backwards. We also mixed paints and printed. I really wish I had not gotten rid of my braver on CDA shop and swap! We block printed a dish towel with our carvings. It’s kind of fun just to do normally daily activities with her. Her job is really stressful and it’s so important for her to get to do some fun and creative things, especially with her mom...

We headed out to AEC (AIM Employment Center) around 8 am. The girls were so excited to see us. The room was literally buzzing. Kat has a new office and they set up 6 machines in her office so we could sew in the air conditioning! In typical Khmer style they were not actually set up when we got there, so we got that going (typical event team problem...). Two weren’t working so the guy had them tore apart all over the room. I think we got started at 10 or so. Last year the girls were reluctant to come in and sew because it was taking away from their work. They didn’t have those reservations this year! They were so excited. This was a really fun project for them this year. It was a little makeup bag roll up for make up brushes. It was a huge hit! First I need to thank all of the women from all over the United States who sent me complete kits (150), others sent makeup brushes, nail polish, lip stick, lotion, perfume you name it! I am so appreciative to all of you. If you could only have se...

Kat goes to a great church called Nations. They are out of Australia. She’s on the ministry team so goes for the entire day. The Khmer service is in the morning and the English service is in the evening. She does the announcements at both services and usually does a serve project in between. I skipped the Khmer service and went a little later with Ellen.We met her at a Greek restaurant run by an Italian and had Lunch and hit Starbucks on the way to the church. For the afternoon we painted the mural in children’s church. Some members of the Lake City Team came for church in the evening. It was fun painting with Kat, she did the Khmer I did the English. Tomorrow is teaching day one.  

Day 2-3: You never know what adventure awaits when you travel with Kat. We however, have discovered many of them. It does not surprise me at all that all of her roommates have her on the “Find my friends App” so they can locate her at all times. Is she coming, is she close, or is she lost? Anyway. Kat planned a trip for us in Kep (pronounced “Kype”) on the Gulf of Thailand. Before checking out of the hotel on Wednesday morning in Phnom Penh, we headed back over to the AIM store. There seemed to be some problems with the inventory numbers not matching up with the inventory count..... Hello... 2 days with no sleep! It seems we were not the best employees to be in charge of this activity. So while I covered the “need more sleep part”, Jordan and Kat went to the store and recounted everything. We packed ourselves up and took a taxi, complete with all of our luggage and headed to Kat’s work in Svay Pak. While Kat worked on her “to do” list (which is a mile long, no wonder they are trying to...

It’s  been several days since I arrived, Kat has kept me so busy I haven’t had a moment to get my thoughts down! I am exhausted to say the least, let me tell you why. June 16, Sunday : Kat’s best friend Jordan and I flew ahead of the team that was coming from our church. We wanted a few days with Kat before the team arrived. Randy is leading a missions team from Lake City Church at the same time I am here. Yes, separate vacations in the same city. I am staying with Kat and Randy is at an hotel downtown. We left Spokane at 8:30, catching an earlier flight than planned. We felt is was better waiting in Seattle for 4 hours rather than the Spokane airport. Best money I ever spent was joining the Alaska Lounge. So we hung out in the Alaska Lounge to kill time before heading over to the International terminal to catch our flight. Pretty uneventful 13 hour flight. Watched several movies while Jordan slept:) We chose an aisle and a window seat, hoping no one would sit between us. The pla...

Here are some of the photos I am allowed to publish. Due to the sensitivity of the issue they are very protective of the area, buildings, and of course the girls.  The new AIM School in Svay Pak. It can be used for up to 1500 kids and adults. Regular school, night school, language classes, adult ed etc.