So many things, so little time...

Well, I have been informed that my Aunt prints out my blog to share with my 97-year old Grandmother, which means I probably should censor myself somewhat, but I'm not going to. Sorry, Grandma. :)

Anyway, I'm sorry that I have been a bit remiss in writing on my blog, but I have a lot going on here and sometimes its hard to figure out how to write about all of, but here I go.

A little over a week ago I went on a scavenger hunt with Perry and his children. Their school, the International School of Phnom Penh (or ISPP as us locals call it), puts on the "Fun Rally" every year apparently. We went with his two younger girls (Ellie -5 and Jessie - 8) while his wife went with his oldest daughter (Sarah -12). It was a lot of fun because we got to see a lot of things in Phnom Penh that you probably wont find in the tourist book. Like, did anybody know that there was a really old kite museum in Phnom Penh that is filled with ancient Khmer kites? Yeah, I didn't either. But my favorite part of the day (and this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me) was when we went to the orphanage. The Missionaries of Charity (a Catholic order of nuns established by Mother Theresa) has an orphanage in Phnom Penh and apparently a hospice of sorts a bit outside of Phnom Penh. We donated a bag a rice at the orphanage and got to play with the kids for a couple of minutes. I will say more about this a little later.

Not only do I play with orphans, I also hang with prostitutes (yes, Grandma, you read that correctly). Last Wednesday Perry and I went out with one of our government funded partners, PSI (Population Services International), on their risk behavior and condom education outreach program. They go to places in Phnom Penh in which local men can pick up indirect sex workers like beer gardens, barbeque's, and karaoke places. I know, they don't sound like your typical sex shops, do they? My personal favorite is the karaoke places in which you walk in and there are separate rooms (kinda like a brothel) that have TVs and couches set up and you pick which karaoke girls you would like to be in the room with you from a lineup of Khmer girls. Perry took me into one in Battambang and they must have thought he was really kinky for bringing me with him. Anyway, we went out with PSI and they showed us what they do. They had a famous Cambodian rapper at one of the barbeque's rapping about how condoms are like raincoats and body armor (I can't make this stuff up if I wanted to!). It was hilarious and I ended up hanging with the rapper and his posse for a bit because we share a common interest: Reggaeton! I was so excited! Once PSI was done taking us around, Perry and I were a little disappointed because we didn't really see many sex transactions. The places that we went too could almost be family friendly. So one of our other esteemed coworkers, Prateek (he works for USAID but we work together on everything), decided to take us to a "sexpat" bar. It is exactly what the name sounds like: a bar with scantily clad hott cambodian women draped all over old, ugly white men. I was the only white woman in there and I was chatting up the girls. Again, I think they thought it was weird that I was in there with 2 Americans (although Prateek is of Indian descent), but Prateek told them that I was with him. That must have made it look weirder, on hindsight. Anyway, the girls were really nice, and I felt bad for them more than anything. They really were just trying to make a decent living. So we talked to them about condom use, because really that has become my life.

Thursday night I went to a party at the Assistant Defense Attache's house. Yep, I hung out with the Army guys. That was actually awesome because Jay, the Assistant Defense Attache, it Latin and he had some pretty good music. His wife was speaking to me in Spanish, which I loved, and she said she would help tutor me. Excellent. Not only that, but the Defense Attache is a COLONEL! I was inordinately impressed by meeting a colonel in real life, much to his and his wife's amusement. His wife is super funny though so we got on great. My favorite part of the night, though, was when one of the army guys came up to me and asked me if I had been in the military. Here is what the conversation went like:
Army Guy: Have you ever been in the military?
Me: No, why?
Army Guy: Because of the way you carry yourself. You seem to have a lot of confidence and you are really fit.
Me: Don't you mean fAt?
*Awkward silence while Army Guy tries to decide how to get out of that one*

It was really funny and I was quite flattered actually. Good night, all in all.

So Sunday, I went back to the Missionaries of Charity orphanage. I told the Sisters that I would and asked if they needed anything. I brought them some formula and diapers, which they were terribly pleased about. Least I can do since I live like a queen over here. I don't really know how to describe the orphanage. It was fun and sad and hopeful all in one. The kids there range from little toddler (its hard to really tell their age because of size and malnourishment) to maybe about 6-7. The older kids seemed to all have special needs. There is this one little girl who is just a ball of sunshine and you barely even notice that she doesn't have arms past the elbow or legs past the knee. No hands or feet. The kids love having someone come to hold them and would start to scream if I had to get up to grab a Kleenex. Clearly, they have some abandonment issues. I held this one little boy for almost the entire time that I was there. He was quite malnourished and listless and I have a theory that holding him will help. I fed him too and the nun's were quite impressed with how much I was able to get him to eat. He pretty much just laid his head on my chest the whole time (he was facing me) and didn't hardly move. It was sad. Clearly, I'm going back.

So looking back on this past week, it appears that I have quite the motley crew of friends. I hope I didn't shock you overly much, Grandma! :)