Tortoise And The Hare

Once upon a time... there were a hare and the tortoise.

The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals.  "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed.  I challenge anyone here to race with me."
The Tortoise and quietly, "i accept your challenge."
"That is a good joke," said the Hare; "I could dance round you all the way."
"keep your boasting till you've won," answered the Tortoise.  "Shall we race?"
So a course was fixed and a start was made.  The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his cotempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap.  The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run up in time to save the race.
Then the Tortoise said: "slow but steady progress wins the race."

In Cambodia, rabbit is viewed as someone or something to turn to when others have quesitons, the rabbit is full of wisdom and will give you the right direction.  Some of our paintings in schools have rabbits as well!

In Chinese culture, we view turtle to be the one who is always full of wisdom because he is full of experiences due to living a long life.

THEY ARE RACING!! Guess who won at the end?

Missionary Work Starts at HOME!

I wanted to go to work the next day I went to the hospital, but I decided not to because of my grumpy tummy.  Therefore, I rested.

I had fried rice for breakfast, which I could not taste anything and took my medicine.

The best thing that I did today was SKYPE!! I am grateful I can skype my dearest boyfriend, Ammon.  And I also skyped with other friends as well!! I LOVE IT!!

Ohm gave me this giant coconut!! To my taste, it tasted sweet, milk-power-like, and it is carbonated! I forgot to take a picture... SORRY! But Ohm made this for me to sleep on! 

 and also... HANG is with me!!!

I decided to finish the book.  I grew a deeper understanding and love towards people in Cambodia.  After this sickness, I am a true Khmer! :) 

Life in Cambodia is chill.  I think.  Kids and parents would leave the house around 7:50am and everyone will come back before noon to have lunch.  Then they will leave again around 1:30pm, back to school, or where ever.

After lunch, the daughter of the host family gave me this dessert.  It is a bean dessert with coconut milk.  It is good, but It is not so good to my stomach.  

Later in the afternoon, Hang and his brother, Visa, came into my room. After showing them Let it Go (which it is their favorite), I decided to show them Finding Faith in Christ. They were very excited and familiar to them.  After watching this, my testimony strengthened. I know Jesus is the Christ.  No other Gods can do miracles like He did.  Buddha did not even created this world, maybe he helped.

小時候，信心是一種反應

年青時，信心是一種結論

長大後，信心是一個信仰

到最後，信心其實是一個選擇

From Ammon Fong

I Lost the Battle, THEN I WON!!

Last Sunday was a great Sunday meeting.  We had only 2 hours of church, 40 mins of Sacrament meeting, then Sunday School taught by a Nigeria brother, then a combined Relief Society and Elders Quorum.

It was my first time to have 2 hours of church and biking with a skirt/dress! It was fun!

After we went to the Chinese place, I feel aching throughout my body.  I know it is not sore from biking, but... I feel sick.  I took a nap while others went to a Wak.  All the sudden, I had a high fever!! Kayla took care of me and asked Dillon, Josh and Deson came by and gave me a blessing.  In the blessing, it says that this sickness will be a short moment. I am supposed to learn as much as I can, so I can have empathy for others, and because of this sickness, I will be able to help others in the future. I am grateful for the power of the priesthood.  I truly felt the love of God; He knows what I am going through and knows the best way to help!

People said high fever will make you smarter.  I hope I am smarter now! :) But I could not sleep throughout the night, I keep having diarrhea at nights as well.  I stood up from the toilet to the bedroom, I could not see anything.  I was so weak.  I need water. My host mom gave me pills to help me sleep through the night and Vitamin C.  I am grateful to have the family be with me, to take care of me, and my good friend Kayla, to sleep on the same bed with me every night! :)

I am so sick, I did not want to eat. But they made me eat. Haha.  They made soup noodles for me! :) And told me I have to finish it all, especially drink all the soup!! The soup tasted so good, as if they added the bag of MSG; maybe they did, who knows. hahaha! :) 

The next morning, I was still very sick.  I asked Dillon to take me to the hospital! We went to the BEST hospital in the city!

Gave them all what they need.  We were there from 9 until 530pm.  We were there the WHOLE DAY!!! The nurses asked what ethnicity of doctor do we want to see? Thai? or Vietnamese? Dillon chose Thai for me!

By the time I went to the hospital, my fever is gone, my body temperature was 36; I lost 4 pounds, and my blood pressure was only 89/60.  After being checked and seeing the doctor, the doctor said I need a blood test.  The doctor is about 80 years old, he repeats the same questions and repeats the same comments to us! :)

While we were waiting for the result of the blood test, I had to go to the bathroom, more diarrhea... I would sit in the toilet and only water would come out, then as I was ready to leave the bathroom, I needed to go again... I decided to just sit in the toilet until nothing is out.  At that moment, I realized I had no energy to walk to the sink and wash my hands. I rushed to the sink and I realized I cannot see anything around me.  I sat down, thinking I will get energy back and walk back out.

Few minutes later, a nurse came in to look for me.  She helped me to get up and walked back to where Dillon was.  I am grateful for the nurse and for Dillon.

All the sudden.  The doctor came out and told me "I didn't realized your potassium is so low".  Therefore, I had an IV for 3 hours, the doctor gave me Imodium and antibiotics due to infections in my body.  My white blood cells is so high!

 During my IV injections, the doctor came in 3 times and asked the nurse to give me Imodium and antibiotics... which never happened until I went to the pharmacy. And get all the bills.

My host family knew that I am sick, so they made congee for me! :) Ohm said, Jack-fruit we have, Kayla eat OK! Cherri no eat! ><... 

The Killing Fields

We went to the Killing Fields the other day.  I felt fear, anger, evil, humility, hate, power, etc...  Above all, I feel sad for the people in Cambodia now.  They are where they are now because of the Khmer Rouge.  If it didn't happen, Cambodia will be in a much better shape, with better education.

My heart pounded so loud that I thought my heart would jump out of my shirt when I stepped into S-21. When I left, I am actually glad that it is all over now.  I felt peace and the power of the Atonement.

One of the rules in S-21 is the people cannot show any emotions during punishments or else they will have a bigger punishment. During the Khmer Rouge, people learned how not to share their thoughts.  However, I am grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father.  He understands our feelings.  When bad times happen, I am sure Heavenly Father gave them peace in their hearts; just like He has done in the past, now, and the future!

Choeung Ek Genocidal Center was the other killing field that we went to.  Until this day, you can still see the skulls and bones on the ground, especially in the rainy seasons.  Many places has not been touched to find other skulls yet.

This place is beautiful, it can be one of the best place to have family times.  However, people did not care and chose this place to become a genocidal area.

 

This is the tree that they would hit the baby against the tree until they are dead. On the opposite side is another tree they would tide the babies' mother.

Laundry is a WORK OUT!!!

For the first time in forever, 

We used hands to wash our clothes;

For the first time in forever, 

Having clean clothes are not easy! 

After washing a week of laundry, I do not think I can do that once a week.  I need to do it three times a week! It's a work out!! But it's a lot of fun!, especially when you see the clear water turned dark! Thanks for out auntie to help!! She washed 3 shirts, and I washed 1 shirt, maybe less.  

These are all of our results!! I feel very accomplished! 

After all the hard work, we immediately went to the room and rest with our AC on!! Soon after, the auntie gave us a hand full of chocolate and a cup of Coke as a reward of our hard work!!!

The Western Side of Cambodia

If you are not used to Khmer food, like street food, NO WORRIES!!!! There are many places for Westerners!!

Russian Market!!!
Make sure you bargain!! I got a pair of comfy pants for $3! They will tell you "it's five dollars, but I can give you a discount!" or "how much can you pay?"

Alma's Restaurant!!!

This is a restaurant for Mexican food!! It was $5 for my breakfast burritos (a normal meal, $5 can feed 4 people for Khmer food)  Therefore, it is relatively expensive, but I have a lot of Western friends.  What can I say? haha!

Mamas BURGER!!

Mama has lived in the States for a few years and worked in a famous restaurant in New York.  Decided to come back to Cambodia and started with her own business in here! Their Chicken burger and fries were $5.

AEON!!! 
I think we have that in HK, it is a department store, for bikes, we paid $1000 R per bike to park inside.  There were lots of shops, food, and FUN!!! We got a shirt as cheap as $5 after discount! The shirt was good for Cambodia!

Aeon gave me the FIRST ice-cream in Cambodia!!!!! After this ice-cream, I am craving for more and more ice-cream!! Swensen's is good, but it is very expensive! I do not know how I can cool down myself without ice-cream!!! Can someone send me some ice-cream here?

Food in Heaven!

I have ate SO much food in here! I have been taking pictures for our 3 meals daily; things add up! :)

ABC Bakery.  The other day, I went into the ABC Bakery, the bread looks almost identical of what people in Hong Kong would have.  I cannot wait to try all of them on!!

For dinner, we had this interesting fusion! We need to try to make it in the States! It is fried green beans with beef on half a plate, and french fries on the other plate.  Eggs are on top of the plate. It was delicious! We can add some lime into the fries too! It tasted so good!

After the school event, my director took me to the market next to it.  He got me the cane sugar juice!! It was FRESH and lovely! Feels like heaven in this hot weather! :) In the cane sugar juice, they put some lime to bring up more of the sweetness from the cane sugar.  It was refreshing!

In the same market, I also saw a "fruit" cart full of different fruits that are sour, no taste, or even bitter.  Some of them are sweet, I know because there were bees on it.  For those fruits that have just little taste, we add some fish, shrimp taste into it. Its is actually good!

After the school even, we went to this grand grand grand restaurant called Tonle Bassacll.  It is the highest class of buffet you can get in Cambodia, therefore, many people would come after events that they have had and eat together.  Lots and lots of people were there.  Because we had many people, we had our own room.

 (This man is Sophal, my director!) 

You can get expensive wines there! :) 

I see a lot of monks eating at the buffet! I LOVE IT!!

 

 

 

All they served was cold tea, so I asked for water, thinking it would be free, but they said we have to pay for it.  Many were curious of why don't a Chinese drink tea? In the buffet, there are many styles of food, Chinese Khmer, Vietnamese, etc.  Frogs, spaghetti.  Sophal taught me how to eat Khmer noodles.  it is basically pick all the herbs you want and add the noodles, then they add either the fish soup or the curry.  I added the fish soup.  The fish soup was so fresh and light, it is almost you can eat the fish.  It was fabulous! :) 

This is what we had for dinner. Some stir fries and fried fish with fish sauce and lime and chill.  It was very good!!! :)

For breakfast, we had this stir-fried noodles.  It was SO GOOD!! I believe it is made out of roman noodles and chives, and green onions.  It was good.  Ammon said it is better than their breakfast.

I help... kind of.... Ohm to make dinner, these are all the ingredients.  I want to get to know their secrets, but there are NONE!!! And that was our dinner. We had so much to eat! :) And so much left overs! :) hahahaha...

Our host mom came home.  she brought a special treat, called Gland, to her daughter.  She shared with me.  It was sticky rice with peanuts.  It has a little sweetness into it.  I loved it.  They said that they do not sell them in here, only sell them in the province.

The next morning, we had this sandwiches!! It is different types of spams and add condense milk on it and cucumber and pickled veggies.  I like it.  But afterwards at church, my tummy were..... ><...

But for lunch, we had Chinese noodles to compensate our breakfast! :)  hahah!! The owner is Chinese, from Jiang Su, China.  He was very nice and humble! :) I love Chinese people and Khmer people!