A Typical Cambodian Day

 

Hello! You may have been wondering what we've been doing these past few weeks. The short answer is not much, but the long answer is detailed more below if you care to follow it.

A typical Phnom Penh day for us entails biking to the gym and (usually) getting fresh cane juice before or after:

Afterwards, it's essential that we fuel our bodies, so we then go get "breakfast" of pork and rice...or is it dog and rice? Who knows!?

After that, it's back home for some work, napping, and any other shenanigans we can think of! So far, we've done some temples, a first-class movie theater (reclining beds, blankets, welcome drink, popcorn...all for a whopping $10 bucks), a lot of biking here and there--with a few day-trip bike adventures, a circus/acrobat show, teeth cleaning, and general doctors visits (either in person or via texts and emails to an old-student-who-is-now-a-doctor-and-is-awesome) for all the mysterious illnesses that this type of travel brings us (and no, that is not a black eye that we gave Sila, and no, we have no idea what it's from but after a blood test, it was confirmed that he's had dengue in the past...whoops and eek! The picture of my leg is after flying from Kenya--we think some of my varicose veins bled...yuck!). Hope you're all well. Much love.

Christmas in Phnom Penh

 

We did it. We couldn't help ourselves---Africa took it out of us, and after our first few nights in Kenya, being sick and resisting change, we switched our tickets. Oh yes we did. For the second time. We just wanted to feel at home. As Conan says, "when you travel the world, you can do it anyway you like." We like Cambodia. 

Like I mentioned before, traveling like this is hard. Sila and I still want to go home about every other day. But, that isn't really a reality, so the next best thing? Cambodia. We've already landed; we're here. We got an Airbnb for 3 weeks, bought some bikes, have joined the Sports Club, eaten a ton of pork (or dog?) and rice, and have decorated our place. We are excited. That's all for now. Just wanted to let you know where we are and to show more pictures!!

Our Two Weeks in Kenya...

 

Were a complete blur. We arrived, jet-lagged, and immediately jumped into volunteering. As I mentioned from my last post, we were in a bit of shock and trying to get over all being sick (in someone else's house). But, we loved every minute of it. Kenya definitely captured our hearts, and the people we got to know there were angels on Earth (and I'm not religious). 

The family who owns/runs the school free of charge for children from the neighboring slums consist of (mainly) Alice and her two sons, Lawrence and William. The three of them are--quite simply--magical people. In addition to running this school for almost 300 children, they have taken in 12 children from the streets. These children we got to know very well because they were at the school and at home. Sila, in fact, found a few buddies and spent quite a bit of time playing with them, which was greatly needed for him. 

Other than volunteering, we took one major safari at the Masi Mara National Reserve. It was the best safari we have ever been on (going on a whopping 2 now), and even getting to it was a beautiful adventure. The countryside of Kenya is a lot different than Nairobi, where it's mostly unsafe to walk alone (as a white person). Thankfully, Conan and I were able to take a few walks during our time there, and we even got to ride some local buses (Conan's favorite!). 

Overall, I think it's fair to say we'll be back. But after that first weekend of shock, we made some flight adjustments....see next post for where we are now! Until then, missing you all greatly.

Nairobi, Teaching, and Conan's Birthday

 

Hello! We have arrived safely in Kenya, and the image above is from the rooftop of the school we are volunteering at. It's been a whirlwind couple of days, but we're beginning to settle in. All three of us have been battling a bit of head colds, and we're staying with our WorkAway host family in Nairobi (mom, two sons, 12 orphan kids). It's an experience, but we're good.

We spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday teaching at the school, and Sila has made some friends with a few of the boys. Some of his closest friends are the boys who are living with us (really, in the back of the house--long story), and it's mostly because they don't make fun of his hair. Apparently, Africans are quite surprised at how long American boys hair is.

Today, however, is Conan's birthday, so we decided to celebrate by visiting a giraffe center. We had fun, and it only took Sila two hours to get enough courage to feed the giraffes. Oh, that boy. Sila is missing from the picture below because he refused to stand that close to a giraffe. 

This week, we have to finish up teaching (the kids are done on Wednesday....we think; communication isn't the clearest here), and then we hope to take the orphan kids to Nairobi National Park (only NP in a city!!) on Thursday. From there, our plan is to visit Masai Mara National Reserve, which is supposed to be one of the best game parks in the world. We.are.excited.

Until then, hope everyone is well!!!