Aloha...

Well, it has been a while and for that I am sorry, but I have been very busy and for that I am not too sorry. So Laura came with her family a week ago and it was great to see some familiar faces as well as get a little hint of american culture. It was really a wonderful week filled with a lot of excursions to the countryside to visit different orphanages that Global Children works with. The one orphanage that stuck out teh most in my mind was definitely one that had a painting program. At a lot of orphanages the children do not have an outlet after school so the kids usually sit around and do nothing. However, at this one in particular they painted. I was walking in expecting some amateur art work and walked out with two paintings in my hand. The work was truly wonderful and captured the landscape and essence of cambodia to the "t". The children really did have a lot of talent and 3 students in particular made most of the paintings and collages that we took with us. It was a very quiet and peaceful place that was a welcome relief from the heat and crazyness of the outside world. I felt that if every orphanage had a program like this it would have a dramatic effect on every children's life. Aside from that it was just good to have Laura around. Hearing about her adventures and what Cambodia used to be like gave me a better perspective and feeling that the country really is one the move and in a much better state than yesterday. However, as quickly as Laura had come she had to go back to teh states. The following week was nothign special just a lot of class and working out. I went pretty smoothly until the weekend. I got extremely sick starting staturday. I had a cambodian breakfast that consisted of dim sum because I was tarving and thats when it started to hit me. I was very sick and feverish by the middle of the day. All I knew was to drink a lot of water and try and sweat it out. Although id felt like this before I could not get the asian bird flu out of my head and started to freak out, but not enough to venture to a cambodian hospital. I figured I would give it a day or two and make my decision. Luckily for me, I was feeling pretty well by the following night and it was just a matter of getting my strength back. I survived the asian flu! Unfortunately I was not able to survive the asian barber. Ponlok took me to a barber and after I explained for 20 minutes to just shave my head he gave me a 1985 haircut that makes me look like Brandon Walsh from 90210. So today I bought my own haircut machine for $15 us and will be cutting short upon my arrival home. So things are pretty good, I plan to try and make some sort of trip in February. I am thinking either a 10 day trip to Thailand or a short long weekend trip to Sihanoukville to relax at the beach town in Cambodia. Take care and write when you have a chance, spence