Cambodia- 7/31

Currently, there are 95 minutes left for my video to upload up on You Tube because that's the quickest internet I can get out here, so show me some love when I get this entry up! :)

I'm sitting in a muggy room on my bed protected by a blue mosquito net. So far I have bites on my legs and back. I think one bug got lucky to sleep in the net with me. I also have a runny nose from my allergies that I credit towards the air pollution here. Either that or I got it from the very sick passenger who sat next to me on my 13 hour flight to Teipei. Hmmm...

Cambodia reminds me of the Philippines so there hasn't been much of a culture shock for me. When I arrived at the airport waiting for my friend, Lisa, to pick me up I had over ten different guys approach me asking me to ride on their tuk-tuk. When I told them I was being taken care of a few of them tried their best to convince me that my friend wasn't coming. That was a hoot!

I'm staying in Tiny Toone's volunteer house that is pretty large. You'll see in the video. There's a maid here who cooks our meals for us when we're home and does our laundry. She's a young local, about 20-years-old. For dinner last night she cooked us pig ears and no one was in the mood to eat it, so she made us fried eggs and rice and that was better. At night there's a security guard who sets up post by the front gate. I woke up around 4 a.m. and was climbing around upstairs making a lot of noise. He came into the living room downstairs and looked up at me in wonder. I waved apologetically and felt better that he was doing his job.

It's rather dangerous to walk on the streets here, including in the day time. You just have to be very aware of traffic and your surroundings. It's pretty impressive to watch how cars and motos maneuver their way on the roads, many times coming thin close from being in an accident. I also included some of that footage in the video.

I dropped by with Lisa at the center to visit the kids. I loved how there were always people dancing the entire time I was there. Kids as young as 4 to age 23 were helping each other learn the breakdancing moves. It was an encouraging and positive thing to watch and it got me tapping my feet and imaginging myself dancing like how they were dancing.

I also broke the first rule my friends and family told me not to do and that was to not eat any street food. Outside the center a man rolled by with a cart so he could serve ice cream in a sweet bun, sort of like you were getting a hot dog but with ice cream instead. Lisa urged me that it was alright, so I ate one and it was delicious. I also felt fine afterwards, but I won't make it a habit to eat street food. :)

As a photographer I noticed that the lighting at the center is incredible. It's an outdoor location with an open shade so they're many places for the sunlight to bounce of off. Many of the walls, too, are painted with detailed and colorful murals so it'll make for interesting backgrounds. I won't be returning to the center until a week from now, because I'll be heading to Thailand in a couple of days, but the photography program is in full-effect. I'll be teaching a class earlier in the afternoon for 7 to 14-yr-olds and another one later in the day for 15 to 22-year-olds. Each class will have 10 students so each student gets their own camara to use. I'll be interviewing each one, so you guys will get a chance to meet them and follow their work.

Enjoy the video!