Chum Reap Leah Cambodia!!

My last weekend in Cambodia was fabulous. I am so grateful for all the tremendous opportunities I've had this summer and for all of the incredible people I have met along my journey. Well, Friday was my last day at work with RACHA. I brought a big bag of clothes that I did not need to back home with me so they could be donated to women in the villages. As I walked into my office carrying a plastic bag of clothes, one of the men told me I looked like a refugee. I wasn't sure how to take that. ha. I finished preparing my final presentation and went up to the meeting room to present my research project and overall observations of RACHA from my internship with all the head honchos of the organization. As I was waiting for everyone to arrive, my title page slide was showing on the wall. One man said "Brittany Brown. But you're not brown, you're white." haha. Right after that, my supervisor walked into the room and said, "Okay Britney Spears!" haha. My presentation went surprisingly well and the directors over RACHA were very impressed with my research and my observations. It was so nice to feel like I finally got some respect and recognition, on my last day nonetheless. But they told me they'd love to have me back once I graduate and then they presented me with a coupled of Cambodian scarves as a gift. They put one of the scarves on me and tugged on it, saying they were using that to pull me back to Cambodia. It was really precious.

Saturday morning I headed out into town for a Cambodian cooking class. I was super excited for this; to learn about the unusual ingredients used in their cuisine, and to learn some new techniques from professionals. The class consisted of people from all over the world, all in Cambodia for various reasons. It was such a fun class with excellent company. I met some fascinating people. We started off with a tour through a local market (definitely NOT a tourist market). It will leave you speechless to wander through these markets to see everything set out, raw meats set out all day, live fish swimming around and then being chopped into blood and guts right there on the table, and lots of flies and horrible smells. Sometimes I'd rather not know where my food is coming from....

But we picked up all of our ingredients, including fresh squeezed coconut milk (yummm!) and then headed to the cooking school, which was on a rooftop. We made spring rolls, fish amok, banana flower salad, and mango with sticky rice. It was so cool to learn from the chefs and we each made our own dishes. We had to puree and combine ingredients using a mortal and pistol. This was fun for about 5 minutes, but my arm tired quickly, ha.

We made the fish amok in a banana leaf bowl that we folded ourselves using toothpicks. I was pleasantly surprised with how good everything looked AND tasted. It was a blast.

Following the cooking class, there was a massage place downstairs called "Seeing Hands Massage". I had heard from several people that these massage parlors were all over the country, where blind people have been trained in giving massages, and that it was one of the coolest experiences ever. I poked my head in and found out it was $6 for an hour massage in an air conditioned air. Sold! So they told me back to a room and gave me pajamas to put on. As I started undressing, someone walked into the room and I froze! But then I realized it was the girl to give me my massage. And she was blind. ha. Still kind of weird. Anyway, she was really sweet, and it was awesome to see how she really did just depend on touch to find my pressure points and find her way around the massage table. Not to mention that it was a great massage!

After my massage I went to Wat Phnom, the main pagoda (Buddhist temple) in Phnom Penh. Apparently a little old lady found a piece of wood floating in the river near there that looked like Buddha, so she built a temple on a hill there and named it Wat (temple)Phnom (mountain). The city Phnom Penh was built around this temple, and got its name from the lady (Lady Penh). The grounds were beautiful and I enjoyed just people watching as I walked around. Women were sitting on stools in the dirt giving pedicures right there! There were children catching little birds from the trees and caging them and then charging people $1 to free a bird in front of the temple. There were monkeys in cages (totally random and I have NO idea why) and little kids were taunting them so badly.

Next I headed to the night market. This was a really fun little market with souvenir and clothing shops all set up in a park. Lots of food vendors were set up, and there was a huge seating area of bamboo mats. I got the most delicious mango shake EVER. They had live bands playing and people dancing. It was really fun to wander around and buy a few last souvenirs and gifts. I caught a moto home, and nearly flew off the back of the bike he was in such a big hurry! I'm sure many of you would cringe if you saw the kind of traffic I ride through on a daily basis, but I think it's kind of fun now and usually just laugh at how absurd it is. For example, earlier that day, a guy was taking me to the cooking school. He didn't want to wait in the long left turn line, so we pulled up on the left side of the line of cars, in the opposite lane of the street. Well, as cars started coming through the intersection towards us, a big SUV was coming straight for us. (Cars own the road here, the bigger you are, the more power you have. Then motos, then pedestrians are last on the list.) So my driver and I just leaned as far over our right side as we could in order to not get hit haha.

Sunday morning was my last day at my international branch. I have come to love the people in that branch so much. They are the most loving people ever and are wonderful examples. Everyone there made me feel so loved and helped strengthen my testimony. It was sad to say goodbye, but I have already received a few emails from some of the ladies in the Relief Society!

After church, I set out to find flowers to give Ma as a thank you gift. Several people along the streets were selling huge, gorgeous arrangements of tropical flowers. I picked one out, thinking it would cost a fortune. Turns out it only cost $5!

I took my family out to a nice restaurant as a thank you before I left. They chose the most expensive restaurant in town, but it was fun to be able to spoil them. After dinner, I took Ma some money for rent. I gave her $300 and she instantly grabbed me and started bawling. She kept telling me "awcoon, awcoon" (thank you) and wouldn't let me go. It was one of the most touching and humbling moments in my life.

The next morning Ma, Pa, and Thida took to the Phnom Penh airport. I was so sad as I sat in the car for the long drive to the airport and watching the familiar sights of this wonderful city pass me by and knowing that I was leaving it all behind. They stopped at an intersection and bought me a beautiful little jasmine ring as a goodbye gift. It was simple, but knowing how little they have, this little token of their love for me meant the world to me. Cambodia was wonderful to me. It was very difficult, but I had so many incredible experiences that have changed me forever. I met so many wonderful people in the most humble of experiences that showed me so much love and taught me the beauty and simplicity of life. I can't wait to return to Cambodia someday and visit all of my friends!