So I just got back from a weekend at the beach with over 200 AIDS orphans at a camp put on by our organization called Project HALO. It was an unbelievable time of games, singing, crazy dancing (Cambodian style) and of course swimming in the ocean. The water was so warm! It was great. For most of these kids this was their first time seeing the ocean, and so is especially a good treat. I had to keep reminding myself that these kids were all orphans, because they were just like any other great group of kids aged between 7-15 having fun together. Some of my friends also went along as volunteers and helpers so it was also a fun time of hanging out and working with them. They even judged my Cambodian good enough to where I could lead one of the games (they had about 13 games set up that the kids would give you tickets to play at). I think the best thing about the weekend was the dancing. Khmer dancing tends to be pretty slow and reserved, but this stuff was more like the crazy stuff you find in Hindi Films.
Two of my host siblings were able to go too. When we got back, one of them, Terum, shared some questions he had with me. He asked, “What do you have to do to accept Jesus?” He also asked “What happens if you used to believe in Jesus and then stopped?” I shot up a prayer for wisdom in what to say to him, and then tried to formulate some answers in Khmer (especially hard because there’s a different vocabulary involved when talking about God). I hope that some of what I said was helpful to him, but I’d really appreciate your prayers for him as he’s obviously wrestling with some serious spiritual questions, and there’s no one really that he’d feel comfortable asking these things to. I’m sure it’s one of those times where you really miss having a father and mother.
Thanks for all your prayers for me. I’ll be seeing some of you in about 2 weeks time (believe it or not).I’ll be arriving home in Dublin on Friday the 18th of November, but leaving here on Thursday morning. (And, if you’d like to come to the airport to collect me, my host mother has gone and bought me a traditional Khmer suit for me to wear on my journey home, so you’ll get to see me in that). That’s most of the news for now, I’ll probably post at least one more time before I leave, and I’m sure I’ll be posting more as I go through reverse culture shock when I get back to the western world.
Well, I know what you're thinking, but Rachel really doesn't have an abnormal love of hugging stone crosses. She's unusually close to this giant celtic cross since there's been a tourist ledgend that's sprung up which says if you can put your arms around this cross and clasp your wrists, you'll be married within the year, but no such luck for Dorr. 
So last wednesday a friend of mine who I knew from college (a fellow Anthropology major) is now working in England and we planned last spring that she would come over and visit for Thanksgiving. It's been really fun to have someone from Wheaton here and who know's a lot about cross cultural living and travel, as I transition back into life here. Thanksgiving was fun, we spent it with some long-time American friends, and it really felt like family. On Friday we took a short trip down to Glendalough which is an ancient celtic Christian monastery. It was absolutely, bitterly cold. But the reason we're laughing in this photo is because a dog has just come out of the river that we are standing above and shook itself off right beside my mom as she was trying to take this photo. 
Well, this is going to be my last post from Cambodia. I leave the day after tomorrow to go back to Dublin till I return in January to Wheaton. Last night some people had a small good bye party for me, it was such a perfect night. We went to the top of the "training centre" where I've taught english so many times, and put out mats and ate cocunut (all different type of cocunut). The sunset was so beautiful (not captured well in this picture) and Sopee set up some music which was this really classy piano instrumental music, to be going in the background. It was one of those perfect moments. We sat around and laughed most of the night and then when it got dark and the food was gone, we changed the music to some good old traditional cambodian and did a bit of dancing. That's a great way to end my time in Cambodia.
This is a picture of a group of my ex-students and some co-workers who organized a small goodbye party for me. It was a really fun time, and sad as well, but I'm so thankfull for these people and the memories they've given me. 
