Service Learning Cambodia 2007! (:

Day 1

Left for the airport and Jerome’s uncle fetched us there at like 3.30am. We reached the airport at around 4am. Met alden, sheng wei, leroy, alex at burger king and we ate there. after that checked in with the group of 40+. went to the departure hall after that and walked around abit before boarding the plane. Plane ride was pretty funny. Sat next to qiao sen and Leroy. Crapped a whole lot about final destination & we were pretty scared the plane would crashhh. Touched down and boarded the bus which brought us to the hotel named princess hotel. Couldn’t check in as it was still too early for that so we left our baggages in the teacher’s room. Ms toh fell sick with fever so she rested there. Went to the hotel restaurant to catch breakfast. Did’nt eat much as I ate earlier already. After that went for a city tour to like some flea market like that. Sold many many stuff there. I bought 2 shirts as it was quite cheap and nice. After that continued the city tour to a lot of different places. Took some group photos. Then we went to some high class buffet lunch. After that it was a drive to see the school we were gonna help in the village. The place looked quite run down and had many flies there but the sight of the children took all that away. They were so cute la!! We were told of what we had to do for the next few days. After checking the school out, checked in to the hotel. We were given some time to wash up before going for dinner. Watched the hotel tv. To my surprise there were so many channels!!! :D my room mate was alex. Yea so we went for dinner at some place which I can’t remember. Went back to hotel after that and had devotions with the group. Then after that it was our own free time.

Day 2

Today we had to wake up pretty early. Morning call was at 5.30 . woke up & showered then jerome, alex, alden, Leroy, sheng wei and I went down for breakfast. Haha it was the same place as the day before. After that, went to the school. We were divided into groups of 3. the diggers, the painters and the teachers. I was in the diggers. So we went to collect our tools and started digging the area to lay the pipes down. It was real tough work especially under the very very very hot sun!! however, it was the first time I did such a thing and it really left me with quite an experience. We had many many water breaks and never did water taste so sweet! Went for lunch at some village place. I guess it was the food there that caused the food poisoning later on. After lunch, went back to the school to work. Many people started to fall sick, some vomited, others had real bad headaches. but, we just continued working. At 4+, we had Cambodian language class. The teacher was great and interesting but I just couldn’t grasp the concept of khmer. Haha, the children there were really very poor but contented. It really tells me how much I should appreciate what I have and not keep asking for more. After the class we went off back to the hotel to shower and then go for dinner. By dinner, I started to have fever. It really sucked though. I thought that it was just a normal fever. After dinner, went back to the hotel and showered. Caught abit of tv and then went to sleep. Alex was not feeling well already. He felt like vomiting la. Suddenly in the middle of the night, I woke up to vomit. I thought I would feel better already la but in the end that was just the start of a long long nightmare.We had devotions that night as well and that really lightened up my day.

Day 3

Woke up at 5 to bathe. Was feeling super sick. Alex was already very sick so I brought him to go look for ms toh. We were given some medicine which tasted pretty crappy. By then I realized my fever reached 39.7 la. I was experiencing serious vertigo. Never felt anything like it before. So basically, I slept on the bed for almost the whole morning. When ms toh woke me up to go to the hospital, I was feeling even sicker!! I could not even stand properly la. So we went to the hospital by a van along with mark ho, joseph, Joanna. Amy & alden accompanied their various friends there. I was first to see the doctor. The doctor said I had to be hospitalized la!!!! I was thinking wa crap!! And I had to be put on drip to replace the salt level in my body.. the needle was very big, bigger than the usual vaccination needles. Felt very very uncomfortable. Rested on the hospital bed. My bunkmate was joseph, my p4 friend. So we had a lot of chances to catch up on life. It was great talking to him again. But it was a great pity that we were unable to help in the school. The children really needed our help la. But I couldn’t give it to them. Then it struck me, why am I always worrying about my problems and all. My problems are so small compared to what so many other people are going through. I was saddened by that fact as it only goes to show that I may be a Christian but some where in my heart, there still is selfishness. But that’s all gonna change soon. Skipped the hospital dinner and basically just slept there and talked the whole day. Time seemed to pass so slowly. We were practically counting down the hours till day break. Everything throughout that day felt so dreamy. I even lost my sense of humor!! I knocked out at 7pm.

Day 4

Woke up asking joseph: is it 8pm?? It felt like only 1 hour had passed since I fell asleep but actually, it was already 4.30am in the morning. Boy was I relieved. Almost 10 hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Immediately, I went to mr wong’s room and asked me what time can we go back? Had a breakfast of porridge. It was quite tasty excluding the liver part. Really really really really wanted to go to the school in the later part of the day to help but I guess we couldn’t. so we were discharged eventually and I went back to the hotel feeling much better. Ever since then, I had a phobia whenever I put something in my mouth. I was scared of getting food poisoning again. Went back to the hotel room to catch more sleep as we only had to meet for dinner at 6.30 and it was only lunch time. It was a good time of reflection for me as I was able to see through my past actions through a different set of eyes. I guess after exposure to the people of Cambodia, the eyes of my heart gradually opened and I really wanna thank God for that. Slept and woke up for dinner. We went to some restaurant but my appetite had not come back yet so didn’t eat much. By the end of the day, I was pretty much feeling okay already. I got my sense of humor back. By today we were supposed to have finished all work at the school but I highly doubt that it was achieved and I am feeling really bad for that. I mean we could have done so much more. But most of us fell sick especially me, I even had to be in the hospital. So went back to the hotel and messed about, watching tv and playing guitar. Ms toh’s guitar is really nice to play. After that slept.

Day 5

Today would be the second best day of the trip. the long bus ride to siem reap was quite fun la except for the boring sleeping parts. It was a 4 hour + bus ride la! Had a few stops in between the journey to catch a breather etc. so once we reached the place, we went for lunch at some place. It was buffet style AGAIN! But this time round the food wasn’t that bad. In fact after so many days, I have just started to get used to the food there. After that, we checked in the hotel. OH MAN! THE HOTEL WAS BIG BIG BIG. We could climb and we did clim over the balcony to get to the next room la. There was a single bed and a queen size bed! Oh ya, and that day was the star wars marathon crap so there wasn’t any other movie on star movies except for STAR WARS.. it’s a nice show but it gets real boring after watching it a few times. After that, we went to Angkor watt. It was fun down there. We took many stupid photos and alden got super trigger happy. Angkor watt really lives up to its reputation. It is HUMONGOUS! There are also many cool chambers inside. We also climbed this super steep super tall thing. It was not scary to climb up as long as you don’t look down but the going down part was scary. Haha, after that we went back to the hotel and showered to go for dinner. To cut the long story short, after dinner we went back to the hotel. Alex and I shifted in with alden, Jerome, Leroy and sheng wei so we sort of like 3 people in a room. They played cards and some other stuff while I fell asleep first. Haha!

Day 6

Today’s gonna be the last day in Cambodia.. :( didn’t do much today except wake up super early to go to the airport. Had breakfast during the bus ride there la. Well, at that point, everything felt different. It’s like going back to a reality which I don’t wanna go. Being in Cambodia felt so carefree, no stress unlike the life in Singapore. So after reaching the airport we checked in and boarded the plane. GOOD BYE CAMBODIA :( I’ll miss Cambodia a lot a lot a lot. Touched down at Singapore changi airport. Ms toh told us some saddening news.. ya guess the only good thing that happened on that day was nothing. THIS IS THE END!

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so basically that's a brief break down of what happened in cambodia. it was really an eye-opener for me. it has changed my view on life alot. i miss cambodia STILL! i guess God has many ways of showing us new stuff!