HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hope everyone's New Year's Eve was memorable and fitting for the crazy year 2008 has been...

We celebrated on the roof of our hotel last night... lots of fun. Watched the fireworks on the river... the streets are empty and quiet (or at least quiet for here) today... Welcome 2009! May it be a year of blessings and peace.

Chum riep leah 2008...

Happy New Year's Eve!! It dawned on some of us last night that 2008 will be ending today... kind of a weird feeling, when all of the newsworthy events of the year seem so far and disconnected from us here... but more of my "2008 recap" later. 

This is the first chance I've had to actually sit down a minute with my laptop since we arrived yesterday.  We landed around noon, got thru customs and immigration fine, and all of our luggage and art supplies got here in one piece thankfully!! Mardi, the Cambodian coordinator of the program, met us at the airport with his "I <3>

here's the fabulous 2009 team:

We basically hit the ground running after we unloaded everything at the Goldiana and headed straight to the University for a welcome reception... needless to say everyone was pretty exhausted at the event, but so far the team has been awesome troopers.  The reception was full of wonderful reunions with students and faculty, including the director from the NGO I worked with last year, Drew, which was a huge surprise!! Ah, it was great to see him again and catch up for a quick minute... it feels like I was just here, the streets are the same, with the exception of some new construction, some businesses have changed etc. (the internet cafe is gone!) and I still know my way walking around the city :)

I'm feeling a little bit like Team Mom... not sure how I feel about that, especially since George tends to be much more of a lone ranger.  It's fine for the first couple of days, but I'm hoping people will start to explore the city on their own.  Right now I'm kind of momma duck with a long line of ducklings following behind me, learning to cross the insane streets... that said, I'm really glad to be able to be a part of this experience for the students.  They all seem like incredible individuals and each will have a unique experience I'm sure.  We had a cool conversation up on the roof about identity, especially Asian cultural identity and feeling out of place in your own culture etc. with a couple guys on our team who are Cambodian American.  The students seem very insightful and aware already... there are quite a few Asians on our team actually... haha. 

We have today and tomorrow off for the holiday... time to explore!! I hope you all have an awesome and safe New Year's Eve... I have a feeling tonight is going to be pretty crazy... See you in 2009!

almost there!

Just landed in the Taipei airport... 14 hours down, 3.5 more to go to Phnom Penh!! thankfully I slept the entire flight :)

The team all made it... we're in one piece, so far so good! We'll see if the art supplies all make it... fingers crossed! 

I always say I'll journal...

but I never do... regretfully... which brings me to this blog.  

This is my sad attempt to actually make myself journal and keep a better recording of this experience: my thoughts, our successes and inevitable failures, the heartbreak, the incredible kids, and hopefully track a bit of the journey and the transformation that working with them brings about in everyone involved.  There are so many little things that happen over the course of the trip that slip through the cracks when I get home and try to start making sense of the whole thing... I hope I can hang on to them in writing at least.

Our team leaves for Phnom Penh tomorrow night at 10:50pm! I should start packing...

in case you were wondering...