Beginning of Opportunity

Airplane

The minute my mom and I got to the airport at 7 am on Tuesday morning, I was buzzing with excitement. Throughout all of the plane rides and airports, I was ready to get to Cambodia and sleep, and think about my first time out of my home country. The thing about the travel that I remember the most vividly? A blood red sun that lit up the sky in the South Korean evening.

Day 1

We got to Cambodia at 11:30 at night their time, and we had barely slept in the past 32 hours. We were exhausted, excited and completely unaware what was going to happen. We got maybe 3 hours of sleep, and were up and ready by 7:30, and had our orientation at Star Kampuchea. We actually did so well on time that we got to go to the orphanage for an hour that first day. I met so many kids, heard a few inspiring stories, and watched my little monkey child swing from the tuk-tuk bars (more on that later). We got home, and I fell asleep immediately, as I was, and still am a little tired. Day 1 went as perfect as it could have.

Day 2

Day 2 was all about the kids. We went, and had our first full work/play day. I got so attached to 3 kids in particular: Roon (which I think is how I spell his name), who is 5 years old, is my little monkey child, and who I had to comfort today when he started crying after a red fire-ant bit him; Sreg-neat, who is 12 years old, and the girl that I have come to love in such a small amount of time; and Houen, who is 15 years old, and has a hurt foot at the moment, changes his own bandages every day, and took amazing pictures with my camera. I had no idea that my attachment to the kids would be this strong within a matter of hours, and none of us will want to leave.