Oh boy. I can’t believe this happened… ok I’m going to back up. For the past 2 months I’ve been making friends with all the people on the boat. They do all sorts of things. For example, the guys who work out at the front of the ship, let me and amy and Georgia go to the BOW or the front and check it out. (usually its off limits). That was cool. Then we got a little behind the scenes tour of the fridge and the ship’s freezer. I almost stole a pineapple but that would probably lose a few trustworthy points.
SOOOOO, our friendship with a helicopter pilot….paid off. Big time. Me, Amy and Georgia and 5 others got to go on a HELO RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes, words just don’t do justice to really cool experiences. How do you explain how amazing it is to take off from a Navy ship in Cambodia? I don’t know. Trust me when I say, it was incredible. We wore our gear complete with a “cranial” which is a helmet with ear muffs to protect your hearing. Amy, Georgia and I were screaming like excited little girls the entire time. Ok most of the time. It was blowing my mind. We circled the ship a couple of times, flew along the coast and then went inland. The land is super green and lush. Its not so humid as Vietnam but its pretty hot. Wait back to the view- the water is a mix of gray and aqua in some places and there are shacks dotting the land with tin/steel roofs. The buildings are really colorful.
Yeah, I needed that helo ride. I’ve been working straight 12 hour days for weeks and I’m getting a little tired. Its okay, when I get the rare chance to catch up on sleep, it makes everything better.
About the kiddos- Its really interesting to see the culture differences between parents in Cambodia and in America. In Cambodia, these patients have to pretty much stay in our little ward for about 3 days. The parents don’t bring magazines to entertain themselves like they would in the states. And they don’t really entertain their children either. I’m really used to parents being super interactive so its been very interesting to see how parenting is over here. Obviously, human nature is the same around the world, but there are definitely differences. Oh yeah, the whole sit-down-on-the-toilet-to-pee concept definitely hasn’t caught on here any better than Vietnam. No one gets it. The mothers hold their children over the toilet, or the kids squat with their feet on the seat to go to the bathroom. Everyday things to us, are so unusual and strange to the people of Southeast Asia.
Wanna learn Cambodian? Here we go:
Hello: Suesiday! (They have a totally different squiggly alphabet that looks really cool so I’m going to put it phonetically)
How are you? : Sucksiby tay?
Everythings good: Sucksiby
Thank you: Aw cone
No comments:
Post a Comment