Rain, Roadtrip, & the Riverfront

Due to the possibility of heavy rain today Pastor Sokhom canceled our classes (he warned us last night that it was a good possibility). I’m sure the kids were really disappointed since today (through Tuesday actually) is a Cambodian holiday for the Water Festival. But, since it was only a possibility we went ahead and prepared what we would teach and set our alarms… and didn’t over sleep this time. So, bright and early at six am we rolled out of bed to see what the verdict was on the rain. He told us the weather was, “not good”. Neither was the news on our visas… apparently we got the wrong one when we arrived at the beginning of the month. As a result, we have to leave the country… but, we get to come right back. So, now we have a road trip planned for Tuesday… Vietnam, here we come!! No worries though, he’s going with us and we should have the right visa when we return. I really don’t know what we would do without him… or the rest of the family for that matter. Have I mentioned that they’re amazing? They are!!


So, what do you do at six am after you’re wide awake? Call your friends to find out really important information like…

“What’s going on in Texas?”

“Why don’t you have your phone with you… at all times while I’m here?”

“Where do you buy a flat iron?”

“What street was that really good donut shop on here?”

See, really important stuff… give us a day off and we’re useless. Well, maybe not totally useless. We skipped out on the donut shop and had breakfast at home. We did plan on finding out some information for the team in December but, the place we needed to go was closed… this Water Festival is a BIG deal!! After a leisurely coffee/ lunch/ talking to more friends & family we set out on the hunt for a flat iron and the Water Festival… Both accomplished! See Lauren’s facebook for what the celebration is all about. We had been told there are always a LOT of people there and it’s SUPER crowded. So, with our purses tucked securely under our arms and water bottles in hand we tuk tuked as close to the riverfront as we could before we got out, played frogger, and joined the masses. Basically, there’s these HUGE (hold like 20-40 people) painted canoe like boats from all over Cambodia that come to race… Lveasar even competes but, we had no idea how to find them. In each of the boats there’s a guy at the front that has a horn, giant stick, or some other device to make noise with to set the pace for his team… they we’re our favorites to watch… except for one boat that had a drummer at the back… maybe a story for later. I’m still amazed at how these guys make rowing look so effortless and move these monstrous boats so quickly. After sitting for a while (and taking a ton of pictures) we decided to walk around. We sampled some street food, took some more pictures, got stared at a lot, and watched some more races. I would defiantly recommend checking it out if you’re even in Cambodia during this time. We left from there to grab a few things for school and at the market before making our way home. All in all, it was a great Saturday!



-Tamara