all I want for Christmas is you!

I am sitting here in a coffee shop in Phnom Penh, listening to some Christmas music I have downloaded on my computer. It's one thing that reminds me Christmas is in just a few days, even if it is 91 degrees outside and I am drinking iced coffee instead of hot chocolate or something else warm by a fireplace. I was just listening to "All I want for Christmas is you" by none other than Mariah Carey, and reminiscing of all of the past Christmases that this song brings back memories of. Two of my favorites:

1) Going surfing early morning in South Africa.... a few of my nursing friends and I would get up early and try our attempt at surfing a few mornings a week before class. One Saturday we went out and some of the other girls made breakfast for us when we came inside. I remember walking up the stairs of Langerry Holiday Flatts, hearing Mariah Carey blaring from the balcony, as the girls dancing around inside making french toast. I can still smell french toast, salty air, and the smell of the sun in that room. We sat on the the balcony in our swimsuits, ate french toast, and basked in the early morning sun and listened to Christmas music... it was so different from the Christmas seasons we had grown up with (in freezing cold Minnesota!) but I remember thinking I didn’t mind for that year!

2) A few years later, Michelle and I got the grand idea that we would bake Christmas cookies for our friends and mail them all over the county. I think we sent out at least 12 or 13 packages, with at least 2 dozen cookies in each... needless to say, this was no small task! We got everything ready; the boxes, fun tissue paper, addresses, and ingredients. All we needed to do was bake. Somehow we decided it was a good idea to start when we got home from Young Life club that night. It was about 9pm when we started baking... and I know we were up half the night trying to finish! We had candles lit in our cozy living room, and Christmas music playing- this song played over and over along with lots of others. We baked and baked and it seemed as though we would never finish... at times we looked at each other and wondered, "what were we THINKING?! Is anyone even going to care that we stayed up all night and baked for them?!" We had cookies covering our table, the floor of the kitchen, and the floor of the living room! The ginger snaps and sugar cookies were a big hit though... even amongst our guy friend who forgot to check his mail until after Christmas, and ate all the cookies about a month later! It's such a great memory that we have continued to look back on and laugh, and every time we hear this song, we say “Remember that year we made a million cookies?!”

As for this year, I may associate this song with the buzz of traffic in Phnom Penh, the heat, and sweat running down my face as I bake for Christmas on the outdoor balcony of my house. Maybe not 24 dozen cookies, but I must admit it’s not a bad memory for Christmas 2007.

christmas

About two weeks ago we talked to the kids briefly during our Thursday afternoon program about Christmas. “Who knows what Christmas is about?” I asked. Lots of hands shot up, and I pointed to a boy who was about eleven to give me an answer. “Christmas was when Jesus was born. He came to save us from from our sin,” he stated matter-of-factly. So simply put. I was impressed. It makes me happy to hear this from kids who didn’t grow up with commercialized Christmas all around them...lights, presents, Santa Claus. For these kids, Christmas is really just about Jesus.

Yesterday I went to Khmer church, which I really enjoy despite the fact I don’t understand most of what goes on. But even then, the Lord meets me. I read through parts of 1 John, and came across this verse:

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love- not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10

Something about this verse really met me. I really like the part that states: “This is real love- not that we loved God, but that He loved us...” He has been pursuing us since the beginning. He sent his Son for us, and still we’ve managed to make Christmas about other things.

It’s been refreshing for me to be here in Cambodia during the Christmas season. As much as it doesn’t feel like Christmas to me in many ways, Christ has been a focus here in ways that He hasn’t when I have spent Christmas at home. There aren’t the distractions of crazy malls, Santa Claus pictures, and media pressure to spend lots of money. Instead, the small percentage of Cambodians who celebrate Christmas focus on praising God. Christ is truly alive and at work in the hearts of Cambodians, and it has been awesome to be a part of that this Christmas.

Lord, thank you for your presence to me during this season. That Christmas is really about how much you loved us and have always been pursuing us, and just want us to understand even a fraction of what that love means. Thank you for taking away the distractions so that I can see You more clearly. Amen.

loved

this is why you might say I have a "full love tank" today...

granola, coconut, and the market

Yesterday I decided to make granola. I had acquired all of the necessary ingredients after going to two different local grocery stores (wheat germ and sliced almonds are not as abundant here!) and the only thing I was still missing was coconut. Because this is Cambodia, and there are coconuts everywhere, I knew I would be able to get some fresh coconut at the market. I wasn't sure where to find it or how I would do so, but I figured I would give it a try. So I walked about five minutes down the road and around the corner from my house. So convenient!

I remember the first time I entered one of these markets in Cambodia, I was of course a bit overwhelmed with some of the sights and smells. The market is something you need to see to understand... definitely a "Where's Waldo?" experience, as I mentioned in my last post. You would see fish flopping in a plastic tub and baskets of fresh tomato, greens, onions, and carrots; maybe on the same stand. There are chickens on a chopping block, about to get their heads chopped off. Smells of grilled meat, garlic, raw fish, stale air and something sweet all come together under the dingy makeshift walls that hold parts of the market together. On the ground you might find some rice, empty shells from the river shellfish, a child's lone flip flop, straws, half of a coconut shell, and always trash...of every variety. There are at least three or four varieties of bananas hanging from a twine knot under the cover of the fruit stand. Sellers relax in their tattered hammocks until you stop for a minute in front of their stand. I used to find the market interesting but not the most desirable place to buy things. I now find it to be always enjoyable and entertaining.... and I must admit even more fun than to going to Whole Foods! It might partly be fun because I don't speak the language well (maybe that is a bit of an understatement!) so on the days where I ask for the price and hand the seller the correct change I get really excited.

I walked to the general area I thought that I had seen coconuts before. Sure enough, there they were, along with a pail of the milk and a device that shreds the flesh. I looked around, unsure if I was supposed to actually get one shredded for me, or if I was supposed to buy some in a bag that had been previously shredded. When I didn't see anything but whole coconuts, I asked the seller (who was about 14) the price for one. 1500 riel. (about 40 cents!) I indicated that I would like one coconut (please!) and gave her a look that said "I have no idea if I am supposed to turn on this machine and shred this coconut myself, but if so, I have no idea what I'm doing... so will you please do it for me?!" She got up and walked over to me and grabbed a coconut off the table. She whacked the hard shell with a sharp blade, and the milk poured out into the bucket. She flipped on the machine and it started to spin. It looked like an aluminum dish on it's side, with a rounded metal center that had small jagged edges to scrape the flesh from the edges. WIthin seconds she had only the two brown shells in her hand. She grabbed a little green plastic bag, collected the fresh white flesh in the bag and handed it to me. I was so excited! Who walks five minutes down the road to the market to get fresh shredded coconut?! Only in Cambodia! I love it! The granola was just as good!

crazy beautiful

One of the reasons I love running in the mornings here in Phnom Penh is that there is always something to look at. I remember when I first arrived, I was overwhelmed with all that lined the streets. It reminded me (and still does!) of the "Where's Waldo?" books from childhood, where there is so much stuff everywhere, and you are supposed to find Waldo somewhere in the middle of it all... which is quite a challenge because of all the stuff.

Everything here seemed so haphazard and ugly; seemingly endless piles of trash, naked toddlers, food stands with questionable contents, nappy dogs, piles of burning things with toxic fumes that I was forced in inhale. I was disgusted with the sights and smells that were hard for me to understand, but I quickly became used to it and was able to accept it as part of the culture of Cambodia. Very quickly there was not much that surprised me.

At this point, however, I am not only able to put up with all of this randomness that might make most people nauseous, but I can honestly say that I really love it! As I ran down the street this morning the darkness was slowly fading away as the sun lit the sky pink over the river... and in this erratic place, I was overwhelmed with beauty. I was once again reminded of how much I appreciate all that surrounds me along the streets of this city.

There were a group of Asians to my left, most dressed in normal clothes, jumping around rhythmically to booming music. On my right, a man fast asleep in his tuk-tuk, the sides draped in a clear plastic sheet. Brightly colored fruit arranged strategically in baskets. A woman with big, dark eyes begging on the edge of the walkway who was so tiny that I almost tripped over her. Food sellers with baskets dangling over each side of their shoulders as they walked down the street; the baskets full, as the seller awaited the first sale of the day. A baby wrapped up and fast asleep on the edge of the sidewalk, covered in a small pink lacy screen, while her smiling mother rested against a light post. I was thinking that besides the obvious fact that running energizes me, with all that I have to look at each morning as I venture out, it has proved to be more than just a physically healthy way to start the day. I said a word of thanks, and prayed a blessing on these beautiful people.

As I rode on the back of the moto home, I smiled as I continued to appreciate my surroundings and circumstances... the children dressed in navy and white uniforms, hair perfectly combed, getting on the back of a moto for a ride to school. The bright orange coolers on every corner, filled with bottled water and other cool drinks. The small fires where women were cooking noodles for the children's breakfast. Televisions blaring loud Khmer music inside the shoddy pieced together houses that line the streets. The other motos, weaving quickly in and out of the other traffic, past my legs, almost hitting me. (I can't help but think that going home and driving a car sounds so boring now!) The fact that my driver didn't speak a word of English, but I still managed to get home quickly, and as I got off and gave him the small change, he told me that I was beautiful. Me? I was thinking it was this place....

running away from home!

Last Saturday morning I left Phnom Penh at 7:30 in the morning, aboard a bus headed north to Siem Reap with my friend Pip. We rode 6 hours there on Saturday, only to ride back again 23 hours later! Why, you might ask?!

For the last 6 weeks or so, we have been training for a 10K run around the temples of Angkor Wat. I honestly wasn't too worried about the run itself... I have been running pretty consistently for the past year or so. My friend Pip had never participated in a race before, and when I first talked her in to signing up with me, she was worried that I was going to put her to shame! This is laughable... and of course I knew that that would NOT be the case! Once we started running together, I realized it would be quite the opposite.

Since running in PP is not the most convenient thing to do, we got creative! We had been running at a local gym for awhile, but as you might expect, the treadmill got boring, and we needed a change! So we decided to start a new training method we call "running away from home" a few times a week instead. Basically, this involves us waking up at 4:45 am (the only culturally appropriate time to run!) and leaving Pip's house about 5 am. In the dark, we run down some of the main roads in the city, past lots of other people out on the streets doing aerobics to amplified music, some popular monuments, and to the river front. After about 45 minutes to an hour, when we are ready to quit, we catch a moto home. Despite the fumes from burning trash, smells of urine, trying not to trip on piles of trash or get hit by a car, it has been one of my favorite parts of the day. We have begun to refer to running as our "drug," and I can't get enough! As one of our team members wrote about us in a newsletter: "first they wanted to stay fit, but it turned to an obsession...."

So on Sunday morning we ran a race with many others from around the world. The weather was beautiful, the leaves were falling from the trees that surrounded the roads, and in the spirit of any race, there was a clapping, energetic crowd and lots of crazy runners!

We had made a goal to finish as quickly as we thought possible for us, and we were pleasantly surprised when we ended up running much faster than we had hoped. We decided that we liked running in Cambodia, as we ended up finishing 4th and 5th in the race overall! What a blast! We're already planning our next one....

Here are some of the Instructions on the "notice" we received before the race. I hope you find them as funny as we did!


NOTICE

~You can wear anything, freely.
(anything?! wouldn't find this in the race instructions in the states!)

~ Please manage by yourself, thanks.
(yeah, okay...)

~ But you can enjoy running by 10:30 safely. Anyway , return to Finish as fast as possible. (yeah, we tried... we made it by 7:35 or so.... :)

~ If you missthem, contact Staff, please.
(they were referring to a bottle of water at the finish line... :)

~Be sure to set at starting.
(what?!)

~There is no facilities to deposit valuable subjects, baggages, etc.
(luckily I didn't have any valuable subjects with me!)