Act 2, Take 1

Today is officially the 5 month anniversary of my arrival in Cambodia! It's crazy to think I've completed half of my time here, and it's quite sad realizing I only have 5 months left. A lot has happened in these past  few months, and the time I have left just doesn't quite seem like enough. It truly is hard to put into words what this experience has done for me and how incredible things have been - even with some pretty steep ups and downs.....

I've somehow managed to survive everything life and God has thrown my way in the past 5 months, but let me tell you, it wasn't before I experienced two situations I've only ever seen or imagined in the movies. The first is the scene from my newest Drama film, the second, a scene from my ultimate Action movie:

Drama Film, Scene 1 (Brief Recap)

Had a "best friend"...spent every day with, did everything with...then got used by so-called best friend to try to ship stolen goods to Cambodia. Didn't know, items were tracked (before sent to me), everything returned, nothing bad happened to me...oh wait, lost so-called "best friend", got taken advantage of for being so trusting, world turned upside-down. Just one more thing to put on the list of "things experienced".

Action Film, Scene 2 (Brief Recap)

Riding on the back of a motorbike, stopped at a light. All of a sudden, 3 Cambodian men (on one moto) not wearing any helmets, start whizzing through the intersection.....1 cop runs after them, stops them, then proceeds to hit the driver in the face! Next thing, another cop runs up, hits one of the passengers in the face.   Then, moto is on the ground and the 3 men and 2 cops starting brawling it out...UNTIL.....3 guns were pulled! Yes, you "heard" me, or better yet, "read" me...guns, you know, the black things that have bullets in them. I know you were thinking water guns, but no, you were wrong. In the meantime, I'm still sitting at the light, now watching 3 guns being pointed in different directions at people who are about 15 yards away from me. 3 guns drawn, 1 guy tries to steal the other cop's gun, cop hits him away. Guns still pointing, light turns green....my moto driver slowly passes as he watches instead of moving fast to get us the heck out of the way!! Umm....what just happened??? CRAZY!!! Yet again, another thing to put on the list of "things experienced".


Act 1 summary.... A LOT has happened in the last 5 months living in Cambodia. These are two quite extreme examples of the crazy stuff that I've experienced and/or witnessed, but nonetheless, I've grown tremendously. Of course, not everything or every day has been as intense as the two scenes I painted a picture of above, but it has been quite incredible. I'm tremendously grateful to be living here, even if it means living through some scenes from a Drama or Action film.

Now on to Act 2.....

Oh, and since I started this entry earlier this month, but didn't finish it until today, it is obviously no longer my 5 month anniversary. In fact, it has almost been 6 months by now, but you'll have to forgive me for my poor blogging lately. I'm GOING to be better - I know I said that in the last post, but I MEAN IT this time! My apologies.