The Art Project!

Today was super amazing! We went to the village. IT was a crazy bumpy ride to down a very bumpy road with children running out to the truck to wave and say sus s' dei (hello) They are all so cute!! It was so amazing because by some of the house we spotted the trailblazer water filters that we have been working so hard to make! It was great to see the in action. As we all swayed and bounced around with our scarfs pulled over our faces and big sunglasses bouncing the sun off we got a little preview of the temples. I can not wait to experience them. We got to the school and hundreds of children ran out and swarmed around us with smiling faces! It was so crazy!! We had such a wonderful time. First we gathered all our materials as the children went to their rooms. Then we went in. Oh the looks we got from the kids. They smiled shyly with big big open eyes! Maddie and I nervously started showing the kids the paper flowers we would make. It was the first time most had ever seen scissors, and at first they were very timid. Then Maddie and I went in a new direction and started showing individual tables. The kids are absolutely brilliant!! We showed the once, only once, and they did it perfectly! Could you even imagine a kidder being able to cut with scissors for the first time perfectly? Also, they were incredibly polite!! Never was there a tiff about not having anything to cut with or the right color flower. They were perfectly content. Some little girls even started taring their paper perfectly! It was such a great time! We taught them high fives and they would giggle out of control! After the projects most of the kids had to leave. Chris told us that they came from as far a 7 miles away! Not to mention that it was Sunday and they attend school 6 days of the week and came on their only day off! We played some volleyball with our truck driver as the cook made us a home cooked traditional Khmer lunch. Everyone here is obsessed with volleyball! Anna is just loving it! We played and man oh man I've thought I have been sweating bad but that surpassed it all! We were called in and sat down to eat. The rice was just out of the patties, so fresh! We also had chicken and fish we purchased and brought from the market. The chicken was all the chicken, I mean it all even the head and the feet! It was delicious though! I could eat it all day long! The cooked walked around to make sure that we were eating it and laughed as we tried our Khmer by telling her it was delicious! and of course the men of the group including the chief and Scott drank shots of whiskey wine. Trixy, our friend who owns the funky monkey bar, told me it was so strong and tasted like gasoline. We then climbed back on the bouncy truck and headed home as if we were a parade. What a fantastic day! It made my whole trip!! It seems as time goes by the days just keep getting more and more rich.

Always,
Gracey Lew