i wake up early today for 3 reasons.
1. to see the kids early morning lifestyle.
2. to go to the market with the chefs.
3. because i slept before 7:30pm last night.

i walk over to the dorms where the kids live. one by one them walk out with big smiles. so much energy. they serve their own breakfast and know what they have to do.

at exactly 6am, they line up for their HIV medicine. they must take it at 6am and 6pm sharp every single day to keep their immune system strong.

watching this really makes me think of all the spoiled kids i see back home. these kids didn’t have choices to get HIV or not. they were born with it and now have to live with it for the rest of their lives. but you know what? they are happier than most of the kids in the world. they have each other and have more love than you can imagine.

and yes, they do have chores too. this little one sweeping the sidewalk with full enthusiasm.

Davis gets up early, makes his breakfast, teaches all day, sometimes in the night too, and is living a very independent life. if you knew how spoiled Davis was as a child compared to Mason and I, you would never believe how far he’s come. i’d never thought the day would come i’d see him living a simple and happy life.

he made me my breakfast sandwich which was really good.

then i went up at 6:30am sharp to jump in the truck with the chefs to the market. they do this every single morning because they don’t have refrigerators. what ever they buy in the morning, it’s all gone by night.

they load up the truck with bottles to get water. i just sat back and thought how efficient they are.

we head to the market and i’m glad i didn’t fall out of the truck. we get there, the chef gives me her bag, and ended up being the carrier. it was pretty heavy and a great workout for me as we walked around for 2 hours.

the things you see are so amazing. want some peking duck?

then since there is no ocean around, all the fish come from the rivers. river fish!

somethings i don’t know what it is. even though it looks pretty unappetizing, i want to try it.

the corn was my favorite! i ended up eating 2 of them.

see the eyeballs? pretty cool culture i experienced this morning. now i’m back to the orphanage and as i was walking back to my room, a 4th grade girl ran up to me and gave me a bunch of flowers. and i know for a fact that nobody told her to do it, she did it from her heart. the love is just flowing here and i’m soaking it all up.

Very interesting market.
6:30am to 8:30am.
A great experience.
Fish, vegetables, corn, fruits, cow, pork, and dog.
Welcome to Cambodia style!

omg, yesterday was one of the coldest days in cambodia history. it felt like a chilly north wind day in hawaii but for cambodia, it was freezing. i’m sitting on my bed in my mosquito net now at 4am freezing cold. i didn’t bring any warm clothes because it’s supposed be really hot and humid here. it was so cold that i didn’t even want to take a shower. there is only cold water showers so i skipped mine. when Kathy told me they lock the dorm up at 8:30pm, i was thinking what i was going to do? i fell asleep at 7:30pm last night. haha. eating 3 healthy meals a day with no alcohol is going to make me even more healthier. i feel so fresh already.

followed Davis to his 1st grade class yesterday. gosh, his kids are so cute!

and like any 1st graders anywhere in the world, these kids are so energetic and so pure.

Davis teaches them english, which is a necessity in cambodia.

kids here are so eager to learn. they were so cute i couldn’t stop laughing.

then there is a playground in the middle of the orphanage. once you walk out, the kids just jump on you. they are so clingy and lovable. none of them have parents and all of them have their own story on how they got here. most very heartbreaking.

Davis went into the city the other day and bought a karaoke machine. he teaches an evening music class and the kids really enjoyed singing karaoke. they were singing songs like “You Are Not Alone” and “I Believe I Can Fly.” never in my life have the lyrics of these 2 songs hit my heart so hard.

Davis and one of the founders Kathy always talking on how to improve things here.

now i know why my brother came here last year and decided to stay. these kids are the cutest. they are like any other normal kid and you would never know they have HIV. it’s only my first day here and i can feel their love. and i can even feel my love for them growing. i hope i don’t get too attached to these kids or i might end up staying here forever.
a life changing experience continues…