The exhaustion is real

I realized yesterday that in the span of a week I've been on 3 different continents, 4 countries and had been traveling straight for 6 days in a row. To say it mildly, I'm exhausted. I'm also a bit sick, head cold status, so that is not helping.

I'm very pleased to announce, though, that I have slept in the same bed for 2 nights in a row and it will be home for me for the following 5 weeks.

I traveled by minibus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh a few days back. It was a deeply sobering drive. Seeing poverty on repeat for 7 hours was more than enough to allow the tears to stream down my cheeks. Mid trip we came upon a dog that had just been hit by a car and was crying and struggling in the road. I'm crying even now recalling the scene. It was deeply heart breaking and such a helpless feeling to watch that little being suffer.

I've now spent two days volunteering at Hands of Hope, a state-run autism school. There are about 120 kids ages 4 to 10. Mostly all the kids are on the autism spectrum and there are a handful of Downs syndrome kids as well. The class sizes seem to be around 8 kids per 2 teachers. And the classrooms are BEAUTIFUL!!

The kids, at large, are pretty enamored with me. More my nose rings than anything! I'm learning lots of Khmer, the local language. Ar kun: Thank You, Soursadai: Hello, Boon tuek tuk: bathroom. The spellings here are just how they sound to me.

I'll shower you with more details as the days go by. At large, I am LOVING the school and the kids and the teachers. This is such a fit for my skill set and my heart.