I was bit by a catterpillar...

I just realized it’s been more than a month since I posted! SORRY!!!

We’re going to the beach later this month to celebrate our two year anniversary. I’m really looking forward to it! Phnom Penh gets really boring but there’s no where else to go except the beach. There is Angkor Wat but I’ve been there and it’s too expensive for the whole family. We like the beach but it’s not that safe to swim in the ocean (a whole bunch of waste has been washing up) so we’ll be stuck in the pool. I don’t mind though, I never swam in the ocean anyway! I just hate the taste of salt water and getting sand stuck to my feet. It’ll be a bummer for our kids though.

The other day at soccer practice (not mine, the kids) I felt something tickling my neck. When I reached down to find out what it was I felt something crawling on my neck. It was a real fuzzy caterpillar-like bug. Less than a minute later my neck started itching and getting red. Whatever it was caused me to have an allergic reaction. It got a little swollen in spots and got all red and mad looking! It’s just now starting to go away but it still itches some.

I need to get going. I just finished imputing some receipts so now I should start on my algebra.

Someone tell me something funny!

TTYL,

Kati

Some funny stories...

Hey,

I’ve got THREE funny stories to tell you... I usually don’t have this many so you’d better enjoy it! LOL

1. My mom and I were shopping and decided to go to a pharmacy to get stuff for our medicine cabinet. We got some simple stuff and then asked if they had any fiber drinks. Ok, that was hard! I was like, “It uhhh, helps your stomach feel good... It tastes like orange juice but kinda gross...” We eventually found it but it was in French so my mom bought one pack to see if it got thick after mixing. It did get thick and then she was like, “Kati, we can’t let this go to waste. Drink it.” Umm... Now? “Yes” Everyone will think we’re buying this for me... “Drink it” Well, I took a little sip and it was fine except... it made my jaw tingle and, well, didn’t taste too great! I think it would be easier to get a kid to drink the plain, nasty stuff...

2. Getting up into the driver or passenger seat of our van is always hard. I usually grab onto the handle and then launch myself inside and hope I land squarely on the seat. Well, today at the pharmacy, we parked on a hill so I needed to add a little more ‘umph’ to get into the van. While adding this ‘umph’ and swinging into the seat I hit my head right on the doorframe. It jarred me from the top of my head to my lower back. I got sooo dizzy I almost fell back out but had just enough sense left to sit down and shut the door because everyone at the pharmacy was laughing at me. So, I sit there and wait till the black fades and this awful pain starts creeping in. I, literally, whined and whimpered ((very much like a puppy)) for a second and my little brother says, Kati did you bonk your head?   I was in so much pain I couldn’t even answer him! My back stopped hurting before we got home but I’ve got a huge goose-egg on my head and an awful crick in my neck. I can’t look to the left without feeling a shooting pain.

3. We went out to dinner in honor of my dad coming home. I ordered a simple cheeseburger and fries with a side salad. It looked delicious! And, for some reason, I was craving ketchup (I normally hate the stuff!). SO, I grabbed the red bottle add a good amount to the inside of my bun, spread it around with my finger and then lick off what’s left. ... About a second later I realized that something tasted mighty funny about that ketchup. Another second passed before I realized my tongue was stinging and I had to drink some water. I had used Chili Sauce instead of ketchup!! Shifting my whole body to the left so I could look at my mom (remember the crick in my neck, I can’t look left, I have to MOVE) and tell her what I’ve done. She felt so bad for me that she took my bun and scrapped every bit of the hot sauce off and found me the right bottle so I wouldn’t do it again.

Did you hear how my dad took a little blind boy to Singapore? Well he did and the boy (Somnang, but we call him Samuel) is doing great. After the surgery they had to put his arms in splints so they stick straight out in front of him. It’s kind of funny and kind of sad! When we give him the bottle he has to lie down and is barely able to hold the bottle with his hand in the cast. But he does it! He always tries sooo hard... I’m proud of him! He walked to me the other day. Before, he was so unsure of himself that he would only walk if you held his hand.

Ohh, I’ve really got to get going. My room is a wreck and we’re about to go to an orphanage. TTYL!
Kati

What on earth!

I feel... betrayed.

How could this happen? What did I do? How can they do that? They shouldn’t be so controlling.

I guess I’ve got to explain this all to you but I feel so sad and (like I said) betrayed.

Our old church New Life has a very strict dress code (not written in rules or anything, just... understood) and I have always obeyed it. They say it’s because the Cambodian culture is very modest and they don’t want to offend anyone. OK guys, the culture in Cambodia used to be modest... now, I see girls dressing in stuff I would never dream of wearing! The church just wants to control their members. I know that sounds harsh but I’ve been here for two years and I know it’s true.

They’ve had the whole church assemble and then preach about how you shouldn’t dress this way or that way and how you shouldn’t be friends with so and so. I’m OK with that. The church is supposed to teach their ‘flock’. But they’ve crossed the line from teaching and controlling. They’ve told a few friends of mine to stop hanging out with each other and to make new friends in the church. They’ve told my GOOD friend (she’s like my sister) Sopheak what she can and can’t wear. If she wears something pretty, she gets talked to and told she can’t wear that shirt or jeans.

Sunday night I wore a shirt that made me feel beautiful. It wasn’t sexy. My bra was covered, the strap was more than two inches thick, it wasn’t tight, and it didn’t show any cleavage. The next day my piano teacher came up to me and said that she felt I had dressed too sexy and that I wasn’t to wear that shirt out of the house. She said that girls who wear “shirts like that” are “insecure and unsure of themselves”.

Umm... K... she closed the door so no one else in my family would hear what she was saying. She didn’t talk to my mom about how she thought I dressed inappropriately she came straight to me and underminded my mother’s God-given authority.

I LOVE my teacher, I really do! She has been my friend for years and the fact that she thought that she could do that... it just hurt me. I’d never been glad I left New Life until then. Now I’m glad that I’m going to a new church where I can be who I am (gentle and kind) without someone thinking that I’m just an “insecure” slut.

And then last night I find out that our cook has been looking for another job because she wants to quit. I trained her, I talked to her every day, I consider her a friend, I enjoy having her here. She just, decides to quit and didn’t tell me... I’m pretty much the staff suprovisor and I’ve had 4 people quit in the last two months. Roy, Dany, Srey Mum, and now Chenna. This is awful...

This weekend (and Monday) have been horrible. Even worse than usual.

Someone bring me a latté...

Sombody's got a case of 'The Mondays'

Some random updates....

I looked up the weather in MO. The temp is 72, but the “feels like” temp is 82. In Cambodia, the “feels like” temp is 85 so, our temps are pretty close (to the ones in MO, we're still a lot hotter than KY). BUT I’m over here shivering and dreaming about hot Chamomile Tea... Lol, it’s weird. I know.

Steven and Dany left on Sunday. Sad. They landed this morning (my time) so that means it took more than two days. Yikes...

On the way home from the airport all our kids were going wild! We let them have an ice cream from Diary Queen (the only one in Cambodia is at the airport) and immediately regretted it! Mary poked Chantal in the eye and Chantal scoots over to my lap, crying, and says, “Kati, Mary did this....” and then she poked ME in the eye to demonstrate what Mary had done! I was in pain but still couldn’t stop laughing. Right after she poked me she realized what she’d done and brings her hands up to her face to hide her smile. Cute!

Have you ever seen The Lake House? It’s about to come out on DVD here and it looks good. If you’ve seen it; tell me what you thought of it. The reviews online said, “It will have you pulling out your handkerchief... or your hair!” And it’s grades were all varying from C- to B+. No As or Ds.

No one is going to be visiting us for another 5 months (our pastors come in Febuary) so we're going to be focusing on school and trying to finish it before Furlough. I don't know if I can but i hope so!  

I need to get going. I’ve got work to do on last months budget summary. I had all the receipts typed into my computer and when I woke up this morning, they were gone. Somebody had accidentally closed excel without saving the current spread sheet. So, I’m pretty much back to square one. *Sigh*

TTYL,

Kati