Cambodia and my multiple personalities

This is where I am currently living...

 

The leaves are changing!  Really enjoying the last autumn I will experience for a while.

Melissa and Peter, two of my group mates, celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary.  So, we ate cake.  They will be celebrating the next three in El Salvador with their two children.

 Can you find the frog?

 This was on a hike, Michael agreed to be in the picture with me.

 These are other group mates Michael and Ashley are married and going to Tanzania.  Joe - the one without shades - will be in El Salvador.  And, he make look familiar to many of you as we have a number of mutual friends and acquaintances.

Thought I would start you out this week with the pictures :)


As you can see, it is gorgeous, so, how could things not go well? This past week I have learned I have multiple personalities, loads about Cambodia, some about the study of scripture, and plenty about Maryknoll.


We spent one day on Enneagram, feel free to click here and take the free test to see what your type may be (and then you should let me know for my personal amusement). Each test or diagnostic tool we used came back with a different response as to what my base personality is – thus I have accepted my multiple personalities :) Though, 6 is the front runner. Will report back after the next two days on the topic.


The people here are amazing. They are very much about hospitality – an important charism of Maryknoll – which means everyone is excited to see you and share their story. I have met folks that have spent twice my life time living overseas in mission in locations such as Tanzania, Kenya, Korea, Venezuela, Nepal, Philippines, and dozens of other locations. Oh ya, and this country called Cambodia.


There are a priest, one sister, and one lay missioner currently here that were/are stationed in Cambodia, so, much brain picking has occurred. The fellow lay-missioner who is our Regional Coordinator has been a huge source of information.


I can now answer more of your questions:

1. When Hang (the other newbie) and I arrive in Cambodia, we will start off living with an experienced lay missioner who can be our guide and support.
   
2. We will have an assigned moto dupe – this is a guy with a moto that knows all the places we would need to go and can get us there without us knowing any Khmer – no worries, helmets will be warn as not wearing them is a great way to get a one-way plane ticket back to the USA.
   
3. We will be in language school for the first six months – four hours each day with private tutors. The rest of the time, we will be studying and potentially visiting the sites where some of the other Cambodia Mission Team folks are working. After the first six months, we will continue to have a private tutor for two hours each week. There is not an emoticon large enough to express my happiness and excitement about language school. As you may, or may not, know, there are few things I love more than talking to people and hearing their stories, so knowing there will be mutual investment in my ability to do that makes me very happy.
   
4. For more photos of my future life in Cambodia, Fr. Charlie is one of the missioners currently in Cambodia and keeps a pretty awesome photo blog.
   

Feel free to send me any questions you have for future posts on either what I am currently doing or what I will be doing in Cambodia. Thanks for your continued prayers, emails, and other communications – all are greatly appreciated.