Sore Faces

Tuesday of week three is over.

Can you believe it?

Week three.

THREE. 

We only have four more here in Cambodia. 

CRAZY.

Today was wonderful.

As usual.

And full of laughter. 

As usual. 

This morning my students wanted to practice having a conversation with me up in front of the class. They wanted to test their newly acquired conversation skills. So one by one *minus 4 super shy students* they came up to the front and we had a conversation. 

They all follow the same pattern and go something like this:

Hello

Hello

What is your name?

My name is ___. And you?

My name is ___. Nice to meet you.

How are you today?

I am fine, thank you. And you?

I am fine, thank you. 

After that, the student will begin to rattle off questions like:

How many members are in your family?

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

How old are you?

What is your job?

What is your favorite sport?

What do you do in your free time?

Where are you from?

Where were you born?

And the list goes on. 

So this is what we were doing today, but my students have gotten a little more confident. They began asking questions like:

How old are you parents?

*sorry mom, I gave them your real age*

What do you like about Cambodia?

Do you like America or Cambodia more?

And so on and so forth.

And then.

Srun asked the question I had been waiting for. 

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

*relationships are big here and everyone is basically either dating or married*

They all laughed and waited for an answer.

Ah. 

I laughed and said no.

He was quick with his next question.

"Why not?"

What was I supposed to do?

I couldn't look like the 19 year old loser that I am.

So I quickly answered:

"I broke up with him."

Now before everyone gets mad at me for lying, I need to clarify something.

When I had a boyfriend in the 8th grade, I was going to break up with him on Tuesday. But someone told him that and I got the breakup phone call from him on Monday night. 

So technically, I did break up with my boyfriend.

Yes.

It was 6 years ago.

But it's the truth.

Plus, they didn't ask when I had a boyfriend.

Or when I broke up with him.

So we all had a good laugh and those questions opened a door. Our conversations now include relationship questions as well. 

It's okay though. I learned all about Sythourn's last relationship and how she broke up with him because he was no longer handsome. *poor guy* Liq has a girlfriend *or potential girlfriend...not sure* and wants to take her to the Angkor Temple this weekend, but he gets shy when girls call him handsome. 

They get very bored with English sometimes.

But they want to talk all about their relationships.

And their relationship problems.

That's one thing that doesn't change between cultures. 

We worked on pronunciation this afternoon and then Selah took us to the store to get more breakfast things. Saturday we have the day off and so Selah is going to take us to see the Killing Fields and to "eat hamburger."

We're excited to finally be tourists.

We had 5 new boys attend our evening English class for the children. They were all so cute and a woman we assumed to be their mother and aunt *they didn't all look like siblings, just a couple* accompanied them. She was so excited to have her boys there and we were so excited to have them. One of the boys had cerebral palsy, but that didn't stop him from actively participating in every moment of our lesson. The new students didn't know the words to the songs, but he was the only one that tried to learn the words and the motions. He wrote down every sentence and repeated every word when I asked them to. The mother was so excited for her son to have this opportunity and she helped him whenever he seemed to be struggling. 

I nearly cried. 

It was such a beautiful demonstration of selfless love. 

The mother wasn't concerned with herself in the least bit. All she cared about was that her son was getting an equal opportunity to learn English. An opportunity to grow and thrive and gain knowledge. It was so apparent that she wants the very best that the world has to offer for her son. 

And can you believe that God has even more love for us than this mother has for her son? It's incredible to think about and I'm sure it will be even harder to imagine when I have my own children.  

Duh.

God loves me unconditionally.

Why was I so worried about having to say that I wasn't in a relationship earlier? 

So Srun.

No, I don't have a boyfriend.

But I'm in a pretty incredible relationship. 

And He loves me more than anything.

Seriously.

Sometimes we get hit in the face by the most obvious things.

But.

You know it's been a good day if your face is sore.

Thank you Lord for sore faces.

And thank you Lord for choosing me to pursue. 

Love you all,

Cassie