And I thought French was difficult...

Today, I finally cracked open my Cambodian Language books, and let me tell you, learning this language is going to be ridiculously difficult.

The Cambodian alphabet is completely different than the English alphabet, and the way the consonants and vowels and their symbols work is also very alien. Cambodian has consonant pairs that are very hard for an English speaker to hear and pronounce, and some of the vowel sounds are so similar to one another that to the untrained ear, i.e. mine, they sound exactly the same.

And, as hard as the sound and pronunciation of the language is, the script is going to be even harder to learn. Each letter has two forms, and each form has no relation to the other (unlike English capital and lowercase letters).

But before I give you the impression that Cambodian is completely impossible, let's talk about Cambodian grammar. There are no verb conjugations, there are no cases, and there is no verb "to be". All the grammar is basically pulled from the context of the conversation, which makes life in language learning land much easier. The lack of the "to be" verb means that the sentences "He is skinny" and "He skinny" mean the exact same thing.

In actuality, I am very impatient to really start learning this language, despite, or maybe because of, the challenges it presents. I am excited to be working on something academic again, and the difficulties of this language are just like an added bonus. It will be something I actually have to work at, instead of just breeze through. Because let's face it: French was a bit of a challenge, but compared to learning a new alphabet, it was nothing.

Tickets!

Today has been the most exciting day of the summer so far.

First, I bought my plane tickets to (and from) Cambodia, so the whole trip is officially, really, absolutely going to be happening! It is crazy: I didn't think I could be any more excited for this trip, and yet, when I clicked the "confirm flight" button, I think I could have levitated, I was so happy.

Second, I applied for surf and yoga camp last night, and this afternoon, received the confirmation email, so that trip is official now too! Since I had the confirmation, I went ahead and bought those tickets as well.

Third, even after buying both sets of tickets, I think I still have about $50 in the bank. Score!

Fourth, I've put up a list on the right side of the screen of things that I'll be using when I go to Cambodia to teach. If you are interested in donating, the items on this list are a good place to start. As I know more about my placement and the specific needs of the orphanage I'll be in, I will update the list. Please, do not feel obligated, but do know that any and all donations will be very, very much appreciated.

Ahhh, the magic of excitement!!!

Beachin' It

Just before I left for Taconnet, I spent a day at Reid State Park with my mom, sister, and a few of her friends. Reid is one of my favorite places on earth, and I hadn't been to the beach in years (no joke). It was so nice to spend the day in the sun, walking the sand, clambering over the rocks, talking with my mother, and taking in the happiness, warmth, and life of the coast.

I met three little girls playing in the surf, and it is so fun to see people who are literally 12 years younger than yourself playing the same games you played at their age. The joy that running from and jumping over the waves brings doesn't change with time.

Pine Cones, Tattoos, and Chinese Grandfathers

Five days a week at Taconnet, members of the staff are in charge of kids activities for two hours in the morning. We do arts and crafts or games, and many days, it ends up in a great conversation.

Today, we were making Taconnet Wreaths, and began a new competition called the Pine Cone Pick-Up. It wasn't too popular, but the kid who won picked up 256 pine cones, which is a record here on the island. After the competition, when we were sitting around cutting cardboard and glueing nature to the wreaths, we started taking about tattoos, and piercings, and smoking. All of us, children and staff alike, were in agreement that smoking is bad and that too many piercings just look terrible, but there was a definite break when it came to tattoos. Personally, I am all for tasteful tattooing. Nothing too big or brash, or that doesn't fit with one's personality. A small, inconspicious tattoo though? That's fine with me. Most of the children, on the other hand, are completely against all tattoos.

Observe:

I was talking to one girl about why she didn't like them, and she mentioned that she "has really good parents who told me that they are bad." (Which is true. She does have great parents, just as I do. And my parents told me the same thing when I was her age. To be fair, they still tell me the same thing.) The girl then went on to say, "Abby, I thought you were a good person!" I asked her if it was possible to be a good person and have tattoos, but I never got a straight answer out of her. One of the boys did assure me, however, that "having a Chinese grandfather is okay though, because that's what it says in the book I'm reading."

Another girl asked me if I had always liked tattoos. I told her, "No, when I was younger, I was scared of people who had them and I thought they were gross, but as I got older, I changed my mind about them." She looked at me in horror, exclaiming, "But I don't want to change my mind! I don't ever want a tattoo! What if I change my mind and then get a tattoo and then change my mind back?" I assured her that if she never wanted to change her mind about this particular subject that she probably wouldn't. Right at that moment, the youngest boy came over and said to me, "I want to get scary bone tattoos ALL OVER MY BODY. You should get a big skull on your arm." He turns to the terrified girl, and in the same way he might chase this girl with a worm, starts chanting, "Tattoos on your face! Tattoos all over your body! Tattoos on you face! All over your face!" The girl pushed him away, still terrified, and even with constant assureance that she wouldn't ever like tattoos, it was still about ten minutes until she didn't look like she was about to run away.

I love the kids here on the island. They are all very sure of themselves and their opinions, and so sometimes I forget that they are still young. It is on days like today, when I get to assure a girl that she won't ever like tattoos, and that I can still be a good person even though I've got a few, that I remember they are still very young. They still need older kids to hang out with, to treat them as equals, to give them a place to wrestle with new ideas with no judgment. A child can be so young, and so old, in the very same moment, and that my friends, is the magic of children.

Island Time

Now that I've got all those exotic places to look forward to, here is a place a little closer to home...

About two weeks ago, I started my summer job at Taconnet on Great Pond. The first week was just working to open the camp and get it ready for guests, but this past week has been a regular work week: waiting tables, washing dishes, playing with kids, swimming, driving the barge.

The people who come here are wonderful. They are friendly, and they seem to really appreciate the work the staff puts into making their stay as carefree and relaxing as possible. For me, that’s the key: we do put a lot into it, and it is so nice when our effort is noticed.

Though I truly appreciate the appreciation, the abundance of sun we have received is equally fantastic. Every single day has been sunny for at least a few hours. Other than the off cloudy morning and a scattering of rain showers, we have had the most gorgeous weather. Which is a really great change, because the last two years have been cold and rainy - almost enough so that I was thinking about not returning here this summer.

I am very glad I did return though. It’s funny: this winter I was thinking about the people who come to Taconnet year after year, and I realized that I missed them. I was surprised because, well, you don’t expect to miss people you see for less than a month every year. It is what the grandparents here are always saying, “I’ve been coming here for seventy years; these people, this island: it’s my summer home and family.” And it’s true. After working here for two years, the guests have become a sort of family to me. That’s the magic of this place: it’s not just the sun and the water (though both of those are magical), it’s the feeling of family, of community, of home. I do look forward to seeing these people and this place, and I know that the last season I spend at Taconnet will be a melancholy one, because all the goodbyes will be final.

For now though, I will enjoy the time I have here on this island, in the sun, in the water, with the people. I’ll gorge myself on the delicious food, and cherish the time I spend in this secluded community in the middle of the pond.

Here we go!

To start this whole thing off with a bang: in the coming year, I'll be traveling to Nicaragua, Cambodia and Costa Rica for both international volunteerism and personal travel.

I'll be headed in Nicaragua in October with a group from my hometown for Amigos for Christ. We’ll be building a clinic, and I’ll have the chance to assist and observe surgery in a third world country.

The second week of November puts me in Cambodia for four months with Projects Abroad. I’ll be living and working in Phnom Penh, teaching English to children ages 5 – 16 at one of the many orphanages in the city for three of those months. In the remaining time, I’ll be travelling around the country, experiencing the wonders of this country that has just recently become safe for tourism.

In March, I’ll be in Costa Rica for a month of surf and yoga camp at La Escuela del Sol. Five days a week, I’ll have two 90-minute sessions of yoga instruction and four hours of surf instruction. On the weekends, the camp offers outings and hikes to waterfalls and other beaches and swimming holes in the area.

In each place, I’ll have Internet access and so I’ll be keeping this up to date with pictures and stories of the joy and magic on a (hopefully) regular basis.

We're off to find the Wizard...

I am young. The world is wide. It is mine to explore and experience, to appreciate and discover.

Why we write about exotic, far-away places is easy to explain: Who doesn't like to share their adventures, and who doesn't like to read about real-life adventures of real-life people? Why we write about the places we see everyday or places that aren't all that adventurous, however, takes a little bit more explanation. I'll write about these places because any and all exploration counts when discovering this world around us. As infants, the world is new every day: we see new objects, places, and people; we hear new sounds, music and words; we taste new foods and smell new scents. The world around us is exhilarating, terrifying, and altogether wondrous when we have spent so little time here. As we grow, and spend more and more time in this world, we sometimes forget the majesty of a common object or smell or taste. I know that as I've grown, I have started to take everyday wonders for granted, and have stopped seeing the magic of all things.

So, this will be a documentation of my explorations of the open road, beckoning horizon, places I have been, and places I have not yet even dreamed of seeing. Some will be far, far away, and some will be close to home.

This will be a place of discovery, and of finding the wonder again.