Adventures Abroad

Using one word, I would describe my experience as transformative. It’s been three weeks since returning home from our Southeast Asian Adventure, and the past few weeks have been quite reflective. I see the world differently and have a deeper appreciation of the basic luxuries that come with being an American citizen. America was built on the idea of equality among our diverse population. We have the right to debate politics and the opportunity to earn an education. Those examples stand out to me because of the stark differences between American and Asian culture in the countries we visited (Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar). There is no right or wrong (or even a better or worse) culture; they are simply different.

Curious about a Thai person’s view on government affairs? You better not think to ask them their opinion because they could be punished for perceivably speaking against the Royal Family. However, in America, people seem to tell you their political views whether or not you want to hear them. How about earning a college degree? College education is a privilege, not a right. Our guide at ElephantsWorld, Dee, is in his mid-late twenties and is a Burmese refugee living in Thailand. He already has a wife and child. He is considered a lucky one because, if you think about it, all of his basic needs are cared for. He has food to eat, a safe place to live and loving people all around him. Although he has a productive, happy life you can’t help but think, “what if?” What if he had grown up in America? Would he have gotten an education? How different would his life have been if he could make choices based on what he wants to do rather than how to best survive? There just aren’t as many options.

Before visiting Cambodia, I was completely ignorant of the genocide that took place in the 70’s under the Khumer Rouge. The Khumer Rouge was a communist party led by Pol Pot. The goal of the Khumer Rouge was to return Cambodia into a classless, pure agrarian society. They destroyed anything with a Western influence as well as murdering the educated individuals in their own society. If you wore glasses, you were murdered. Glasses are considered a sign of education. When visiting Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, our group learned about the horrific “Killing Fields” and S-21. We had audio tours describing the accounts of what happened at each of these locations. The torture that all Cambodians suffered during that time are indescribable. I am so grateful to have heard the stories because I now help by taking some of the responsibility of remembering these events. It is important to remember these times in history because we do not want them to be repeated.

While I was taking the audio tour at S-21, I stopped at a cell specified as “Chum Mey-Survivor,” and realized that there were (very few) people who actually survived this hell. While I looked around the room, I thought to myself, “Hm, I wonder what he’s doing with his life now.” I ended up meeting him 20 minutes later because he was selling his book near the exit! I still don’t understand how he could ever go back there. His wife and child died before his eyes at that site. I bought his book right away and learned that he feels it is his responsibility to tell others his story, so that we may all understand the depth of his pain and how many other Cambodians suffered in the same way. Nonetheless, those experiences made me more curious about the genocide. I just finished a book the other night called, “First They Killed My Father,” by Loung Ung. She was a young girl when her family of nine was forced to evacuate Phnom Penh in April 1975. Her book felt like the perfect supplement to our experiences and helped me learn more about what was going on during that time. Loung described family trips she dearly missed, such as a visit to the temples in the ancient city of Angkor Wat. It was really cool to know I had been in some of those same places. There are some photographs inside of the book that I recognized seeing during our own trip. Having some prior knowledge and experience before reading her specific account put into perspective that I was able to experience recent Cambodian history in person.

All in all, this trip was absolutely incredible. The value goes far beyond the financial aspect; it challenges you mentally, spiritually, and sometimes even physically! That last one applies to everyone who hiked the mountain at ElephantsWorld! No matter your major, I hope that every student will one day find the opportunity to experience studying abroad. Learn something new, make connections across the globe, and get out of your comfort zone.

Last fall, when I traveled to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families I came away with a whole new concept of the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church brings people together, it is a source of unity between people all over the world.  That experience was just a taste of the feeling of worshiping with Water of Life Ministry in Cambodia.

Our first stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, the capital,  where we spent time touring with a Christian Ministry called Water of Life.  We got up 3:45 am to catch our flight out of Bangkok and arrived in Phnom Penh at 8:30 am or so.  We went directly to church, arriving a little into the service and a lot exhausted from travelling.  Though some members of the group found the hot, cramped church the perfect place for a nap (honestly who could blame them), I have never been more awake.

Water of Life is a Christian Ministry in Cambodia that houses about 40 teenage and young adult men who are orphaned or in need.  They host free English classes Monday-Friday to about 300 students who come everyday after their normal school to try and better their life by learning English and being more marketable.  Water of Life even does outreach in local villages, going and preaching the word of God every Sunday afternoon.  Lucky for us, we got to be a part of this amazing organization for a couple days.  (Pictured below is the gathering area at Water for Life.)

I knew my life would be impacted by these people just from walking into the Church service on Sunday morning.  Arriving late, we missed the majority of the worship music but I caught enough of the unfamiliar language to get chills.  I did not know a single word of Khmer, the Cambodian’s language, but I knew enough about faith to know what they were saying.  I realized in that moment that worship is a language all its own.  I did not need to be able to sing along or understand the words to know that they were passionate about their faith and were worshiping with all they had.  Just seeing them made believing easy and gave me comfort despite being half a world away from anywhere I would call home.

On Monday we helped teach English lessons.  English lessons were a lesson all their own for me.  I taught a few things, but mostly learned a few things, including that I have been mispronouncing English words my whole life and I am not made out to be an English teacher.  Luck for me, I worked with Erin, an English education major.  You better bet she took control of the class and I am grateful for that.  I got to watch the class and help a few students pronounce or understand words here and there.  I mostly could not believe that these students took the time out of their day to voluntarily learn English.  I definitely spend my free time watching TV or when I was in school possibly playing a sport, but I was not learning anything voluntarily outside of school.  Heck, I complained about going to PSR after school once a week growing up, but these 300 students from Cambodia knew they needed to learn English to make their life better.  I was truly inspired by their motivation and realization of the blessings they had of being able to learn English.  The change in perspective was extraordinary.

The class I taught was fairly advanced.  The students were somewhere between 7-10th grade.  They were reading passages about travelling and answering questions in English.  All of the students were very good at English, but many of them were self-conscious because they did not sound like native English speakers.  Seeing 7/8th grade girls almost fluent in English but refuse to talk to you because they had an accent was upsetting.  Those girls made me realize that many people that travel to America for college or a job opportunity are probably very conscious of their heavy accent when they speak English.  It may be hard sometimes to understand when people speak in such accents, but I know now that I need to remember those students in Cambodia.  They are trying their best, always.

Later Monday night a few of us stayed for a student lead bible study.  Sunday during church and Monday during bible study were a very similar experiences.  The boys at Water of Life led everything themselves.  The preached at church on Sunday and led bible study Monday night (and every other night of the week).  The boys even translated everything into English to accommodate us, even though we did not learn their language or their culture.  I was amazed that the boys my age had been through so much in their life.  Some were orphans and some left their families because of the poverty their families lived in, yet all of the boys had a strong faith, worked hard in school taking extra classes to learn English, and wanted to give back to their community in Cambodia because of the opportunities they had.  It was amazing to me that they saw themselves as the lucky ones, when they worked so hard for every opportunity.  If they were the “lucky” ones then what am I just for being born in America to a normal middle class family where I never went to bed hungry?  I guess I am extra lucky.  The people that were a part of Water of Life Ministry never stopped counting their blessings, which is a lesson I hope I can hold on to.  We are giving so many blessing it is important to remember them.

More information about Water of Life can be found at their website: http://www.wateroflifecambodia.com/

Being in Asia hit me in the face. Maybe it was the time difference, 11 hours ahead is a pretty big change. Maybe it was the sitting still on a 11 hour flight running through an airport in Toyko then sitting through a 7 hour flight. Maybe it was losing a night of sleep. Maybe it was sweating as soon as I stepped out of the airport.  I think it was mostly the feel of Bangkok when we arrived in the dark at 10 pm. It was so different than anywhere I had been before.

We took 3 forms of transportation just to get to our hotel. Two different train systems and 2 Tuk-Tuks for 11 people plus luggage.  That was a cramped but amazingly fun ride.  Our adventure was just beginning. (Pictured below the SkyTrain and our hotel Tuk-Tuk.)

Bangkok was a huge city.  It smelled everywhere.  Our hotel was gorgeous.  There were slums down the road.  The nearby shopping center looked more modern than any in Akron.  There were piles of trash on street corners. My first night in Asia I learned one thing: Poverty is universal.  Poverty is always around and it always looks about the same.  After a few weeks seeing the shacks that are people’s house becomes so normal.  Same as in America, it was easy to travel and see people in need and completely forget about them once we got to our final destination, in Thailand, beautiful temples or our air-conditioned hotel for the night.

The universality of poverty is one thing I do not want to forget because I was surprised with living conditions in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar but I know there are worse living conditions throughout the world.   The United States is so clean.  The garbage truck comes every week to pick up our trash.  If being in Asia taught me anything, it is that I am so lucky to have everything I have here in America.  Now I am not saying Thai people weren’t happy and that everyone was in need.  I just know with how much I was blessed with in my life I should be able to give back to help find a way to create a sustainable earth.  I sincerely hope in my lifetime that greater strides will be made together to battle problems, like poverty, that the whole world faces.

People around the globe may speak a completely different language (in every country you visit), they may eat food that is super spicy and rarely serve french fries at restaurants.   They may even have completely different perspectives on the necessity of traffic laws and seat belts.  They may greet you with a bow, not a handshake.  They may have an entirely different opinion on how important being on time or having any sort of schedule, but that is a difference in culture and one thing is for sure a smile still means kindness.  We are all really the same at heart and it is time we start accepting that.

In Phnom Penh, we had a chance to learn about the Cambodian genocide in ways that were all too real and tangible. I learned very little about it in school, and only knew what I had picked up on the internet, so this experience was incredibly eye-opening. First, we visited the Killing Fields, where over a million people were secretly held and killed. We listened to audio tours that gave background information and personal survivor accounts, making the walk through bones and mass graves even more chilling.

Later, we went to the Genocide Museum, where we listened to another audio tour of the S-21 prison, where over 12,000 people were secretly tortured and killed. Only seven survived. The prison was once a high school, which is hauntingly fitting, considering Pol Pot’s goal of eliminating educated people. We saw instruments of torture, and the actual, impossibly small cells in which prisoners were held, as well as photos from the prison and of prisoners.

Visiting these horrific places made the country’s history incredibly vivid, especially since it was so, so recent. It made me view Cambodia from a whole new perspective—every single person’s life was affected by the cruel actions of the Khmer Rouge. Many, or even most, have lost parents, grandparents, siblings, and children.

Our experience in Phnom Penh was given a hopeful twist during our time volunteering at Water of Life. I participated in two events, first an outreach on an island on a river, where we sang songs with children from the village, and then assisting English classes at Water of Life. They offer free English classes to over 300 people! I especially loved this, of course, because I am an English Education major. It gave a greater sense of purpose to my chosen career path, and reminded me of the joy that education can bring. It is too often taken for granted in the US.

I was grateful to have been given the chance to brighten a few days in Phnom Penh, because after learning about the country’s recent history, I wanted to do anything I could to make a small difference. Interacting and helping with children kept our time in Phnom Penh from feeling hopeless and dark—there is still so much joy in the country, and in the world, that always transcends tragedy.

Today was a nice hot day for the Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok! There were shops everywhere. Entering the inner shops was like entering a labyrinth—everywhere you looked, there were shops and unique items to be purchased! It was almost impossible to stay oriented. It wasn’t easy to find our meeting spot when we were finished!

There were also tasty snacks to be tried. I had the freshest, most delicious mango (served in a plastic bag) and freshly made coconut ice cream, along with some iced chrysanthemum tea. I quickly discovered I should’ve been drinking water constantly, though—it was hot hot hot!

After shopping until we dropped (truly—I went a bit overboard, but who wouldn’t?), we made our way to our Thai cooking class. I was so excited to learn! I’ve never known much about cooking real meals, let alone Thai ones!

I was not let down. We strapped on colorful aprons and knelt on mats around a gorgeous arrangement of ingredients as our teacher explained a little about each meal we’d be making. She was informative, of course, but also really funny!

We made fresh spring rolls, spicy soup, sweet green curry, pad thai, and then they made us mango sticky rice for dessert. It was fantastic, because we were allowed to decide how spicy to make our own meals, and could omit certain ingredients if we didn’t like them. Besides skimping on some of the hot peppers, I decided to include everything so I could have the most authentic meal.

We arrived in Bangkok for the second time after saying goodbye to Elephants World. This time, though, we had some time and energy to explore the city. Our first night, I had my first full spice Thai meal—definitely an unforgettable one! We searched out some authentic street food, and despite choosing the mildest looking noodles, I was shocked when my eyes automatically watered from the heat! We rewarded ourselves with uniquely flavored gelato from the mall after finishing our noodles.

After exploring the mall a little longer, I got my first traditional Thai massage. It was incredible! It’s an ancient tradition and art, and it really makes your entire body feel better. It has been known to improve asthma and headaches, among other ailments. Your entire body is connected, so working out knots and triggering pressure points can affect any and all parts of your body. It felt so refreshing after a long week of working hard with the elephants!