Day 3

Today we started off with breakfast at the hotel. I didn't sleep too well last night, I was surprisingly not tired but I am exhausted now.

We then had a short orientation to CCDO which include some Cambodian history, met our tour guides and got our t-shirts. Learning about the devastating Khmer Rouge in 1979 where 2 million people were killed was heartbreaking. The country is still healing from it and they say thousands suffer from PTSD and there are only a few psychiatrists in Cambodia. I also found it interesting that men on either side got tattoos as a symbol of protection. 90% of Cambodians are Buddhist.

We headed to cooking school where we learned to prepare Khmer cuisine. We made dishes such as Fish Amok, Beef Loc Lac, spring rolls and several others that I can't remember the names of. We will be getting the recipes though so maybe I'll try my hand at it again. There was so much work that went into preparing all of these dishes. For dessert, we had a banana dish as well as fruit including something called mangosteen. Amanda, you would be so proud of me for trying everything! I thought that the cooking class was a really cool way to be introduced to Khmer food.

Then we went to the Angkor National Museum which was very nice. They have about 7 galleries and my favorite was the gallery of 1,000 Buddhas. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

We then made our way to the war memorial which was part of the killing fields of Khmer Rouge. There is also a temple on the grounds which we went into. This was our first encounter with native children just seeing them playing and interacting with each other, surrounded by tourists. There were also several stray dogs and cats which I didn't expect.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped and exchanged some currency even though American money is accepted. $1 in American money is about 4,000 riel. I exchanged just $5 to use and keep as a souvenir.

When we got back to the hotel, we were able to relax for about an hour. I stuck my feet in the pool and mingled with some of the people in my group. Then we sorted all our donations--incredible! We have so much to give out. I cannot wait!

We had dinner on the roof of the hotel called Sky Bar which was beautiful. I can barely keep my eyes open so I am going to bed. We have to be ready by 5am for a VERY busy day tomorrow.

Love you all!