Written By Garret & Maddie
Hi everyone!
Our week started as we left the exciting city of Siem Reap to our floating village home-stay in the Prek Tal community of Cambodia. After a short drive and our first boat ride of many, we all made it to our new homes for the next 5 days! We met our guide and now friend Yusuf, who showed us around the village and shared its history. Our main focus during our time in Prek Tal was painting a school in the community. We had the yummiest breakfast everyday then went straight into painting! First we started on the outside of the school, and after a day we moved to the insides of the classrooms. Sanding was definitely challenging, but we still had the best time. One day we also took a cooking class, and on another went bird watching! On our bird watching morning we took little boats out to a treehouse in the middle of the river we were staying on. We climbed to the top and watched the beautiful wildlife. We absolutely adored our time here at the village. The sunsets, stars and boat rides were just a few of our favorite things.
What were three of the top highlights this week?:
I can confidently say that one of our group highlights was bird watching and climbing the giant treehouse overlooking the lake. There are so many birds here, and they’re so unique and colorful. The group favorites were the kingfishers and a very bright blue striped bird we saw on the boat ride in. The cooking class was definitely another highlight, especially because of the beautiful sunset reflecting over the water. A smooth boat ride to a feast at breakfast, lunch and dinner while waving to the locals isn’t bad either.
It was also great to put all of our energy into something productive, like painting a school. We all felt rewarded looking at the freshly painted walls and clean classrooms.
An honorable mention goes to the concerts and dance parties in our homestay houses with Tibi, and to watching the very capable young kids swim, fish and drive motorboats by themselves while having fun on the water.
What is something you or the group is challenged by this week?:
Bucket showers were new to us, and it took a couple of tries to get used to them. Many of us also had no service, and for the first time since the trip began, we were separated and couldn’t hang out as a group, even though we were only a house away. This was a new experience for all of us, and despite being difficult at times, we got through it and learned a lot. Stepping onto land for the first time in five days was exciting too.
🌎 What are you most grateful for this week?:
One thing we felt grateful for is how our homestay parents and the community itself welcomed us with such generosity and love. Although there was a language barrier, we felt loved in the form of mosquito nets, sharing family pictures and all the dance parties. We also noticed and felt thankful for the village’s simple way of living. I think we are all realizing we need a lot less than we originally thought to feel fulfilled. We leave today for PTD, an organization we will be working closely with for the next week. Talk soon!!
– Garret and Maddie
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
