Highlights of the Past Week

On Wednesday afternoon, I found a shop that sells Dr. Pepper and Mt. Dew, so I indulged in these sodas for the first time in 7 months. Fortunately, I needn't worry about blowing the budget or getting cavities from drinking too much of them since it takes an hour to get to the store, make the purchases and then get back home. That's a long bike ride in the busy city for a can of soda. Anyway, I thought that would be the highlight of my week.

But then I went to work on Friday. The morning started out slowly, but suddenly there was talk of surgery and I was invited to join. Not long after that, I was wearing scrubs, a hairnet and a mask while standing next to the operating table. It was disgusting. And really awesome. And when it was over, I went back to the office where there was pizza and brownies. By the time I got home, I was on cloud 9. Sadly, nobody at my home really wanted to hear me gush about surgery.

I'm back finally.

Well, it has certainly taken longer than I expected to be able to update. I have been back in Phnom Penh for almost a month, but my computer has been on the fritz since then. It is currently in the repair shop for the second time in less than 3 weeks. My computer and I both got viruses at about the same time, putting us both out of commission for a while. Thus, I missed the May newsletter, but a May/June issue should be on the way soon.

Other than computer issues and illness, things have been going well. I am living in a dorm run by EMM and volunteering/observing at a clinic run by a Christian NGO. It is quite interesting, and I get to see a lot. I'm being purposely vague so that I can talk about it in the newsletter. More details will follow.

For now, I thought I'd post some pictures from my time in Prey Veng.

This is the clinic where I learned to feel infants' livers.

Part of my host-family

Kids at a "photo-shoot"

My translator, Hun

Sorry, this is as many photos as I am able to upload at this time.