We arrived in Phnom Penh Saturday afternoon, 14 hours later than we expected. Jeremy Farmer picked us up and took us to his home so we could spend Saturday through Tuesday morning with his family. We had dinner with the Farmer family and their other guests (Bonnie Ruth’s mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece) as well as JD & Taylor Crowley, and Yo Shirato.

Sunday we attended a Khmer church. Jeremy Farmer’s Khmer teacher translated the service for us over wireless headphones. Sunday afternoon I accompanied Bonnie Ruth to Lucky’s – a grocery store very similar to what we have in the States, except the prices at Lucky’s are much higher!

Monday Josh and I accompanied the Farmers as their family got some vaccinations. After that we visited the Russian Market. The Russian Market is an indoor market – think: dark, hot, and smelly. (It’s not Russian, however.)

Monday after lunch Josh and I took an 45-minute tuktuk ride to The Cheoungek Genocidal Center. It was a sobering experience.

Our impressions of Phnom Penh: it’s very hot, lots of concrete, not a lot of green, smelly. . .not exactly our dream place to live, but we will make it our home and adjust to Cambodian city-life. We plan to live in Phnom Penh for our first year or two in Cambodia while we study the Khmer language and surround ourselves with Khmer speakers.

Monday night our time in Cambodia took a turn – Josh woke up sick. . . (more next week).