June 16: Phnom Penh

Today was a day of rest for us: HA!

Juli arrived about noon

Lanie arrived an hour later

Makara and Mao Samphors arrived at 9:00

We re-convened about 5:00pm in our room: Fred, Kitty, Shawna, Juli and Lanie.

Revisions in the trip schedule were gone over by Kitty.

Lanie and Juli shared their first reactions to PP...the drive from the airport is a real eye-opener!

Off to dinner at Comme a la Maison so Juli and Lanie could have healthy salads after all that airplane food!

While at dinner my cell phone rings.

Despite the very poor connections, I realize it is 2 grads calling from Villa Langka wanting to know when we will return.

So everyone quickly finished dessert and off we went.

It is 8:00pm.

We found Sarom and Soknym waiting excitedly for us!!

Soknym has Mon and Tues off, so she is staying with Sarom overnight in order to make this visit.

Both girls broke down into waves of tears while holding on to us for dear life.

They were so afraid they would never see us again.

This visit was overwhelming!

Once we were able to get beyond the tears we learned that

Each has a decent job for Cambodia, but barely makes ends meet.

Sarom works for Kimna's husband's pharmaceutical supply company.

Soknym does something on the internet with sports...we did not fully understand. 

We closed the day about 10:30pm.

It was really hard to get to sleep after the emotional rollercoaster, but it was profoundly satisfying! 

Kitty