I'm in my bed, half naked, eating potato chips and thinking about my amazing day. I may regret eating chips in bed when I'm rolling around on crumbs all night but right now, this hits the spot.
I'm starting to get butterflies in my tummy about leaving Cambodia. I mean, it's either buttflies or that mystery meat I ate. Neither would surprise me. Just as long as whatever it is, it doesn't send me to the bathroom. There is a cockroach in my bathroom and I've named him Edgar. Sometimes he gets too close for comfort but I've let him claim that space. My Edgar may have it good but his cousins at the orphanage do not. They get sprayed with pestisides and kept in a small container. Sopia is deathly afraid of bugs. When Sopia doesn't want to eat, the Cambodian women take Edgar's dead cousins and threaten Sopia with them until he eats. It's very cruel and causing lord knows what kind of psychological damage. But... at least the cockroaches are being recycled?
During lunch break, I wanted to get out of the house. I couldn't stand one more bowl of rice and I was craving fast food. Yhosi (Venezuala) and Ida (Amsterdam) followed me to the mall for some Lucky Burger, frozen yogurt and best of all AIR CONDITIONING. We stuffed ourselves until we were sick then headed upstairs to the toy store. I bought my babies a new bike. It would pair perfectly with the tubs of q-tips I purchased for them. My goal for the afternoon was to let the children play and clean their ears as well.
The bicycle was a complete success. The children were great about sharing and even better about cleaning their ears. I let them pick two q-tips and dip them into soapy water. It was tough but I managed to clean all the childrens' ears. They went from black and crusty to being a golden Cambodian brown. I was happy with the results and the children were happy to be clean.
Many of the children are sick right now. So on top of ear cleaning was a lot of nose cleaning. I knew I was completely comfortable with the orphanage when I was picking boogers out of an infant's nose with my fingers, no problem. I've been peed on, pooped on, spat on, bled on, snot on and I would turn around and do it all again in an instant.
Leaving them on Friday is going to be tough. They are too young to make the connection that when I say goodbye that time, it will be be for good. I'm already thinking of ways to come back. I miss them even when I'm away for a day. No matter how bratty or smelly the can be, I still want them near. Yep, this is going to be really, really hard.
...woops! I left my bathroom door open. If Edgar got out, I'm gonna flip. I better clean the chip crumbs off my bed.
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