After the 37-hour journey from Goshen to Cambodia, the five Graber Millers arrived Tuesday noon in Phnom Penh, made their way through immigration and customs, and headed to the Mennonite Central Committee house. With relative success, we've completely reversed our days and nights, with Cambodia being exactly 12 hours ahead of Goshen.

Most of this week has been committed to the details of daily living -- making arrangements for our meals (mostly Cambodian and Thai food), purchasing a cell phone, meeting with the owners of the house we'll be renting, visiting the school where the kids will be attending, checking out what books are available for SSTers in the Russian Market, keeping our children entertained. Next week work will begin in earnest on completing the academic schedule and syllabus for SSTers, meeting with medical personnel to make arrangements for student health care needs, confirming arrangements for Khmer language training, meeting families with whom students will live, arranging for bus services we'll need for the group.

Keith began daily private language tutoring 18 hours after we hit the ground, and is enjoying applying greetings and sentences with Cambodians. While riding in a tuk-tuk last evening, 7-year-old Simon said the one phrase he's learned (through overhearing) thus far is "dtou trang," which means "go straight."

Saturday we'll move into the longer-term Goshen house, which is about a five-minute tuk-tuk ride from the MCC house, near Tuol Sleng (S-21 prison) and the Russian Market (P'saa Toul Tom Pong). See the orange-tiled rooftop in the center of the photo from Google Earth. MCC country representatives Larry and Sherry Groff and their children Tyler and Nicole also are treating us to a pancake breakfast at their home Saturday morning. There we'll also meet Sreyhem Roberts, who will be our assistant for the SST program. Sreyhem is a Cambodian married to a former Mennonite Central Committee worker, and she's been working throughout the fall to find 24 homes for students.

We'll post updates on the SST Cambodia blog, once it is up and running, every few days, and you are welcome to sign up to receive regular update notices if you would like. Cambodia promises to be an excellent location for the newest SST setting.

Ann and Keith, Niles, Mia, and Simon continued settling in over the last week, having a host of meetings, running errands all over Phnom Penh, and visiting many students' host family homes (see next entry on that). Niles had his photo taken with a Cambodian Santa at a local restaurant. Even though more than 90 percent of Cambodians practice Theravada Buddhism, we see Christmas trees around town from time to time.

We spent a morning with Larry and Sherry Groff, MCC Country Directors, as well as the Cambodia SST assistant, Sreyhem Roberts, Sreyhem's husband Mike, and the father of Goshen College students Travis and Nicole Weaver, who was visiting from the States while on business. We also spent an afternoon and evening with Sreyhem, Mike, and their three children, swinging on their backyard swings out in the countryside just beyond the borders of Phnom Penh.

At the Groff house (the Groffs are the aunt and uncle of SSTer Abigail Groff), Niles, Mia, and Simon enjoyed meeting Tyler and Nicole's monkey and goat, as well as jumping on the family trampoline with Tyler and Nicole and Sreyhem and Mike's three children, Andrew, Aaron, and Alaina.

We continue to find our way around town in tuk-tuks (Simon is in a tuk-tuk in the photo here), and occasionally Keith takes motos when doing business. In the photos above you also can see the view from our porch to the porches of neighbors across the street as well as the street we live on.

Keith and Ann spent all of Saturday morning and part of the afternoon driving around Phnom Penh with Sreyhem, our Cambodia SST assistant, meeting the families that Sreyhem had secured over the last several months. Students will have quite gracious Cambodian parenting, from what we could see in our encounters with host mothers, fathers, and siblings.

In most of the host families, parents will not speak English, though older siblings may speak a good bit of English since Cambodians now study English in school. Of the Cambodian homes we visited, some have a total of two rooms and some have five or six rooms in the house. Some are on busy streets while others have a countryside, neighborhood feel. Several host families run their own businesses from the front of their homes, including small grocery markets, a construction materials business, and a hair salon. The photos are of the following families and homes, in this order: 1) Neighborhood of host family Lay Sary and Jiang Sareoun; 2) Lay Sary and Jiang Sareoun in front of their home; 3) Tea Savvat and her daughter in their home near the Russian Market and the Graber Miller house; 4) the outside of Tea Savvat's home; 5) Sam and Yanna Ang with their family in front of the Christmas tree; 6) the street in the Ang's neighborhood; 7) the kitchen in the home of Ngin Sarin; 8) Madame Vorn and her family, who have been long-time friends of Sreyhem; the outside of Madame Vorn's home and market; 9) the market in front of Madame Vorn's home; 10) the home of host parents Sam Vuthy and Tuy Sam Oy; 11)the Men Vanthorn home with the host mother outside of her hair salon; 12) home of Meng Hy and Lim Kay, which is directly across from their Meng Hy Restaurant, a favorite breakfast spot.

Students have not yet been placed in specific homes, but the Graber Millers will be making placements sometime in the weeks before SSTers arrive January 12. All in all, Cambodia continues to look like an excellent location for SST, with welcoming, gracious hosts and a stimulating and challenging environment for language and cultural learning.

Thursday the Graber Millers are headed off to Angkor Wat, the magnificent Hindu and Buddhist temples built during the height of the Khmer/Cambodian reign some eight centuries ago, to celebrate the Christmas holidays and Niles' 15th birthday. We'll be accompanied by Ann's sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Mike Hunsberger, and their daughter Evelyn, who are visiting from Bulgaria. We'll spend a day visiting the temples (see photo of Keith attempting, unsuccessfully, to mimic the smile of the faces of the Bayon temple during his trip to Angkor Wat this summer) and then also visit a silk factory and possibly the floating villages of Tonle Sap River.

Wednesday we visited Tuol Sleng, the S-21 prison where thousands of political prisoners were tortured before being taken to the Killing Fields outside the city to meet their fate. The prison was used during the Khmer Rouge period from 1975 to 1979, and now stands, almost untouched, as a memorial to the victims of that tragic part of Cambodian history. Next week we'll also take a pilgrimage to the Killing Fields themselves.

Keith visited the Royal University of Phnom Penh campus this week to confirm Khmer language arrangements and take note of typical Cambodian students' clothing on campus (see photos). Students will be divided into four language groups and continue the study they began this fall in a course videoconferenced to campus from our teacher, Susie Kaufmann, who was based in Chicago.

We also finished visiting and GPS-mapping students' host family homes. A few of the homes are pictured here: 1) the home of tailor Nov Kuch and family; 2) the second- and third-floor home of Leav Sinara and Saeng Lee, near P'saa Thmei; 3) the brother of Chhoy Socheata near their home, which is not far from the Royal University of Phnom Penh; and 4) the bedroom one of the women SSTers will share with her host sister. Most of the women in the SST group will either share a bed with a sister or sleep on a bamboo mat on the floor. Most of the men in the group will sleep on bamboo mats or, in a couple of cases, in a bed. Of the families, more than half are Buddhist, while a smaller number are Christian or non-religious.

In other photos here, you can get a view of Phnom Penh from the top of the Sorya Mall, located in the downtown area; view the market where we purchase eggs just down our street, and observe Niles and Simon as Niles creates a Gumby creature out of the garnish for one of our meals. We anxiously await the arrival of the SSTers. Blessings to all over the Christmas holidays.

Just before Christmas Ann, Keith, Niles, Mia and Simon traveled to Siem Reap, a five-hour-drive north of Phnom Penh, to see the ancient temple sites of Angkor Wat. Ann's sister and brother-in law, Susan Graber Hunsberger and Mike Hunsberger, and their daughter Evelyn, made the trek with us, having traveled from Bulgaria to be with us for the holidays.

On the way to Siem Reap, we made a quick stop in Skuon, affectionately known as Spiderville, where the locals sometimes eat spiders for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On his 15th birthday, Niles had his first taste of a deep-fried tarantula leg, as did his Dad (tasted a little like a burnt french fry). The origin of the spider culinary practice is unknown, but is believed to be traced back to the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979) when food sources were scarce. Since Simon and Mia spent the entire Skuon sidetrip huddled in the back of our van, we made the visit a short one.

On our day at Angkor Wat, we saw the key temple sites -- Angkor Wat itself, built by Suryavarman II (reign, 1112-1152); Angkor Thom, built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII (reign, 1181-1219); Bayon, which carries the face of Jayavarman VII on 216 enormous, smiling faces; and Ta Prohm, which figures as an essential backdrop in Angelina Jolie's film "Tomb Raiders," with massive trees growing into and slowly destroying the structure, which also dates back to Jayavarman VII's reign.

Pictured here, besides the tarantulas in their live and deep-fried forms, are: our family outside of Angkor Wat; the kids climbing to the highest tower of Angkor Wat up a 70-degree stone staircase; Evelyn and Mia in the tower; Simon at both Ta Prohm and Bayon; a fruit seller on the temple grounds, examining her colorful produce; and the kids feeding wild monkeys just outside the Bayon temple.

During the Siem Reap week we had a cold wave, with temperatures sometimes in the 70s at night and in the low 80s during the day. The heat is cranking back up now, so it appears winter is over, though the timing was perfect for trudging through the temple grounds. When students take the trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, they'll be able to choose which temples they visit, and will use either bike, moto, tuk-tuk, or bus transportation.

The day after visiting Angkor Wat, somewhat on a whim, we decided to take a shot at visiting Kampong Phluk, one of the villages on 20-foot stilts over the Tonle Sap Lake, looking much like a set from a movie. The floating village of Chong Kneas also was an attractive option, but our guidebooks said it was often over-touristed, and this was high season. So we chose to take the road -- and the waterway -- less traveled.

We took our van as far as we could go, some 10 or 12 kilometers down dusty, bumpy roads, as far as vehicles can go. From there on our encounters were all in Khmer. After negotiating a deal, we crawled onto the back of five motos and drove another four kilometers down sandy trails impassible to anything with more than two wheels. From there we hopped a boat, then traveled another four or five kilometers down a tree and shrub-covered canal to the rather amazing village of Kampong Phluk, majestically rising out of the Tonle Sap. In our various travels in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, this was perhaps the single most otherworldly experience.

People in Kampong Phluk are, not surprisingly, primarily involved in fishing. They also raise crocodiles (see photo of caged crocodiles), feeding them tens of thousands of river snakes each year. Creative living is evident everywhere, from the floating pig stys, which provide fecal food for the fish that swim below; to the small floating vegetable gardens that offer shade for fish, which are then caught in traps along the gardens' edges; to bathing and brushing teeth from the edge of a carved-out wooden boat.

We took a walk through the three or four acres of the community's dry land available during this season. There we saw merchants chatting and a woman drying tiny shrimp destined for the markets. Keith visited the village's small school and spoke with the monk who was teaching there. We were able to arrange for two or three SST students to live in the village for their service assignments, teaching English, forming relationships, and walking (and boating) alongside the villagers in other ways.

When the SST group visits Siem Reap, we'll also take a side trip to Kampong Phluk, which by then will have more land and less water. This was an extraordinary adventure, and we hope it will be for the group as well.

(This evening we posted three separate blog entries about our travels over the last week, so please go to the two previous ones as well. Thanks.)

We spent Christmas Day sharing turkey with Mennonite Central Committee workers at the home of country directors Sherry and Larry Groff, who have been tremendously helpful consultants to our SST program. The meal included turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, and pumpkin and apple pies, all rarities in Cambodia.

After Christmas we spent a couple of days on the south coast, visiting Kaep and Sihanoukville. On one of the days we were staying at Kaep, we boated out to Rabbit Island for an afternoon at the beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand, dipping their toes in the waters of the Gulf of Thailand, and flying kites. The adults delighted in excellent fish, squid, and prawns, straight from the sea, cooked over a fire in the shanty behind us. All in all, aside from Niles' slicing his toe on a rock during our initial 15 minutes on the island, it was a well-spent, relaxing day. We hope to send three students to the island for their village study (not service, but a weekend village study), learning about the lives of the 20 Cambodian families who live on the island and serve travelers who come to eat or to stay overnight in the beach shacks.

On our various travels, we took photos of country homes, attempting to depict what village living may be like for students on service. Here are images of two typical country homes as well as an outdoor barber shop.

We returned from the south coast to find a Buddhist funeral happening on our street. We've seen hosts of funerals and weddings over the last two weeks. During each a canopy is set up covering half of the street in front of the wedding or funeral residence, loudspeakers play music or Buddhist chanting, and an outdoor kitchen serves food to those celebrating or memorializing the event. In the case of our neighbor's funeral, professional drum players and gong-bangers were employed until late in the evening and then again at 5:15 the next morning, making for a memorable event.

We also took a tuk-tuk to visit Choeng Ek (the Killing Fields), where about 18,000 Cambodians were killed during the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979). Those killed at the Killing Fields, located about 10 kilometers outside of town, were first held at the S-21 prison just four blocks from our home here in Phnom Penh. The visit was a sobering one, with excavated mass burial pits, bones still being unearthed, and a stupa (Buddhist funerary structure) with some 9,000 skulls layered on shelves. The Killing Fields will be the site for one of our SST field trips as well.

We look forward to our students' arrival in 12 days, and are busy making final preparations -- formally placing particular students with host families; meeting with host parents for an orientation session; arranging for buses to move us about the city on our initial days; preparing the syllabus; finalizing the academic schedule for the first six weeks; confirming our various lecturers; preparing orientation packets for students; and picking up mosquito nets and other essentials. For their initial four days in the city, students will take tuk-tuks from place to place, and then make decisions about their choice of transportation. We'll purchase bicycles and helmets for those who need them, and make sure everyone is appropriately prepared for Phnom Penh traffic patterns, which we've grown to love but which are radically different than what we are used to in the U.S. and Canada. It's all good.

Tonight (Monday) we had an orientation meeting with all of the host families, and more than 30 parents and siblings came. We were grateful for Sreyhem's language and cultural abilities in translating detailed information about our program and our hopes and expectations for host families. Most families have never before hosted Westerners, and most parents speak no or minimal English. The meeting had a positive mood and spirit, with families pleased to see photos of and learn about their U.S. or Canadian kohn proh or kohn srey. Mia and Simon spent the evening serving drinks and snacks to our guests. Parents will pick students up at our hotel at 5 p.m. Saturday, just after we complete a morning orientation and afternoon bus tour around key spots in Phnom Penh.

Most of the past week has been focused on finalizing the academic schedule and syllabus. This semester's SSTs in Dominican Republic and Cambodia will be the first ones where students will receive letter grades. Here we were attempting to create an engaging program of lectures and field trips from scratch. With consultation and contacts with a number of non-governmental organizations, we were able to secure some top-notch speakers, including some excellent univerity professors and a number of respected public figures.

Around our home, neighborhood boys continued to play on the sidewalk in front of our house, usually spending four to six hours a day kicking sandals back and forth in a horseshoe-like game. Now they have a Goshen College frisbee to add to their sports equipment.

And the Graber Millers spent a morning at the Phnom Penh airport watching Niles fly a plane for the first time. Niles dreams of becoming a pilot, and his belated 15th-birthday gift was an introductory flight training lesson. He sat in the pilot's seat (not the co-pilot's) and did most of the take-off, flight time, and landing. He flew the Cessna 150 over the central part of the city and Boeng Kak Lake on the northern side, near the homes of Paul Shetler and Luke Kreider. It felt like a monumental day.

Students leave from Goshen Wednesday afternoon, and will arrive in Phnom Penh some 48 hours later. We can't wait to greet them and help them settle into Cambodian life for the next three months.

We had a whirlwind 24 hours of welcoming students at the Pochentong Airport, whisking them off to our hotel in a hyper-full bus (see photo), having a fish amok meal, hearing from Mennonite Central Committee service worker Elijah Penner about living with a host family, and then heading to bed relatively early. Joanna, Jonny, and Isaac had enough energy late Friday evening to accompany Keith and Niles back to the airport to pick up 20 of the students' passports, which were delayed in being processed because of a minor immigration glitch.

Today (Saturday) we started with a Western and Cambodian buffet breakfast, then had 3 1/2 hours of orientation. As part of that morning session, Medic Gloria Christie gave a brief presentation on "staying healthy in Cambodia" (see photo). For lunch we walked to nearby restaurants, breaking up into groups of three or four so we didn't overwhelm any restaurant with our crowd of 29. In one of the photos here you can see Jonny, Paul, and Jesse enjoying ice coffees at a Thai restaurant. This afternoon we took a two-hour tour of the city, dropping Kelli off at her family's home on the city's southwest side. Other students watched with great anticipation from the bus as Kelli greeted the Van Ya family.

We returned to our hotel in time to meet other host parents, who came over the next hour and a half (see photo of waiting SSTers) to take home their new sons and daughters. Our Cambodian assistant Sreyhem did a wonderful job helping with the transition into families. Among the photos posted are Joanna and Anna greeting their related family members, Chhoy Socheata and Dyda Phoung; Nathan with his brother, with whom he immediately hit it off (twins separated at birth?); Nicole greeting her sister and her mother, Madame Vorn; Nathan and Sheldon headed to their homes in a tuk-tuk, preparing to go to the wedding of their brother and friend; and Krista greeting the Seak Botan family.

As of 8 p.m., 21 of the 24 students were settled into their new homes. For tonight, Jesse is ensconced at the Graber Millers, as planned, since his family was preoccupied with his sister's wedding this evening. Greg also is staying at the Graber Miller home tonight after having a rather nasty run-in with some sort of bacteria this afternoon. Don't worry, Mom and Dad Yoder; he's sleeping soundly right behind me here in the P'teah Goshen house's office. He's drinking his fluids and should be fine by morning. Janie is staying the night with Sreyhem and her family after we discovered this evening that her family situation had fallen through. With other families in the hosting pipeline, she should have a new family by tomorrow afternoon.

All of the students will be stopping by the Graber Millers' tomorrow as part of a map activity, and we look forward to hearing reports about their first night with their Cambodian families. They left for their homes smiling and in good spirits, putting to use their fledgling Khmer skills. They'll do just fine.

After staying a night at the Graber Miller home, Jesse and Greg met their new families on Sunday, and they immediately settled comfortably into their homes. Janie had two nights at Sreyhem's house before she moved into her home near P'teah Goshen, with a family that immediately embraced her. By Monday night, all students were adjusting to their new environments and their new schedule, which includes daily classes at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Monday began with an official welcoming ceremony including University Rector Lav Chiv Eav and Academic Dean Ponn Chhay. Following the ceremony, each student underwent Khmer language testing, in front of their peers, with the four teachers. Here you can see Nicole, Seth, and Dustin being grilled by the teachers.

In other photos from the Rupp campus, teachers Pantha, Phara, and Sophea work with their six students in their classrooms during the 9 to 11:15 a.m. class; Ann, Jonny, Kelli, and Melanie enjoy lunch at the outdoor cafe behind RUPP's main building; and students take a break between class and their afternoon lectures. This week we learned about Cambodian peoples and cultures, politics, and the classical Angkor period (9th to 13th centuries) in Cambodian history.

(This is the first of three blog entries posted this evening, so please take a look at all three.)

Sunday afternoon students found their way to P'teah Goshen to report on their first nights with families. Students also returned for the first regular P'teah Goshen Night. Each Wednesday night the entire group will be at the Graber Millers for hymn-singing, reflection on their experiences, and comfort food. This week the group opted for loads of salad (we bought a kilo of lettuce), a fresh fruit salad, cheese sandwiches, and Oreos.

Sleeping arrangements for students vary, with about half of the group sharing beds or bamboo mats with a brother or sister. About half of the group sleeps on mats on the floor, and the other half has some form of bed or mat on a wooden platform.

Students report loving their families' food, which always includes rice, sometimes has one form or another of noodles, and often has coconut milk or curry ingredients.

On Thursday some of the students met Keith at one of the many local bike shops to purchase used bikes for their local transportation. Isaac, Tim, Krista, Dustin, Nicole, and Anna all will be riding bikes to school and lectures. Other students opted to go with tuk-tuks and sometimes motos, although they are religiously wearing their helmets when on two wheels.

On some mornings, Keith has been continuing to work at service placements, keeping students informed about what placements may emerge. Friday he met with the personnel director of Rehab Crafts, which creates functional wooden art and bags crafted from former fish-food sacks. All of the craftspeople have one form or another of disability, mostly from stepping on landmines. Two students may be placed in a small wood-carving village and two might work with silk weavers. In both cases, as in most provincial placements, villages will not have electricity. Among Rehab Crafts' customers is Ten Thousand Villages. Ann also has helped some with photographing items for Ten Thousand Villages at Rehab Craft Cambodia.

(This is the second of three blog postings this evening, so please take a look at all three.)

Friday afternoon, after the morning Khmer class, the group took a field trip to the National Museum and Royal Palace. The museum includes prehistoric artifacts from 6,500 B.C., when hunter-gatherers first lived in the area around contemporary Battambang. Featured throughout the museum's later displays were both Buddhist and Hindu images. Buddhism was present in Cambodia in the early centuries of the Common Era, but was replaced by Hinduism during the classical Angkor period. Buddhism became dominant once again after a later Angkor king embraced Buddhist philosophy.

Photos were not allowed inside the museum, so all of the photos here were taken in the courtyard. Pictured are Greg resting on a bench outside the museum; Kelli and Melanie joking as they view the stone figures, with Melanie trying to sketch some of what she is observing (including an exhibition of Rodin's sketches of apsara dancers); Janie, Laura, Abigail, and Krista chatting after completing their tour of the museum; and Simon and Keith in the museum courtyard.

We next visited the National Palace, which included a majestic throne room and the famous Silver Pagoda, with more than 5,000 pure silver tiles covering the floor. In the photos here you can see the group in front of a building housing the footprint of Buddha; Colin looking like a bug in his new sunglasses; Krista in front of the royal waiting room, where kings rest before mounting an elephant for their coronation; the two Lukes with young monks they met on the palace grounds, and then engaged in a half-hour conversation; Melanie, Kelli, and Jesse enjoying sodas; groups of students lined up on a curb taking a break from the heat; Nathan and Seth clowning around in front of the Silver Pagoda; and Abigail, Laura, Jonny, Janie, and Nathan on the steps before others from the group arrived for the full SST photo.

Since this is the "cool" season, temperatures have been in the upper-80s and low-90s. Some Cambodians wear jackets in the frigid weather. Our cultural informants tell us this season will end soon, and the heat will be ratcheted up considerably as we move into February and March.

(This is the third of three blog entries posted this evening, so please take a look at all three. Thanks.)

Over the weekend the SST group, accompanied by about 30 host family members, attended a performance by Sovanna Phum, a small dance troupe. Pictured here are some of the drummers, as well as Nicole showing her cousin her journal, Nathan with his Mom, and Hillary and Nicole dancing with the troupe following the performance.

As is common in any sort of cross-cultural experience, we've experienced some minor illnesses during our time in Phnom Penh. Ann and Keith have been running a little clinic at P'teah Goshen (Goshen House), with the Graber Millers providing nurturing care that includes cool water, rehydration packets, crackers, toast, and loads of empathy. Thus far, with assistance from MCC's Sherry Groff, who is a nurse, we've not needed to send anyone to a clinic.

Over the weekend we also had Men's Night Out and Women's Night Out, going to separate restaurants with most group members, except those who were away with siblings. Luke (Luke Srey here) and Dirk were able to spend the weekend in the countryside with Luke's family. Luke's Dad was attending a class reunion of friends, many of whom hadn't seen each other since before the Khmer Rouge period (1975-79). Pictured here as part of Men's Night Out are men waiting at Independence Monument; Dustin in front of the Cambodian flag; Tim biking beside a tuk-tuk to the restaurant; and the men at each end of the table. We'll post Women's Night Out photos at another time.

Students continue to enjoy their host families very much. As pictured here, Jonny's family eats dinner together on a bamboo floor mat. In the next photo, you can see Jonny's bed in the middle of the living room at his home. Tuesday evening, after a cousin moved out of the house, Jonny moved into his own room.

P'teah Goshen, our weekly group event, continues to be a place for rich reflection and processing of group members' experiences. Wednesday evening we discussed the material we have been immersed in this week, primarily concerning the Khmer Rouge. (We'll post another entry about these lectures on the weekend.) Pictured here are two of our lecturers, So Na and Elijah Penner, who came to speak about a group called Women Peacemakers. At P'teah Goshen's Wednesday evening sessions, we also eat foods considered odd in Cambodia: tonight it was pancakes with various toppings as well as sliced vegetables.

Another event this week for Ann and Keith was meeting one of Ann's cousins, Julia Snyder, along with her husband Hans. Julia and Hans have been living in Germany for 25 years, and Ann and Julia had not seen each other since they were teenagers. Julia found the Cambodia SST blog online while she and Hans were touring Cambodia and made a contact through the website. It was a delightful evening of conversation and excellent Cambodian food.

Over the last several days Cambodia SSTers learned about the horrific events of the Khmer Rouge period that took place between 1975 and 1979. About two million Cambodians died during what our host families usually call the "Pol Pot years," which began in full force when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh in April 1975, then evacuated the city and put everyone to work in agriculture. Anyone known to be educated was killed -- professors, physicians, nurses, people who spoke English, those who wore glasses -- as well as thousands of people who had worked for previous governments. In all, about 2 million people were either killed or simply died from starvation or untreated illnesses during those tragic years.

Lectures included one by Ly Vanna about Cambodia in its Southeast Asian context, which focused on Thailand and Vietnam's response to the Khmer Rouge era. Dara Vanthan and Dacil Keo of Document Center-Cambodia also gave an excellent introduction to the Khmer Rouge years, placing the regime in its historical context and addressing the Khmer Rouge's ideological rationale.

All SSTers also interviewed their parents, grandparents or others over 40 to ask where they were from 1975 to 1979, how they survived, how many family members they lost, and whether they would like to see the Khmer Rouge top leaders brought to justice. The stories, told in student journals, were markedly poignant, moving, and powerful, each one more amazing than the previous one. One of the students likely will collect and edit the accounts for a possible PinchPenny Press book.

We took three major Khmer Rouge-related field trips this week as well. Wednesday we visited Tuol Sleng, a short walk from the Goshen House. The former school was turned into the S-21 detention and interrogation center from 1975 to 1979, and some 17,000 people were processed there before they were killed. No one escaped from the prison, and only a literal handful of people ever survived after entering its gates. Here you can see students seeing the torture rooms, viewing photos of those killed, and reading the signs posted on the grounds.

The second field trip was to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, a Cambodian and international court where the "top leaders and those most responsible" for the Khmer Rouge killings will be prosecuted over the next three years. United Nations representative Peter Foster showed us the grounds and talked about the preliminary phase of the trials. To this point, nearly all of the top Khmer Rouge leaders, except for those who died, are living freely in Cambodia. One lives in a large home down the street from Isaac. Students discussed extensively what "justice" might mean in this context, and wrestled with questions of how to prevent future genocides.

Friday the group visited the Killing Fields, the somber grounds where thousands of Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge. A stupa at the site contains the skulls of about 8,000 of the dead as a sacred memorial. Eighty-six of the 129 mass graves have been excavated. Among the photos are students walking through the Killing Fields, children playing near the fences that demarcate the grounds, and Sheldon taking a photo of bones and shards of victims' clothing that continue to be revealed on the path visitors walk.

SST Director Tom Meyers also visited from Thursday evening through Monday morning. Here you can see students relaxing on the RUPP campus during their break, and chatting with Tom and Cambodian RUPP students.

This will be a full week with lectures and field trips, including a major excursion to Angkor Wat and Kampong Phluk. The next blog posting probably will be Monday or Tuesday, February 5 or 6. Students are healthy, engaged, and increasingly immersed in the history, culture, and psyche of Cambodia and its remarkable people.

As I'm writing this, most of the Cambodian SSTers are here at the Goshen House watching the Super Bowl, which has been showing live since 6:30 this morning. We managed to postpone Khmer language classes for an hour this morning to allow for this odd American ritual.

Last week, on the night before we left for our four-day field trip to Siem Reap (see subsequent entries later today), we had P'teah Goshen at Friends Restaurant, an eatery run entirely by former street kids. Last Tuesday we also went to Rehab Craft Cambodia, an NGO that serves many other NGOs with crafts made by Cambodians with disabilities, most of whom lost limbs due to landmines. In the photo of bag-making, the workers were filling an order for Ten Thousand Villages -- 1,500 of the handbags made from fish feed sacks. Two students will do their service assignments at one of Rehab Craft Cambodia's weaving villages. In the final photo, you can see one of students' primary modes of transportation around town, the moto. The first photo includes several SSTers on the RUPP campus as we prepared for our Angkor field trip.

As time allows throughout the day, we'll be posting a host of photos from Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, and Skuon.

Last week we spent several remarkable days in and around Siem Reap, located about six hours from Phnom Penh near the Tonle Sap Lake. The Angkor temples were as magnificient as we imagined them to be. The classical Angkor period dates from the 9th to the 13th centuries, when much of Southeast Asia was ruled by kings located in this Khmer capital. Many of the major temples, including Bayon, with its 217 likenesses of its maker, were built by the "Donald Trump" of Angkor kings, Jayavarman VII, who lived in the 13th century.

Students woke up at 4:30 a.m. Friday to take the group bus to Angkor so they could catch the sunrise. After arriving 45 minutes early, they stumbled around in the dark until they saw the spectacular dawn rising behind Angkor Wat, the centerpiece of the Angkor temples. The group (29 of us in all) broke up into smaller sub-groups and then took tuk-tuks or electric bikes from temple to temple over the 30 to 50 kilometers on the temple grounds. Keith, Niles, and Mia all had minor accidents with their electric bikes, but suffered nothing more than relatively minor cuts and bruised legs, arms, and egos. Students survived the day without any incidents.

As is evident in the photos, we took a cue from Asian tour groups at Angkor and took a series of "jumping" pictures, which have much more energy than the stand-and-shoot versions.

While the city's primary features are the ancient temples, we also enjoyed an afternoon visit to the Artisans d'Angkor, a non-governmental organization that trains villagers for a year, then sends them back to their home areas so they can teach other artisans their crafts. Students spent time relaxing and journaling around the pool at our hotel, too, and enjoyed dining out in some of Siem Reap's Cambodian and international restaurants.

(See also the following entry on Kampong Phluk and Skuon, two other sites we visited on this field trip. That blog should be posted within the next 12 hours or so.)

On our Siem Reap field trip, in addition to seeing the majestic temples of Angkor (see previous entry), we also spent a day traveling to Kampong Phluk, the village on stilts. It was an adventure, with our bus driver first taking us as far as the vehicle could manage the roads. At that point we secured 16 motos on the spot, generating much excitement in the small, rural community, and motoed the six kilometers out to boats. We negotiated to rent three boats to take us the remaining 20 minutes to Kampong Phluk.

Since we're now in the dry season, much of the water beneath the Kampong Phluk homes was now gone, leaving only a winding river through the village. We first moved directly through the community, seeing fishing boats, scores of caged crocodiles, floating pig stys, and boat-homes. We went on out into the Tonle Sap Lake, which in the dry season is about 250,000 hectares in size. In the wet season (June to October), the lake swells to four to five times its original size -- up to 1.3 million hectares -- taking up a substantial portion of the Cambodian land mass. Another phenomenon during the wet season is that the Tonle Sap River, which runs through Phnom Penh and into the South China Sea, reverses directions and flows upstream into the lake; few rivers in the world experience such a phenomenon.

On the way back through Kampong Phluk we stopped for an hour on dry land, walking through the village, taking a moment to dance with the locals who were celebrating Meak Bochea, a Buddhist holiday, and spending half an hour talking with Buddhist monk Sorei, whom two students will tutor in English as part of their service project in the village. The students also will teach in the school where Sorei teaches English.

That afternoon a number of us went to a Silk Fair in downtown Siem Reap, and others of us went to the Land Mine Museum on the edge of town. Started by Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge child soldier who shouldered his first gun at age 10, the museum houses thousands of landmines and other weaponry Aki and his associates have cleared from the Siem Reap area. Dustin, who knows more about armaments than other group members, served as an excellent tour guide, explaining the function of each type of weapon. Seeing the collected bullets, bombs, and mines was quite sobering, as was seeing several of the people working at the museum who had lost limbs to mines over the years. At the Land Mine Museum's exit we were pleased to see a peace pole identical to the one on campus in Goshen and at many churches, schools, and offices around the world.

On Sunday's return trip, we made a stopover in Skuon, also known as Spiderville. This is the village where locals sometimes eat deep-fried, large, furry spiders for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a practice that apparently dates to the Khmer Rouge period when food was scarce. A surprising number of SSTers took the plunge and ate all or parts of cooked spiders, and other brave souls allowed the living spiders to crawl on their backs, arms, faces, and hair. That gave others of us the willies.

We're happy to be back in Phnom Penh now with our families, and look forward to the routine of regular morning Khmer classes and afternoon lectures.

After a week of stimulating lectures back in Phnom Penh, the group headed off to Kep/Kaeb to examine the impact of tourism on Cambodia's economy and eco-systems. And to swim at the beach. And to eat fresh fish, shrimp, and squid, which our families had highly recommended.

Kaeb, the former top beach spot during the French colonial period (1863-1953), was decimated by the Khmer Rouge, and now colonial homes stand decaying and empty all along the beachfront. A few of these are being made into hotels, but far fewer tourists visit this area than Sihanoukville, a city 1 1/2 hours west of Kaeb. Sihanoukville, now Cambodia's port city, was carved out of the western jungles by the French and U.S. after the Mekong Delta was given over to Vietnam in the 1950s as part of Cambodia's independence agreements.

After settling in at our hotel, we headed almost directly to Rabbit Island, a small land mass where 20 families eke out a living by serving freshly caught seafood to backpackers and others who venture out to the island on fishing boats. Rights to the backside of the island were recently sold to a Taiwanese corporation that will build a huge casino to attract a different form of tourist.

We spent most of the day relaxing, eating and then eating more, reading, and playing along the shore. The seafood was extraordinary, the day was warm and sunny (as it has been every day here thus far). Later that night much of the group enjoyed some late-night frivolity in the Gulf of Thailand before returning to the hotel to sleep. We returned both refreshed and exhausted Sunday evening after a night at the hotel, walks along the seashore, and exploration of the region. Back in the city, the "cool" season is nearly over, and temperatures are cranking up.

Lectures over the last two weeks have been rich with information and provocation, as we've heard from many leading voices in Cambodia. As Church World Service director Josephine Barbour said at the beginning of her Friday presentation, which she did with Pastor Paulerk, "Many people would be envious to sit where you are sitting and hear from this collection of remarkable people."

Barbour and Pastor Paulerk finished off last week's set of afternoon presentations, speaking about the Christian Church and Christian Missions in Cambodia. A quite small percentage of this Buddhist country has converted to Christianity, and for service three students will work with Church World Service to survey all of the churches of the Kampuchea Christian Council. Charoeun Pa started off our week with his presentation on Developing a Distinctive Cambodian Philosophy. After that we heard from Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro (see photos) of Wat Langkar. The session was at the wat, one of the few in Phnom Penh that survived the Khmer Rouge period. Khmemacaro also led us in a brief time of meditation.

Wednesday afternoon we traveled to the Royal University of Agriculture and heard about contemporary agricultural practices, ethical and developmental tensions, and research. The tour was led by Dr. Vattana, a 26-year-old German-educated professor, and one of the brightest and most articulate young Cambodians we've encountered in our lectures. MCC service worker Doug Graber-Neufeld helped organize the visit to RUA, where he also teaches in the biological sciences. Thursday's lecture took place on a boat that serves as the offices of Womyn's Agenda for Change, an activist organization that works for the rights of garment workers, who make only $45 per month to make many of the brand-name labels we wear in the West (check your clothing to see), and also the rights of sex workers, who serve both Cambodian and tourist clientele. Several current sex workers, organizers of a sex workers union, also were on hand to speak passionately to the group from their perspective.

On Monday afternoon of this week, Kek Galabru, founder and president of LICADHO, another human rights organization, spoke equally passionately about violations of human rights, corruption, and land-grabbing. On Friday and Saturday of this week students will be on village studies, and they'll return in time for Sunday afternoon's family celebration at the home of Sreyhem and Mike Roberts. Sreyhem is our family coordinator and will host about 120 of us for that event. And then, just a week from Friday, the entire group will head out for service, scattered across the provinces. Assignments for service were completed last week, and students are gearing up for their settings and their roles now.

Friday morning students left in small groups for their village studies. These overnight trips, long a staple of SST, are intended to give students confidence about securing tickets and traveling in the provinces to prepare them for their service assignments in rural areas.

Tim, Seth, and Janie went to Prey Veaeng and ate sparrows for the first time; Luke Nofsinger, Abigail, and Krista were in Kampong Spueu; Jesse, Jonny, and Kelli were in Takeo, where other students will be placed on service; Anna, Colin, and Dirk went to Kampong Cham; Nicole, Melanie and Greg were in Kampong Chhnang; Dustin, Laura, and Nathan were in the beach town of Sihanoukville; Joanna, Isaac, and Luke were in Srae Ambel, where other students will be on service; and Hillary, Paul, and Sheldon were in Odeng. All returned with lots of stories to tell. Monday afternoon students gave brief reports about their village studies during the time slot regularly scheduled for lectures.

The photos here are from Jesse, Jonny, and Kelli's trip as well as Paul, Hillary and Sheldon's village study. The images are representative of the Cambodian countryside and of the experiences of their peers as well. Most students visited Buddhist wats/pagodas along the way, and several even opted for countryside haircuts.

Sunday evening all students and representatives of their families were part of a celebratory dinner event at the home of Sreyhem Roberts, our local family coordinator. About 120 people attended the afternoon and early evening event, which included a Khmer meal of satay and noodle soup served in the tranquil setting of Sreyhem's back lawn. The party was a way of thanking our families for their gracious hosting during this first half of SST.

Students did a short program of introducing themselves and their families, singing several hymns, and then talking about their planned service work and locations. Since many families have relatives in the provinces, they were very interested in knowing where students would be living.

Sreyhem has been of invaluable assistance in setting up the families and trouble-shooting along the way. We're so grateful for her work in hosting this culminating event for the Phnom Penh portion of SST as well.

Monday we celebrated 20th birthdays for both Sheldon, whose birthday isn't actually until February 27, when he is out on service, and Joanna, whose birthday came during village studies. Joanna's celebration was a group event during the afternoon lecture period, and that evening Sheldon's family planned an almost-impromptu event, inviting the entire group.

Fifteen SSTers and the Graber Millers showed up for the full meal celebration for Sheldon. The event included short speeches from his parents, who lovingly refer to Sheldon as Visel, the name they would have given their third son if they had had one. Dinner included noodles, curry, and dessert, plus ceremonial cutting of the cake and shooting loads of silly string around the house. By the end of the party, most of the neighbors were standing at the door observing the festivities, too.

When not celebrating birthdays, students continue their regular two-hour Khmer classes each morning, and spend time at the Royal University of Phnom Penh campus. Last week's lectures included sessions on human rights, land issues, Youth for Peace, Cambodian holidays, and the Return Integration Support Program (RISP). The human rights and land lectures gave us a sense of the complexity of contemporary issues in Cambodia. Youth for Peace was a hopeful session, with high schoolers and young adults speaking with us about their involvement in peace workshops in Phnom Penh and the provinces. RISP helps American-Cambodian people who have been deported get reintegrated into Cambodian society. After September 11, 2001, the United States began deporting people from many countries if they were not citizens and had been convicted of felonies. Nearly all of RISP's returnees were babies or infants when they left Cambodia, usually as refugees during and after the Khmer Rouge period. While granted "permanent residence" status in the U.S., they were never given citizenship. Reintegrating into Khmer culture is difficult when their national identity is more American than Cambodian; many of the returnees speak only a few words of Khmer.

We just completed the final week of language and cultural study in Phnom Penh, and students headed out for the far-flung provinces Friday morning. One student is here in Phnom Penh working with a women's shelter, others are within an hour of Phnom Penh, and some are as far away as 12 hours by direct transport (not public transportation). Within a day or two we'll post an entry detailing the specifics of these service assignments and locations. The Graber Millers remain in Phnom Penh along with five students who had preliminary work to do in the city (survey preparation, essentially) before heading out to their sites Monday.

Language classes continued each morning throughout the past week, with great incentive for learning whatever tidbits could be gleaned yet. Most provincial families will not speak any English. Afternoon sessions included Monday's Village Study reports, Tuesday's apsara dancing performance, Wednesday's session with Mennonite Central Committee workers, and Thursday's final group processing before heading out for service. The final P'teah Goshen Night featured taco salad, oreos, and ice cream, and was prepared as always by a group of students. During the evening, four more members of the group filled out visa extension forms. At this point, 15 of the 24 will be remaining somewhere in Asia for a week to three months after the SST experience finishes April 10.

Included here are a number of photos of the apsara dancing event at a rural Cultural Center outside of the city. We were greeted with a clapping tunnel reminiscent of opening convocations and commencement ceremonies back on campus. Children who are trained to do apsara and folk dancing live in the area or are orphans living at the center whose parents died of HIV/AIDs. They were extraordinarily talented.

Following the performance, we interacted with the children on stage, following their lead in the various dance steps, which involve delicate movements of the hands.

Mennonite Central Committee workers, including Larry Groff and Doug Graber-Neufeld (both pictured here) as well as their Cambodian and ex-pat colleagues in the local office, spoke with us about MCC's history in Cambodia. MCC, one of only two organizations to stay in Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War (known here as the American War), was one of the first five non-governmental organizations on the ground in Phnom Penh just after the Khmer Rouge period. Students were impressed with the work of MCC here, which has gradually shifted over the last quarter century from relief and more direct running of social services toward a consulting role that helps train, empower, and encourage Cambodian nationals. Doug Graber-Neufeld, an MCC service worker who is working at the Royal University of Agriculture while on leave/sabbatical from Eastern Mennonite University, also trained the group in doing water-testing. Two students will be testing water sources in Svey Rieng Province as their service assignments, and all students took testing kits to their sites to teach their families and communities about safe(r) water.

By the end of the week, students were ready to shift their energies to the next phase of SST. More on that within a couple of days. The final photo pictures Melanie Antram opening her mail. We've come to call the period of handing out letters "Melanie Antram's mail time" because of the amount of mail she receives. Families and friends should feel free to continue sending letters over the next few weeks, and Keith will deliver these when he visits students at their sites.

Most Cambodia SSTers left Friday for their service assignments, and the remaining five departed Monday for the provinces. A handful of students are within a three-hour drive of Phnom Penh, but others are spread to the most distant corners -- all four quadrants -- of Cambodia. All have arrived safely and are settling in with few hitches.

Anna and Abigail are living in a weaving village in Takeo province, about an hour southwest of Phnom Penh. They are learning to weave and accompanying the women and men who make their livelihood selling their silk fabric and scarves to stores and NGOs, including Ten Thousand Villages. Abigail's aunt and uncle, Mennonite Central Committee's Sherry and Larry Groff, will visit them this weekend. Dirk and Sheldon (officially celebrating his 20th birthday today, February 27) are in Srae Ambel working with Khmer Ahimsa, a Buddhist-run peace organization that works with Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims. They will be accompanying their Cambodian hosts and learning about land-grabbing, reforestation, and other issues that affect people in Koh Kong Province, relatively near the southwest coast and Thai border.

Laura is the only student working in Phnom Penh, just a few blocks from the Graber Miller house, at a women's organization known as Hagar. She'll be doing a research project related to women in prison, and is living with a new host family; her mother also works for Hagar. Mennonite Central Committee service workers helped make arrangements for the service assignments for Luke N. and Melanie, who are about 2 1/2 hours northeast of Phnom Penh in Prey Veang town. Melanie is teaching English at a school and Luke is teaching guitar at a Youth Center in town. Keith will see them already this Thursday, and then again in March.

Nathan is one of our other solo placements, working in a quite remote setting in Prey Veang Province and teaching guitar and English. Guitar-teaching is mostly for local church people, and the