When Worlds Collide

It has been over a week since my parents landed safely back in the US of A and it has taken me a while to sit down and write about their trip for a number of reason, but first and foremost because I am hard-pressed to believe that it really happened. The 12 days that they were in Cambodia went by like a blur. But it is time. Time for me to type up a post and publish it for others (and myself) to see how much Team Henshall experienced together over here and how real it really was.

was it all just a dream?

I met my parents at the airport with sweaty palms, bear hugs, and a Oreo-box sign (the Phnom Penh airport is really not big enough for me to have needed a sign...). After allowing them to sleep a bit (see photo above), I threw them into the bowels of downtown Phnom Penh which in one word was "overwhelming" and in two "chaotic" with a morning run with Dad and then a visit to the Tuol Sleng Torture Museum (S-21), an infamous reminder of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

listening to a tour at S-21

one big family :)

We attempted to digest the tour over lunch at Mama's New York Deli, a hole-in-the-wall eatery run by a no-nonsense Khmer woman who spent 20 years in NYC, before heading south (crammed in a taxi) to my training host family's humble abode in Angtasom, Takeo. Watching my parents interact with my elderly host mother (Ma) and father (Pa), older sister (Bong Srei Mum) and grandmother (yeay) was like witnessing worlds collide. Pa used his limited knowledge of English, French, and Russian to talk to my parents over fresh bananas from the yard and I translated while we got a tour of the house and farm.

We continued further south to Kampot and Kep where we spent a few days swimming, exploring Kep National Park, walking the beach, visiting the crab market, relaxing, and eating heartily.

hiking in Kep National Park 

A brief stop in Phnom Penh where we wandered the Riverfront, explored Olympic Stadium, and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving Buffet dinner before heading off again for my home province: Siem Reap.

 

Adventures abounded in Siem Reap! We went on hikes and explored temples, did some fair-trade market wandering, had a mini food tour of the fruits of Cambodia, and saw the Phare Ponleu Selpak circus performance of "Chills."

   

with some of the circus troop performers

Other notably adventures included, most notably: a trip with HALO Trust Cambodia (the organization that my Dad ran a marathon to benefit) to visit two landmine clearance site near the Thai border, running the 18th Angkor Wat International Half Marathon with 6,000 plus other runners (I ran it last year too), and spending time in my host community.

@ a HALO site

 

We pulled up to my front yard in Sasar Sdam in a tuk-tuk and were immediately in the spotlight for the rest of the day. I gave my parents a tour of the market and introduced them to as many people who I engage with on a day-to-day basis: my breakfast lady, my tailor, my co-worker's sister, the head of the market parking area, and anyone else who made a surprised comment about all the barangs roaming the market. I was told on numerous occasion that I looked like the spitting image of my Dad... that is after they confused my parents with my older siblings! They look young, but COME ON! We lunched in the pavilion in my front yard as the honored guests, separate from my host family despite my insistence that we eat all together.
 

mom, mai, me :)

In the afternoon we played board games with my host cousins before visiting my site-mate Emily and taking a tour of the school and health center. My parents got to meet and sit with my best friend/neighbor/aunt-figure/mother-figure Bong Keya and they spoke through me in the most powerful and loving conversation of which I will ever be a part. I watched as differences faded away between one of my co-workers (Om Phanna) and my parents as I translated about him understanding how difficult it is for parents to have their children far away and that they shouldn't worry because I had people here watching over me. Jokes were exchanged at the tailor shop when the matriarch (Ee Roo) commented on how handsome my Dad is and then asked if I could take a Khmer husband. It was a powerful day. Exhausting to translate, but an incredible experience to watch worlds collide and families meet and for us to all come to realize how similar we all are.

@ Independence Monument slurping sugar cane & coconut

Before returning my parents to the airport and seeing them off, I showed them around my favorite spots (public parks) in Phnom Penh treating them to fresh coconuts and sugar cane juice. When we did part at the airport it felt right. We had done so much and I had let them experience my life here in Cambodia. It wasn't perfect, but the ups-and-downs were realities of what life is like for me here. Sometimes the things I had planned didn't end up going as well as I hoped, but that is life. And then there were those times that everything worked out better than I could have planned. I am incredibly blessed to have parents willing and able to fly halfway around the world to see me and to be adventurous enough to try to take in and experience as much as I pushed them to. It was a Thanksgiving that I am sure no of us will soon forget. Thanks for always being there and supporting me, Mom and Dad!

@ the end of a great trip!