Our first weeks adventure has been remarkable. We have seen quite a bit of Phnom Penh. Actually most of the primary tourist sites. The cars,tuk-tuks, motorcycles,motorbikes,scooters,bikes, and people on foot are literally driving in every direction and on the wrong side of the street at the same time. Getting around is about the scariest experience we have ever had. We are now getting pretty good at crossing streets.

Our apartment is really nice and modern. We are in an excellent area near the Tonle Sap River close to the intersection with the Mekong river and less than a block to the American Embassy. We are doing our usual walking at great risk but are now getting native about it. Today we saw our first accident.

We have shopped at the local supermarket and were a bit shocked at the high cost of our regular foods, i.e. grapes $20, a piece of sausage $24. We are sticking to the staples and restaurants are more tha reasonable--$4 - $8 per meal. Actually the food is good.

Today was our first orientation day at CCF. You can tell from some of the picures how many little ones there are. The population served by CCF has grown from 84 to 2,200 in 10 years. CCF has many facilities and these facilities would make any DC school look really good.

This is an incredibly poor country and really dirty. There is rubbish and anything you can think of on every street. I didn't even come close to understanding how poor this country is and what a challenge it will be to work with these children.