Road Trip Part 2 - Sabai Klang Nah

When the two Spirit of Soccer trucks pulled up to the Beach Road Hotel Friday afternoon, the team members were literally bouncing off the walls of the vehicles.  The hotel is in the center of the action in Sihanoukville, Cambodia's main beach town, and it is an upscale backpacker hotel with very few Cambodian guests.  The front desk is located at the back of the bar/restaurant and two feet from a pool table.  When two barangs (Cambodian word for white foreigners) came into the lobby with 11 Cambodian kids and two Cambodian adults, the entire room turned to stare.  While the check-in was being sorted, the team played pool, completely oblivious to the fact that they were the center of attention; something they would be for the entire weekend.

After unloading the gear in the rooms, it was time for the beach.  We tried to convince the team to change into shorts rather than sport jeans and longsleeves, but no luck.  The 1/4 mile walk to the beach was somewhat overwhelming as the street is filled with tourist shops, barang backpackers and bars.  Everyone grabbed hands with another team member for support.  In Cambodia, it is not unusual to see two kids or adults of the same sex walking down the street holding hands.

Once we hit the beach, and after a minute or two of staring at the water, the entire team ran pell mell into the sea fully clothed.  It was a sight to see!  They frolicked in the water laughing their heads off while tossing the soccer ball around,  yet again the center of attention for all the tourists on the beach.

Savin had a huge grin on her face and when we asked how she was, she said, "Sabai Klang Nah", directly translated as happy strong very.  It was truly amazing to see so much joy and wonder as the team had their first experience in the ocean and playing in the sand.

After returning to the hotel, the team asked if they could go in the pool.  None of them have ever been in a pool before.  Upon the affirmative answer, 11 sandy, beddraggled, fully-clothed Cambodian kids dive bombed the pool to the horror of the other hotel guests.  It was like the scene from Caddy Shack when the caddies take over the pool, minus the baby ruth part.  The other people in the pool quickly made their way to the far side of the pool, away from the crazy Cambodian kids, and after about ten minutes, the team had taken over the entire pool while the rest of the guests stared in a mix of horror and fascination from the surrounding lounge chairs.

The next day, the team had evaluations with social workers and psychologists from a local NGO to check their readiness for travel and to help open dialogue about their fears about the trip.  Team members are nervous about being away from home for two weeks, eating non-Cambodian food and the language barrier.  A few mentioned neighbors in their village brought up the issue of human trafficking and safety.  Human trafficking is a big problem in Cambodia, esepecially for young village girls.  Their fears were allayed about safety concerns and trip expectations through discussions with other Cambodian kids who have traveled internationally and the team was given additional explanation about the journey ahead.  We learned that not only do we need to travel with a rice maker and locally produced rice, but we also need to bring dozens of ramen noodles in case the team won't eat the food offered in South Africa.  Asians in general don't like food from other countries and Cambodians in particular do not really eat food from outside their region, let alone their country. 

After two days of playing soccer, swimming, laughing and bonding as a team, it was time to return to Phnom Penh.  The girls sang, giggled and snacked the entire four hours back to Phnom Penh.  We made a quick stop at the airport so the team would be more comfortable on the departure day and talked about departure gates, checking bags and customs while everyone chomped down on their first Dairy Queen soft-serve cone.   

Finally, time for the mall!  Sunday afternoon is a busy time at the mall in Cambodia, but add a holiday Sunday afternoon to the mix and you get utter mall mania.  The mall is more of a social excurison than a buying excurison - air conditioning, escalators, window shopping, fried chicken outlets and more. 

The team entered the Sorya Center in excited anticipation with their eyes growing wider and wider upon seeing all the people, the bright lights and the famed escalator.  After a quick explanation about the escalator, we hopped on for a trip down.  All the girls grabbed the nearest arm to hold onto and screeched in fear and delight as if they were on a roller coaster.  We yelled to 'jump off' at the bottom as they truly didn't know what to do.  (Sidenote:  In any other country, the Sorya Center would not really even be considered a mall, but in Cambodia, it is the best we can do and almost as big a deal as Disney World.)

The final cultural excursion of the weekend was a quick trip around the grocery store.  Again, no one on the team had been into a grocery store as they do their shopping in local markets, often with live animals and just picked produce.  They stared in fascination at neatly cut hunks of meat nicely wrapped in plastic, mesh bags filled with produce and gasped at the cost of the food.

What a weekend!  It was a real honor to share some of the outside world with the Football for Hope Team.  They are officially ready for South Africa!