It's a little past midnight here in Minnesota, that's right I'm in the states.  I've got a great family that found a way to get me a flight here for a week so I could celebrate Christmas with the family.  It's been great.  Early tomorrow morning I start my journey back to Asia.  The change in culture from the USA to Cambodia can be difficult to get used to, maybe I've gone through enough change in my life to be ok with the radical change in cultures.  I know what life is like here, I know what it's like there.  No big deal.

My last few weeks in Cambodia before coming here were pretty busy but I had a good time.  We had a group of young kids come to Jumbok Haos and as usual its great to spend time with them.  I can see the improved confidence as the week goes by, the activities at the beginning of the week are less scary than later on in the week and I think each kid hits a point where they really question if they can do it or not.  Once they realize they can do it they believe they can do anything, which is one of the main goals of the Jumbok Haos.

The week after that I went down to Phnom Penh with a couple ladies I work with to give out some questionnaires and surveys to groups of kids that had previously attended JBH. The best thing about doing this was seeing all the kids again and realizing that they were really happy to see us again.  It seemed like JBH left a significant impression on these kids.  Friday night we had our ADRA Christmas party then late that night I went to the airport and made my way here.  Just in time for Christmas.

I'm looking forward to getting back though.  I arrive late Sunday night, Jan 1st, then I will get a ride with my former students, the senior class from CAS the school I taught at last year.  They're coming up to JBH just like we did last year.  I've been looking forward to this all year, so I'll let you know how it goes...