2-20-2011

Today was TEAM DAY!
We got to sleep in a little today, until 8:00 and then we headed to breakfast!  Our first stop on our team day, was the Toul Sleng Prison.  It was a very somber place, but it was amazing to learn and be exactly where the huge tragedy of Cambodia took place.  If you don't know much about the Cambodia Genocide, it's definitely worth reading about, it's such a sad event.  We toured the rooms, and saw the methods of torture.  The coolest part was we had just finished the part of the tour where our guide told us there was only ONE survivor left in Phnom Penh, and that survivor himself showed up!  We got to meet him, and he told us personally what it was like, and what a terrible time it was, and he showed us all of the pictures that were in the museum that he was in.  Each prisoner was quarantined to a small, (we would estimate 5x4 ft) cell, and there feet shackled to the ground... no light, baths 2 times a month, and they went to the bathroom in a can.  It's a truly amazing story.  After our tour of the prison, we went to the Russian Market!  What an experience, we all agreed that any other market you get pulled, and persuaded, and some people are crabby!  BUT this market was so cool... everyone was so nice.  Well, EVERYONE in Cambodia is so nice!  They are all so thankful of us being here, and so welcoming.  We ate lunch at a place called FCC, it was on the river, with a really pretty view!  And after we finished up lunch we went to the Royal Palace!  We learned that when the flag is up at the palace, the king is actually there, and the flag was up today... but we didn't get to see or meet him.  The palace was absolutely beautiful.  We've never seen so many gold Bhuddas before, or such an expensive throne.  We finished up around 4:30 and went to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for our team meeting and dinner.  The team meeting was sweet and short and it was cool to see all of us together in one room.  We ate a very nice restaurant, and it had a really cool atmosphere and super neat seating!  Well, tomorrow is our first surgery day!  So we are super excited, and can't wait to do our presentations again and handout goodies to the kids!  We have around 116 surgeries planned so far, but we also have spots for walk-in patients.  We'll keep you updated on patient stories and pictures as the surgery days go on!  Off to bed, to get a good night sleep for tomorrow! (:

Carly and Anna