Another “wow” moment…

I live in Cambodia…I have so many visas and entries and exits in my passport that I had to get 48 pages added to my passport today!!!  Which, of itself, is not necessarily a “wow” moment…I mean, quite honestly, I never thought I would be a person who had THAT many stamps in my passport…maybe one to Italy and one to France…but that was all I ever really figured I’d ever have (and go figure, those are the 2 that I DON’T have…)  However, my “wow” moment coincides with all of this…

I took Brandon with me to the US Embassy…I haven’t been in this portion of the Embassy yet, so it was a little bit new…it was organized…much like a government office in the states…it had 110v plug in throughout (something you notice after you’ve burned up 90% of your stuff), primary language was English and most of all…I saw a WATER FOUNTAIN…like a DRINKING water fountain…think what you like…yes, it’s basic stuff at home…to this day, I remember standing in line during P.E. and after basketball practice, waiting my turn to soak up some water and wet my face and head…I mean, they were/are ALL over the place…airports, schools, malls…but not in Cambodia.  I mean, I can see why…while I enjoy this country and its people, cleanliness is NOT one of the strong points…and when you see people daily peeing wherever, blowing their snot on the ground, picking their boogers while they hold the door open for you at the bank, and signs above the toilet telling you to sit on the seat, not stand…and that taking showers in the toilet is not permitted…well, you can understand WHY there aren’t really any drinking water fountains around here…

(a REAL sign above a toilet here…)

SO…my WOW moment was when Brandon and I were stuck in the “waiting for our number to be called when nobody else was in there getting pages added to their passport, but for some reason it took over 40 minutes for our number to be called, only to be told that it would be another 20 minutes”…we were biding time and found not one, but TWO, fountains…It was just one of those wow moments…he was just amazed…that he could push a button…and water would come out…and he could drink it…and it wasn’t splashing everywhere…and he controlled it…he kept smiling and pointing and saying, “Tck!  Tck!!  Mama…TCK!!!”…(translated, “Water!  Water!  Mama, Water!!!”)

Reality Check…

I.live.in.Cambodia.  My 22 month old has never seen a drinking fountain before…silly, I know…but sometimes you just forget…it really is the simple things in life!  As Americans, we take simple things like that for granted…you can go almost anywhere and get safe, clean water to drink at your disposal…for free…lucky we are…and I mean it!!!