Hi! It has been a busy few days! We have officially started being put to work. I have spent alot of time at the city dental clinic. There are just 2 chairs, and only one of these has air/water, motor capabilities to do fillings.. the other, well, that chair is only for extractions.. The resident doctor here is very nice and she has really let us jump right in. I actually did scaling on a patient the other day, nothing like taking out ALOT of built up calculus! :) Working at the clinic is probably the most stressful, alot of the kids are so anxious and scared that they are crying even before they get in the chair, and that kind of sets off a chain reaction for the others that are waiting just outside the room. We even had a portable chair set up in the reception area because there were so many kids waiting to be seen, and then those that were waiting moved outside. I assisted in the waiting room chair, and alot of kids were pressing their faces up to the window to watch.. :)

The best so far has been going out to the villages/orphanages to provide treatment. Yesterday we drove out to one about an hour away. An army general started the orphanage when he took in the kids who had lost their parents due to war.. he now has about 50 kids and he and his wife and sons run the orphanage by themselves. His sons became very well educated and they have school for the kids every day, teaching them English, Chinese, and the native language Khmer. I am getting pretty good at Khmer.. ! I can ask the basics like how are you, hello, and good bye.. but also, where is the pain, are you numb, and other useful dental phrases like good job! :) It is amazing how happy and sweet the kids are, you just want to take them all home with you and give them every thing they want. Seeing how little they have makes it hard to justify going out and buying souvenirs!

Anyway, it is quite the experience and I love it. I definitely want to come back in the future and do more... I can't believe I only have a few days left! It''s hard to think about leaving when there is so much more that could be done.. hope every one is well.. talk soon! *C