I was eating some delicious Indian food on my balcony with Danica when I looked over and saw this sky. Rainy season hasn't been too bad so far but I hear it's going to pick up soon!
Isn't this a crazy picture? I found it etched into the wall of a friend's house.
Pros with his smile! And this guy has the nerve to call ME smiley! Geni in the background getting ready to enter the OR.
Anaesthetist chatting with Tony in the OR. He speaks excellent French and we've had some really great chats while waiting for the surgeons to show up in the morning (!)

She had a burn contracture and I think I posted pics of when we placed the pins in her fingers. What a gorgeous girl. She belongs to the ethnic minority of Muslims known as the Cham.

My boyfriend. He's actually been discharged, which is a shame (only for me!) as I could always count on him being around when I wanted to escape the office or the OR. He actually squished himself between me and the wall the other day so that his mother woudn't take him away. So cute!

This girl has a sad story, but we're hoping that she is on the road to recovery and a better life. She was born with a meningoencephalocele (MEC) and her mother sold her to a begging ring in Thailand for something like 10 US dollars. She was rescued sometime this year, at the age of six, and she's the size of a normal three year old. She was operated on for the MEC but it was found that she had severe ulceration of her right eye and it had to be removed. Here she is sitting one day after she had surgery for the placement of an artificial eye. She and I hung out for a bit while I was on rounds but I couldn't get much from her, even with my superbly stunted Khmer! But right before leaving that night, she was out walking about, and she found me and sat down beside me and I got a killer smile when I told her her necklace was beautiful (sa'an). I'm looking forward to seeing her Monday.

Here I am taking out the stitches of this boy who had a burn contracture, if I remember right. It was SO much easier then the last time I removed sutures :) This kid and I were counting in Khmer, and I helped Geni with the scabby ones that are a bit harder to get at. And Mr. Yinna helped me with my technique ;)
Working hard at a young age. Look at the concentration!
Adorable! We took a picture of her with a survey plunked down beside her too. She was so excited to use the pen.

Bilateral cleft lip (and palate, but that's another surgery!) before the surgery....
And afterwards! Little drugged up but looking better.
Today we left Phnom Penh for the relative peace and quiet of Oudong, one of the old capitals of Cambodia. There are two "mountains" here and we decided that the best time of the day to see all the structures would be at noon. Silliness. It was an enjoyable experience but it was so hot! I drank a litre of water at the bottom of the hill in less than ten minutes. Dehydrated...whoops!
You know it's laundry time when the orange "Pop Cowboys Mood in Love" tshirt gets broken out. I won this tshirt earlier this summer. Not high quality and absolutely huge on me, but it does the job :)
These kids were gambling and really wanted me to join them. I spent most of the time trying to remember how to say "I don't understand" in Khmer (Kniom muhn yuhl te). I actually couldn't figure out the game but they kept patting my pockets to get money out and have me join in.
Pretty.
A king was buried here, awhile ago. I know, I suck, but there were a lot of structures and a lot of kings and it was really really hot!
This area was hit pretty hard during the war and hasn't been completely restored yet....
Though they're working on it! This Buddha was absolutely gigantic!!
You could see it from the next hill (phnom).
And at the bottom look what awaited us...
Hammack in one piece! Imagine that! Yeah, sense the sarcasm? My hammack broke AGAIN this morning...that's the third and last time! I'm going shopping tomorrow!!!
Geni and some friends she made at the base of Oudong mountain. These guys started hanging out with us because they wanted our water bottles. By the time we left they were shaking and kissing our hands and yelling out "ch-koo-ut" and giggling histerically. The next couple of pictures below are quite graphic from some "ch-koo-ut" (craaazy!) surgeries we did this past week.