La Sonya

from a winter wonderland. . . .

Obviously, when one wears make up, fake eyelashes and has access to  Photoshop things don't always seem as they appear!  Okay, so I showed you last time what the photoshopped pictures looked like. I am not going to lie, I stared at mine for quite a while. It is incredible to look at because I see me, but I don't see 'all of me'. I don't mind the changes because I think the results are lovely, not accurate of an everyday me but that's fine. I don't think I would want all my photos to be photoshopped either. It can be kind of tempting though. I wore the eyelashes for as long as I could, they eventually started to fall off during my afternoon coffee. I enjoy the way they feel as well as the effect they have on making my eyes stand out. I enjoyed being 'fancy'. I think I posed more in those few hours (not including the actual photo shoot) than I have in a long time. But the external mask of beauty doesn't last forever, we sweat, we rub our e

Just in case you aren't up to date on all the latest movies, here are a few trailers! Enjoy.  

This Monday is my friend's big 30th bday (sorry Lou, I hope that wasn't a secret!). Since we are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow we planned a little celebration last Sunday! It was a fun day as she knew nothing of the plans for the day! We started off with some yummy brunch, then Khmer portraits followed by more coffee and then ending the day with dinner!  The best surprise were the group portraits we did. It's more fun to have a crazy make-over with friends then by yourself. Lou, Renee and I entered into the adventure together! They gave us fake eyelashes, fake hair and fake jewels to wear! I loved it. As a person who doesn't wear much make up or have any real reasons to get fancy, it was a blast. I mean who really does wear a tiara?  Four short days later we got our pictures back and BOY are they amazing! Photoshop does wonders for a person!  Please enjoy these photos from the day! And make sure to wish Lou a happy birthday when you see her! 

     I have learned something about Troy and Nic Roberts, the founders and directors of RAW Impact. They LOVE a good mystery destination. The tradition for our Christmas retreat is to simply tell us the dates that we will be gone. After that you can't trust anything they say! Troy will toss out false leads as to where we are going for weeks leading up to the trip. He'll say, "Bring hiking boots, take containers for fresh water, bring your snorkel and flippers." There is no way to know exactly where we will end up! Ideas about where our destination is fly all around the office. I always suspect it will be beach related simply because the Aussies miss the beach and are pulled to it like a puppy is pulled to a squeak toy. Even once we have all boarded the bus in Phnom Penh we don't know where we are going as Troy gives crazy directions taking us in all sorts of directions.     I must admit it is exciting and fun to not know exactly where we will end up! It's

Since I haven't been blogging much lately I thought I'd try a different approach to it. I've been taking a lot of photos of life. I think I've done a good job at documenting life that way. So I'm going to just share more of the stories around some photos! I'll start with this one: My oldest friend in the world, Ashley and her husband, Freddy, came to visit me! They were the first people to ever visit me in a country other than America. It may not sound like much but this is the fifth country I've lived in other than America. It meant A TON!!  Traveling with Ashley and Freddy is not for the faint of heart! They make sure and optimize their time! I got to show them around Phnom Penh and where I work as well as exploring parts of Cambodia that I have never been to! We took two different overnight busses, rented motos, fed elephants, explored ancient temple ruins and caught up on life. That's one thing I love about Ashley and Fred, we can pick up w

Dear world, My name is Sonya and I work  for RAW Impact. I have lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia the last 12 months and I will continue to live here at least the next 16 (beyond that we shall re-evaluate when the time comes). The main point is I work  here, not volunteer. I'm living the dream. A dream I have been dreaming since high school. Don't think the work is all easy. It's not, we often hit walls and have to find new ways to teach things. But the work is good and it is exciting. I work here. I live here. Cool. While I am getting a stipend I am still working on fundraising to finish paying off my student loans. They are less than $5,000 now and I hope to get rid of them by Christmas. If you are interested in helping let me know, every little bit helps! My hair is rocking the curls these days! The second edition driving license picture! I was feeling a bit country the other night ;)  At long last, my new moto: Foxy Roxy (and all the other c

1. Drive a moto If you recall, I wrote a very honest blog about driving a moto and being afraid last November. I hated having to drive out to the SALT school. It was far, I often got rained on and it took a lot of deep yoga breaths to not be afraid. Now, I'm loving it. It helps that the road is now paved, it helps A LOT actually. I even hope it rains! Thank you for all the prayers for confidence, courage and bravery. I can now say I like driving the moto out to SALT. 2. Going down the stairs Ha! This one may seem a bit silly and hard to understand for people who have never navigated the Cambodian stairs. They are really narrow and steep. Seriously. The steps are also different levels and sizes. I am 5 feet and 8 inches, which make my feet size 9ish. That means many times my feet do not fit the stairs and my head is close to getting knocked on something hanging. The stories of people falling are aplenty. The first 11.5 months I would walk

365 days later. Not everyone is in this clip. Not every adventure is in this clip. But there is a hecka' lot of fun in this clip!

Today is June 30, 2017.    Today was my last day of work one year ago as a Teacher/Principal in Oakhurst, California. It was the end of my last pay period and I haven’t had one since. I have almost been here one year. ONE YEAR. I have never lived abroad for this long in my life. I always left around August and came back around May/June. Not this time. A couple weeks back was a bit rough. I found myself missing my family. My trip back to the states left me wanting more. More memories, more laughter and more family adventures. It was a strange feeling, homesickness. Even more homesickness came the following day. I went to Joma for coffee, per usual, all the usual suspects were there; Jay, Tessa, Maddi and Renee (no Brett as he was working from Australia) and ordered my coffee. The strangest thing happened as I sat down in my seat, I focused in on the music (which could be anything and everything--even if it isn’t the Christmas season) and heard a song that trigg

I went to my very first soccer match this week. It was Cambodia Nationals (that means they are part of FIFA) against Indonesia. It was just scrimmage game, which is good because Cambodia lost. Well, I am almost certain they lost. I'm not sure because there were HEAPS of people there and we didn't want to wait till the bitter end and get caught up in the swarm of people leaving Olympic Stadium. We left with 8 min to go, or so. I can confidently if they didn't score in the first 80 min they aren't going to score in the last 8.  It was quite fun to watch. It wasn't too hard to follow what was going on, kick the ball, run after the ball, try and make it go in the net with the goalie and run some more without stopping. I don't think it will be my last game, my upstairs neighbor plays for a local team and I hope to go to one of his games in the near future! Cost of ticket: $1.25 Contribution to pay for tuk tuk:$.75 Evening out with friends: Priceless Enjoy t

A week back I took the opportunity to try a live video to give an over view of what I do for RAW Impact . It was fun to share and have live comments on Facebook. In case you missed it or aren't on Facebook here it is on my blog. It was really fun to make and I think I'm going to do another one, only 30 min and I'll try doing it live at the market! Enjoy!

Recently the North American Division (NAD) of Seventh-day Adventist's (SDA's) office of Volunteer Services (that's a big mouth full!) gave me a shout-out on social media with a #tbt from when I lived in Tchad in 2007. It sparked a trip down memory lane and I spent the next several hours looking through all the pictures of time abroad. I think I sounded like the classic old person... "wow, look at that! I'm so young looking! Wasn't this photo just a few years ago. . .or was it? Oh man, it was almost 10 years ago. . . I AM old. I don't think 34 is all that old but it is an age where I can stop and realize I have done a lot and lived a full life so far. But really, was it that long ago I was in Honduras or Tchad?!  With it being my birthday this weekend I thought It'd be a perfect time to give a little timeline with photo's of the years. So here we go! Age 1? Christopher is a doll face! Age 2?   Age 3? Age 5-- Kinder