Oliver, Edge, and Hayden here. We started our day with driving to the Killing Fields. The killing fields are mass graves for people who were killed there during the Khmer Rouge regime. Yesterday, we visited S-21 prison. There, intellectuals and anyone with status were imprisoned and then sent to the killing fields to be executed by gruesome methods. One thing that we found impactful was the killing tree, which was involved with the mass killing of children at Choeung Ek, and how many tokens of respect were left by visitors. Yesterday we discussed how important it is to learn about the Cambodian Genocide in order to not repeat history. 

We remember from history class that it's important to balance telling stories of both suffering and happiness in a culture. Today we found happiness with Chef Nak, a Cambodian chef trying to revive traditional dishes from before the Khmer Rouge. We started our cooking class by washing our hands with squeezed lime juice and water. After that we started prepping the fish H'Mok dish by mixing different ingredients to make a paste for the Snakehead Fish. Once prepped, we started to assemble our individual dishes by creating small bowls out of banana leaves, which was very difficult. While waiting for the fish to steam, Chef Nak showed us how to make a duck salad and prawn cakes. We finished the evening with a quick game of Apples to Apples and a beautiful dinner, complete with the H'Mok and other dishes we prepared ourselves.  The cherry on top was a scrumptious shaved ice dessert followed by warm tea. 

We found the killing fields to be very powerful and moving and the food we cooked to be delectable.