Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Epic Bail
FInally, here it is!
oh how I wish it was bigger.
it was a fun night, nothing like bailing water to save your bed and all your belongings from being drenched.
oh how I wish it was bigger.
it was a fun night, nothing like bailing water to save your bed and all your belongings from being drenched.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Baby The Rain Will Fall
I did not manage to post sunday night because of the weather. I played badminton again (with my new racquet) for close to two hours! Lots of fun. I accidentally smashed the shuttle into this old guys head, and then his teammate (seemingly intentional) returned the favor! I started to bike home (on my new bike! pics to come), and then got caught in what can only be called a veritable downpour.
I was drenched, the house was flooding, and some stories are better told by pictures...which are such a pain to upload in battambang...hopefully it is up today.
I was drenched, the house was flooding, and some stories are better told by pictures...which are such a pain to upload in battambang...hopefully it is up today.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
April 25th
Yesterday I got organized in my living.
I bought:
A small wall-mirror with two little compartments for toothpaste, etc.
A small make-it-yourself dresser to hang clothes in.
A hammer.
A screw-driver.
A row of wall-hooks to hang my towel/clothes on.
and today I plan to get:
stuff to clean the bathroom.
A Badminton Racquette.
Some nails.
a used bicycle.
possibly a maid.
I've been feeling pretty productive and healthy lately, even though I had the runs (a few kilos of mango will do that I guess :O). Yesterday I played badminton with Seng-shie (sp?) and it was killer. I used to play badminton in junior-high a lot, and then a few times here and there in university, so it was great to get back into it. The guys out here are quite good, and seng-shie is also quite good, so it was a rough re-entry into the world of badminton. On top of it, I was borrowing Elyssa's backyard-badminton cheapo-racquette. I will go again today, and hopefully this time, get more than 9 points. I sweat so much that I had to wring the sweat out of my t-shirt! Also had a nice dinner cooked by Melvene last night - we're back on the vegetarian kick, so the food is healthy(excet when oily) and nice.
The battambang-phnom penh comparison will be a three part series. The first will be written later today!
I bought:
A small wall-mirror with two little compartments for toothpaste, etc.
A small make-it-yourself dresser to hang clothes in.
A hammer.
A screw-driver.
A row of wall-hooks to hang my towel/clothes on.
and today I plan to get:
stuff to clean the bathroom.
A Badminton Racquette.
Some nails.
a used bicycle.
possibly a maid.
I've been feeling pretty productive and healthy lately, even though I had the runs (a few kilos of mango will do that I guess :O). Yesterday I played badminton with Seng-shie (sp?) and it was killer. I used to play badminton in junior-high a lot, and then a few times here and there in university, so it was great to get back into it. The guys out here are quite good, and seng-shie is also quite good, so it was a rough re-entry into the world of badminton. On top of it, I was borrowing Elyssa's backyard-badminton cheapo-racquette. I will go again today, and hopefully this time, get more than 9 points. I sweat so much that I had to wring the sweat out of my t-shirt! Also had a nice dinner cooked by Melvene last night - we're back on the vegetarian kick, so the food is healthy(excet when oily) and nice.
The battambang-phnom penh comparison will be a three part series. The first will be written later today!
Friday, April 24, 2009
The XXIV of April
So I'm living in a place lovingly referred to as "the hostel". It is, believe it or not, a functioning hostel, and from time to time accommodates guests of CORDE. Last night we had a bunch of guests arrive, all of them leaving early in the morning. I'm ok with this, except that they didn't have a key. The hostel is a high-security facility, and the gate is always locked when people enter or exit, thus, without a key, one is effectively imprisoned. Taking pity on the poor travelers (and waking up with their morning chatter), I decided to just go along with them and go to work a little early. Of course, this all worked out nicely. You see, last night was my turn to make supper for the crew of permanent peeps living in the hostel (and gems school next door), and I am still white and don't know that much khmer, so I got Melvene to come along with me and help me buy the foodstuffs from the market. Melvene is a student from the Philippines. So I went with her and we got all that we needed for a nice stir-fry, then we decided to buy some mangoes. Mangoes regularly go for 1000 Rials per mango, but you can bargain it down to like 5 for 3000 if you have skills. Melvene and I found a guys selling mangoes at 1kg for 2000 Rials. This is already a good deal, but Melvene felt the need to bargain...
translation in english:
Melvene: "how much?"
Dude: "2000 per k"
Melvene: can I get a discount?
Dude: No
Melvene: what? please, just a small discount.
Dude: No way.
Melvene: how about if I buy 2 kilos?
Dude: no
Melvene: what if we buy 5 kilos?
Dude: no, still 2000 per kilo.
Melvene: ok, ok, What if we get 10 kilos?
Dude: what? 10 kilos?
other dude: No discount.
Defeated, Melvene departs the scene, indicating that she wants to create drama for a discount...so I walk away as well. having made it 40 meters from the scene, I let Melvene know that I just wanted some mangoes, and that I will go back and buy them. Realizing that 2000 a kilo is still a good price, we walk back...
Melvene: okay, give us a few mangoes.
Dude: how many?
Melvene: will you give me a discount?
Dude: 1800 per kilo if you buy 10 kilos.
Melvene: really? oh my gosh! ok. lets get it. Ashruf do you want to get it?
Me: sure.
Melvene: ok help me pick them out.
Dude: *giant happy grin*
That's how we ended up getting 10 kilos of mango for $4.50. I love batmanbang.
Anyway...this morning, taking those guys out the gate in a hurry, I manage to pack my toothbrush, toothpaste, and 4 mangoes into my shoulder-bag on the way out. I was immediately rewarded for deciding to eat mangoes for breakfast, by eating one that tasted almost as sweet as a sugar-cane!! How much better cane it get?
Also, I got some great work done today, which felt good. A 3-month work-plan, and a draft grant application. and a few other random bits, pieces and e-mails. Then, my dad came into town around lunch time, so we all went for lunch together (obviously). I had enough time to have some intense deliberations with Ryan "Q.C." Duly. It went like this:
"Q.C to H.Q., come in H.Q"
"Roger Q.C. this is H.Q. go ahead"
"write a comparison between life in Phnom Penh and Battambang, over."
"Sweetness Q.C."
"I know H.Q., that's why I'm Q.C.. Be brutal, over."
"Roger, H.Q. out."
We don't actually ever speak like that, but I was just reminiscing about walkie-talkies and how much fun they were to play with as kids.
So, this weekend, in addition to a short description of the National Convention that my dad and Ryan came down for, I will produce a brutally honest comparison of life in Batmanbang versus life in Phnom Penh.
Like all the Manifestations of God once said,
PEACE!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The 23 of April
Last night I went out for dinner. I went to a place called Gecko Cafe, which is actually kinda high-class for Battambang. I went alone, well, I brought Mr. Gibbon with me, but basically alone. I decided to start off with a mango shake, and see what I felt like after. I immersed myself in the history of the decline and fall of rome, lying on a couch on a balcony in the dusk and dust of Battambang. It was pretty nice actually.
Gibbon is more of a critic of history than a historian- I mean, the man was a great historian, but the best part of the decline and fall isn't the fact-giving, it's the critical commentary and psychological assessment. So good, but I only recommend it if you like words, reading, and have an attention that can span the length and breadth of the roman empire.
Today the work has snowballed, and I all-of-a-sudden have mountains of reading and writing-yay! Today has also seen the dawn of a new era in sugar-cane juicing. I went out for a regular sugarcane juice, and the guy had just abandoned his stall, so I looked for the next closest one and walked over. This intrepid young juicer adds a chunk of pineapple(!) to his sugarcane as he sends it through the grinder. It was delicious.
I'm also getting in the zone for sending and receiving e-mails all the time. I don't know how it is for other peeps, but I used to check e-mails once every now-and-then, and now, I'm receiving e-mails which need prompt responses like every other hour. SICK! but doable.
How's everyone else doing?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Chuck
The show is either immensely entertaining, or the slow pace of battambang has already warped my idea of fun..or both!
But this is not why I’m writing about the show. Chuck and I, believe it or not, have much in common. Chuck is kind of like a Baha’i. You see, Baha’is, well, North American Baha’is (for the most part), tend to be a little shy about telling people about their beliefs, or talking about what they do as Baha’s in general. This is not because they do anything illicit (or even bearing a resemblance to secret), but rather they don’t think people will understand what they do, say, or believe. Chuck, poor guy, finds himself in several situations where he opts to give a reasonable explanation of events which fail to mention the real, spy-related reasons. I dunno, just hit me when I was thinking about the show.
In some episodes, he desperately wants to tell someone about his ‘spy-life’, but must refrain from revealing the secret, for his,and that person’s safety. This is kind of like the situation of Bahai’s in Iran or Egypt...there is such hatred against the faith, that it’s hard to gauge who you can safely divulge your “secret” baha’i life too, since it may affect your safety, or if they accept the faith, potentially theirs. Maybe this one was a stretch, but hey, whatevs.
Also, chuck and I are nerds...yeah, that's kinda where the similarities end. The show’s sweet though...you really find yourself rooting for him to get the secret agent...and the show's writers know it, and mess with you so bad. God, how did I get emotionally involved in a t.v. show?
p.s. Mr.Duly, how’s the quality of this post...and the blog in general? see you on friday.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
April twenty-deuce
I am to make a three month plan for work, and start developing curricula for the masters program here...which is thrilling and terrifying at the same time. (note, I first wrote terryfying, just for you, mom) The first course to develop is a report-writing course, with the first module being "annual report-writing". Not the most exciting, but it's good to start with something safe and technical before I branch out into designing crazy courses :) I've also been e-mailing around, and browsing online for some grant-application opportunities. Hopefully that all pans out-actually, I have surprisingly great confidence that it will work out...we'll just wait and see what happens!
it's now 2:40, and my throat is calling for sugar cane juice, got to go!
edit: I didn't drink it until 3:00. Ah, the sweet taste of self-control.
edit: I didn't drink it until 3:00. Ah, the sweet taste of self-control.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Batmanbang
Since I've been back here, not too much has happened: I've eaten LOTS of mangoes, played catan, been inducted into CORDE as a staff member, eaten a coconut almost every day, got a desk, chair, and office, participated in a workshop on successfully completing a consulting assignment, moved into a room near gems school, and generally enjoyed the sun.
There has also, for the last three days, been a funeral service next to us, blasting funeral hymns and various speeches on a set of giant loudspeakers...incessantly (note how I waited till the end, and used and ellipsis for a dramatic pause before, and added emphasis on incessantly).
Coming soon to the blog:
Pictures! Videos! Visual Media!!
Philosophical/spiritual discussion
A batman belt buckle
commentary on the show "Chuck".
There has also, for the last three days, been a funeral service next to us, blasting funeral hymns and various speeches on a set of giant loudspeakers...incessantly (note how I waited till the end, and used and ellipsis for a dramatic pause before, and added emphasis on incessantly).
Coming soon to the blog:
Pictures! Videos! Visual Media!!
Philosophical/spiritual discussion
A batman belt buckle
commentary on the show "Chuck".
We spend the night in the Bangkok airport
We spend the night in the Bangkok airport
we return to Battambang
Quddus and I were exhausted from our Malaysian Adventure, but not so unaware as to miss some malaysian habits that we had picked up. e.g. the occasional use of "lah", and the fact that, even though our plane was listed as open for boarding, we still decided there was enough time to sit down for some lunch before heading through security...actually turned out sweet, since we arrived just as they opened boarding, and we got to board first!(def had our cake and ate it too)
Either way, this post is about the bangkok airport, and how we spent a night in it. Our plan had originally been to contact someone in bangkok, and go chill with them, but in the end, neither of us did any contacting. We tried calling, but after twenty frustrating minutes of trying various coin combinations to get it to work, and then reaching phones that were shut-off (why interlashional, why?), we decided to bail on it and just spend the night. While in malaysia, we had seen ong-bak, and wanted to get it, they were, however, sold out. This turned out to be okay when, to my delight, ong-bak was screened at our restaurant, manging to both fulfill a minor wish, and kill some time. We found a nice corner of the airport to chill in, and then I read one of Quddus' starcraft series novels. The novels are alright, but they always seem like fast-food. I mean, I've been slowly battling my way through the abridged version of Gibbon's ole' decline and Fall of the roman empire, and I finished that novel in a few hours. Still, like fast food, it's fun to eat every now and then.
We bought some snacks, and then decided to take shifts sleeping. I should have seen Quddus' sneakiness a mile away, but he decided to sleep first. I was awake at the time, so it seemed ok. What was not ok, was the temperature of the airport. I ended up having to go outside a few times to warm up, and, eventually, entrust a stranger to look after our bags while I drank a cup of tea and watched a soccer game. In Quddus' defense, he did wake up at one point and offer to take his turn watching, but I had just hit the second wind, so he fell back asleep. After my tea, I fell asleep on a random bench in another level. This freaked Quddus out when he woke up, because we had to catch out bus fairly early on, and I was nowhere to be found. Of course, we eventually met up, and then headed to our bus. It turned out that our clocks were still on malaysian time, so we arrived an hour early for our bus, but this was ok as we caught up on more sleep. the ride back consisted, yet again, of us sleeping all the way back.
And so the glorious conquerers returned to Battambang.
Ah, what fun that trip was.
we return to Battambang
Quddus and I were exhausted from our Malaysian Adventure, but not so unaware as to miss some malaysian habits that we had picked up. e.g. the occasional use of "lah", and the fact that, even though our plane was listed as open for boarding, we still decided there was enough time to sit down for some lunch before heading through security...actually turned out sweet, since we arrived just as they opened boarding, and we got to board first!(def had our cake and ate it too)
Either way, this post is about the bangkok airport, and how we spent a night in it. Our plan had originally been to contact someone in bangkok, and go chill with them, but in the end, neither of us did any contacting. We tried calling, but after twenty frustrating minutes of trying various coin combinations to get it to work, and then reaching phones that were shut-off (why interlashional, why?), we decided to bail on it and just spend the night. While in malaysia, we had seen ong-bak, and wanted to get it, they were, however, sold out. This turned out to be okay when, to my delight, ong-bak was screened at our restaurant, manging to both fulfill a minor wish, and kill some time. We found a nice corner of the airport to chill in, and then I read one of Quddus' starcraft series novels. The novels are alright, but they always seem like fast-food. I mean, I've been slowly battling my way through the abridged version of Gibbon's ole' decline and Fall of the roman empire, and I finished that novel in a few hours. Still, like fast food, it's fun to eat every now and then.
We bought some snacks, and then decided to take shifts sleeping. I should have seen Quddus' sneakiness a mile away, but he decided to sleep first. I was awake at the time, so it seemed ok. What was not ok, was the temperature of the airport. I ended up having to go outside a few times to warm up, and, eventually, entrust a stranger to look after our bags while I drank a cup of tea and watched a soccer game. In Quddus' defense, he did wake up at one point and offer to take his turn watching, but I had just hit the second wind, so he fell back asleep. After my tea, I fell asleep on a random bench in another level. This freaked Quddus out when he woke up, because we had to catch out bus fairly early on, and I was nowhere to be found. Of course, we eventually met up, and then headed to our bus. It turned out that our clocks were still on malaysian time, so we arrived an hour early for our bus, but this was ok as we caught up on more sleep. the ride back consisted, yet again, of us sleeping all the way back.
And so the glorious conquerers returned to Battambang.
Ah, what fun that trip was.
Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I
were this really the case, Quddus and I would have likely split the country up evenly and concurrently begun ruling the newly formed "Quddasia" and "Rushdystan". It was only the case, however, that the remaining friends from our group at Roshan's place departed a few at a time, to the point of my being left alone, and Quddus still chillin' in Singapore.
Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I (Quddus is still in singapore)
My dad and Shaku arrive, my dad gives a coupla talks on SRD
I go to the Ludher's and hang out with Dad and Shaku for a bit
I go to the Jayagopan's
I go to singapore
So Quddus and I had planned to stay some extra days in malaysia to attend this Science, Religion, and Development colloquium that was supposed to go down, but it didn't pan out. What did pan out was a short presentation on what the SRD discourse is all about, and how any puny human can involve themselves in the discourse. It is, in fact, an enlightening presentation, and I will, in a future post, recount some of the basics of SRD for you guys (giving me just enough time to really learn them ;P).
I got to spend some time with my dad and shaku, not a lot, seeing as how they had a crazy schedule of medical tests (full-physcial with stress tests and everything), and I had a crazy schedule of social tests (full-social with stress tests and everything). Jokes, malaysia was all chillin'. We went to a mall and wandered down to a coffee shop, and basically hung out for a bit. I did feel like, having been away from the p-units for a bit, we were all more appreciative of each other...but this seems to me to be an axiom of (family) existence.
Later that day, I made my way, via rail, to the Jayagopans (aka "the Gobus"[pronounced "go" "boo"]). Originally, Quddus and I had intended to spend some time there, but then it was too busy a time for guests, but then, right before I came, they invited me to stay just for that night. Either way, I had a change of clothes with me when I got there. Temily, Taraz and Temira are the three chilins of the Gobus, and Taraz was actually the stylish cat who supplied the beat for the mamak music video. So I checked out some more music, and showed Taraz some of my old Dialektika-days stuff on myspace, and some of karim's stuff on facebook. Then, Counsellor Gobu arrived. The man was tired, stressed, and in a hurry.
He had to make a flight the next day, and needed to go get his passport and pick up his visa and make it to his connection in bangkok. His stuff was with a friend in/on the way to Singapore...realizing that he had to make a crazy drive, he looked around and saw in me someone who could likely make sure he didn't fall asleep. So he asks "have you ever been to Singapore?" I was like "nope...but I'm so down". So we make a trip back to the Ludher's place, where I left my passport. After retreiving it, I get home and we plan the next day. Leaving at 4:30 am, hoping to get there by 8, and try to catch the 3pm flight to bangkok. Sounds easy to do, it is very hard.
We leave in the morning, making great time all the way down to JohoBahru (sp?) on the border near Singapore. we meet a friend, drop the bags at his place (to ensure less delay at the border), and roll into immigration (after eating a quick dim-sum). I forgot my departure card...I felt horrible, delaying the man on his quest against time, but luckily, the guy at immigration just had me fill out another one, and reminded me not to lose it again. We finally pull into Singapore, and it's quite nice. Tall trees lining every street, nice tall buildings, nice short buildings, a nice park or two. Very nice, but kinda boring after a while. We hustle to the Embassy, get Gobu's visa, and make our way to a travel agent to confirm the bookings/book new tickets, I don't even know. By this point, Gobu is smiling like a man who's won a great victory, and he has, but it's 12:30, and we have to make it back to Joho Baru to get his bags, AND get to the airport by 2:10pm (because he needs to buy his final ticket at least 40 mins before the flight). Our friend/guide Zoran goes all need for speed on it, and gets us there in time (not without some of us in the back seat getting a little woozy from the curvy roads). It was a fun ride.
Long story short, we make it. Then we have a 5-6 hour drive back to KL on the traffic-congested highways of malaysia. I got to talk to Gobu's wife Pohyean a lot, in fact, I can't remember the last time I talked to one person for 6 hours solid (because it somehow did not stop).
I watch jackie chan's latest film, and, somehow, escape from witch mountain
I go to Riyaz's again
We leave malaysia
I ended up another night at the Gobus, and basically hung out, watched movies, helped with a children's class, etc. until Farshad came to pick me up. It was fun to spend another day and a half with Riyaz and Farshad, but I felt bad because Quddus and I had lost contact in the middle of that time somewhere! It was all good in the end since we both had fun in our respective locations.
Then, we flew back to Bangkok.
Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I (Quddus is still in singapore)
My dad and Shaku arrive, my dad gives a coupla talks on SRD
I go to the Ludher's and hang out with Dad and Shaku for a bit
I go to the Jayagopan's
I go to singapore
So Quddus and I had planned to stay some extra days in malaysia to attend this Science, Religion, and Development colloquium that was supposed to go down, but it didn't pan out. What did pan out was a short presentation on what the SRD discourse is all about, and how any puny human can involve themselves in the discourse. It is, in fact, an enlightening presentation, and I will, in a future post, recount some of the basics of SRD for you guys (giving me just enough time to really learn them ;P).
I got to spend some time with my dad and shaku, not a lot, seeing as how they had a crazy schedule of medical tests (full-physcial with stress tests and everything), and I had a crazy schedule of social tests (full-social with stress tests and everything). Jokes, malaysia was all chillin'. We went to a mall and wandered down to a coffee shop, and basically hung out for a bit. I did feel like, having been away from the p-units for a bit, we were all more appreciative of each other...but this seems to me to be an axiom of (family) existence.
Later that day, I made my way, via rail, to the Jayagopans (aka "the Gobus"[pronounced "go" "boo"]). Originally, Quddus and I had intended to spend some time there, but then it was too busy a time for guests, but then, right before I came, they invited me to stay just for that night. Either way, I had a change of clothes with me when I got there. Temily, Taraz and Temira are the three chilins of the Gobus, and Taraz was actually the stylish cat who supplied the beat for the mamak music video. So I checked out some more music, and showed Taraz some of my old Dialektika-days stuff on myspace, and some of karim's stuff on facebook. Then, Counsellor Gobu arrived. The man was tired, stressed, and in a hurry.
He had to make a flight the next day, and needed to go get his passport and pick up his visa and make it to his connection in bangkok. His stuff was with a friend in/on the way to Singapore...realizing that he had to make a crazy drive, he looked around and saw in me someone who could likely make sure he didn't fall asleep. So he asks "have you ever been to Singapore?" I was like "nope...but I'm so down". So we make a trip back to the Ludher's place, where I left my passport. After retreiving it, I get home and we plan the next day. Leaving at 4:30 am, hoping to get there by 8, and try to catch the 3pm flight to bangkok. Sounds easy to do, it is very hard.
We leave in the morning, making great time all the way down to JohoBahru (sp?) on the border near Singapore. we meet a friend, drop the bags at his place (to ensure less delay at the border), and roll into immigration (after eating a quick dim-sum). I forgot my departure card...I felt horrible, delaying the man on his quest against time, but luckily, the guy at immigration just had me fill out another one, and reminded me not to lose it again. We finally pull into Singapore, and it's quite nice. Tall trees lining every street, nice tall buildings, nice short buildings, a nice park or two. Very nice, but kinda boring after a while. We hustle to the Embassy, get Gobu's visa, and make our way to a travel agent to confirm the bookings/book new tickets, I don't even know. By this point, Gobu is smiling like a man who's won a great victory, and he has, but it's 12:30, and we have to make it back to Joho Baru to get his bags, AND get to the airport by 2:10pm (because he needs to buy his final ticket at least 40 mins before the flight). Our friend/guide Zoran goes all need for speed on it, and gets us there in time (not without some of us in the back seat getting a little woozy from the curvy roads). It was a fun ride.
Long story short, we make it. Then we have a 5-6 hour drive back to KL on the traffic-congested highways of malaysia. I got to talk to Gobu's wife Pohyean a lot, in fact, I can't remember the last time I talked to one person for 6 hours solid (because it somehow did not stop).
I watch jackie chan's latest film, and, somehow, escape from witch mountain
I go to Riyaz's again
We leave malaysia
I ended up another night at the Gobus, and basically hung out, watched movies, helped with a children's class, etc. until Farshad came to pick me up. It was fun to spend another day and a half with Riyaz and Farshad, but I felt bad because Quddus and I had lost contact in the middle of that time somewhere! It was all good in the end since we both had fun in our respective locations.
Then, we flew back to Bangkok.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
We play futesol
We play futesol
Amy and roshan delay their departure long enough for us to hang out a little more (also long enough for us to film a music video)
“What is this ‘foote-sawl’?”, you may be wondering. Well, wonder no more, it is simply soccer in a cage. I know, everything is more exciting in a cage, and this maxim holds true for futeball. I brought a pair of runners along specifically for this occasion, unfortunately, the advertisement lied, and I couldn’t run faster, jump higher, or score more goals than in any other pair of shoes. My play was dismal. It was still fun running around a small and netted/caged area, calling out to teammates, and pretending to know what was going on. We later went for mamak. good times.
The music video.
After going to so many mamaks, but before going to Perhentian, I made some joke rhymes about going to the mamak. When I discovered that Manesh was a director (we got to see a screening of his film “baby let it rain”...or “baby it will rain”, or something like that), I immediately decided to ask him to direct the mamak music video. Upon actually asking him, and seeing the excitement in his eyes, I realized that I could no longer back out of making the music video without some serious damage to his expectations. This was good, and likely a sub-conscious plan devised to secure my commitment to the project. So on perhentian, I finished the first verse (and I asked alfred to do one as well). Then, on the way back from perhentian I started the second, and finished it only on the day of the actual filming.
There was rhyme (but no reason) as we proceeded to hack out a plan for the music video, roshan, ryan, manesh, alfred, and I all sat at Roshan’s, wondering what we should do for this video. amy had to go drop off Nasrin and Glory (who were visiting from England), so we lost our two backup dancers/female extras/likely backup singers...AND we lost amy. Luckily, things were delayed long enough that Amy made it back in time to film the first scene. The whole project looked like it might die out at any moment from the time that it started, and I gtive my sincere thanks to everyone for keeping the dream alive, and making it happen. (seriously, we got a BEAT for the song a few hours before shooting, and recorded on ryan’s little portable mic, and ryan had to make some last-minute time-adjustments to the song in garageband, with nothing but the full, bounced song file.).
Manesh and Roshan had a sketch of a story, and a makeshift shot-list, and we were off! The rest of the evening is history, and will be immortalized on youtube, available for public consumption as soon as the last few edits are done (thanks amy!).
This was, of course, all possible because amy and roshan prolonged their stay in malaysia by a few days. Thanks guys!
Amy and roshan delay their departure long enough for us to hang out a little more (also long enough for us to film a music video)
“What is this ‘foote-sawl’?”, you may be wondering. Well, wonder no more, it is simply soccer in a cage. I know, everything is more exciting in a cage, and this maxim holds true for futeball. I brought a pair of runners along specifically for this occasion, unfortunately, the advertisement lied, and I couldn’t run faster, jump higher, or score more goals than in any other pair of shoes. My play was dismal. It was still fun running around a small and netted/caged area, calling out to teammates, and pretending to know what was going on. We later went for mamak. good times.
The music video.
After going to so many mamaks, but before going to Perhentian, I made some joke rhymes about going to the mamak. When I discovered that Manesh was a director (we got to see a screening of his film “baby let it rain”...or “baby it will rain”, or something like that), I immediately decided to ask him to direct the mamak music video. Upon actually asking him, and seeing the excitement in his eyes, I realized that I could no longer back out of making the music video without some serious damage to his expectations. This was good, and likely a sub-conscious plan devised to secure my commitment to the project. So on perhentian, I finished the first verse (and I asked alfred to do one as well). Then, on the way back from perhentian I started the second, and finished it only on the day of the actual filming.
There was rhyme (but no reason) as we proceeded to hack out a plan for the music video, roshan, ryan, manesh, alfred, and I all sat at Roshan’s, wondering what we should do for this video. amy had to go drop off Nasrin and Glory (who were visiting from England), so we lost our two backup dancers/female extras/likely backup singers...AND we lost amy. Luckily, things were delayed long enough that Amy made it back in time to film the first scene. The whole project looked like it might die out at any moment from the time that it started, and I gtive my sincere thanks to everyone for keeping the dream alive, and making it happen. (seriously, we got a BEAT for the song a few hours before shooting, and recorded on ryan’s little portable mic, and ryan had to make some last-minute time-adjustments to the song in garageband, with nothing but the full, bounced song file.).
Manesh and Roshan had a sketch of a story, and a makeshift shot-list, and we were off! The rest of the evening is history, and will be immortalized on youtube, available for public consumption as soon as the last few edits are done (thanks amy!).
This was, of course, all possible because amy and roshan prolonged their stay in malaysia by a few days. Thanks guys!
Everyone except ryan and I goes to singapore for a wedding
Everyone except ryan and I goes to singapore for a wedding
I smash ryan's face in an epic game of war
I hang out with Riyaz and Farshad
It was sad to break up the fun of our 10-person group, but we were patient in the knowledge that we would all be reunited to eat mamak and play settlers again soon. Ryan and I were left in the house on our own...this eventually led to us going to the corner mamak, having some tehtahrik, and playing the age-old game of “war”. not sure if you know the game, but war is played by dealing each player half of the deck. Then, at the same time, you flip over the top card: the highest card wins, and the winner becomes the owner of the new card. A “war” happens when you btoh flip the same value-card: in his case, you place three cards face down, and then flip again, with the winner taking everything. This game, as you might imagine, takes forever. I played the most one-sided game of war I’ve ever played...lash didn’t stand a chance. I felt bad about the quickness of my victory. We played another game, with ryan taking me down to two cards, only to see me come back to full strength...it was simply not his day for war.
It was a dramatic game, not only becuase of the various twists and turns, but becuase we had been chatting about the rise and fall of empires, and how they relate to the presence or absence of religious teaching, and it began to storm. So imagine that, we’ve been talking about the rise and fall of great empires, there is violent thunder and lightning all around us, and then, we sit down to play “war”. Ah, great times. Just when it looked liek I could beat ryan again, he was saved by Farshad soming to pck me up.
I went to Farshad’s class, posing as an interested student. I got to see some cool 3D product design stuff, and then riyaz came and convinced me to go get supper while farshad finished up his class. We had tasty tasty arab food.
It was good to recconect with Riyaz and Farshad, I:ve know the guys since I was 7, and it’s rare for me to get to see friends from the past. I had chats withboth of them about life, and it’s incredibel how different our lives have been. What’s interesting is the spiritual connection, the common tie to the Baha’i faith that we all have: even though we’re more or less involved or aware, or active, we’ve all had our experiences shaped by our relationship to the faith. I may dive into this in detail sometime in the future.
Either way, good times chillin’ with the boys till one fine day, the party returns from Singapore.
I smash ryan's face in an epic game of war
I hang out with Riyaz and Farshad
It was sad to break up the fun of our 10-person group, but we were patient in the knowledge that we would all be reunited to eat mamak and play settlers again soon. Ryan and I were left in the house on our own...this eventually led to us going to the corner mamak, having some tehtahrik, and playing the age-old game of “war”. not sure if you know the game, but war is played by dealing each player half of the deck. Then, at the same time, you flip over the top card: the highest card wins, and the winner becomes the owner of the new card. A “war” happens when you btoh flip the same value-card: in his case, you place three cards face down, and then flip again, with the winner taking everything. This game, as you might imagine, takes forever. I played the most one-sided game of war I’ve ever played...lash didn’t stand a chance. I felt bad about the quickness of my victory. We played another game, with ryan taking me down to two cards, only to see me come back to full strength...it was simply not his day for war.
It was a dramatic game, not only becuase of the various twists and turns, but becuase we had been chatting about the rise and fall of empires, and how they relate to the presence or absence of religious teaching, and it began to storm. So imagine that, we’ve been talking about the rise and fall of great empires, there is violent thunder and lightning all around us, and then, we sit down to play “war”. Ah, great times. Just when it looked liek I could beat ryan again, he was saved by Farshad soming to pck me up.
I went to Farshad’s class, posing as an interested student. I got to see some cool 3D product design stuff, and then riyaz came and convinced me to go get supper while farshad finished up his class. We had tasty tasty arab food.
It was good to recconect with Riyaz and Farshad, I:ve know the guys since I was 7, and it’s rare for me to get to see friends from the past. I had chats withboth of them about life, and it’s incredibel how different our lives have been. What’s interesting is the spiritual connection, the common tie to the Baha’i faith that we all have: even though we’re more or less involved or aware, or active, we’ve all had our experiences shaped by our relationship to the faith. I may dive into this in detail sometime in the future.
Either way, good times chillin’ with the boys till one fine day, the party returns from Singapore.
We go to Perhentian Island
Perhentian Island
Hokay, so a long time ago, amy and roshan decided to go for little vacation to an island. This was my “vacation from my vacation”. Already enjoying life in bustling retreats of Subang, I was now lucky enough to make my way, for something like $120, to Bubu resort on Perhentian island for a 3day/2night all-inclusive package vacation. Having never been on one of these, it was actually quite fun. We were all afraid that we’d be rained out becuase it was drizzly and rained after the first night, but, lucky for us, all was well. We chilled out, I got a tan, we all went snorkeling (my first time, I loved it), Riyaz and Quddus went scuba-diving, some of us went on a hike, we all played cho-tie-tee, Uno, and mahjong. good times. Snorkeling was hilarious - when we first made it into the water, I was so excited about all the different fish in the reef, I pointed a few out to riyaz underwater and he looked at each one, then he pointed out one that I hadn’t seen, then, he pointed directly behind me, and there, to my shock and surprise, was one of the other snorkelers bums right near my face. I choked on some water as I laughed. The rest of the day continued after such fashion, with us failing to see any turtles, but spotting some very cool looking fish and clams and so on. I highly recommend just staying in one place for a while if you’re snorkeling - there’s so much activity in one little place.
We also filmed us burying Elyssa in the sand. We thought it’d be fun footage to speed-up, and I still think it would, but, alas, the end of our video has some incriminating footage, and as such, can neither be spoken of, nor displayed for the world. (it’s so funny, I wish I could say something more about it).
I also realized how much I love the water, and the sun. I really need to live on an island.
Hokay, so a long time ago, amy and roshan decided to go for little vacation to an island. This was my “vacation from my vacation”. Already enjoying life in bustling retreats of Subang, I was now lucky enough to make my way, for something like $120, to Bubu resort on Perhentian island for a 3day/2night all-inclusive package vacation. Having never been on one of these, it was actually quite fun. We were all afraid that we’d be rained out becuase it was drizzly and rained after the first night, but, lucky for us, all was well. We chilled out, I got a tan, we all went snorkeling (my first time, I loved it), Riyaz and Quddus went scuba-diving, some of us went on a hike, we all played cho-tie-tee, Uno, and mahjong. good times. Snorkeling was hilarious - when we first made it into the water, I was so excited about all the different fish in the reef, I pointed a few out to riyaz underwater and he looked at each one, then he pointed out one that I hadn’t seen, then, he pointed directly behind me, and there, to my shock and surprise, was one of the other snorkelers bums right near my face. I choked on some water as I laughed. The rest of the day continued after such fashion, with us failing to see any turtles, but spotting some very cool looking fish and clams and so on. I highly recommend just staying in one place for a while if you’re snorkeling - there’s so much activity in one little place.
We also filmed us burying Elyssa in the sand. We thought it’d be fun footage to speed-up, and I still think it would, but, alas, the end of our video has some incriminating footage, and as such, can neither be spoken of, nor displayed for the world. (it’s so funny, I wish I could say something more about it).
I also realized how much I love the water, and the sun. I really need to live on an island.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
We go to Naw Ruz
Naw Ruz
Quddus and the Haghtalab (sp?) family and I decided, for various reasons, to go to the Subang Jaya Naw Ruz celebration. I ended up being pulled into the program as a last-minute announcer, and a reader for one of the performances, which was fun.
The spectacle of Naw Ruz, however, was the introduction. Quddus and I somehow (inside connections) got seated at the best table, front and center near the stage. This also gave us a great perspective on the intro. All of a sudden, the lights were shut off, and techno music started pumping through the speakers (of all songs, “zombie nation”). Then, amid the confusion, people began to gasp and look back at the entrance - where we could see two of the caterers marching in, bearing giant sticks of fire (I’m not joking). They walked at a steady pace, leading a train of caterers, all carrying a large silver tray. The process made its way to the front, and in one coordinated flash, the music was cut, the lights went on, and the caterers lifted the covers off of the trays, all to reveal...our appetizers. Man, these Malaysians love their food!
There were some great performances, and I got to meet a lot of new people, but I mostly hung out with Riyaz and Farshad. The whole event closed down by about 10:30, but the night was still young, and we all had an after-party to go to. Apparently, it is a tradition for all the Naw Ruz celebrations to reconvene at an A&W in Petaling Jaya to continue the celebrations. I know!! and A&W! It was strange, but lots of fun...I saw HUNDREDS of Baha’is descend on one A&dub, and got to meet lots of them. Also a great time. There were soo many people that you had to kind of fight your way through to go anywhere...and I use ‘fight’ lightly, because they were all baha’is it was more like “indicate your desire to move in a certain direction, and quickly be accommodated by smiling, joyful individuals”. Quddus has a near-twin in Malaysia, and they began an eating contest in that very A&W, I:m not sure what all was eaten, but I know that Quddus brought home the trophy.
After this ridiculously awesome time, we made our way (yet again) to asia cafe. It was starting to rain, and I was siding with Temily’s suggestions of turning up the music in someone’s car, and dancing in the rain, but this didn’t turn out to be a popular decision. Either way, let me give you a short run-down on Asia-cafe: when you get there, you get a table number, then you wander around a gaint food court, and order anything your heart desires, and wallet can afford, and just tell them your table number, then, as your food is finished, they bring it over, you pay, and you eat! So simple! The only thing that the asia cafe staff do is bring you drinks. The cool bit about asia cafe is the variety of food you can get, it was always good, even when I just ordered a mango shake. They also have billiards upstairs, and a giant internet cafe/nerdery, where close to 50 people play DotA at any one time.
The rest of the night was fun, and I can’t remember, but we might have played catan when we got back.
EDIT:
somehow, in the first publication of this post, I failed to mention Naw-Ruz-day. This is an inexcusable oversight, and being such, I have no excuse for it.
Another Malaysian tradition is to host giant open-house parties on Naw-Ruz day, inviting the world to come and eat food at your house. We went on a marathon of open houses, starting with Roshan's parent's place next door, and ending at Manesh's place. with two or three others (including a separate stop at manesh's).
I could, in all honesty, not eat for two days after food like that. Ridiculous.
Quddus and the Haghtalab (sp?) family and I decided, for various reasons, to go to the Subang Jaya Naw Ruz celebration. I ended up being pulled into the program as a last-minute announcer, and a reader for one of the performances, which was fun.
The spectacle of Naw Ruz, however, was the introduction. Quddus and I somehow (inside connections) got seated at the best table, front and center near the stage. This also gave us a great perspective on the intro. All of a sudden, the lights were shut off, and techno music started pumping through the speakers (of all songs, “zombie nation”). Then, amid the confusion, people began to gasp and look back at the entrance - where we could see two of the caterers marching in, bearing giant sticks of fire (I’m not joking). They walked at a steady pace, leading a train of caterers, all carrying a large silver tray. The process made its way to the front, and in one coordinated flash, the music was cut, the lights went on, and the caterers lifted the covers off of the trays, all to reveal...our appetizers. Man, these Malaysians love their food!
There were some great performances, and I got to meet a lot of new people, but I mostly hung out with Riyaz and Farshad. The whole event closed down by about 10:30, but the night was still young, and we all had an after-party to go to. Apparently, it is a tradition for all the Naw Ruz celebrations to reconvene at an A&W in Petaling Jaya to continue the celebrations. I know!! and A&W! It was strange, but lots of fun...I saw HUNDREDS of Baha’is descend on one A&dub, and got to meet lots of them. Also a great time. There were soo many people that you had to kind of fight your way through to go anywhere...and I use ‘fight’ lightly, because they were all baha’is it was more like “indicate your desire to move in a certain direction, and quickly be accommodated by smiling, joyful individuals”. Quddus has a near-twin in Malaysia, and they began an eating contest in that very A&W, I:m not sure what all was eaten, but I know that Quddus brought home the trophy.
After this ridiculously awesome time, we made our way (yet again) to asia cafe. It was starting to rain, and I was siding with Temily’s suggestions of turning up the music in someone’s car, and dancing in the rain, but this didn’t turn out to be a popular decision. Either way, let me give you a short run-down on Asia-cafe: when you get there, you get a table number, then you wander around a gaint food court, and order anything your heart desires, and wallet can afford, and just tell them your table number, then, as your food is finished, they bring it over, you pay, and you eat! So simple! The only thing that the asia cafe staff do is bring you drinks. The cool bit about asia cafe is the variety of food you can get, it was always good, even when I just ordered a mango shake. They also have billiards upstairs, and a giant internet cafe/nerdery, where close to 50 people play DotA at any one time.
The rest of the night was fun, and I can’t remember, but we might have played catan when we got back.
EDIT:
somehow, in the first publication of this post, I failed to mention Naw-Ruz-day. This is an inexcusable oversight, and being such, I have no excuse for it.
Another Malaysian tradition is to host giant open-house parties on Naw-Ruz day, inviting the world to come and eat food at your house. We went on a marathon of open houses, starting with Roshan's parent's place next door, and ending at Manesh's place. with two or three others (including a separate stop at manesh's).
I could, in all honesty, not eat for two days after food like that. Ridiculous.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
We break the fast at several people's homes
We settled in and met Roshan's parents, who had two townhouses side-by-side, one of which they graciously let us use the whole time we were there. They had organized, in the Subang Jaya community, to break the fast at a different person's home each night. It was actually pretty nice to go and meet people from the community at a few different places. We also hosted a night, and by we, I mean Roshan and Quddus, and Roshan's mom, who did most of the organizing. This evening feasting, mixed with giant breakfasts (full of croissants and delectable fruits), was already enough to make me feel like I was eating tons. It turned out that this was to be the preparation for the marathon eating which was to come after the fast.
Either way, we had a nice little family shopping trip, where ryan and I quested for things like brie and proper croissants and grapes. We found them all, and some boursin, which is really wicked cream cheese. I really just wanted ot treat the family to some slightly hihg-priced and extremely tasty breakfast, and so I did. Croissant + brie + grapes was good, but lacked an espresso. I realized that I somehow acquired european tastes in my culturally diverse upbringing.
Oh, I just remembered! Quili (a doctor who lives somewhere in the jungle of highways that is KL), invited us over for dinner. It so happens, that the night before this we had stayed up late, eating at a mamak, and then playing settlers of catan when we returned. I realized that it was already 4;30, or 5, and we eat early in the morning when fasting, so I decided to forgo the sleep. The whole day went by fairly well, I didn't feel bad at all, and managed to fast...but when riyaz and farshad finally managed to drop me off at Quili's place, it was 8, and we still hadn't eaten. So when I arrived, they immediately got me a plate and a drink, and let me go to town on the tasty indian food. I had two servings, and was satiated. Round about this time, quili had developed some kind of allergic reaction on her shoulder, and had to get roshan to give her a shot with a needle. Then, when a few of us were looking at the rash, I started to feel dizzy. The edges of my vision went black, and I actually just lost my balance. Luckily, I fell against the wall and managed to prop myself up. I was also starting to feel sick to my stomach, so dr.Quili had to jump up and be a doctor, giving me kind and soothing words, while I threw up a bit in her toilet. Then, she suggested I go upstairs and rest. I figured it couldn't hurt, and really, after 15 minutes, I felt fine. The final analysis was that I was already a little bit fatigued from lack of sleep, but the blood from my head must have rushed down to the stomach when I ate (after a day of fasting), all coming together to nearly cause me to black out. Ah, the effects of a rockstar lifestyle.
That night I slept at Riyaz and Farshad's place, and Farshad dropped me off at a place called Balakong. Balakong is a nice institute where the KL community holds lots of different kinds of training events and whatever else they might need I guess. I was substituting for a tutor (substitutoring, as I like to call it) who had to go to his university that day. I tutored a Ruhi book 3, with only three participants, but we had fun, and finished up the book, with them practicing their newly acquired children's class skills.
I was pretty happy to be able to do some service on my holiday...and they ended up teaching me how to play a new card game called "cho-tie-tee" which is some dialect of chinese for "the biggest two". I lost four times, then won 5 in a row. Yea!
p.s. I apologize for the lack of photos, but the internet here is terrible.
Either way, we had a nice little family shopping trip, where ryan and I quested for things like brie and proper croissants and grapes. We found them all, and some boursin, which is really wicked cream cheese. I really just wanted ot treat the family to some slightly hihg-priced and extremely tasty breakfast, and so I did. Croissant + brie + grapes was good, but lacked an espresso. I realized that I somehow acquired european tastes in my culturally diverse upbringing.
Oh, I just remembered! Quili (a doctor who lives somewhere in the jungle of highways that is KL), invited us over for dinner. It so happens, that the night before this we had stayed up late, eating at a mamak, and then playing settlers of catan when we returned. I realized that it was already 4;30, or 5, and we eat early in the morning when fasting, so I decided to forgo the sleep. The whole day went by fairly well, I didn't feel bad at all, and managed to fast...but when riyaz and farshad finally managed to drop me off at Quili's place, it was 8, and we still hadn't eaten. So when I arrived, they immediately got me a plate and a drink, and let me go to town on the tasty indian food. I had two servings, and was satiated. Round about this time, quili had developed some kind of allergic reaction on her shoulder, and had to get roshan to give her a shot with a needle. Then, when a few of us were looking at the rash, I started to feel dizzy. The edges of my vision went black, and I actually just lost my balance. Luckily, I fell against the wall and managed to prop myself up. I was also starting to feel sick to my stomach, so dr.Quili had to jump up and be a doctor, giving me kind and soothing words, while I threw up a bit in her toilet. Then, she suggested I go upstairs and rest. I figured it couldn't hurt, and really, after 15 minutes, I felt fine. The final analysis was that I was already a little bit fatigued from lack of sleep, but the blood from my head must have rushed down to the stomach when I ate (after a day of fasting), all coming together to nearly cause me to black out. Ah, the effects of a rockstar lifestyle.
That night I slept at Riyaz and Farshad's place, and Farshad dropped me off at a place called Balakong. Balakong is a nice institute where the KL community holds lots of different kinds of training events and whatever else they might need I guess. I was substituting for a tutor (substitutoring, as I like to call it) who had to go to his university that day. I tutored a Ruhi book 3, with only three participants, but we had fun, and finished up the book, with them practicing their newly acquired children's class skills.
I was pretty happy to be able to do some service on my holiday...and they ended up teaching me how to play a new card game called "cho-tie-tee" which is some dialect of chinese for "the biggest two". I lost four times, then won 5 in a row. Yea!
p.s. I apologize for the lack of photos, but the internet here is terrible.
The Fullness Of The Thing
I think I left off with Quddus and I arriving in Malaysia, greeted by Amy, Roshan, and Ryan "Lion" Lash...This is exactly where our unbelievable journey of eating began.
Quddus and I arrived at around 11pm, which we thought was appropriate for sleep, but which roshan and amy indicated was actually perfect for visiting a 'mamak'. You see, 'mamak' is actually the name for an indian-muslim man, but over time, has become synonymous with the 24-hour eateries which these men so often run. So we went, for the first visit of many, to a place called Sukumaran's (suku's for short) in Subang Jaya, which is a suburb of KL. Here we watched a premier-league game projected on a large screen outside the restaurant, ate a few kinds of roti, and drank some tehtarik.
Now, this all happened what seems like ages ago, so I'm not going to aspire to a chronological tale of the events, but I will list Everything I can remember/have noted, and then tell you guys about a few of the notable events.
The following happened in Malaysia:
Breaking the fast at several different homes
Ryan Lash gives a presentation
We go shopping for breakfast
we eat at Suku's (x5, x10, x???...many times)
we eat at Asia Cafe (at least 7 times)
We go to Mourni's
we see the twin towers
I go tutor for a day at Balakong
We go to Naw Ruz + the post naw ruz party + the post post naw ruz party
We go to many open houses
we play settlers of catan (throughout)
we go to Perhentian Island
Everyone except ryan and I goes to singapore for a wedding
I smash ryan's face in an epic game of war
I hang out with Riyaz and Farshad
I chill out, and meet up with William Jacob
People return from Singapore
We play futesol
Amy and roshan delay their departure long enough for us to hang out a little more
also long enough for us to film a music video
Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I (quddus is still in singapore)
My dad and Shaku arrive, my dad gives a coupla talks on SRD
I go to the Ludher's and hang out with Dad and Shaku for a bit
I go to the Jayagopan's
I go to singapore
I watch jackie chan's latest film, and, somehow, escape from witch mountain
I go to Riyaz's again
We leave malaysia
We spend the night in the Bangkok airport
we return to Battambang
whew! so that's actually an almost chronological list, but I'm not too sure, either way, I'll pick a few interesting stories and write them up as seperate posts in the blog.
Quddus and I arrived at around 11pm, which we thought was appropriate for sleep, but which roshan and amy indicated was actually perfect for visiting a 'mamak'. You see, 'mamak' is actually the name for an indian-muslim man, but over time, has become synonymous with the 24-hour eateries which these men so often run. So we went, for the first visit of many, to a place called Sukumaran's (suku's for short) in Subang Jaya, which is a suburb of KL. Here we watched a premier-league game projected on a large screen outside the restaurant, ate a few kinds of roti, and drank some tehtarik.
Now, this all happened what seems like ages ago, so I'm not going to aspire to a chronological tale of the events, but I will list Everything I can remember/have noted, and then tell you guys about a few of the notable events.
The following happened in Malaysia:
Breaking the fast at several different homes
Ryan Lash gives a presentation
We go shopping for breakfast
we eat at Suku's (x5, x10, x???...many times)
we eat at Asia Cafe (at least 7 times)
We go to Mourni's
we see the twin towers
I go tutor for a day at Balakong
We go to Naw Ruz + the post naw ruz party + the post post naw ruz party
We go to many open houses
we play settlers of catan (throughout)
we go to Perhentian Island
Everyone except ryan and I goes to singapore for a wedding
I smash ryan's face in an epic game of war
I hang out with Riyaz and Farshad
I chill out, and meet up with William Jacob
People return from Singapore
We play futesol
Amy and roshan delay their departure long enough for us to hang out a little more
also long enough for us to film a music video
Everyone leaves the country except for Quddus and I (quddus is still in singapore)
My dad and Shaku arrive, my dad gives a coupla talks on SRD
I go to the Ludher's and hang out with Dad and Shaku for a bit
I go to the Jayagopan's
I go to singapore
I watch jackie chan's latest film, and, somehow, escape from witch mountain
I go to Riyaz's again
We leave malaysia
We spend the night in the Bangkok airport
we return to Battambang
whew! so that's actually an almost chronological list, but I'm not too sure, either way, I'll pick a few interesting stories and write them up as seperate posts in the blog.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Back in Battambang
Friends!
I've returned from Malaysia, and hit the ground running here in Battambang. I'll be working/volunteering at CORDE, doing lots of cool stuff (they even gave me a new desk and chair!). I'll be updating this blog with details from malaysia, and the return to Cambodia soon...mangoes are 3 for $0.25...life is good.
:)
I've returned from Malaysia, and hit the ground running here in Battambang. I'll be working/volunteering at CORDE, doing lots of cool stuff (they even gave me a new desk and chair!). I'll be updating this blog with details from malaysia, and the return to Cambodia soon...mangoes are 3 for $0.25...life is good.
:)
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