Battambang, the unnoficial report.

Lets begin at the beginning...wait, quick aside: whenever I try to write the word beginning, I write it beggining. I think I might have some mild dyslexia, because I do this with a few words consistently, words that I know I know how to spell.

ok, now lets begin:

I was already pretty excited about the conference in Battambang, having read some news on the Baha'i World News Service(BWNS), and hearing of other conferences from various friends. Then I got wind of the fact that someone, somewhere, had thrown my name out as a journalist/reporter for the conference. At first I thought that they should find someone else - since I was sure there had to be someone better at journalizing and reporterizing than I. It turns out that those people existed, but they were all otherwise occupied, and thus it was that I heard the ear-piercing toll of the bell of destiny echo through me: khello english friend, time to write! true story, the bell of destiny speaks with a khazak accent and if it had a face, would look like borat.

So, I'm all geared up to go and do this thing, which I know nothing about. Luckily, I manage to snag an assistant who does, in the form of one "Emily-with-a-T", from Malaysia. Having already written a report for a similar conference in Malaysia, I was now set up to delegate my work, and simply assume responsibility and reward for the work of my slave(s). :D

I confer with Jarnha and Neissan on a regualr basis, and Jarnah informed us of the imminent arrival of Ryan Lash (international man of mystery). Also, being a facebook addict, I was able to, with the assistance of Avuth, coordinate to have Haifa stay with us when she got in to Phnom Penh. This is all to the backdrop of mountains of midterm-exam marking.

On the 27th, Avuth and I eat some banana in place of lunch, and then set out to retrieve Haifa from the airport. The bananas were packed in sticky rice, and wrapped in bananaleaf, and then BBQ'd to perfection. The Sticky rice is also coconut-flavoured. Just awesome. Before getting Haifa, we went and bought tickets for the bus to Battambang for Avuth, Haifa, Ryan Lash (interlashional man of mystery), and Myself.

When we bought the tickets, I was given this spiffy new 20,000 rial bill! I was so pumped about it that I insisted on taking pictures, and refused to use it to purchase anything until the last days of the Bang. Soon later, we found ourselves at the airport.
After picking up a terrified Haifa, we proceeded to drop off some bags, and then go for a nice khmer lunch at boat noodles. After the delicious fish amok and fried veggies, we returned to my place, only for Haifa to discover that not only was she my captive, but that she had to mark some of my midterms for me! Avuth played guitar to calm her nerves while we worked away. I realize this stpry is turning into a series of photos and descriptions, so I'll try and avoid that and move along a little quicker.


We all ate Gado-Gado for diner with beattie and her p-units, and then chilled in the park, and then had fruit juices. sweetness.

Wednesday! the 28.

I had barely enough time to do laundry, hang it up, and hope for the best by the time our 1PM bus left. Ah procrastination, the character flaw which haunts me most. Needless to say we went out for lunch, and my clothes were dry and packable upon our return. The trip up was fairly dull, except for the absolutely RIDICULOUS hong-kong-dubbed-khmer movie. Millionaires, mad-scientists, teachers, robots, great film. aske me about it sometime.

We hit the ground running in Battambang, helping out with the conference preparations by sorting out tags and stuffing folders. Avuth, Haifa, and I stayed in the CORDE building while Interlashional made his way down to Gems international school to get his photo gear sorted, etc. The next day was much of the same, Ry and I got a briefing on the conference, most of what I got out of it was that there was much yet to be decided...and I still had no clue what I was doing. I decided to do my own research, reviewing the instructions from BWNS, and reading up on past conference coverage. I was finally put at ease when my contact from BWNS gave me a shout and told me to "capture the spirit", "gloss over the details", "get good quotes", and "enjoy the conference". Instant new friend. Best news I could get. So, I reset my mind-frame to one of simply absorbing what I saw and felt, and keeping alert for the notable and the quotable.

This feels like a good place for a picture.


The Representatives of the House of Justice made it into Battambang on thursday in the evening - their departure was delayed a bit, but everyone got to watch a sweet, sweet dragon dance while we waited. Check the bar to the right for a video, and facebook for some pics! They cleared up the schedule of the conference and all the logistics in a meeting almost as soon as they arrived, efficient to the max! There were some problems, mainly with the venue: There were too many people, so the organizers had planned to move the conference outside, creating a large hall made of tents. This might have worked, except for the fact that the khmer wedding tents were too low for people to be able to see any kind of screen for presentations, etc. So they went inside to double-check the capacity. After some shuffling of chairs here and there, it was discovered that hundreds more than originally thought could be fit in by simply using smaller chairs. Genius. So it was figured that 1400 or so could fit in the main hall, with the spill-over in some tents set up outside the hall. There were many such situations like this - problems, followed by observation, and nearly-magical common-sense solutions.

Friday we did some more random tasks, and I got to move my things to a hotel - and invest in a much needed shower. There is nothing as refreshing as drenching yourself in cold water when you're in a hot, muggy, dusty place (nothing, that is, except for the shower followed by fresh lime juice in soda-water, with sweet-syrup).

I'll skip the highlights of the conference, as they are contained in the "official report"...and as it is late, and I am recovering from being a sick people, I'll hit you with the rest in the morning...but I'll leave you with a photo.

Battambang Conference

Here are the official reports:

general overview.

Detailed business.

The unofficial one will be up as soon as I finish report-card comments.

jan 30

Lots to write about - and I have notes and pictures...but it will have to wait - as I'm arranging pictures and writing stories for the aforementioned conference in Battambang! Yay journalism.

Jan 25, 26.

25th was an unfortunate saturday - with loads of exams, I not only slept in, but bartered away my free time in the pursuit of mental relaxation. I needed, and took, a do nothing day.

26th hold much more promise, but was also filled with social contacts of all kinds - one involved Neissan, and this has inevitably brought our running chess total to 14-1-3. I did, however, manage to mark some papers here and there.

Today was a day of action - I woke up at 8 (even thought it's a holiday!) and met with the executive director of CRDA to discuss the website, and some other ongoing projects. We later returned to the Rushdy residence to review and edit a grant application...actually not as bad as some people make it out to be. met Jarnah and Neiss for lunch at.........you guessed it, the dosa corner.

Though it is unrelated in time, I had a revelation a long time ago, and it resurfaced when talking to Jarnah- have you ever noticed how people from the south of a country are dark and from the north are light. What's with that? does anyone know why? It seems like even Europeans from the south are darker than their light-skinned friends on the border below them. Or am I misguided?


I actually marked (I know!) some exams today, but was rudely interrupted by the p-units! They came back from Ethiopia/Kenya and brought me smiles, hugs, and a ver' nice "Hakuna Matata" t-shirt. They have also returned with my camera, so expect a return of stunning visuals to match these breath-taking stories of the life of an expat in Phnom Penh. To the left, you will find an example of one of these stunning visuals - this is the "sad-face" drawn on every unanswered question on every exam. Why, oh why, don't you just guess?

Peace!

Vietnamese New Year Dinner

It was delicious.

Then we drank Vietnamese coffee, played monopoly (until all but one were bankrupt), ate chocolate, and ice-cream, and mangoes.

Then I came home and chatted with my famiglia for a while...I miss my family lots, what great people!

and now, I'll play fifa '09 till the coffee wears out.

peace.

A Crush of Midterms.

The last few days have been a blur of paper and red ink, and the ink still runs. After slaying so many egos on the altar of standardized testing, one begins to wonder: is this really necessary?

The school that I work at has a system for testing, as follows: every teacher creates an exam for every class that they have. Then, the academix team takes all these tests, selects the questions they like best, correct formatting, and publish the standardized exam. Essentially, if you write the best questions, it's better for your class because they will be tested on material that they have studied. There is, as yet, no coordination between teachers of the same level. The whole thing is kind of ridiculous, and many of my students have been unnecessarily, and unfairly failed. Still, I don't know much about exam construction or academic management, so I couldn't really give them suggestions from experience or study. Just seems like a poopy situation for the kids.

Either way, I made it up to them by playing movies in all my classes on Thursday, and playing language games on Friday. So, even after brutalizing their collective self-confidence, we still remain friends. I showed them the movie "Bolt" which is quite a fun little movie. Unfortunately, the subtitles read like they were written by a student in my class, so rather than confuse them, I made them watch without the subtitles.

My quality control officer suggested I tell you a little more about cambodia - so here's a little tidbit fro mthe students: I had them write an opinion essay on school uniforms, and they came up with some interesting and convincing arguments.

For:
Students should wear uniforms because they look good.
Students should wear uniforms so that people can know that they are students (and know that they are skipping school if they are out during school hours).
Students should wear school uniforms so that, if they get into an accident, people can contact their school, and get their information.
Students should wear uniforms because uniforms help them concentrate and remind them to study.
students should wear uniforms so that poor students don't feel bad about their clothes.
students should wear uniforms because they look good and tidy when everyone wears them.
Students should wear uniforms so that, if they are good, it will reflect on their school, and people can find out that the school is good.

Against:
Students shouldn't wear uniforms because they look bad.
Students shouldn't wear uniforms because they're boring.
Students should be able to wear what they want, so that they can look sexy.
Students shouldn't have uniforms, because it becomes difficult to go to work after school, or to go to another school.

Overwhelmingly in favor of uniforms.

Also, I've had my evevening class (6:50-8:10) given to another teacher because they didn't want to overload me on the first semester. Unfortunately, that was my favorite, and most advanced class...sigh. The bonus of course is more free time - the first instance of which I used to great effect - attending an african/khmer fusion drum and dance session at a club called gasolina!

There's an exciting conference coming up in Battambang, and I get to help out by organizing some of the media coverage! I get to do a little bit of interviewing and such. Should be awesome. The conference is part of a series of 41 conferences happening around the world.

more to come, more to come.

the recent past.

Oh to try and recall such precious moments so far after their passing! Regardless, the blog must go on:

Last wednesday and thursday, as far as my already belittled memory serves me, were nondescript (I think things happened - like I know I had lunch with neissan at a cool thai restaurant, forgot to take money shopping, and I slept in the sun by the pool, but, w/e). Friday, however, held great promise in the form of an after-work dinner party with fried's at Jarnah and Beattie's place. It was as delicious, if not more delicious, than the last time. What's more, I actually recognized some of the people there! (almost like real friends!) jokes, obv. Neissan and Nadi engrossed themselves in a chess game while I gorged on tasty treats and social interaction. I shared with them, upon request, this telling anecdote:

I've struggled so far, to win the respect of my students based solely on my teaching method, and hopefully, exciting teaching style. Realizing the folly of my decision, I've recently switched back to relying on beatboxing and timid (but knowing) jokes about teenage romance. Happily, I didn't have to introduce my (can I call it a) talent(?) - I zoned-out while pacing the classroom, and the beats proceeded to trickle out my mouth, loud enough for the class to be staring at me when I turned to find 46 wide-and-wondering-eyes. So now beatboxing is a regular class reward for work well done, and I may soon be able to make a living on private beatboxing lessons alone :P

Saturday was decent, but disappointing. I canceled plans to mark, and then procrastinated like a mad-villain. At least I got to unlock new footballs in fifa. :(

Sunday was better, with the A.R. security council passing a resolution for marking to be completed by the end of the day at yejj cafe. Somehow, breakfast happened, great company was enjoyed (Neissan, Beattie, Jarnah, Nadi, Ryan, Echo(sp?), and their daughter Alanna), but I only managed one pile of marking. As most resolutions from the security council, this one was ignored, or half-completed, in the safety of my home. I set out for the feast at around 5:40pm, and had a great time getting back in touch with the Baha'is of Phnom Penh, after our circumstantially prolonged separation. Avuth and Neissan joined me (/coerced?) at my place to play some settlers of catan. I won twice, but Avuth now gets it, and Neissan is slowly accumulating strategic intelligence about the many ways to win settlers. We drank chocolate soy milk, and ate cookies.

The night didn't end there! oh no, the party raged on: I showed avuth some horrible guitar-playing skills, to which he smiled and approved after the fashion of Baha'is the world-round. Then he intimated his thoughts with the internet while Neissand and I played two games of chess. I marked simultaneously, bringing our new record to 10-1-2. To be fair, Neissan has realized that his weakness is moving before considering the possibilities, and our first game displayed Neissan creating forks, and capitalizing on mistakes like never before. I beat him the next game, but I still think my days of free chess wins are numbered.

Today I navigated the murky waters of ESL education with the assistance of coffee, fresh baguette, mango, and fun staff. Tomorrow I administer the midterms, like so many bandages upon the open wound of complacent copying, and lazy learning.

peace!

(note: I have more marking, and interesting essays, but both must wait till tomorrow)

I am so behind

And my memory is horrible!

Little bits of life are slipping away from me forever! How sad!

Except that those bits are mostly filled with marking, or procrastinating (which involves playing fifa '09, or watching some premier league games)...what I'm trying to say is, they're likely bits of life that we both could miss. I will, however, attempt to recount, with dramatic flair, and stunning accuracy, the events leading up to this day. Unfortunately, this may have wait until tomorrow.

;)

Jan 13

Ahhh! I woke up late today! I set two alarms, one for 6:15 and another for 6:30. The 6:15 one is to turn on the hot water heater, and the 6:30 is the real wake-up-and-start-life alarm. Luckily, I was able to let them know I'd be late, so they wont penalize me at all (they have a great system: 30 minutes or more of total non-informed late time leads to a delay in your paycheque!). My day was a blur of articles and activities, but I felt my energy levels dwindling by lunch time. In order to recharge, I went and got a little sun by the pool...you guys need to come visit, life out here is pretty swetdawgs.

The rest of the day was swet, though tiring (and I haven't even started marking yet!). I met some friends at Warung Bali for Indonesian food, and had a dish called Gado-Gado. It was pretty tasty, but very spicy, so I had to order not one, but two banana-shakes! So good.

Then, best part, I decided to walk home from the riverside (20-15 minute walk) and I met sith (said 'sut') out riding his little cambodian "cyclo". It's the old-school tuk-tuk, with a guy riding a bicycle and a seat on the front of it. He wanted tons of cash, but I gave him a dollar just 'cause he was cool. I insisted that I wanted to walk for a bit, so, to preserve his dignity, and cut down my time, he gave me a ride for a few blocks. He told me stories about pol-pot and the khmer rouge, and how "they have little food, not good my friend, not good". Then he said "now also I have little food, not good also." Rough business trying to give people bicycle rides when there are a million motos and tuk-tuks willing to take you faster and for the same cash. Sith is 52 years old, has 5 kids (who live in the provinces), and has been riding his "cyclo" for 20 years. He blames the vietnamese and the koreans for the sex trade and the drugs, and told me he didn't like the friendship monument (built to recognize the friendship between cambodia and vietnam). I asked him why he didn't switch to motos, but he said "I ride cyclo only, slow is nice, cyclo is good my friend." At least he was in good shape for his age (read: much better shape than me). Cool guy, cool night - I might need a light jacket next time.

Jan 12

Today was INTENSE.

I was called last night to take on a substitution this morning. I ended up subbing the whole day! It was a little crazy, but all fun times. I had some rowdies in the morning, but they all settle down enough to learn, so I don't mind. Came home at 11, (cashed my cheque on the way, cash monies!), and got down to business - practicing the guitaro. I was tempted to play fifa '09, but I had to mark some papers, and decided the day should be productive. If you haven't already picked up a guitar, I highly recommend it! You don't even have to make good music to feel like you're doing something! I hope eventually to play well and beatbox at the same time...the play well part may take me the better part of my time in the Cambodge, but I got time.

Afternoon involved some discussion of the Israel/Gaza conflict, the Bible, Alzheimer's, and the oneness of humanity. Interesting times working with a multi-cultural staff - sudanese, singaporean, american, canadian, phillipino, nigerian, cambodian, etc - make any discussion interesting just because of the diversity of cultural viewpoints.

Tonight I met Jarnah and Nadi for a Dosa (again, I know!). I managed to get the best-made Dosa yet again, and have now come under fire from certain friends for stealing all the luck. As some of you know, I am (or at least convince myself I am) a luck-sac. That's right, I am super-duper-ultra lucky. But, it's mostly perspective, so with the right mind-games, you can be lucky too! The trick is to imagine that every little good thing that happens to you, happens because you're lucky. This way you both 1. feel lucky, and 2. never take anything for granted. Moving from the initial thoughts, to engaging the full-fledged paradigm-shift, can be a long, and sometimes torturous journey. Trust me when I say, it's worth it.

We later came back to my place to complete Neissan's delayed settler's game. It went well, with Nadi taking the win thanks to an absurd number of 9's and 3's rolled in complete and utter disregard for probability. He also made very smart decisions. And now unfortunately, I have to sub all day again! I don't actually, it just means I need to sleep earlier, wake up earlier, and delay shopping by another day....at least I have bananas. (actually, quick aside, these bananas are tasty little things - tiny fat little bananes that taste like awesome plus two - put me in touch with my inner monkey)

Jan 11th evening

Just had to note this for you guys.

Neissan invited a few of us over for a little games night. So i got settlers of catan ready, hopped on a moto dop, and made my way over. There were five of us for the first bit, so we started, but then three more came, so we switched games. There were some odd ones, but in the end, we played a card game called "kaka". This game involves trying to make a set of four cards, and when you do, you put your hand on top of a communal pile of cards. Then everyone else has to get their hands on as quickly as possible, and the last person to do it has to take a cards from the pile of "kaka". The idea is to end up taking as few cards from the middle as possible. Now this is all good, until you play it on a glass coffee table. Somehow none of us realized that eight high-velocity hands hitting the center of a glass table was a bad idea. That's right, on the fifth or sixth round, we completely destroyed Neissan's table, and sent small bits of glass flying EVERYWHERE! most of us came out unscathed (actually, all of us except for Jarnah), so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Exciting way to end a night...what can I say, none of us wanted that kaka.

Jan 9-11

The only really memorable things from the 9th are: the maid bought me some delicious fruits; the kids in my classes are continuing to build up their enthusiasm; I ate more masala dosa, and, Neissan, Jarnah, Nadi, and I all played a game of settlers of catan! So much fun - unfortunately Neissan and Jarnah were still figuring out what was going on, and we had a lot of distraction in the form of laptops on the table, BUT, still a fun game (maybe just because I won? :P). I realized that I really have nothing in the house to offer guests, and had to resort to giving out the last of the cookies, some veggie/fruit juice, and a few small chocolates. I think tomorrow will be the real day for shopping (now that I have my first cheque from work!).

The 10th was an indoors day for me. I stayed up late the night before talking on skype, so I missed my morning seminar at work! Luckily, it's only optional, and I should be able to get the info I need from the other teachers. My day involved a lot of football(soccer). I've been getting into it recently, in the form of FIFA '09, and a lot of watching games on the telelevision. There was even a point where I was playing a game, and had a game on mute on the T.V. at the same time :0

Today was a little more exciting - I got some initial work done on CRDA's website, and went out to 'Comme a la Maison' for a chocolatine and an espresso (I also bought a baguette). I'm waffling over whether to continue the children's class in the orphanage or not - I don't want to be all burnt out teaching, but I really enjoyed the class, so I'm not sure which'd be best in the long-term. Avuth and Elyssa helped me get the guitar up to snuff, and I used this opportunity to try and develop some guitar skills. I have an embarrassingly bad video of my initial guitaring for you guys to see. Enjoy.

Jan 8

I forgot to mention some exciting events in the last post, so this can be jan7 night/jan8 morning:

Two friends from malaysia arrived, Elyssa and Kazin. We went to meet Jarnah and her friend Nadi for dinner at Dosa Corner. It was a good dinner, I ordered TWO dosas, and the second one was much better: much crisper, much hotter, more tastiness oozing out of every potato. I loved it. Then Jarnah casually mentions the fact that an MC from Jurassic 5 is playing at a club called 'Pontoon' at 8 P.M. I missed so many concerts in Edmonton, but this one made up for it.

It's with a heavy heart, and trembling fingers, that I give you the following news: I let the p-units borrow my digital camera, and my phone battery was so low, that it died before I even saw the face of "Akeela the MC". I know, so much diligent reporting with pictures and everything, and now, on the one night where it was more than just a convenience, I was deprived. Boo hoo, it was still a fun night.

When we first arrived, we joked around about dancing, but then met people we knew and conversed and met new friends, etc. Then Jarnah asked me to help her open up the dance floor, so we did - to some crazy blend of staying alive and I don't know what else. It was sweet. Pretty soon some of the drunk girls came on the floor and then everyone else followed. So Jarnah and I basked in our pride as dance-floor openers for the rest of the night.

After some wicked blends, and very fast cut/changes from an impressive Cambodian DJ (who's name I unfortunately missed), the night's performances began. It started with a hip-hop group called "clap your hands". Their set was ok. It was fun to hear the khmer rapping, and I joined in on some choruses. They had one slick little rb singer who serenaded some of the ladies in the front row - he was a solid performer, and added some class to their act. Later, when they were in-between sets, this giant black guy named Soljin(??) thanked me personally for opening up the dance floor. Seriously, he was like "I really wanted to dance, but you never want to be the first one, right? Thanks a lot man, respect" *hi-five transitioning to a grip, snap, and pound*

The next group up was amazing! A hip-hop group called "Tiny Tunes" started by a cambodian-american (Khmerican) who lived in south-central LA, learned the ways, and came back to start up a scene. He did it well. These kids could rap and break-dance so well - I loved every bit of it. To top it off, they had a female emcee from longbeach who rapped like it was the early 90's. I felt the khmer raps waaay more than I've been feeling any of the hip-hop coming out of the states recently. So I got a phone number for these guys and hope to get into the beat-boxing again. Ah, I'm charged with excitement. oh! and during their set, they made a stage out of the dance floor, and continued to break through a black-out! They started up a soul-clap, used the light from the dj's laptops to light the floor, and broke it down! I was beatboxing a bit, but the emcee seemed super-keen on the clap, and hey, so was I.

Then, Akeela's buddy "Hydrophonics" came on the dance-floor-circle-stage to perform, and he was good - very eminemish flow, solid lyricism, but the crowd wasn't feeling his stuff, so he tried a few songs, and gracefully thanked everyone and bowed out. Akeela came on finally, at like 12-12:30 (we'd been there for 4 hours already) and I got to hear a few verses before we had to go, because my guests were sleepy! So, I missed the majority of Akeela, but I felt like aI got a solid does of hip-hop for the low price of....free! ah, great night.


Today was a little more chill, but still cool. Avuth came over for breakfast, and brought Cambodian street noodles for us to eat. Cool new experience! Elyssa and Kazin had to go to Battambang today, so we went for a parting dinner with them, Jarnah, and some of her work colleagues. It was a cool place, and I find I'm developing a taste for friend morning glory and rice - and I still love stir fried mushrooms. Time was tight for Elyssa and Kazin to make the bus, as they still had to get their stuff from my place, Elyssa wanted some bread, so I offered to pick it up for her, and meet them back at my place.

What an ordeal! the people at lucky's supermarket wouldn't accept Elyssa's $10 bill because it was ugly. They seriously made me battle over the economic viability of the less-than-pristine note which I wished to give them. Also, quick aside from this aside, I don't know what's up with me lately, bu I feel like my sense of justice is is waaaay more active than it used to be. I'm becoming (at least in the last little bit) a lot less accepting of the unacceptable. So I insisted that they take my note, and after some hassle, they did. Yay, empty victory: I got to pay them 3 dollars.

Either way, bread got to Elyssa, Nadi got me the keys, and, after a quick change into work clothes, Nadi came with me to my school. He had some readings to work through, and I had some marking to do, so we found a cafe, ordered up, and settled down for a solid 2 hours of study and correction. He had to peace, and I had to teach, so we did the needful. I had fun teaching the class, they seemed to get into the activity more today than they have before...or maybe I'm still so hyped about the hip-hop that everything seems better.

I played chess against neissan again, some very good games, but, the record is now 7-1-1. It feels like the games are getting harder though, so maybe once he's back in the zone of strategic thought, I will find the numbers reversing.


acquisitions today: Settler's of catan, and a new 5th string for my dad's guitar.

Jan. 4-7

Oh irony. Mere days after being congratulated on the regularity and consistency of my posting to this blog, I find myself procrastinating. Luckily, I wasn't procrastinating just to avoid typing up dreary details of Cambodian life, rather, I was in a mode of general procrastination - brought on by my job. Yep, they wanted me to make midterm exams for both of my classes (which turned out to be no less than three separate exams because one class is split into reading and writing!). It all worked out in the end, with lots of time spent learning the hidden depths of formatting a document using Microsoft Word.

I have, unfortunately, forgotten what happened in the last few days, suffice it to say: nothing that exciting/important. I think the days were filled with teaching, exam construction, marking, and the watching of heroes (great show!). Also, the much anticipated "shipment" arrived from croatia, and the apartment is now almost like a real living space.

Today, however, was a whole different story. Today is "independence from the genocide regime day". Also, oddly enough, the day on which I re-gain some measure of my own independence. Today the p-units got on a plane to go to Ethiopia.

Jan 2/3

January the deuce was a fun day.

I spent the day refining my exam, and putting in the print order at the school, picking up a bus ticket for shaku, administering some exams, and then enjoying lasagna dinner with a bunch of guests. After all of that (tasty lasagna!) we watched some pictures form Neissan's trip to malaysia, and some hilarious youtube clips. This is one which my dad has saved on his laptop. So funny, I crack up everytime I watch it.



After that, Neissan and I went to a Mediterranean place called "tamarind" for some sheesha, tea, and chess. They have a nice rooftop up there, I imagine it'd be much more enjoyable if there were less clouds and more stars. After some complications over the flavours of tea and sheesh, they finally brought it all out, and I soundly beat Neissan 3-0 in our games (compared to 1-1-1 last time). I chalked a large part of my victory up to his inattentiveness. They were great games until an error or two crept in to finish it off(reminiscent of something isn't it Munir? ;P).

Either way, the night didn't end there! We dropped by the monthly "elsewhere" party to see who was around, and hopefully enjoy some good music. The music was out in full-force, I couldn't recognize any of the tracks that the dj was playing, but it was all cool stuff. We happened upon Christine and some of her friends, and some friends from the "Khmerry Christmas' boat party. Fun times getting to see them all again. The club, however, was dead. there were a fifth of the people that I'd seen last time I went (2 months back) and that meant you could actually talk to people, but that that there were less people to talk to, and no one dancing. This didn't stop us. Having the dance floor to ourselves, Neissan and I did some breakdancing, and he showed me some capoiera moves. That was fun, until the dj officially told us to go home by dropping the tempo considerably in the following 10 minutes. It's not his fault, the crowd was already non-dance, but they more sit-and-listen, than stand-and-pretend-to-dance.

Fun times.

Today, Shaku had to go to another city for a meeting, so we moved egg-in-a-hole sundays up a day to accommodate this newfound family tradition. We had mangoes for lunch, and went to Anise hotel for a coffee and to get some work done. I marked my papers, and my dad spent all his time trying to get the wireless internet to work...which he did, in the end. I had some interesting answers on the exams, I put one up for your viewing pleasure.

The rest of the day was spent watching juventus play in the snow, making stir-fry, and updating this blog!

peace out playas.

New Year!

Dec 31st was a busy day: first I went for breakfast with Sovanarith, the executive director of a little Cambodian NGO that I plan to dedicate some time and effort to; next, I slept, awaking to phone call invitations for lunch, which I eventually accepted; I later went to an indonesian place for lunch avec Jarnah and Beattie and Christine; this was followed by more sleep, and then the new years party.


I had great fun going to the Indian Association of Cambodia's new year's party. Shaku got some tickets from a friend of the family. Unfortunately, my camera battery died while taking the "before" photos, so all I have is the before and after (and some bad cell-phone videos). Basically, we enjoyed Indian food, activities and intermittent dancing. The night was a bit of a gong-show, they had overlooked a few things while planning the event, but it didn't interfere too much with the celebration of the new year. There were not many people my age at the event, but that's ok, because I'm kind of an old man anyway, so it was easy for me to connect to other attendees. We went to a fancy-dancy hotel called the imperial garden hotel. It was ver' swanky, and the room we were in was nice and big, but not big enough for the 80 extra people who came to the door with no tickets!! I had plans to go to go to a place called "the mansion", but I procured a massive headache (presumably by keeping my head craned over my shoulder to look at the stage for long periods of time). So, after some interesting times with the Indian community in phnom penh, we retired for the night.

The first day of the new year was much better, it involved a delicious mango lassie, with real bits of mango(as seen in the photo). This day also saw me constructing some exams for my students. They went over fairly well ( I think), and the classes were actually fun as all the students loosened up after finishing the exams. I'll try not to bore you with details, but exam construction can actually be fun. I took sample questions from their past homework, and edited the names, order and questions. I even gave them a bonus section, wherein they had to place the right question into the blanks of a conversation between Dr.Rushdy and a student. The student had not studied for the exam, and Dr.Rushdy prescribes studying. Also, used the names of some of their classmates on the exam, and I plan to use it a lot more, they were excited to see themselves in the exam, so maybe they'll study so that they can get the question with their name correct, at the very least.

Dec. 30

More man, or Mormon?

I have a limited professional wardrobe, but I think I can get into the look. I was dead tired today. I woke up at 6, 6:15, 6:30, AND 6:40! It seemed like an eternity between each waking, AND I woke up still tired each time - soo disappointing. The only good thing about it was that the rest of the day got better! I'm trying to improve my teaching everyday: including more activities, assigning relevant and interesting homework, and tomorrow I design my first few quizzes! I hope they don't turn out to be too hard or easy.

I thought hey, maybe I'll make up a mock horoscope again, but this one's better than any I could have made!

for dec 30.
With a critical eye
Valid during several weeks: This is a good time to look around with a critical eye and see what needs to be changed or corrected in your environment. You are very conscious of the flaws in everything you look at, but you are not so overwhelmed that you cannot see the good as well. Your mind is on serious concerns, and although you are not likely to feel depressed or to have other negative feelings, you are not lighthearted or attracted to frivolity either. In this mood you can be either a teacher or one who is taught, perhaps in a formal classroom situation or just in an informal discussion among friends. You respect people who have more experience than you do, and you are likely to turn to them for advice. Or someone else may cast you in this role and come to you for help.

Dec. 29

Another day, another dollar.
pretty soon, I'ma be a balla!

Today I worked from 7:50-8:50, came home after the coffee-break to do some laundry, eat some lunch, get some photos taken, and generally hang out with the p-units.

at one point, this afternoon found me playing Civ2, listening to Bob Marley, chilling out in my room (courtesy of a fan), and enjoying a small moment of blissful nothing. Then I went back to school, worked 1:50-2:50; 3:10-4:30; 5:30-6:30; and 6:50-8:10. I thought it was alright, if I a little intense, but some of the teachers teach the two morning classes as well. Dayyam!

The kids were fun today, I'm really getting into finding salient examples to use when introducing/explaining new vocabulary. Also, I'm finding myself challenged to explain basic words and concepts because I have no concise definitions in my head. I told the kids that I garnered the meaning of the words I used by reading them in several different contexts, and deciphering their meaning that way (of course, I didn't use all these propa words, it was more like "I read lots of books to learn about words").

I also got to teach a bunch of kids about global warming, prostitution, cause and effect relations, hercules, santa clause, moral principles, and really whatever else struck my fancy while explicating the meaning of one word or another. I'm having a great time, I can only hope the kids learn something as well.

Right, 6AM wake-ups slay me. so I'll say good night, and see you tomorrow...

...wait, there was one last thing! Kind of random, but while riding home on the moto-dop (motorcycle-taxi), it began to rain. I closed my eyes to protect them, and then all of a sudden, just really started to enjoy the moment. Trying to see what the ride would be like if I was blind, I kept my eyes closed as long as I dared, and started to really get in the zone of listening to the sounds of the city and the feeling of rain on my face. random, but it was another nice little moment today.

k, peace for reals.

hip hop lovers

random aside:

while eating my lunch at the F.C.C., I mulled over why the letter seemed so familiar - and then I had it!

"you down with O.P.P?"
"yeah, you know me!"

so for the rest of the day I've had

"you down with F.C.C.?"
"yeah you know me!"

running through my mind. I need to start writing/performing again.

Dec.28

Ah sunday.

Today I walked down to Cafe Fresco to buy some multi-grain bread for egg-in-a-hole sundays. It was pretty tasty. We later had a little family consultation to kind of re-orient ourselves after a hectic month. Later, we went to the Foreign Correspondent's Club (F.C.C.) down by the riverside, and enjoyed some very expensive, but decently delicious lunching.

We saw an Elephant.
Yeah, I know. Pretty random, and very sweet. All of us tourists up in the F.C.C. got super-excited and ran over to snap some photos. The 50+ year old guy beside me giggled like a schoolgirl when I looked over at him and then back at the elephant. I had to join him...it is nice, even though we shared no common language, at least we could share our excitement over an elephant walking the streets.

After this delightful little outing, we headed back home and immediately made our way to the pool.


sweetness.

A fairly relaxed day before what promises to be a busy, busy week.

Dec. 27

If I was going to write my horoscope today, it would be something like this:

Today you are surrounded by friends and new acquaintances. You may feel more social, because pluto is no longer in uranus. There is a chance that new friends may lead to possible short-, or long-term friendships...and if you are looking for work, this could be a good thing! Since the moon intersects with venus, you may observe a female influence in your daily activity, but not for long. Also, jupiter is in the twelfth house, and this means that you will see big things happening.

Of course, all of this came true.

Today I went to Jarnah and Beattie's for breakfast (friends!...and perhaps female influence??) and I met new friends (Lucas and Beck...and there is a chance that these could be short-, or long-term friendships!). I brought over some walnut bread, and a regular baguette, and the ladies provided the rest of a delicious breakfast, from delectable fruits, to Italian chocolate-chip-and-raisin cake to eat with our coffee. I was also introduced to the very Australian"Vegemite": basically the yeast by-product of beer brewing, which these interesting people decided to eat on their sandwiches. It's pretty much one of the best spreads to put on a sandwich, even if it is very salty.

Then I did some marking and wrote some feedback for my lvl 12 class. And later, we had some guests over. Our guests were two Cambodian Baha'i families, both of the guys (Sopheap and Sovvanarith) work in development. More acquaintances who can become short-, or long-term friends! I ended up chatting with Sovvanarith, and it turns out he has an NGO that was recently registered with the government. I'm likely going to volunteer with his organization during the day, and teach English at night. The First thing we talked about was making a website, which I have little experience in, but which everyone tells me is easy. So if you know how to make a website, drop some knowledge on me/ let me know if you'd like to volunteer some of your spare time for a Cambodian NGO! This could be the "big things happening" talked about in my horoscope. Either way, I'm pretty excited.

Writing a fake horoscope ha given me an idea for the blog. Seeing as how I have started to attend to the daily occurrences of my life, maybe I'll post up my horoscope as well, to see how closely they actually link up.

Dec.24-27

Happy holidays!

I would say merry Christmas, but it isn't really a thing out here. Actually, I think even the "happy holidays" is excessive, because I only got one day off (25th),and even that was only because people protested last year! Either way, this little section of time was sweet!

I taught classes as usual on the 24th (thursday?) until 8:10, then made my way down to Jarnah and Beattie's place for a pot-luck dinner, which I failed to bring anything for (ah how little changes from country to country). They had been feasting for a while, so when I arrived they had polished off most of the dishes. Thankfully, they were all polite eaters, and left me a little bit of each dish, which was more than enough to fill me up! everything from roasted veggies, to sushi (made by an authentic japanese person!), to grape juice (brought by an authentic italian!). It was good times, and then got better when we played mafia.

As you may well know, I had some intense mafia sessions in malaysia just a short while ago, so my mafia skills were sharpened to the max. I ended up being a mafia, along with a cool guy from beattie's office in the UN. The game was golden. I actually can't describe how ridiculous it was. Granted, we were playing with many people who were inexperienced, but that's only because we (the mafia) were smart enough to kill off the experienced players first...In the end, there were three of us: Neissan was the angel/doctor I was mafia, and Neissan's japanese friend (whose name I cannot recall) was a citizen. Realizing that he had me, Neissan told her that he was the angel, and that I was the mafia, and that he had saved her last round. Realizing the same thing, I also told her that I was the angel, neissan was the mafia, and that I had saved her last round. It basically came down to who she trusted more, and, since I was also giving her reasons why neissan had to be the mafia, she eventually sided with me. "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta"


many people had to ditch after the game, but the few of us who stayed on were rewarded with a night full of sherades, pictionary, and interpretive dance! This most excellent of christmas-time parties lasted till 3am, and was well worth it.

he next day (25th) I eventually woke up and made my way to the school to see their christmas party. It was crazyness plus two! They blocked off some roads, hired some entertainment, organized games, and offered prizes! They also got some of the security guards to dress up in santa costumes, which was hilarious (mostly because these tiny cambodian guys were stuffing their suits try and get a belly, and were getting right into the ho, ho, ho's and all that business!)

Later that evening...I met up with Neissan, and we went to check out the "Khmerry Christmas boat party". We bought some roadside food and some drinks, hopped on the boat, and met tons of people who we didn't know before. I got to connect with some other strange-mix, third-world-raised children, such as a japanese/pakistani girl, and another pakistani girl who grew up in the Philippines! Everyone I met was pretty friendly, and we all had a good time munching on snacks and enjoying each other's company while taking in the sunset on the mekong river.

We got back, and ended up meeting some of our newfound friends at a place called "Chow" by the riverside, which has a great rooftop lounge...which we proceeded to lounge in until about 11. The conversation was semi-enlightened, and the food was delicious. The only random thing was the music. Since it was Christmas, the staff wanted to play Christmas music. Unfortunately, they also wanted to blast it. We kept asking them to turn it down, but they'd turn it off, and then several minutes later, they'd start up again with another jingle on full-blast. I finally put in the effort to explain that none of the people on the roof were into the Christmas music. The girl looked at us confused and crushed, saying "but it's Christmas!". Until that point, I figured the music was for us, but then I realized they were also all dressed up in Santa-hats, etc., and perhaps they wanted the music on. Not like any of them were Christians, but I still felt bad crushing their perhaps misplaced holiday spirit.

Next day (26th) was back to work, and I had a full-on 7:50AM-8:10PM day, coming home to some guests whom we had over dinner. I was exhausted. I did some marking, which has given me some interesting stories to tell. Actually, teaching has a few as well. I'll post up some incidents/comic homework as soon as I can post again. But for now we'll end on the 26th (because we have guests coming, and I need to clean-up!)

Dec.23

Today was a day of details.

Last night I got a call to substitute two more classes for the next two weeks (7:50-8:50, and 1:50-2:50)..I accepted. Today, I was faced with all the fine print of teaching work: assigning homework, making a schedule for the semester, going to meetings, taking attendance, dealing with a few rowdies, etc. Also, I was(/am) sick with the flu. This sucked for most of the day, but we were learning about common words used in health-care in one of the classes, so I was able to use myself as a case study for many of the words, which made the explanations easier.

I met a few more teachers, and I've come to the consensus that 90% of teachers are genuine and friendly, and 10% want more money. That's probably an optimistic guess, but I'm an optimistic guy, so no stress. I'm actually really enjoying the teaching work so far - kids tend to listen to what I say, and I feel like they're understanding what we're doing in class. Of course, I haven't yet checked homework, nor given a quiz...so I guess I'll soon get some data to back-up/refute my views.

The teachers were called over for a meeting with the president of the institute, cool guy - he's definitely an empire-builder, and he's invested like a mad-man in the phnom penh real-estate market. I also found out that my school is ranked #1 in Cambodia, and the students are mostly royal/ministerial/big-business offspring. Either way, I felt bad because the president was obviously enjoying the meeting, but I promised the p-units that I'd meet them for lunch at "Comme a la Maison"...so I was itching to go (and I'm pretty sure he noticed; I felt like a student waiting for the teacher to finish talking so they can leave the class). Comme a la Maison was delectable, a great celebration of Shaku's birthday.

I'm trying to balance being harsh and on-task and being cool and just chatting, so far I think I'm doing pretty badly, with mostly chillness interrupted by moments of harshness to pull the big class back in line. 23 kids is more than enough for me to handle with my limited (read: nonexistent) knowledge of class management skills and techniques. My money is quickly being eaten up by ever-so-happy moto-dop drivers. I think I should buy a scooter/motorbike. Maybe a vespa...or maybe an electric bike. Thoughts?

December 22, First day of work.

Yay! Today I finally started doing some paid work.

Unfortunately, since I was in malaysia, and they couldn't reach me on my cell, they gave my job to someone else. On the plus side, they were still able to give me some work in the evenings: 5:30-6:30, and 6:50-8:10. Realizing that I had some time, I decided to return home, catch up on sleep, review my lesson plans, and eat. I returned to the school for a brief meeting, and a chance to sit in on some classes. The first class was cool, the teacher took me under his wing and treated me to a delicious 1000 rial Vietnamese coffee. The second teacher also took me under his wing, and let me experiment teaching his class a bit. Everything went smoothly. The kids here actually listen to the teachers, the only problem is getting the kids to produce an answer - they all seemed quite shy...hopefully they get used to me and the active learning really starts to happen!

I met a contingent of Nigerian teachers, one of whom complimented me on the blazer. Then he said, and I quote "you know you look good when even the guys are attracted to you"...haha...awkward. To make up for the awkwardness (or add to it?) when I asked the students what they wanted to know about me, the first question was from one of my 18 year-old students "are you single...*awkward pause*...sir?". Houy, in some ways this could be a long, long semester.

Part trois and the extras

After writing the title for this post, I've decided that I now have at least one candidate for a wicked band name.

Right, so after the training in the Malaysian heartland,we slowly made our way back to KL. After dropping our luggages in the Ludher residence, and drinking a juice named after the magic-potion in Asteriks and Obelix books, we engaged our minds and bodies in a desperate hunt for delicious Malaysian food. Elyssa really wanted to take us to a chinese-malaysian place, but we were kind of dead-set on Lau's lau-dable (oh yes I did) description of Madam Kwon's. Madam Kwans is in KLCC - in the Twin Towers. The pics are up on facebook - very impressive, super-wicked-cool-awesome, with a pleasant park extending out the back.

Had some dins with Keeliang, Arvin, Elyssa, Haifa, and Taraz. We had to wait a bit to get in, but it was fun times. The food was not excellent, but was still very good, and I enjoyed the culinary experience. I also had some ABC, which was a strange ice-fruit-stuff mixture that everyone was keen on, but that Keeliang told me was not the best. I guess I'll have to wait till next time sample the true beauty of ABC.

We said goodbye to Taraz and Arvin, and escorted Keeliang to the LRT so that he could catch his ridiculous-late (11PM) bus home. After dropping him off, we called arvin and asked them to wait because we had, in the course of our consultations, realized that our best option for the night was to continue spending time with friends instead of random shopping malls in the city.

I met one of the famed and esteemed Baha'i families in Malaysia - the Ramaswamies? God, I just realized that I didn't even get the family name, just the family...w/e. Cool family though. Met tons of people, most of the names have escaped me, but we ended up going out for food and coffee, and having a sweet time.


Then, next day: roadside meal for brunch; quick shopping for presents; hustle to the bus(tle); and a smooth flight from the low cost carrier at KL to Phnom Penh. Smooth, that is, except for the ridiculous $20 charge for checking my baggage...so lame.Either way, I met a nice guy named paul on the plane - he told me his life story, paid for the tuk-tuk back to the center of the city, and wished me good luck in life. Cool beans.

I met Neissan for breakfast on december 20th and told him exactly what I'd invest in with my development funds...ME! that's right, I have some ideas of what kind of Social and Economic Development I'd like to see and do...more on that as (and if) it develops. I ate a mango-crepe and drank khmer-bean espresso, and drank watermelon-flavored-water. We ate at a relaxing place called le Jardin.

We went and got some haircuts...being the gentleman that I am, I let Neissan go first, and after sacrificing almost all of his hair to the khmer razor gods. Appeased with his sacrifice, they let me get a sweet haircut for the low-low price of 3000 rials...roughly $0.75 cents. Later that day: Beattie and I went on a minor expedition to the central market(photos on facebook), which was fun lil' trip.

Sunday the 21st.

Lazy to the ulti-max. Got up and had some egg-in-a-hole, becuase sinday is egg-in-a-hole day in our house. Then I browsed the net, wrote a bit, grabbed the decline and fall of the roman empire, and went and read all about Emperor Julian's reign, rule, and apostasy while sun-bathing (pics on the fb). We also had a nice devotional/commemoration for Shaku's father who passed away 8 years ago.

part deuce

Ok, last episode our intrepid heroes made their way into the jungle-city of Kuala Lumpur, only barely making their flight! This time we follow them into the oily innards of Malaysia, where the training was hosted. There is too much information for me to lay everything out here without writing a small book, so I've decided to post up some of the highlights, and a few short descriptions. We'll cover the important stuff first: Food.

We all know that Malaysian food is delicious and that Malaysians, as a result, are among the world's most avid food lovers. We had all of our meals at the institute catered by two very nice south-indian-malaysian ladies. This basically means that we ate rice at breakfast lunch and dinner, and everything...everything was swimming in oil. It was super-tasty and well-spicy, but the oil was a shock to my system. To put it in perspective: the week before I left (if you remember), my dad and Shaku were in Battambang, and left the house all to me. I ended up eating a diet of fresh veggies and fruits! from that to all oil was like a battle all on its own. All that being said, the food was still wicked.

Next, Accommodations:
The girls quickly claimed the upstairs bedrooms (and maybe not so coincidentally, the hot-water showers). This left the guys (who were a majority) with one bathroom, and a cold-water shower. Elyssa planned her arrangements well...
Anyway, I snaked a bed early on, and forced the esteemed Lau to take a mattress on the floor, so I can't really criticize the girls too much. :)

General Schedule:
the first and last days were half-days with a bunch of cleaning thrown in...which was actually lots of fun...especially when you're like me, and adopt managerial roles in the janitorial department. The rest of the days we supposedly started at 8, had a tea break somewhere between then and 1:00, broke for lunch till 2:00, had another tea break between then and 5:30, then played organized games until 6:30-7, then dined until 8, then more discussion/educational-video-watching until 10-10:30...then informal discussion until 1/2AM. Everyone's schedule was like that except for the last part which was followed religiously by a few of us who were willing to entertain Lau's stories, or engage in some kind of philosophical exploration of the subject matter. I also had an unproclaimed contest with Lau to see who could sleep-in the latest, and still make it up in time for morning devotions.

Subject matter:
The actual object of our study was very interesting (especially for me). It was a combination of FUNDAEC's "Basic Concepts", and some supplementary readings on the "Science, Religion, and Development" discourse that some countries have been engaged in since the late-nineties. The course covered a lot of interesting topics, from the definition of the community, and development, to the role that humanities inherent appreciation of beauty, and thirst for knowledge play, or can play, in our lives. I wont go into any depth, for fear of getting distracted in the details, but the material is solid, deep, and interesting to the maximum.

Random Happenings:
On the third day, I injected the game "Mafia" into the unsuspecting hearts of 15 of my fellow participants, under the guise of highlighting the usefulness of consultation. What I failed to mention (in true mafia fashion) was the game's reliance on deceit, trickery,emotive rhetoric, and outright lying as the only real means to victory. Needless to say, we had a great time,and much of our organized game time fell prey to artful devices of "Mafia". As a side note, one comes to discover TONS about one's peers as the narrator. Some people are very, VERY, good at acting. *cough* Rani *cough*.

We had a nice little devotional on the night of the nineteen-day feast...with one of our resident interior decorators (Avuth) transforming the little meeting room into a calming spiritual environment with a few candles and glasses of water. Pics are on my facebook.

We went on a field trip to visit a possible candidate for the Malaysian Baha'i house of worship; to visit more than 70(!) rural Asli youth engaged at various levels of the ruhi institute process, and later to a 100% Baha'i Asli village. The trip was great, but we got rained on as we neared the village, so we got less contact with the people than we'd wished...and ended up being more like a random group of tourists than interested agents of social transformation.

Reuben brought a guitar with him upon returning from a brief trip to his university to receive an academic excellence award...and though his skills were minimal, the guitar was used to great ends by many. I, myself discovered the great fun and exciting allure of plucking and strumming strings in a semi-organized way. I'm patiently awaiting the shipment of my dad's guitar to phnom penh so I can resume my musical training!

Snake, snake....Snaaaaaaake! We had a tremendously long, beautiful black cobra join us for supper one night. Luckily Arvin spotted some movement, and got everyone out of the way before it bit anyone...otherwise we would have definitely lost a member or two of the training (the closest hospital was...not close at all). So we scream at it and laugh at it and giggle like "tourists" to borrow Lau's term, while Lau and Keeliang try and contain the snake's movements. It tried, at one point, to climb up the wall to the window, but couldn't manage (much to our mutual disappointment). We tried to get it into a basket, but it was now curled up int eh corner. So, having reached an impasse, we watched it and wondered. Now, having witnessed some snake exorcisms, and participating in a few myself, I decided to offer the group my suggestions of picking it up with along stick, and either putting it in the basket, or progressively tossing it out through the kitchen. Finding no one to really nay-say an available option with a volunteer behind it, they let me proceed with my ill-fated plan. We didn't know at this point if it was a cobra or not, but by putting a stick close to it, I was politely informed by it's nervous hiss, and sudden flexing of it's king-cobra-crown. It was at this important juncture in my life that I decided that the cobra could have his corner of the dining room, and I could have my couch in the other room. Respect. The conclusion is, unfortunately, less humane than any of us would have liked, but the gardener insisted, by way of a bamboo stick, that the cobra be sacrificed for the sustained good health of all the residents in the region. oddly enough, this was a rarer cobra, and the Indian people normally see the visit of a cobra as a sign of good luck, or a blessing - and wouldn't harm one. Thus, our systems were shocked slightly more than they might have been, for the loss of our guest. At the very least, I can now check off another one of my long-term life-adventuring goals: face-to-face with dangerous, venom-spitting cobra - check.

There was lots more, but it's late, and I'm tired, and I start work tomorrow. So wish me luck, and let me know if there was something about the Malaysia trip that you want to know more about (even an explanation of one of the random facebook pics!).

Peace!

ISGP training in Malaysia: Part 1.

Hokay, First things first: ISGP is the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity. I'll get to explaining what the training was all about when we get there.

The date is December 8th, and Avuth has arrived at around 2:00 in a tuk-tuk for us to go check-in early for our 4:30 flight to Kuala Lumpur. The drive to the airport is pretty uneventful, with the only exciting bit being the cheap price. We wait in line, but hop from line ot line until we find the best/fastest moving one. All the excitement happens when we get to the counter to check in: my check in goes smoothly, but when Avuth steps up to the counter he gets rejected HARD. For some reason Cambodians can't leave the country without a return ticket! After haggling with the not-very-happy and not-very-helpful lady at the counter, we decided to call Avuth's mom to see if she could help - eventually, together with Counselor Ludher, they decided to buy a return ticket online, and text us the confirmation code. So we watch everyone check-in for the flight and pass us by (oh how the proud have fallen!). We try and see if I can fit my over-sized shaving-cream into Avuth's bag so that it doesn't get tossed at airport security...it was either that or I pay some extra cash to check my little red duffle-bag. After a tense half-hour or so, Avuth finally gets the text we've been waiting for and we get ready to check him in. Unhelpful lady stays true to her title, and refuses to help us, direct us to another one of the equally unbusy, but definitely more helpful Air Asia ladies.

After forcing Avuth to run outside and half-way around the airport to print off the proof of his ticket, we were finally allowed to pay more money so that we could go through to security. I completely forgot to fill out my departure card while we were waiting, so when we got to immigration I had to run back to a table and fill it out. The whole period is kinda frenzied because we're under the impression that we'll be late for the plane. so after quickly filling it out and getting through security, I pick up my shoulder-bag and happily scoot off with Avuth to go find our gate.

we arrive at the gate only to find that our flight still hasn't been called up...and then it gets delayed by 20 minutes, and then another 50. So we burn time with conversation and a drink from the random dairy-queen. People have been standing in line all this time, and we were left confused...until we realized there is no pre-assigned seating on our flight! so we find an unfortunate seat on the plane, and I come to another startling revelation: I don't have my little red duffle-bag! Oh noes! so I get off the plane and ask them to wait while I go look for it. I couldn't find it around the seats so I ask one of the officials walking around, and he tells me they've been announcing the bag over the intercom for the last hour...in khmer. We go back to security and they tell em they were moments away from sending the bag to some far-off storage unit. LUCKY! I check and see that they decided my clothes were too big to steal, and run back to the plane. Apparently, everyone was waiting for me, but no one gave me a hard time about it :)

The flight was alright. We met a businessman who jumped back and forth between malaysia and he was pretty depressed about businessmen in Cambodia after being cheated pretty badly by a few guys. I was mulling over his misfortune when I almost ran into some of my own: I wanted a bottle of water, and asked the waitress how much it cost. She said "4 ringit" I had some ringit in my wallet, tucked away in my bag, but already had a few USD in my pocket, so I asked, "how much US?" She pulls out a magic calculator, punches in a couple of numbers, and then shows the result to me - 2. (the conversion rate is $1 USD: $3.6 RM!) so Avuth spotted me the Ringits till we got out of the plane.

KL has a cool taxi system: you tell this guy at a kiosk where you want to go and then pay him the amount, he gives you a voucher, and then you give the voucher to the taxi driver, who takes you to the location - no hustle, no hassle. We made it to the Ludher residence at pearl point with no troubles, met Lau, Haifa, and eventually Tahirih, and then crashed for the night.

part 2 will cover the ENTIRETY of the intense 10 days of training...in whatever order I remember them.

Dec. 7

So much happened today!

Unfortunately, I'm stealing avuth's computer to writer this, so I'm going to save the story of my trip to malaysia for a large special to be presented upon my return...

in the mean time, I may still sneak a few random posts in, we'll see what the internet connection looks like.

Peace!

Ash.

Dec 6.

Today was sweet for connecting to my people.

I had breakfast with Neissan and Jarnha at a place called the Boddhi Tree. The restaurant was really nice, but the location was strange...right across from the Toul Seng Prison Museum! The museum devastates your soul, and I'm in a decent mood, so I'll save that topic for another post. I ordered, as I have a habit to do, the best meal on the table. My "big western" omlette, trumped Jarnah's poached eggs and bruschetta, and Neissan's "Boddhi sunrise" pancake. I'll admit I only beat Jarnah's by a small margin, and that I had to order a toasted baguette on the side, but still - the food was enjoyable. The discussion was varied, but centered on the ups, downs, and arounds of our respective travels and Baha'i service experiences. Later, Jarnah and Neissan organized their class, and I entertained myself playing with colors in photographs.

I later went for a (nonexistent) orientation for my new job...the guy forgot about our meeting...and I forgot his name! So after some minutes of confusion at the front desk, and my superb solution of calling the boss, everything was solved. Besides this event, these guys seemed pretty organized - they even gave me whiteboard markers for my class! So that looks like it's ready to go...I still have to call my $5/hr friends and let them know that I am unavailable to teach at their school, hopefully that gets done tomorrow.

After the meeting I met Jarnah again at the Russian Market on my way back home...and we ended up having some tasty "coffee with sweet-milk" (known as Vietnamese coffee to us Canadians) for 50 cents, and some nice conversation for free. Then I met up with the papa - we went for overpriced Lebanese food to reassert our 'arabness', and had a nice walk through the public parks on the way there and back. cool aside: in the park there were giant screens with photographers' series' projected as a slide-show with selected tunes to accompany. It was very random, but also very nice.

Mystery

I have recently been asked to reveal weather my chest hair is red like the hair on my head.

I'm afraid there are a priviliged few who know, and an (un?)fortunate multitude who will be baffled in thier contemplation of this mystery.

December 5th...(friday!)

Sometimes, when you don't have too much filling up your days, they blur together. Today was good example of that. I knew that on Friday I had plans to go watch a Khmer rock-opera called "Where Elephants Weep". What I didn't realize until late this afternoon, was that today was friday(!)

"Where Elephants Weep" was AMAZING! I loved it. The show had the English and Khmer text of each line as it was sung. This is the only reason that I remember the following (sung in Khmer originally):

...here our land is green and fertile.../ halfway across the world a man named "King" has a dream,/ and a band called "the Beatles" make girls scream/

If you can imagine reading this while hearing Khmer being sung (with "king" and "Beatles") then you can also imagine my joy and excitement for the upcoming comic journey. The story was about a young Cambodian guy who worked as a music producer for Sony in the states, whom made a return to Cambodia (with his friend) to become a monk, and be at peace. He meets a girl who he falls in love with, but she's engaged to her brother's friend (and business partner). The show used this premise to hit a few different points about Cambodian identity: the monks, cultural dance and song, the Khmer rouge and pol pot, the "new money" Cambodians (and their debaucherous lifestyle),  the street kids, lack of/need for parental love, and the experience of being child soldier.

This was all couched in a switch between, and sometimes combination of, traditional Khmer and 80's rock. There was also some hip-hopish stuff thrown in (this was soo funny!): the brother had three hired guards/goons who were all dressed in suits and acted supa gangsta - busting out with some svet hip-hop moves and comic rhymes. I loved this show, quirks and all. This picture is of me imitating an elephant using our free poster. After the show Beattie and Jarnah and I went for some Thai food - spicy morning glory and rice is a good meal.

Since Jarnah and Beatti both have bikes, but I do not, we've had to double-up a few times. This usually involves Jarnah sitting on the little...flat...I want to say book-holder? at the back of her bike, while I put in the leg work. The length of time between my last bike ride, and this double-ride has exacerbated my issues with balance, and instilled humor and fear into the hearts of Jarnah and Beattie both. 

Today was a great day of fresh fruits - I ate two mangoes for breakfast, two oranges for lunch, and papaya for a snack. (Yes, a whole papaya, but it was a small one...and I put lemon on it - soo tasty, I highly recommend it.)

Dec. 4

a day full of contemplation, rumination, and a dosa.

I may take a break from writing for a while while I'm in malaysia...just depends on the kind of internet access that I can get a hold of. That being said, I haven't got much to say for today anyway...I did a little bit of wallowing in despair, and some t.v. watching (which was likely a thinly veiled form of much of the same). I met Neissan and Jarnah for lunch at the dosa corner (quickly becoming my favorite eatery)...which was a great lift of the spirits.

hope everyone's doing well!

Ash.

Dec.3

Today was an intersting day, full of upsa and downs. And when I say 'ups', I mean one 'up', and' downs' is actually just one 'down': I got a (better) job teaching english! yaya! and broke up with my girlfriend...The first I'll tell you about, but the second is far too personal for a blog.

My orientation meeting was today at 10, so I put on fancy clothes, hopped on a moto, and rode into the sunrise. I waited for 30 mins before I saw the guy, and all he wanted to do was meet and ask me if I was alright with the wage that they offered me ($12/h). This is becuase, during the interview, I told them that my last interview offered me $5/h, which was too low, and my last job was close to $30/h, which I assumed was unrealistic. So they settled on 12, which I think is decent for out here, but far from the best wage for paying off student loans. Either way, I'll be happy to start work on the 20th.

The next hour saw me go pick up brand new custom-made(!) black dress-shoes, and drop off some mail. I also hazarded some communication with our khmer cleaning lady who speaks no english, and managed to convince her to get some fruit from the market with a list of prices so that they next time I go, I wont get ripped off. I also watched 300 in the afternoon (what a spectacle!) and a lot of national geographic and the discovery channel. Also, a couple minutes of whole line is it anyway...which is likely the most consistently funnny t.v. show I've seen (or, ever made?)

Excitement builds for the flight to Malaysia!

join me next time,

same bat-time

same bat-channel!

RE: twilight

Interesting fact, which few(joel) would suspect: I have read all the books.

I know...yeah, no, really - all of 'em.

How's the movie?

Dec. 1/2

These were two 'tired' days. I was pretty low, and, as a result, didn't do too much. I did go to a job interview at 5pm on dec 1. at the American Intercon Institute. They were interviewing a lot of potential teachers - and I was sure I wouldn't get the job. I was pretty clear with them in the interview that I wanted somewhere between $15-20/hr, and I wasn't sure if that was going to hurt my chances or not (seeing as how my last interview was for a job that paid $5/hr!). They told me last night that I would get a call before 7pm if I had made the cut...and I didn't get the call. And yet, today I recieve a call from them saying I've been hired, and they'd liek to talk about the terms of work - so I guess I gots a job!

Also, last night the p-units gave me a call to make sure I hadn't burned down thier apartment building, and they suggested I take a trip to Malayasia! So I'm going to go for a little training workshop put on by the Institute for Global Prosperity. Hopefully, I will learn how to make globals prosper, and then get on that business. I also found a link to a free settlers of catan (a rip off version though) online! If you're into the game, it's here.

This evening I had Beattie, Neissan, and Avuth over for dinner - we (Beattie) made some stir-fry, and Neiss cut us up a salata. Avuth brough some tasty fruit, and it was an all around nice dins. Beattie had to go, but the three of us played monopoly. Monopoly is a good time, but you should really be aware when getting into a game of monopoly that it holds little in the way of skill. Our best dice-roller was neissan, who's double-house developments on the yellows were the begginning of the end for Avuth and I. (this is also the first game where I've actually played until somebody went bankrupt!...we usually get tired and elect a victor so that we can get on with life)

More exciting developments tomorrow: a meeting to work out exactly what I'll teach when, where, and for how much!