Thoughts After 6 weeks

Some thoughts after living here for 6 wks...

~ You get tired so much quicker here, so you need more sleep. At the end of every day you are exhausted.
~ Does one ever get used to the noise from the neighbors and the street vendors? We are having trouble sleeping due to the Karoake bar right beside us and the shop below us.
~ We love the food here.
~ Eating out is so much cheaper than in the States - thank God, cuz you're usually too tired to cook when you get home. :) And trust me, tired here is different from being tired in the States.
~ We can't wait to visit other places in Cambodia. Sept 22 -24 is our teacher retreat, so we get to see a different part of Cambodia. :)
~ It is so easy to get dehydrated before you realize it and you should always keep "Royal D" on hand. It's similar to Gatorade, brings the electrolytes back into your body.
~ We are ready to be more independent now and are tired of being dependent on our tuk tuk driver for transportation (and it's getting expensive). So we're thinking of buying bikes or a car. But if we buy a car, we'll have to move cuz there is no place to park the car. And we don't know if we can get out of contract (the apt contract is for 9 months). Right now we feel the moto (motorcycle) is too dangerous..especially in this traffic, we'll see...
~ I hope this is not too negative...just sharing our thoughts right now. Of course it's 8:30 pm and I'm ready for bed, so this may not be the best time to share. :) Sorry...
~ We love teaching at Logos International School. The staff is super and works great as a team. I'm working into becoming more involved with the Teacher Assistant training program.
~ We are making new friends...other teachers at school.
~ You can find just about anything here, if you look long enough or know where to go. Of course you pay more if it's imported but at least you can get it.
~ We're learning our numbers to bargain at the market, and know some phrases and the people actually understand us! LOL
~ My stomach has changed. Soda no longer makes my stomach hurt. Chocolate no longer gives me the runs. Who knew?? LOL So I can drink and eat both with no concerns. :) But chocolate is expensive so we don't buy it often...and trying not to buy soda too much. But a nice cold Pepsi Light tastes soooo good after a long hot day!

Well all for now. gotta get to bed. Thanks for praying and keep it up!

More pics...

Tim saw this at the mall...had to get a pic - now what man would WANT to buy this? How is this good marketing? LOL

Huh? ...for a name for a cologne? Who knows...it's Cambodia!

Tim liked the middle picture...LOL this is on a box of clippers.

The view from the Pizza Company - the restaurant we went to a the mall. Good pizza!

Art Work from 3rd Graders :)

Below is some artwork my 3rd graders drew for me :) They get to read or draw when they are done with their seatwork. I have many budding artists and they love to give me pictures! :)
One of the cool things about being a teacher - precious :)

Living Hope - Khmer church where we go

Worship team

People hanging out in the flooded lobby; thank God the service is upstairs! :) This was after that Friday flood I blogged about us walking home in...

Me and Grandma (one of the church members).

boys playing in the water

The water lapping at the motos

Just pics of stuff

Purple fruit - magostein (makut) and the other one don't know name

Dragon fruit

Choco-Oreo frappe

Cool spoon huh?

Good Pizza restaurant in the mall. Again, interesting quotes... :)

Same pizza place - notice the leaning tower of Pisa...

Recycling in Phnom Penh - they pick through the garbage on the street and take what they can recycle/use The Spirit houses you will see outside lots of homes here. They are miniture replicas of the home to appease the spirits.

These children were right outside our door when we headed out this morning...precious

New & improved...or old & tired.... LOL

Here we are (or Tim) eating at our favorite little restaurant.

Just Around...

At the grocery store - this is what you end up looking like on a hot & humid day just walking down to the store a block away! Can you see the sweat glistening on his arm?

Tim has wings! sweat wings :) look closely

Marking papers - look at all those papers from his English and History classes. Wow!

The Flood

Cynthia here:
So....we walked home in a flood on Friday night. Literally, a flood! Note to self - if you see black clouds when you're about to go walk somewhere, don't go! Grey ones are ok.
We were tired from a long first week at school and decided to grab a bite to eat (although here, you don't ever just run out and "grab" a bite). We walked about 8 minutes away to a little inexpensive restaurant we found and sat down for some good food and relaxation.
About 1/2 hr into our meal we hear LOUD thunder and see crazy lightening. We say, "Here comes the rain." But no rain came. The thunder and lightening keep coming and we keep saying, "here comes the rain, we'd better hurry." 45 minutes into our meal the rain came, and boy did it come. It was the strongest rainstorm we have seen since we've been in Cambodia (one month on Monday). It rained like crazy and we thought maybe it would let up a bit like it usually does....but no...finally we decided we should just walk home, it wasn't going to let up. The streets were flowing with water. While we were waiting in the restaurant, we jokingly said to the waiters and waitresses that we will sleep there tonight. :) They smiled and said yes yes. LOL

When we got up to go, the young lady brought me a poncho but not Tim! :) so, off we go....I was laughing as we delved into the pouring rain! What else could I do? It actually was kind of fun!
The water was up to our calves, at least. Tim was totally soaked! Except for my knees down, I stayed dry under my poncho! The sleeves on my poncho were gathered tight, it was awesome.
We tried not to think about what else was getting washed away on the streets and what else was swimming along in the water while we traversed the flooded streets.

My manyly, studly husband, being the good husband that he is, was in front of me scouting the way. I was looking down trying not to walk in a huge pothole, but of course we couldn't see even if there was one. As I'm trudging through the muddy, grimy, who-knows-what infested water, I hear this loud splash! I look up and Tim is lying face down in the street! He gets up and keeps on going. I couldn't help it - I had to laugh! For some reason I couldn't say it was hilarious to see him just lying there with this stunned expression on his face. Of course after a minute of laughing I catch myself and ask if he is ok. Yes he says. We laugh some more.

We finally made it home - Tim totally soaked through. As we round the corner of our street our landlord is sitting in an open air restaurant with his buddies. Oh yes, as we were walking out in the flooded streets, we noticed we were the only crazy ones walking out there! So...anyways, the landlord makes some comment and starts laughing!! Tim just holds his arms out and turns around like he's modeling his soaked clothes. The other men at this place laugh too and we also join in the laughing. Here in Cambodia they are not laughing at you, they laugh in order to keep face and so you don't feel embarrassed or shamed when something happens to you. For instance if you fall off your bicycle you may get laughed at, to cover your embarrassement and their embarrassement. Interesting....

Anyways...back to my story. So we trudge up the stairs. We strip down in the kitchen and throw our clothes in the washer right away! We run upstairs and scrub our bodies with soap, of course there is no warm water, so we clean with cold water. The whole time we are praying...God protect us from Hep A, B, C, D and whatever other Hep there is! LOL and protect us from Typhoid, Cholera, and any other disease we could get. Especially Tim...
When we're done, we scrub our shoes and set them out to dry. We come downstairs and we smell sewage...we realize it's from our clothes sitting in the washer. So we immediately wash those too! Now we know at least some of what was floating in the streets and what Tim probably fell into. Great!! Thank God that we have a God that heals! :)

For those of you reading this, please continue to pray for safety from all the diseases we could get here. We've heard that Dengue Feaver is a zinger! Dengue Fever comes from a mosquito that bites during the day (Malaria mosquito bites at night). Dengue is like having the flu, x 10. You know how with the flu your body aches? Well with Dengue it is called the "bone breaking" disease for a reason. Your bones feel like they are breaking you are in so much pain. You have immense headaches also and high fever. And you get this red rash/spots. There is no cure or help for it, you just ride it out. Except you can get meds for the pain, but that's all. There are various strains of Dengue, from mild to very very dangerous. Oh, and your white blood cell count drops. So you have to get that checked if you get Dengue. With the bad strain, you can hemorrage out your nose, eyes, etc. Just to let you the serious diseases they do have here. Malaria is not an issue here in Phnom Penh they say, unless you go out into the country/pronvinces. Besides they have meds for Malaria, so not so bad! Then there's Typhoid and Cholera...but we're not worried! God will take care of us and if we catch one of them, so we do. We carry on!

THe reason I know so much about the Dengue is because we talked to Principal at another school and she had just gotten back from a couple weeks in the hospital with Dengue. She had the really bad strain! And she made it... so can we.

We heard last night, that on slogans and advertising it says, "Welcome to the Land of Wonder." It is a land of wonder...we wonder every day what will happen next! LOL
Life here is certainly never boring!!!

You're a Grandma and you're strong!

So my student comment for the first week of school is..."you're a grandma and you're strong!"
LOL :)
My students wanted to know if I was married and if I had children, so I told them I have two sons who are married and I have two grandchildren.
At the end of the day I was stacking chairs and picked up a tall stack of chairs. One boy, who soooo reminds me of Joshua when he was that age said, "You're a grandma and you're strong!"
I had to laugh and my TA, Chenda, also giggled.

Classroom the 1st Day/Week

My 3rd Grade class! Definitely have some hams :)

My Bible/Social Studies corner. The flower thing is a mat I put down for the kids to sit on.

My awesome TA - Chenda!

Here are the Rattan books shelves where the kids put their backpacks, lunches, snacks, swim wear, etc.

Calendar Corner/Helper Chart/Birthday Chart

Reading/Book Corner.

All ready - the empty classroom before the students arrived. ;0

The Little Cafe Down the Street from our Home

Tim Writing: This is a typical meal in P.P. at a cafe. This is kind of an upscale cafe. Meal you see is $2.70 US, or about ($Reil$) 11,500 (Cambodian). This is just one thigh and leg (No Breast of Chicken anywhere) Rice, and a few cucumber slices and a greenish tomato. The little dish is a vinegar type of coleslaw. This tiny dish is some sweetish chili sauce. The really cool thing is the Carmel tea in the pitcher. You set it on top of the cup and the tea drips down out of the bottom. You lift up and the flow stops. Pretty cool... and they keep refilling it. Of course it gets weaker as they keep putting hot water in, however it is tasty. The stuff that looks like a urine sample in the glass is actually a really weak room temperature tea. It is fairly tasteless, but is a quick way to get the new bugs into your intestines when you first arrive. Of course, you also have the wonderful toilet experience to go along with the initial bowel adjustment later that night. O.K. - T.M.I!

Just a quick post before heading to bed! Love to All! God is faithfull, compasionate, and very very patient. Enjoy His presence in your life Daily... and have some fun!

ce

Your never really prepared.....Are you?

Tim writing: Its about 9 in the evening here. The story about this picture is in the body of the text below. Sorry that it is sideways.... Cynthia just told me to always load the pictures first not last! Who Knew?

About 7 in the evening here. Very humid due to the monsoon we had had earlier. We were at school for about 1/2 the day today (Saturday), preparing classrooms last minute, copying like crazy on the one copier we had available for the 6 or so teachers that showed up to work. Over here in Phnom Penh Saturday and Sunday are just another day in the week. There really is no Weekend as we in the states know it. It was interesting realizing that many of teachers come to school on Saturday to prep and get ready for the next week. The main reason is that there are no resources at home like printers and access to network drives via remote log-ins. When you are at home you basically are on your own. Whatever you managed to download at school onto your laptop is what you are working with that evening. It takes an adjustment of expectations and then life is completely normal again...at least normal for here.

I caught myself today in an attitude adjustment that was positive. With all these teachers all sharing the same copier I had a moment where I thought "I am never going to get all my Syllabi and handouts done for the first day" a moment of indignation sparked and just as quickly God whispered.. "Hey, ya dork! at least you have a copier!"...(Yes, I believe the Holy Spirit has a sense of humor and a bit of satire). I thought about some of the teachers in the villages around the provinces here who have literally nothing for resources and I was so convicted. But, the nice thing about conviction is the acknowledgement that comes in your heart, and once that allignment is done with God's heart, I always sense an assurance of His pleasure with me as I re-align my attitude with God's perspective.

Well, enough on the serious stuff....On to newsy stuff and my "Ubiquitous Factoids"

I have taken an interest in efficiency in the Kitchen. Mainly because Cynthia and I would never eat due to the heat and the busy schedule. You just really aren't very hungry. I have posted some pics that show our preparation for the week.Everything you see on the counter is going to last us the entire week. We have a small cereal bowl of the rice, meat (pork in this case), and some zucchini. Some "Raman" type noodles stir fried in rice oil provides some crispy texture to the mix. We then just sprinkle those on top, along with some sweet chili sauce and some hot tai sauce and viola'. A culinary delight... for the whole week. I think this is one of the main reasons we are losing weight quickly... there are probably more calories in a couple of Subway sandwiches than in this whole weeks supply of dinners. But they are sure yummy!

Word has gotten around to the rat population that the Jones' are hungry... Very Hungry! We have not seen a rat in over two days.... It makes me wonder if they are yelling (in high pitched rat language that humans cannot hear, of course) to their compatriots "These People are ruthless. Remember the tarpits that did in the big nasty dinasaurs?.. these people are setting tarpits for us all.. Run Away.. Run Away All!.. Doom to all who enter here!" - as we cart them downstairs to the garbage pile. Hmmmmm....the things one thinks about when one has a few spare minutes to blog?

O.K. for some "Ubiquitous Factoids"

• About every six months you start to realize that no matter how much you eat you won't gain any weight.... yes! you have WORMS. Everyone gets them and it's just kind of a thing here...kinda like athletes foot, only on the inside, and it eats all your food on you! Shame on the little buggars.. they need to become a little more independent and get their own darn food.


• I have figured out how to navigate traffic here... Think of a school of fish, all swimming toward you. Not you swim on a slightly angles path toward them. They slowly all move out of the way as you inch your way accross the great morass of fish, until you are finally on the other side.... then, and only then, do attempt to now merge with the huge school of fish that are now comming in the opposite direction.


• You never really ever dry out here! However, your skin is always soft and supple (great for the ladies)


• I don't know anyone who owns a pair of sneakers (tennis shoes) accept for athletes. Its all flip-flops here.


• Rice- Definately a staple food. You can live on Rice or about 15 dollars a month.. anything to spice it up, you are looking at tripling your food budget.


• Cambodian businesses, shirt makers, sign makers should really invest in a native English speaker before they publish, design or put words to anything. I still have to post a pick of a restaurant that says "BM Restaraunt. Smoothest in Town! with a beer sign near the "smoothest in town" part. No-one here even gets the connotation.


• Most things you can get in the states are more espensive here. For instance, a small tote for a carry-on starts at about $75 dollars. You can get the same thing at Wal-mart for about $20 bucks.


• There is no "UL" listing on any electronics like cords and power strips. You take your chances on stuff functioning with everything you plug in. hou also try out everything in the markets before you give them any money, to make sure it all works correctly. this even includes stuff like flourecent light bulbs.

One last story from this morning.

We went to bed at about 11 pm last night, which is extremely late here in PP. Usually in bed by 9. Anyway... we were going to sleep in this morning a little, until about 9. At 7:00 am I here somebody yelling Really Loud! and it sounds like someone is taking a sledge hammer to the building we live in. I thought, "Not this morning, of all mornings... what is flipping wrong with these people?" I got up, checked around and didn't see anything, so I went back to bed. about 10 minutes later the same thing happens again! I know what you are all asking in you minds, "Tim, did you say "here I am Lord".. in a very Samuel like way." Nope, I was too tired to acknowledge anything so lofty and spiritual as that. Besides God CANNOT be THAT NOISY! Well, I got up again and saw the neighbor boy at the door. I opened it up and he points to a steel bar contraption that fits inside a window...On the inside of one of the bedrooms in our house. I ask him what's going on? at that point in walk two welders with all their equipment, the landlord, his son and their little dog. They then start hammering, welding and prying things every which way. I am standing there in my gym horts with what I know was a really resigned expression on my face. I mean, really! there is absolutely no sleeping in this city. I don't care what you would have done... Earplugs, Mattress wrapped around your head, etc... there is no way you could have slept through that. The way I knew that I am adapting is because I wasn't angry. I was just adjusting to another cultural learning curve. If it needs to be fixed... open the door and we'll fix it NOW! because you don't know when the welders will be able to come by again. Since no one knows when anyone will show up it is impossible for anyone to really schedule anything, so you get it done whenever someone shows up. Talk about learning flexibility!

Well all for now! Thanks to all of you who comment and all who are following our blog. It helps us stay connected knowing you are all connected and interested in our adventure, as it unfolds.

Stay positive and thankful to God for each day of Life!

Beautiful Breezes

Cynthia here: I'm sitting here at my dining table (it's nice to have one again) enjoying the cool breezes coming in our door, windows and front door. We have all them open :) We just had a great one hour rain downpour and experienced our first tuk tuk ride in the rain! Fortunately the tuk tuk has flaps all around it, which doesn't keep all the rain out but definitely helps! After it rains at night, everything cools down for a while and it's quite lovely :)
Along with the cool breezes, I also get to experience the sounds and smells of Cambodia. The traffic two floors down in the street, the loud peppy dance music someone is playing out there, the vendors and neighbors chatting, the kids yelling and playing....what an interesting life we lead here. :)
We've had a busy and full week getting ready for school - starts Monday!! A week full of prepping and in-service. Tomorrow Tim and I have to go to school for a few hours to finish up, but other than that we are ready! I'll take pics my first day, of my classroom and the kids, and post them here ;)
Catch ya later...gotta go get ready for the Welcome back Teachers dessert tonight :)

Bug Zapper Estraordinaire

Tim: Hey All! I am sitting here at my new Rattan desk (yippie) and doing some lesson planning and I realized I had unconsciously grabbed the bug zapper raquet ball looking contraption with a button that makes it Electrified. You swing it at a mosquito, or for that matter anything at all!... small bugs, fowl, mice etc... and it gives a nasty "snap" and away goes the, Now Crispy bug in an explosion of light and sound.

Actually this is quite exciting for me because you have no real nightlife here in Cambodia. I suppose I could go stand in the alley outside and flash some money around and then run for it! LOL.

Anyway. It's pretty much in by dark if you are on foot and our landlords close and lock the metal gate at 9:00pm. You definately don't want to be locked outside the gate at night. Had a great time with the high school Principal and his family at the mall tonight. (they offered to pick us up on their way...Rule# 697: never, ever, refuse a free ride and the blessing that comes with spending time with friends) Cynthia and I were treated to 25 cent soft serve ice cream cones. What a yummy, unexpected treat! Then off to home before we turn into a pumpkin.

We have found that in this heat it is best to get as much down time with sleep as possible. You can get away wih 4-6 hours a night in the states for a while, but here? You do that one night and you are down for the count about 10 am the next day, just exhausted.

Cambo Factoid: There is no coin change here when you do transactions. If your change is less than one US dollar then they give it to you in Cambo currency. The lowest bill s a 100 reil bill worth about 2.5 cents. the next is 500 reil=12.5, 1000 reil= 25 cents, 2000=50 cents, 4000 = 1 US dollar (Actually about 4200 = 1 US dollar, but the open markets go by 4000 as an informal exchange rate.) So..... I have about $1.35 in Coins on the Ant cabinet that I will not be able to spend until I leave Cambodia. Who knew???

We are catching an average of 1.5 rats an evening in our "sticky pizza plates". The little dears just look up at you in the morning, all stuck to the plate. I keep wondering if they are thinking sorrowful rat thoughts, or are they looking at me thinking "If I EVER get outa here I am so going to mess up this guy who is staring at me! " Of course I believe that the little buggers are up to no good and really do not know any sorrow for their little rat-like behaviors.. so off I go picking up pizza plates of rats and down stairs to deposit them along the street outside the door where the dogs and cats can enjoy... breakfast? Its a weird life we lead... the scary part is that it is becoming fairly normal to head down the stairs and give the greeting to our landlords of "Arun-Suy-Stiey" while carrying rats! The best part is that everyone just smiles and does a little bow, like this is the most normal thing that has happened this morning. I love the smiles and the politeness. Even when they really don't like you they are smiling and quite jovial. Its very bad to embarass anyone, or cause someone to loose face. I think we should adopt this trait in America. It would singlehandedly do away with almost all road rage. Imagine just smiling or ignoring the most flagrant traffic violation in front of you.... That's Cambodian driving. And no I am not about to start!

Keep praying for focus and opportunity to express God's Love to this wonderful people,who are so incredibly lost in a hopeless cycle of a mix of Budhism and Fate/Karma/Spirit Appeasement/Good Works to better the next time around etc...

The gift of Christ to the Khmer People is Joy! We sang a song this Sunday in a Khmer church, (Headphones for the white folk for interpreting) one of their songs said "Christ is Joy and Christ is Fun" and by their worship, I can tell you that for them, Christ is Joy and Christ is alot of Fun! You could feel the hope and love for their Savior-God just oozing out all over them... and the smiles! my goodness, I am re-learning what it looks like to have a joy that cannot be contained. Jumping up and down, dancing, really having a blast in the presence of God. It is realy cool and very freeing! I am learning alot from my brothers and sisters in Christ here in PP (Phnom Penh)....And with the volume level on High, and the 15 musicians and singers in a 40 x 40 room of about 200 people, Iam sure God and all the Angels could here the worship just fine. LOL!

Our Love to all. Thank you for your prayers and support of the work here!

More Local Sights :)

Look closely at this sign - do you see up at the top left? LOL "We sell product Sam's Club and Costco." They mean they sell Sam's Club and Costco products. Really? Don't think they even know what those are! But who knows?/

Here's that sign on the brick wall right outside of the school where we teach. :) Enticing for those western teachers! :)

Ok, here's what you see a lot! English words on signs and clothes. They literally just pick any English word and mix and match with other English words. Usually it makes no sense at all! This one you can actually see what they are trying to say, "Put food in me!" ??? Again, who knows! LOL A friend told us he saw a sign on a house that said, "Horse for sale." "House for sale?" Funny...