Thank You Innovo!

If you have not read a previous blog (I think it's 2 blogs back) titled "Bibles" you may want to read that first to get some background.
The following are pictures of my class holding up their thank you notes and their Bibles that Innovo, our home church in Wichita, KS helped me to buy for them!! Thank you Innovo!!

God Bless You! :)

The Grand Birthday...but the best is yet to come...

We found this little hole in the wall Indonesian restaurant here in Phnom Penh - Warung Bali, which means Bali Restaurant. I wanted Sate Chicken (chicken shiskebobs with peanut sauce). It tasted just like they do in Jakarta, yum yum! The owners are Indonesian and have lived here for 16 yrs. I spoke Bahasa (Indonesian)with them - that was fun! :)

Here I am at Warung (Restaurant) Bali. Notice the Indonesia Islands in the picture?

Tim with the picture of traditional Indonesian puppets in the background.

And to top it off Tim took me to Boston Bookstore! This is the 2nd floor - lots of used books. And the best part is they had a sale going on, all the books I bought were $1.50 each - wahoo!! What a grand birthday!!

The downside of the day was we got pulled over by police twice on the way home - our first time. But we knew we had done nothing wrong. We stayed on the moto and Tim handled it very well. We smiled and showed him what he wanted and were ready to NOT pay and ask for a ticket if he tried to tell us we had done something wrong. They'll try to take advantage of foreigners just to get a bribe. Each time they only asked us for the moto card (kind of like registration) and Tim's license. Thank God we were legal and had just purchased our car licences - more expensive, but a car license is good for a moto and a car and we figured we may end buying a car anyways...so better to buy one now then pay for 2 later.

To top off a good birthday, I get to Skype with my youngest son, Jonathan, and his sweet wife tonight!! Yea!! That's going to be the best part!

Bibles!!!

Blessings to Innovo Home Church! Your support went towards helping to purchase Bibles for my third grade students. They will use these Bibles at school all year and then get to take them home at the end of the year. Thank you very much! :) What a blessing. The picture below is of Tim and I on our moto bringing the Bibles home. :) :) We bought 23 Bibles at $6.00 each. The bag Tim is carrying is holding about 8 and the rest are in the box I'm carrying. You can't really see here, but the box is on it's side so it can fit. And it was sticking out on either side. LOL
Hey this is nothing. The Cambodians can fit a whole family of 5, or more, on a moto. I've seen pigs, chickens, a t.v., etc all carried on the moto. Very versatile and handy vehicle for carrying items around. ha ha ha
Above is my "moto man". Well, I can't very well say motorcycle dude, because it's not a motorcycle. Still... can't resist a man on a moto - he he he. This is our 2010 Yamaha Jupiter. Cool huh? Don't you just love Tim's darth vader-looking helmet? We found this moto in the local paper for a steal of a deal. The guy just bought it in June 2010, so it's ver low mileage and you know for sure that the mileage is correct, cuz it's so new. Yes, they do turn back the odometers when selling the used motos. :) You gotta love Cambodia. Corruption at every turn. We haven't been stopped yet by the police, but we have our Cambodian money ready just in case. You always keep small change in one pocket away from the other area where you keep your dollars, so when you take your money out to bribe them, they don't see your dollars.

Well I thought I'd share pics of our moto and Bible self-delivery!! :)

Cynthia, over and out, here in sticky, wet Phnom Penh. It's raining right now, has been for about hours.

Weekend Trip to Siem Reap!

Our bus for the 5 1/2 drive to Siem Reap - it's airconditioned and has a bthrm

Our hotel - yea! Hot water and a bathtub - luxury!! :)

On the ride out to Ankor Wat temples

Comfy seating huh?

"Foot massage" - fish nibbling dead skin off your feet. Didn't hurt, but didn't feel good either; these were bigger fish. Next time, I'll only do it if the fish are very small. I've heard they even remove corns on your feet! Our feet felt smooth after this - only 10 minutes.

Worshipping Buddha - Music and food being offered. The following pics are at one of the famous Ankor Wat Buddhist temples - mainly tourist attractions now.

Ankor Wat - temple ruins

Huge area in the temple ruins - this was most likely a pool

Tim and Gideon, 5th grade teache

Sun setting, heading back to the hotel

Really neat shot I got of the setting sun through the doorway in the temple ruins.

Nice shot of temple with puddle in front and temple reflection in the puddle

Neat restaurant we ate at before coming home on Sunday. Sculptures everywhere.

Same restaurant - cool tables and couches

Another part of the same restaurant - notice the geometrical decor

This shot and the following few are photos we took around the restaurant in the previous pics. Really neat, relaxing, snazzy place. :) NOt what we were used to!!

Some cool swinging couches :)

The sinks were amazing!!

Crazy, Insane place!... I'm driving a Moto!

Tim Chatting.

O.K Jeepers... I went and did it now! Cynth and I went and bought a MOTO! Yes, for all of yo who know me it is a complete SHOCK! Yes, Tim now drives around with his dear wife clinging to him like a barnacle on a ship. In all fairness, I am still getting used to the shifting without a clutch and sometimes.... (O.K. .. maybe more than sometimes) It is a little jerky. At those times my dear wife's helmeted head (She looks just like speed-racer from the cartoon), kind of slams into the back of my own helmeted head. This causes a hollow "Klunk" to resonate inside my helmet. Cynthia then mumbles something... or is it yelling that is being muffled by the visor of her helmet. In addition, she is hiding the expression of numb disbelief that clearly indicates that her husband is currently one of the most inept drivers in Phnom Penh...maybe in all of Cambodia. However, there is an up-side! Other drivers kind of "scatter" when the see the crazy old white couple weaving side-to-side like the driver is having a brain anurism and is going to keel over any second. Add to that, the sight of our helmets klunking together as our Moto lurches forward, ...... then kind of Chuga-Chugs to a stop,.... and then lurches forward again, like a confused thoroughbred at the starting gate. And then, away we go, yet again....with more Klunking of helmets and muttered words of..."encouragement" from my wife. I refuse to turn around as clarify exactly what she is saying to me.

Ah Yes, it is at times like these - as the dust is clearing, that my faithful wife, and companion of 26 years, yells at me, "Honey! Are you O.K.!" with which, I simply nod, (without looking back, or losing my death-grip on the handlebars), and re-engage the road with grim determination....as once again there is an expectant hush, as people nervously look at each-other. You can see by the amused looks and hands politely covering their mouths so I won't see them laughing, and you just know they are thinking... 'Surley he is not going to do this again! this man should NOT have a license to drive!' But wait!..... I do not have a license to drive in Cambodia. My replacement license hasn't made it over here yet from the USA. I think it may be lost in the mail....so being a good wanna- be Cambodian I went on-line and managed to print off a fake international drivers license that says I am from a U.N. Delegation. Yikes! at least it was free! The thing is... the police don't really care about the license, as long as they get the money from you in order to send you on your way. Not having a drivers license will probably cost me a bribe of about 75 cents (3,000 riel) - driving my MOTO... Priceless. I smile beneath my mirrored visor as I realize I am truly in a fairly lawless culture and city where anything can happen, and nothing is really safe at all! You really learn to trust in the Lord and the strength of His might, and wisdom, to guide and lead, you and your loved ones.

Soooooo...... we got home from school in about 7 minutes, which is when I realize that one of the reasons I might be having some of my "Issues" in traffic is because I was zipping along, on several occassions, at a faily decent rate of about 40 kph. Well, we made it home. I look at Cynthia who is doing surprisingly well, and didn't even slug me when she dismounted from the Moto! We don't really even talk about it, but just kind of look at each other, and say in unison.... "Why don't we walk to get dinner tonight." Then we drop our stuff off inside our flat, and as my hind-end begins to "un-pucker", we head off, on foot of course, to seek out some dinner. of course we cannot hold hands because that is a PDA - "public display of affection"..But we do hold each others pinky fingers when no one is looking. (this is one aspect of Cambodian culture could really be helpful in America)

As the sun is sinking low, and the familiar smells of sewage and garbage waft through the air... well, it hits me... this is my new home. And I smile! And in wonder I look at how God worked everything out to get Cynth and I to Cambodia. And I am beginning to live how people in this new place we call home live: One crazy life-and-death-filled day, at a time. But hey! we are down to about 20 bucks a month for petrol, vs the $100 for the Tuk-Tuk rides to and from school. In addition, I have cut the driving time by a third.

(Oh yeah! remember our Tuk-Tuk driver! he took things surprisingly well. Although he did try to get us to continue riding with him by offering to drop our rate by $1 for the round trip. I'm tellin ya, you just gotta love this crazy country!)

In all seriousness, I think I am getting the hang of "reading the traffic" and actually am becoming fairly adept at driving my motto. It also gets about 120 mpg. I think Cynthia was kind-of proud of me! However,.... please don't stop praying for our safety. Also, please pray that we will be faithful to these precious children, staff, parents, and so many others whom God has given us the privilege to love and serve. Simply pray that God's sovereign will may be done daily, on earth, just as it is in Heaven.

Also, if any of you out there in Blog land have a desire to get rid of any extra money that possibly is burning a hole in your pocket, there are many things that we would love to do to help out the students here, but do not have the extra money to do so. So... if you want to team up with us, and assist in financially supporting the ministry over here, drop us a line at jonesworldwide@hotmail.com and we will let you know how you can help.

Thanks again to all, for your friendship, love, prayers, Skype calls, pics from home and abroad etc... Bill, thanks for being our Stateside Manager for everything! To Innovo, thank you for your love, support and friendship! Until the next blog post God's blessings to all!

School Photos

My neighbor class and friend - 4th gr teacher, Mrs. Beck

4th gr classroom

the open air cafeteria - beautiful!

Tim's posters

Front of Tim's classroom

Tim's classroom

Tim's posters in his classroom - don't you love the Excuse Limit sign?

I love this poster :)

Tim in his classroom

Cynthia in her classroom

BIBLES!!

Cynthia here...
I am soooo excited!! I'm going to buy Bibles for my class this week! Yea! I have a couple students who bring their own from home, but I want every student to have one and it's easier if we just all have the same translation :) So... I have a little extra money from what my kids turned in for supplies and I'm going to add some of my own money. I know God will provide what I need; I'm not worried :) He knows it's important for all of them to have Bibles. I want to also start having sword drills so my kids know where the books of the Bibles are so they can look up verses. And I want to start teaching them specific themes for their memory verses, like for instance a verse about being kind, or resisting temptation, etc. Not just random verses they can't relate to. I'm so excited!! Can you tell? LOL

This weekend was a very relaxing and awesome weekend. Saturday night we met with our elementary principal and his family, our high school principal and his family and some another couple teachers at an Indian restaurant. Oh so yummy! I loved it; don't remember ever having Indian food. We had so much fun getting to know them. I LOVE our principals; they are real people and not uppity or "above" the rest of us teachers. :) And they really listen to us and value our opinions. So cool. I also love how all the teachers are so unified in our mission to teach and love the kids that God has put before us.

After the restaurant, Dan Hein, high school principal, took Tim and me to a used book store. It was great! They have the mysteries I like, i.e. John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, etc. How awesome is that? I read Sat night until 2 a.m. Ok that was kind of crazy, but it's been about two months since I've been able to read for fun; I didn't know if I'd be able to find good books here. So I feel "normal" again, to have books to read. You know me, I love reading!!

Tim and I want to start a small group/home church in our home/restaurant or where ever. :) This Sunday we fellowshipped with another couple at a restaurant. We had a nice late breakfast, then we discussed/challenged each other on many different Biblical topics and even shared some marriage tips. :) It was very nice to get to know them and to come together to talk about our God.

Well, that's all for now. Going to read for a bit then hit the hay early. :)
Love to all of you. Please know that we miss everyone and when God puts you across our minds, we say a prayer for you. :)

A Day in the Life of a Teacher in P.P.

My son asked me send him an e-mail with what teaching here is like. So, to save time, I thought I'd blog it, then everyone can enjoy the read - LOL :)

Today, the 4th week of school was our first time that the electricity went out for the whole day. Well, actually it came back on 10 minutes before the school day ended. :) Which was grand, cuz I quickly sent out a few e-mails I'd been wanting to send out to some teachers! Yea!
The electricity has gone out a few times before, but only for a few minutes, 1/2 hr tops.
You just get used to it. Everyone kept saying it was good that it wasn't the dry hot season :)

Last year, shortly after they moved to this new building, the power went out a lot, so we are lucky. My TA says in the dry hot season, people use their aircons more, so they'll ration the city. They take turns turning off power around the city to try to save on the electricity, so they don't completely run out. Then it can get bad, the kids get very tired and don't want to work and the teachers get cranky. :)

The morning went well, all doors and all windows stayed open all day. It makes it a little noisier, but not too bad. There was a nice breeze all morning. After about 1:00 I felt the sweat dripping down my back...but it was bearable, not as bad as you'd imagine. :) I'm lucky, my room has the morning sun coming in the windows, so by the time the hot part of the day came, the sun was on the other side. Of course I wasn't outside playing at recess...the kids were hot. A couple students made paper fans to fan themselves and we kept enough water in our water bottles. Some students used their notebooks to fan themselves. :)

When the power goes out, you have to have back up plans if you're using any technology for your lesson/instruction. You can't make copies, you can't print out anything.

Even with the power on, sometimes the toner runs out in the library printer or the staff room printer. So, you put your item on to your flashdrive (always have one handy), and you take it down to the office (or to another teacher's room if you know that they have a printer), and you get them to print it out for you. There are 2 copy machines for the whole school. If the one up in the staff room needs to be fixed, you always have the office one you can use. I'm one of the lucky elementary teachers - grades PreK - 5th have TAs, Teacher Assistants who do copying, bulletin boards, can do some teaching, and other assorted duties for you, like recess, taking your kids to lunch, etc. It is WONDERFUL and very helpful!! Especially for surviving in this heat and humidity. Life is just more difficult here all in all, so any little help is great! Everyone runs about 80% capacity, hardly ever 90%.

I love my schedule! I have my students all day, for 5 days. But they do have specials when they are out of the room. Music is Mon afternoon and Fri morning, I grade papers when they are out. Wed and Fridays are fabulous! I have from 1:40 - 3:00 to plan lessons, grade, write notes home, write my Friday newsletter, get reading logs ready for the next week, type up and print out the weekly memory verse, and other various duties. :) The kids are various places such as Khmer Language class, Art, or Swim. Thursdays they have library and computer.

We get up at 5:30 and leave the house by 6:30 a.m. We have to be at school at the latest by 7:30 a.m. for daily staff devotions. Monday afternoon is staff meeting at 3:30, after school. Tim and I are usually at school by 6:50 and try to leave no later than 5 p.m. Sometimes it's 4 p.m., sometimes 4:30 and at times 5 p.m. We have been as late as 5:30, but then we're walking home in the dark when we go out to eat and the roads are crazy here when crossing at night! I try to be in bed by 9:00 or 9:30 on school nights but some nights it's 10:00. It is so noisy here at the apt and we've talked to the landlords. We don't know if they can do anything about it. They said they'll talk to the store below us (music is booming usually by 5 a.m.) and the Karoake bar stays up late playing LOUD music! That they can't control :)

My students are great. A lively bunch of kids. They are quite artistic and dramatic :) There is one boy who reminds so much of Joshua when he was that age. Sweet, but dramatic and loves to talk and get people laughing at him or just laughing. :) Many of my students are ESL sudents, students who have English as their second language. It presents some challenges, but they are all so respectful and want to do well and please. Our routines are smoother now and we're all getting used to what to do and what to bring home/back to school, etc. They love to write and draw - it's wonderful! So Writing time is not liking pulling teeth like it is sometimes in the States. I teach the 6 + 1 Writing Traits and grade using that rubric. It makes so easy and great for the kids. Instead of just grading for grammar and marking up the paper, cuz here you will see poor grammar and wierd usage of words, due to ESL issues. You are also grading their Ideas, their Voice (expression, emotion), their Organization, etc which can be encouraging for them if they are good in these areas. It will help them to want to write more and not hate writing cuz all they get are red marks about their spelling, etc. I used the Six Traits Writing program in the States at the public school so I'm familiar with it.

So, after we get home, we drop our bags and either walk to a restaurant nearby, head to the market to get some fruit and veggies, or cook something on our 2 burner propane stove. Usually it's to the restaurant, unless it looks dark and cloudy. We're tired of getting stuck in the heavy rain! :) Then we come home after eating, work on lesson plans or grade papers and maybe get online to blog or check Facebook, so we feel connected to our family and friends.
BTW, if you are reading this blog, make sure to comment or e-m or send us a message on FB to let us know you're reading it or just to say hi. We get lonely here and it's nice to know that our friends and family are actually reading what we're writing for them and it helps us to feel connected. :)

Well, I think that's enough for now. It's only 8 p.m.,but this girl is very tired and I may just go to bed shortly! :) See what I mean? Crazy...this early!