A life's journey: October 2014

As the calendar turns to November, and the crisp Cambodian winter sets it. Just kidding, its 82 here today with relative humidity of geeze I’m so sweaty. BTW Phan and I were watching the San Diego morning news the other day (thanks again Dave) and the weather/hooker girls are getting better or worse depending on your point of view. This chick had a black, skin tight short leather S&M outfit on, and no it was not Halloween yet. Bob Dale would be ashamed of these hussies. In all honesty it is cooler then when we arrived in June, but still very warm.

So Phan’s Dad arrived in Battambang and we made the trip over there a few weekends back. It is only $5 to take the bus, but we decided to stay classy and opted for the private taxi, with the added benefits of leaving Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning. It was a harrowing, horn laden adventure, but we made it to the village in one piece. Phan and I were excited to see some of the family members that we had met a few years back and see the work that her Dad had put into fixing up the house. They even have a small storefront, oh and 3 dogs, which were very well behaved and even accepted Hooner into their pack.

We went out for dinner and drank, it was by far a better experience than our visit in 2011, when the house was literally empty and lacked many of the creature comforts we enjoyed this time around.. One of the highlights for me was learning to play Khmer chess from Phan’s Dad. It is a lot like regular chess actually, so Troy and I both took our turn getting schooled, but then her Dad played some ooooollllddddd guy from the village who made Phan’s Dad call him “the master.”

Here are a few pictures of Battambang and the village.

Central Market Battambang

Hoon in his spot

Phan looking out to the fron from the balcony.

Pa and Ming came back to Siem Reap with us and spent a few days seeing the sights, visiting Angkor Wat, it was Hooner’s first opportunity to see the temples, shh no dogs allowed. We took them to the circus and they had a good time.

Hoon at Temples

Cambodian Circus

Work is going just fine, we recently finished the 1^st quarter of the school year. The students are great, admin has been nothing but supportive and I have a beautiful view from my classroom. I really have no complaints. One interesting thing that occurred was when the issue of slavery came up. In the United States there is a built in social stigma associated with race relations and often our sensitivities can hinder our objectivity or depth of investigation. Usually the conversation ends with it was a dark time in American History….lets talk about reconstruction.

These Cambodian kids are approaching the situation with an outsiders perspective. In the U.S., this perspective may be viewed as callous, but I found it extremely refreshing to go beyond the baseline slavery is bad, and delve deeper into issues like the economic advantages of slavery, without the emotional burden of black and white. It was truly group A and group B and from a Historians perspective, removing such a powerful bias like race was intellectually very exciting.

Sorry for the nerdy History stuff

Some exciting developments in the travel department. We’re headed to East Asia in early November, I was honestly looking for a nice beach in the Philippines, but the airfare went up and that made it around the same price as going to Japan, so Tokyo here we come. We’ll be spending only 4 days there, but it is sure to be exciting, really looking forward to the food. Two other teachers from work are joining us, accommodations are pretty pricey so between the 4 of us, we should come out ok.

Earlier this week we also booked a flight for Christmas break to a new continent. (for us) Anywhere north in Asia is pretty chilly in December, so we’re leaving Christmas day to Sydney, Australia for 10 days. I have some weird dream about seeing the new years eve fireworks in the Sydney harbor, so maybe we’ll get that opportunity. There are quite a few Australians in Cambodia so we have been getting a lot of advice about possible itineraries. Japan and Australia are expensive when compared to Thailand and Vietnam, so we’ll have to be a bit more frugal, but it’ll be a great adventure. Also it is in the Southern hemisphere so it’ll be summer time over there, yeah more warm weather.

Phan and Hooner have opened up their own nail shop, which consists of one client, Hooner who receives daily massage and nail treatments. They are both doing good, Phan is enjoying the space to breath and think and observe and appreciate and read and relax. Things are going good though, a little homesick, man a double double sounds so good.

I’m still playing soccer. I hate it, don’t know how much longer I’ll last, I give up like 9 goals a match. I know it sounds bad, but that doesn’t take into account the 50 shots on goal other teams average. It is a bloodbath, we’re slow and I hope I don’t have to do it anymore. Additionally, there are loads of ill tempered brits and aussies who are reliving their glory days of JV soccer. It’s a mess, I gotta find a way out, oh I know I’ll just roll around on the ground holding my ankle like all the real soccer players do.

Alright, your all caught up. Send us emails, keeping us updated on your end, it would mean a lot to us, helps us feel connected.