How to Say Goodbye. I’m home now. I’ve actually been home for almost two months, but just haven’t gotten around to wrapping up this blog. So here it is, what will most likely be the last post before this blog gets retired. And yes, I actually learned a lot more than 14 things while I [...]
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The United States has 52 states. At least, that’s what Cambodia is convinced of. The conversation usually starts like this: - ‘What state are you from?’ - ‘I am from Wisconsin’ - ‘Oh… (tries to pronounce whes-kun-sun) Is it near Cal-ee-for-nee-a? (Long Beach, CA has a large Cambodian community, so many Cambodians know this state, [...]
how to teach, how to learn. Any person beginning a teaching position with no prior teaching experience can be assured that they will be learning just as much as they will be teaching. My teaching position in Cambodia has been no different. In some ways, being a teacher at a Cambodian High School has made [...]
How to take the afternoon off. The rainy season, one of Cambodia’s two seasons, started about a week ago. After just a few scattered rainstorms since last November, and after marking the end of a two month hot season, this country gladly welcomes the rain that turns the streets (as well as the produce section [...]
How to be a terrible pen pal. Just this morning I read an article about how the United States Postal Service has been finding itself in a pretty big hole as of a year or two ago. And I’m the problem. And you probably are, too. More and more people these days are using email [...]
definitely wash hands right after cutting chili peppers. Filed under: Misc.
how to read. OK, so maybe I already knew how to read when I came to Cambodia, but I did achieve a new reading goal during my service: I read 100 books! It was a goal that merely existed in the back of my mind throughout the two years – a ‘that would be [...]
how to lie about my favorite singer. I am often asked by my students: “Cher, In America, who is your favorite singer?” (Cambodian students often refer to the teacher as ‘cher). This is a question that I can hardly even answer to another American. I like a lot of music, and the small percentage [...]
how to deal with it. Sometimes the Peace Corps feels like a vacation. Sometimes it feels like a job. Sometimes it feels like playtime. Sometimes it feels like a sauna. Sometimes it feels like I’m surrounded by friends. Sometimes it feels like I’m on the other side of the world and haven’t had a real [...]
how to eat less bread, more rice. One of the most asked questions in Cambodia is probably “Have you eaten rice yet?” It can be a conversation starter, it can be used to fill a lull in a conversation, or it can be a complete conversation on its own. Basically, it means “Have you eaten [...]
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” - Lao Tzu how to wait, how to be patient, and how to patiently wait. Compared to American society, Cambodia can, at times, seem to creep along at a snail’s pace. Several hours after lunch are devoted to taking naps [...]
how to hydrate. Until living in tropical Cambodia, i don’t recall ever having to concern myself with drinking enough water to stay alive. Maybe it’s because I grew up in frigid Wisconsin, where, more often than not, I was trying to stay warm rather than hydrated. Or maybe it’s because in America, drinking water [...]
how to squat. About 2/3rds of the world’s population (about 4 billion people) uses the squat toilet. I almost typed “still” uses the squat toilet, but that suggests that they’re expected to change. It’s not something I think about often, but if I had to guess, I would presume that a person will probably [...]
how to eat (around) bugs. I spent the first 22 years of my life avoiding bugs. Granted, bugs are not that difficult to avoid in America compared to what most of the world’s population has to deal with. In America, if you want to avoid bugs, you stay indoors and out of the woods. In [...]
I don’t think I’m done reading quite yet, but here’s a handful of my favorite books from the past year and a half: Filed under: Books
Sambo, the only elephant to survive the Khmer Rouge Regime, has become a symbol of the city. Sambo has survived the “Killing Fields” and this past January, Sambo turned 50 years old. Sambo is the heart and soul of Wat Phnom, and now Sambo has another challenge to face….finding a home. Sambo was born in [...]
I have a crazy neighbor. really, he’s crazy. In cambodia, using the word “crazy” is considered offensive in most situations. For example, you shouldn’t say “you’re a crazy driver!” or tell somebody they are making a crazy face. But people don’t think twice when they call my neighbor crazy. He just is. This guy, he’s [...]
Millions of people, all packed into a small corner of phnom penh. I am thankful that I was able to experience this in my time here. I still haven’t come up with the proper words to describe the sheer amount of people on the streets that night, but incredible, overwhelming, and joyful sum it up [...]
Americans eat a little more than 24 pounds of rice per person each year. Asians eat as much as 300 pounds per person each year, while in the United Arab Emirates it is about 450 pounds, and in France about 10 pounds. More than 1 billion people throughout the world are actively involved in growing [...]
But over the course of my service, I still blogged more than I ever thought I would. To me, this 2 years is personal time more than anything. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to share my experience, it just means I don’t want to write about it all online for everybody to see. In [...]
being a teacher, something i often deal with is books, or lack of books. in a typical 60 student classroom, i’ll be lucky if 20 of the students bring their book to class. the others claim to have either forgotten it, but in reality most of them don’t even own it. if bought from the [...]
Harold F. Endherst, 62 years old, was found Monday morning in his home, lying in front of his open refrigerator door with a broken jar of maraschino cherries underneath him. You see, the unusual thing is not the fact that he was lying face first in shards of broken glass. The unusual thing is that [...]
“loneliness adds beauty to life. it puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” (-henry rollins) Filed under: Peace Corps
two of my long-term-future-goals? 1) live out of a backpack. 2) have no (demanding) personal obligations. needless to say, i was quite impressed by the movie ‘up in the air.’ “Your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we [...]
“sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” what makes a [true] friend? is it somebody that keeps in contact with you often, to check upon your well-being? or is it possibly somebody that can go years without contact, a person that doesn’t [...]
i parenthesized half because i’m not a time traveler. but i’m willing to bet that nothing in the next 4 months will top this album. emancipator’s sophomore album, this is a follow up to his 2007 album “soon it will be cold enough.” whiskey on the rocks, dim lighting, and “soon it will be cold [...]
“i would rather be able to appreciate things i can not have than to have things i am not able to appreciate.” - elbert hubbard Filed under: Peace Corps
‘books.books.books.’ updated. have a blessed summer break! Filed under: Peace Corps
i like heat. preferably ambient heat that can be basked in, not applied, direct heat like the metal roof on my bathroom that burns to the touch. i’m not a big fan of winter, snow, ice, and car accidents, so a perk of peace corps: cambodia meant that i get to skip two midwestern winters. [...]
if anything, being a peace corps volunteer teaches frugality and the art of budgeting. the design of the peace corps money distribution is that we are given enough to live comfortably alongside other people in our villages without standing out, without looking like rich americans. so, on the first of every month, we are given [...]
Little Houdini by Sage Francis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubhabtZ45Ic Song written and inspired by real life events in which a man (Christopher Daniel Gay) escaped prison not once, not twice, but but three times. Nicknamed “little houdini” in reference to his small size and unlikely escapes from handcuffs and leg irons, Gay’s first escape was done to visit [...]
50 books down, 50 to go. Filed under: Peace Corps
“what makes people unhappy is not too little choice, but too much. having to decide, always to decide, torn every which way all the time.” Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead“ Filed under: Books
i read some more books. i wrote about them under “Books. Books. Books.” Filed under: Peace Corps
recently, two bats have taken up residence in my residence. so now i’m trying to figure out how to:
A) get the bats to move to a different neighborhood.
B) get these freeloading bats to chip in for rent.
C) not get rabies.
any advice?
Filed under: Peace Corps
the long-awaited first day of spring showed up right on time, just as promised. along with it came a slight breeze. so slight in fact, that trees and fences stopped the breeze dead in its tracks. the clever folks, however, found themselves an unobstructed spot in the sun. this way, they could enjoy not only [...]
the wedding ceremony of one of my former language teachers.
my coteacher and I at the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
some of my students.
The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
Buddha statues at the Royal Palace.
I teach 5 11th grade classes. This is one of them.Long Exposure in Phnom Penh.
kids will be kids, no matter where they are.
all [...]
if you’ve found your way here and are thinking:
“i thought this blog was about cambodia?”
so…
“why does he keep writing about music?”
or…
“why does he keep writing those writing things…?”
in my attempt to bring the easy button to your life, i’ve gone through and categorized each post.
now you can click on the ones that interest you.
Filed under: [...]
Genelec & Memphis Reigns – Scorpion Circles
if you are able to appreciate music, you should do yourself a favor and download this album. released in 2002, (eight years ago already!?) this album plays with 46 minutes of perfection. worth it for the song “chicken soup” alone, this album will take you way back, somewhere to [...]
from what i’ve been able to tell thus far, the cambodian horn and the american horn speak the same language. it just turns out that the cambodian horn is quite a bit more talkative. i imagine that the horn was never more effective then when it was first invented. the first person to ever ‘honk [...]
a lizard SO large that a car had to beep its horn and wait for it to cross the road.
so i went home and took a nap, because… what could possibly top that?
Filed under: Peace Corps
Everybody has a favorite part of the day. Maybe it’s the part of the day where they think the most clearly, sipping their morning coffee. Maybe it’s the part where they’re surrounded by the most friends, enjoying a cold beer at the end of the workday. Or maybe it’s that part of their day where [...]
every day, around 1:30-4:30 pm… it gets so humid that the fan just forcefully pushes hot, heavy air instead of a cool, refreshing breeze. i know it’s still doing it’s job. it’s trying so hard. and every day, the place around the corner from my house that sells mini fridges gets a bit more tempting. [...]
i did an adventurous thing the other day. i bought raisins at my town market. when i bought them, i was expecting, well… raisins. i’ve seen them at the market for months but have never been bold enough to make the purchase. i finally put up the dollar and came away with 12 single serving [...]
i’ve been to meetings. i’ve been to conferences. maybe they seemed important at the time, maybe they didn’t. but never, in my 23 years, did i leave a conference and think ‘i should probably get some proof that i just sat through that.’ this is the difference between me and cambodia, between cambodia and i. [...]
not many advancements have happened in the technology of cambodian washing machines… ever.
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