RETIRED...to Peace Corps!

[Marlin]

Is the Picture Gallery open for new photos again?  I still get an "Error - You don't have permission to perform this operation." message when I try to upload pictures...

Mike

[Marlin]

   I don't know how well news travels over there but I got the news of this tragedy in Thailand off a site I frequent. Some of the pictures are a little disturbing and were provided by a group called the Free Burma Rangers who are a humanitarian organization though you could not tell from their name.
  Do these refugees or the ethnic war spill over into Cambodia?

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/tragedy-in-thailand.htm

http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

[Rennhack]

Is the Picture Gallery open for new photos again?  I still get an "Error - You don't have permission to perform this operation." message when I try to upload pictures...

I dunno.  I'm in outage at the moment.  Can you check back with me in a month?

[UncaBuffalo]

I dunno.  I'm in outage at the moment.  Can you check back with me in a month?

Thanks, Mike!  I'll check back. 

[UncaBuffalo]

  I don't know how well news travels over there but I got the news of this tragedy in Thailand off a site I frequent. Some of the pictures are a little disturbing and were provided by a group called the Free Burma Rangers who are a humanitarian organization though you could not tell from their name.
  Do these refugees or the ethnic war spill over into Cambodia?

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/tragedy-in-thailand.htm

http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

wow...    I hadn't heard about that fire...my heart goes out to them.


I visited Burma about ten years ago and was appalled at how repressive the gov't was then.  I had hoped that the new leaders would reach a quick settlement in their internal conflicts, but that hasn't been the case yet... 

[UncaBuffalo]

New project has been approved:  http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1531


Depending on how long this one takes, it could be the last...so if anyone still wanted to be part of this, now is the time.  (I'm hoping I will still have time left to get another after this, but the whole country is shut down right now for Khmer New Year...and portions will stay closed until May...so not expecting to get started for a couple of weeks...)

THANKS! 

[UncaBuffalo]

Most of the time life just seems pretty 'normal' here...folks-is-folks... But, occasionally I get reminded that I'm NOT in Kansas anymore...

I saw a weird one the other day.  A pick-up and a motorcycle screeched to a halt inches from each other.  Just another near-death experience in the daily drama that is Cambodian transportation.  Usually everyone just smiles and continues on their way.  This time the motorcycle driver lost his cool and started screaming at the pickup driver.  So the pickup driver backs away...and then slams his truck into gear and runs into the motorcycle!  Pushes him about 40 feet...across the intersection and sidewalk...and crushes the motorcycle against a building.  The moto rider fell off at the last second and wasn't crushed.  So the pickup driver swings around and tries to back over him!

And, here's the disturbing part about that whole incident.  Not the violence...plenty of road rage in the States...  No, what really freaked me out and made me re-consider whether I understand my surroundings was the reaction of my friends in the village when I told them the story.  Every single Cambodian I told that story said basically, "Yeah, we would have tried to kill the moto driver, too."   

My new take is that 'face' is so important that, once you lose it, you have nothing holding you back, so you jump straight to murder...none of the stages (yelling back, fist fight, etc) that the average American might find more 'normal' in a similar confrontation...

[UncaBuffalo]

Guess it's about time to say this again:

The contents of my posts in this thread are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.




We now return you to your regularly scheduled program already in progress. 

[song of the south]

My heart goes out to those people. I can't imagine what their going through. Events like that definitely give you another perspective on your on life. I mean so many people spend their time complaining about things like having a trailer instead of two story, brick house or a condo on the beach. These people don't have a homes at all, and the ones they did have where made out of bamboo. What is wrong with us?

[UncaBuffalo]

WOO-HOO!  We have liftoff on the sports court construction!    It's a HUGE relief to finally be breaking ground.

Thanks to everyone who donated to make this possible!   

It's been a great month...lots happening:

Work on the high school sports court continues...foundation is in place and dirt brought up to grade.  I will post pictures of the students moving the dirt...  Now the masons are positioning rock so they can begin pouring the slab.  Thanks again to all who donated to make this sports court possible.

We have begun pouring the slab and will finish it in the next week, if the weather and other variables remain favorable. 

Well, we had a long delay due to the rainy weather.  But I sure won't complain, because that meant the villagers finally got to transplant their rice.  Usually that happens in May or June, so...very late this year.  If the drought had continued, the food supply was going to be tight.  They expect a reduced crop this year, but hope to get 70% of normal, so everyone hopes that will be enough to get us through until next year.

Anyway, the slab on the sports court is finished.  We just need to fabricate and hang the backboards, paint the lines, and start playing some hoops! 

Thanks again to all who contributed! 

I was looking back over the past two years' posts and noticed that I had left the sports court narrative hanging. So...

We had the backboards in place and the lines painted around Christmas.  We have been enjoying the court all of this year.  We formed teams for both the girls and the boys and they practice each day after school.  We are extremely fortunate to have a former member of the Cambodian national basketball team living in the district and she volunteered to coach the teams, so the kids are getting an incredible opportunity.

We have been keeping the court in nearly constant use during school breaks and after school.  The kids and the rest of the village come out to use it not just for basketball, but for soccer, hackey, badminton, and as a general meeting place.  We have also used it as a school assembly area for programs and dances...and the students staged their International Women's Day program on it.

Thanks again for everyone's support! 




Also, an update on the rice harvest: it was sufficient that we have made it through this far with no obvious shortages.

[UncaBuffalo]

Just finished an incredible book - Half the Sky, by Nicholas D Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn.  I can't recommend the book enough, esp. for anyone who clicked this thread because it said 'Peace Corps'.


I can't even begin to list all the great information that this book exposed me to, but one invaluable tool it mentioned is http://www.charitynavigator.org/ - a website that lets you compare efficiencies of charities you are consider donating to.







modified for clarity

[UncaBuffalo]

Most of the time life just seems pretty 'normal' here...folks-is-folks... But, occasionally I get reminded that I'm NOT in Kansas anymore...

One of these moments happened a few weeks ago when a co-teacher was telling me about this wonderful movie he saw...'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.  I agreed with him that it was great.  But, then he re-calibrated me by asking if it was 'real' or not...  

One of the teachers at the high school got a job as a translator for a medical NGO.  On his first day, they went for a tour of the various facilities where he will be working.  He was telling me about it when he got home.  He said, "I was embarrassed. We took car and I got up okay. But when we go to hospital, I couldn't get down. They asked why I don't get down and I told them, 'I don't know how to get down from car...I have only ridden in cart before.' "

And, sometimes it's me that makes them do a double-take...


I got the 'Happy Happy Joy Joy' song stuck in my head the other day -

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,107.msg172509.html#msg172509
(It is a song I like because I can remember all the words to the chorus! )

So I'm bouncing all over the school's resource room singing as I wait for my adult students to arrive for their evening class.  It's only after I look up and see them all standing agog in the doorway that I remember...'Joy' is the Khmer word for sexual intercourse...  

[Marlin]

And, sometimes it's me that makes them do a double-take...


I got the 'Happy Happy Joy Joy' song stuck in my head the other day -

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,107.msg172509.html#msg172509
(It is a song I like because I can remember all the words to the chorus! )

So I'm bouncing all over the school's resource room singing as I wait for my adult students to arrive for their evening class.  It's only after I look up and see them all standing agog in the doorway that I remember...'Joy' is the Khmer word for sexual intercourse...  

You could not understand what they were saying at the beginning of the movie but by the end you were speaking caveman, Zug Zug was caveman for sex. Loved that movie.

[UncaBuffalo]

You could not understand what they were saying at the beginning of the movie but by the end you were speaking caveman, Zug Zug was caveman for sex. Loved that movie.

សុទ្ធតែឣន្ចងពេញទូកហាះយើង ។

[UncaBuffalo]

Let's see how far we can stretch that 'record!'  

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1482

This one's been done for a while, but the staff at Appropriate Projects had been traveling, so the completion photos just got posted:

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1579






modified for wording

[UncaBuffalo]

New project has been approved:  http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1531


Depending on how long this one takes, it could be the last...so if anyone still wanted to be part of this, now is the time.  (I'm hoping I will still have time left to get another after this, but the whole country is shut down right now for Khmer New Year...and portions will stay closed until May...so not expecting to get started for a couple of weeks...)

THANKS! 

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1585

Thanks for making this happen! 

[UncaBuffalo]

Is the Picture Gallery open for new photos again?  I still get an "Error - You don't have permission to perform this operation." message when I try to upload pictures...

I dunno.  I'm in outage at the moment.  Can you check back with me in a month?

Looks like we're back with the pictures!  

http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/thumbnails-587.html

Thanks, Mike! 

[UncaBuffalo]

We finished up the last "last project" so quickly that we get to do an encore!

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1587

[UncaBuffalo]

More smiles... 

http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/thumbnails-587.html

[UncaBuffalo]

We finished up the last "last project" so quickly that we get to do an encore!

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1587

They've got their rhythm down now!

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1631



NOTE:  I got carried away on the photos this time!  Sorry!



But...I have to admit I'm proud of The Snake Guy.  And the codger perched on the picnic table!  


...not to mention that killer sunbonnet! 

[UncaBuffalo]

We finished up the last "last project" so quickly that we get to do an encore!

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1587

This one may have to get passed on to another PCV, but:

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1643

[UncaBuffalo]

Random thoughts heard in Cambodia:


Don't happy til cry.


How are you tomorrow?


I'm not easy body.

[UncaBuffalo]

WOOHOO!  I win!  I made it to the end of my two years' service and am off to new adventures!

Thanks so much to everyone on here that supported me in so many ways...  Financially on all the projects we were able to complete together, but ESPECIALLY mentally by giving me a touchstone to my old world.

For anyone that got addicted to helping small villages in Cambodia, the PCV that lived about 12km from me is still there for two more months and is doing:
http://www.appropriateprojects.com/node/1620

...and after that...any of the Appropriate Projects work will get more of your money directly to the needy (in a country where a dollar buys a LOT) than any other charity I know, so...it's the one I will support once I am working again.

THANKS!  

[UncaBuffalo]

I feel a bit responsible for talking one of the other volunteers into building a sports court, too.  And now her´s has gone over-budget like mine did...dang inflation...  Anyway, if anyone is jonesing for a Peace Corps project to help out, this would be a good one.  Thanks!

http://www.courtsforkids.org/donate.html   ...and then click on the "Cambodia - Neysa Peterson" button.  

[UncaBuffalo]

I feel a bit responsible for talking one of the other volunteers into building a sports court, too.  And now her´s has gone over-budget like mine did...dang inflation...  Anyway, if anyone is jonesing for a Peace Corps project to help out, this would be a good one.  Thanks!

http://www.courtsforkids.org/donate.html   ...and then click on the "Cambodia - Neysa Peterson" button.  

I got on their website to make a donation and the credit card processor was going to charge me forty dollars, so...  Here's where to send a check:

Courts for Kids
PO Box 873786
Vancouver, WA 98687