Records are made to be broken!

Last three or so weeks have been a blur. We have had 3 birthdays, a 3-day weekend, a 6-day weekend, 2 electrical circuits go down at the house, 2 computers crash, coaching a guy in looking for a job, a 5 hour stop by the police, and a 30+ hours without electricity, a friend getting me to look at his electrical problem, among other random other meetings and errands.

In a recent blog I wrote that I spent as long as 40 min being stopped by the police which was the longest so far. Rene and I were out running errands and we had looked at some new vendors on a street we had never been down before. We headed down the street we came in on. When we go to the end of the road a police officer jumped out onto the road and waived us to a stop. He communicated that I couldn't drive here. While he was talking to me motos kept streaming past unhindered. He said "look sign" while pointing down the road. After walking down the block I noticed that I had missed a wrong way sign that blended in with the vendors umbrellas. It was now obvious to me the last block of the street became one way. When I got back I asked why are all the motos going the wrong way and cars not allowed and the cop said "moto not same". So I asked him what the fine was and he said the largest fine I have heard to date. It was over 10 times normal fines I had paid. I had not handed him my license so he really didn't have anything to leverage against me. So It tried to reason with him but he wouldn't budge. After 2 hours of waiting for a reasonable number Rene and Caleb received a ride home. Just before dinner the cops waved me off so they could go home for dinner. By that time it was done it had cost me 5 hours (and no money). In all honesty I could have left many times but I was not trying to avoid responsibility for my ignorance.

Five hours is my new record for time spent waiting on the police. The other record we broke in the last three weeks is time spent without power, witch is now about 30 consecutive hours.

I intended to get a picture of the corner where five hours (It has a unique sculpture). Alas I have not passed by that spot with camera in hand for some weeks now. I will eventually get a picture to post but for now I better get this one posted.

"What do you do all Day?" Part IV

I have become used to "slower paced Cambodia." When I write, "I ran errands," it seems insignificant in the context of America. Things are rarely efficient here in Cambodia. This makes most things take longer. What would be one trip becomes 2 or 3, what would be 1 conversation becomes 5, what would be done in 20 minutes takes 90 minutes, what should be done by one person is done by 2 or 3. Here is a list of what this looks like:

1) Shops have no selection or are low in stock.
Stores run out of items regularly forcing you to look elsewhere or come back later. They have an item 1 week and not the next. What would be a trip to 1 store becomes a trip to 3 or more and you still have to go out later for the other items.

2) There is always someone doing a job and another person watching them.
2 employees at the cash register, 2 employees at the teller window, video cameras watch the employees and not the customers.

3) Things are more unreliable.
Internet, electricity, and phone services are all subject to interruption without warning. Satellite internet is better than no internet but when it is really cloudy or rainy there is no service. One word "Tropical." The power still affects our modem. Before we transferred everything to our laptops we constantly had parts of projects lost from power outages. We have power outages about 3 time a week and some weeks, every day. So far the longest outage was only about 6 hours. Cell phones in a city off concrete buildings, need I say more.

4)Most things are just slower.
The highest speed in the city I have driven is 30 mph but usually it is below 20 mph. Power outages create traffic jams. The roads are not planned to handle the volume they have on them.
"High speed internet" is the speed of Dial-up.
Rene and I have to communicate through a translator or stumble through it till we get what we need.
We have 12 guys to inform/gather for meals, meetings and trips.
About 50% of the time people are late, an hour or more is not unheard of. Every now and then they are early, the most irregular so far was 3 hours early.
The average person's level of education can slow things down. Explaining germs and that hot water kills a lot of them, the importance of washing food and why we don't want everything fried, are the kind of things that are often ignored before they are explained. Most people aren't dumb, just uniformed.

5) The random government official that want his cut.
I have been stopped by the police 3 times now. The first time was for not seeing a hidden no left turn sign, the second was "just checking if you had a license," and the last one was for not seeing a bleached out no left turn sign. The last time the cop tried to get me to pay ten times what the first one did. Rene, Caleb and I waited on the side of the road for 40 min while the cop tried to convince me that I had to pay both him and his buddy just to get my drivers license back. In the end I had to get my license from some station in the boonies just to avoid paying unrealistic fines.
We have random officials come to the house to "check for fire extinguishers" and charge us a fee just to see if we still have 3 in the house. It has happened 2 times in 6 months. I get the feeling that it is a scam but I've been told it's normal.
Airports can be the worst. They have "not gotten the visa paperwork" at one time after it was approved and confirmed. Really, they are hoping for the person to offer them a "fee" to help "speed up" the process.

That sums it up pretty well.

As I read what I have written in the last four blogs I see why I don't write about this for fun. I don't enjoy writing about the negatives of Cambodia. It is too much like work. I would prefer to let the monotonous and irritating things be done and over for the simple fact that I want to stay positive in a potentially frustrating place. Therefore I conclude this series of Blogs. I prefer to talk about the fun and positive side of our time here. After all... We are here for a long time. I really want to keep loving what we do.

"What do you do all Day?" Part III

In this part of "What do you do during the day when the guys are at school?" I'll show you some of the more fun things that we get to do.

On Thursdays Logan's Class has a guest reader. Every parent was asked to sign up for a Story time. My turn came up recently. I got to go in and read a book of my choosing. I avoided western culture and chose a book written by Mark Ludy called JUJO. I had a lot of fun.

Most of the kids already knew who I was because Rene and I spend a lot of time at the school. I have been interested to see how the kids liked it. There wasn't a single kid who's attention wandered.


After I left the teacher had all the kids write "Thank You" letters to the guest reader for a writing exercise. It was fun to see how different kids enjoyed different parts.Rene and I have spent time sitting in different guys classes. The most regular one is the P.E. class for Logan and the most advance being physics for the older boys.

Because of Tozer, the wonderful school Caleb and Logan went to since preschool, we forget that teachers may not have experience with developmentally delayed kids. Logos has done a good job of being open to the influence of that demographic but for many SE Asian teachers it is a first encounter.

Rene has been interacting with a teacher that is open to having Caleb be involved in her class on a regular basis. It seems promising but it will take a bit of time for the teacher feel comfortable without Rene or I being present.

We also spend time helping Caleb through his therapies. He has improved in his stability, coordination, and scholastically. As he grows in other areas so do his preferences. Not including Food. He is know for trying, eating and enjoying almost anything that the guys put in front of him.

"What do you do all day?" Part II

Here is a little more to answer the question "What do you do during the day when the guys are at school." Remembering that our job is very concentrated in the evenings, weekends, holidays and summer I note the following.
We have come to realize there is no such thing as the normal day or week. When we first arrived in Cambodia the New house parents informed us that Cambodia has the most Holidays of any country. I assumed that they were just speaking figuratively. Alas I was mistaken. According to "Lonely Planet" travel guide Cambodia does in fact have the most. We seem to have one every time I turn around.

Here is a List of the ones I know of:
Victory Day Jan 7th
Carnival Day Feb 7th
Meak Bochea Day Feb TBA
Holiday ? Feb TBA
Women's Day March 8th
Khmer New Year April 13th-17th
International Labor Day May 1st
King's Sihakmony's Birthday (old king) May 13th-15th
Visaak Bochea Day May TBA
Royal Ploughing Day May TBA
Queens Birthday (old queen) June TBA
Constitution Day Sept 24th
Pchum Ben Sept 28th-3oth
King's Birthday (current king) Oct 29th
King Sihanouk's Birthday (old king) Oct 31st
Water Festival Nov 11th-14th
Int'l Human Right's Day Dec 10th
Christmas/New years break Dec 22nd-Jan 2nd

This of course doesn't include teacher planning days or summer break. It is a blessing that we get so much time with the guys. We love the guys an wish we could be in more places at once.

"What do you do all day?" Part I

We have been asked by many people and our relatives have been asked many times...."What do you do during the day when the guys are at school?" To answer this simple question I will spend the next few blogs explaining our life in Cambodia.

The first thing I would like to explain is that our job is very concentrated with building relationships, mentoring, and instructing 12 guys in the evenings, weekends, holidays and summer. When we do the "other" parts of life is during the day. So with that said if we ever do get time off it would most likely be during the day. But, more often than not, it would be in between weekly financial and boys status reports, errands, or meeting. Meetings seem to be the largest intangible. But come to think of it with 11 guys with anywhere between 6-9 teachers each... Lets just say I'm glad most of the guys do well in many classes.

There always seems to be a one time project in process for us. When we first got here it was end of year class parties, High school banquet and then three guys graduated. Then it was summer. That was nothing short of a miracle we didn't miss something huge. That was on massive blur. When school started up again we were still buying the last of what the guys needed before departing for college. Then it is goodbye parties and trips to the airport. One week we will have to get bio's written up for the Asian Hope website. The next week it will be writing a business plan for a Tuk-tuk service. The next week it will be an emergency at the school building site with on site time and meetings to follow. Of course now that the business plan is done time to start Graphic design and marketing... I'm sure you get the picture.

I suppose that doesn't include all that the sick kids and random injury that come with 11 sports loving boys. So far we've had a broken foot, two sprained wrists, one concussion (not including mine), an encounter with a syringe, one sprained ankle, a seizure, a few allergic reactions and everyone has had at least 2 colds . None of our guys have had stitches in our time so far, but the way they run around with bare feet that's bound to change.

The last two weeks involved researching places the guys could go to visit where they can be immersed in the Khmer culture and Language in a safe environment, setting up 4 trips and reporting about it before and after.

We have also been in many meetings about the guy in the house that confessed to a lot of steeling from the school and the house, including the summer robbery of the house. It has been very sad situation but we know that there is hope. Please pray.

I'm sure next week will be something different that fills the day... Maybe I'll blog a line or two at the end of the week.