My September and October and part of November make up post

August 24th.  That was the date of my last post.  I offer a gynormous apology to all 7 of my followers haha

Since then a lot has happened, The best month of the year came and went (October fyi), I got excited for Colorado, Minnesota and Vikings football.  All of which have failed to live up to expectations.  But thats ok, I'm in Cambodia.  Time here seems neverending and independent from home.  "Oh there's snow now?"  "That's nice, I thought it was still August.  Just check my last blog entry."  I do miss seasons, it's the same thing everyday here.  I mean it's November now and all the leaves in this country are still green! 

Couple highlights of the last couple months:
One of my very best friends Kyle Tompane decided that while I'm out of the country it would a good time to get married.  Kyle was my roomate for four years at CU.  We were friends right away I couldn't of asked for a better roomate.  Kyle asked me to be a groomsman in his wedding in December and at first I said sorry bro, I've got this whole living in Cambodia thing going on right now.

  They set the date for Dec. 11th and asked me again if there was anyway I could make it back.  I checked my calendar and it fust so happened that we had a 3day weekend for that weekend.  The wheels in my head started rolling, the dreams of being in sunny San Diego were being visualized.  The least I could do was ask the principle what the vacation policy was, I would need at least 4 days to fly 25hrs and back again right?  So I did ask with little, yet some, hope.  "You have 5 sick days, but you can't take them all at once" She said.  Money, Money, Money, what about the money.  It was my final obstacle in making this a reality.  Aside from the craziness needed to take a long wekend trip on the other side of the world, but I've got that covered.  Kyle offered to pay some, and my parents said they could help because this was really important to me and my birthday was coming up.  All of a sudden I've got a flight booked to LAX for Dec. 8th coming back on the 12th.  I can't even begin to imagine the reverse culture shock I will endure but it will be exciting I know that.

Oh yeah, btw, I went to Thailand haha  I got to see another college roomate, Sam.  Now Sam isn't his real name thats just what we started calling him when we couldn't pronounce his real name.  He's from Bangkok and we got to hang out.  He made sure I had a great time.  We met at a mall that had american food (Dairy Queen, Subway, Burger King Krispy Kreme etc.)  Could've spent the whole weekend there if you ask me ;)  then he took us to an old king's residence then we went to a great show at a guiness record holding stage.  It was amazing.  I went on an elephant ride and a canoe looking thing ride around old Thai houses.  Then there was a buffet that had a bunch of vegetarian food, then the show began. 

The show took us through some of the history of Thailand and Siam.  It was almost like a musical, all the dancing and music.  Really it was quite good.  Don't know how expensive it was because, like I said, Sam took care of me.  Seemed expensive though.

We went to see some of the oldest temples in the world in Siem Reap.  The Angkor Wat Temples should be on evryeones list.  Pics are up on facebook.  We took a bus up there, 5-7 hour ride costs around $4.25 one way haha  Then we stayed in a hotel one night.  It was almost heaven.  I watched American football on TV and laid in bed in a room with air conditioning!!!   It was alittle pricey though, double room for $15!! Travis and I split the cost :)   The rest of the weekend we stayed at an orphanage run up there by some people we met while living here in Phnom Penh.  They run a school and orphange and we teach 3 kids that were there and are now in school here.  They all have some amazing stories.  The sleeping arrangements were a little different from the hotel though...  No american football, not even a TV, not even electricity haha  there was, however a water pump outside if we wanted to bath or drink water.  I enjoyed for a couple nights, not sure it would still be enjoyable much longer than that though...

Anyway, as for the future, I've been thinking a lot about it lately.  Later this month we're going to Vietnam, then Dec there's the wedding, then for Christmas I'm hoping my family is going to come visit.  (Dad's a little slow to pull the trigger on those tickets...)  The plan for Christmas is to let the family see Cambodia for a few days then all go over to Sabah in Malaysia, look it up, it's a sweet place.  After that we have the long cold winter months of January, February and March to look forward to... haha  then in April it loks like we're going to India for the Khmer new year holiday.  Hard to get excited about something so far away in the future but we found good deals for flights.  Started the day thinking maybe we should go to China or something then by the end of the day had airfare booked for India.  Kind of crazy and hectic day but I'm real glad we did it. 

For the longterm who knows.  I do love traveling, hopefully I can fit more in before going home whenever that will be, I bought a one way ticket here so I have absolutely no plans after this.  It's a good thing but sometimes it really makes me wonder what the future will hold.

 So I've updated everyone now, I even told you what I plan on doing so I don't really have to write another blog for another two more months, right mom? ;)

My Enjoyable (So Far) Dilemma

     I was a very busy person on Sunday.  I woke up before 4am to help the seniors bake banana bread for their fundraiser that started at 730am.  They did really well by the way, some of them were up all night getting ready.  They set up carnival games and sold some food.  They sold some sandwiches that had some crab meat in them, which is not good for an Adventist school, the principle was pretty angry when she found out.  They should have known better, but that's another story.

    So once we were all ready I bolted over to the girls' house because our internet was out at my place.  It was my mom's birthday on the 21st and this was my only time to try to call her.  At 715am I knocked on their door, normally I wouldn't bother anyone at home so early on a sunday morning but this was an emergency and I knew that they always get up early.    Annie was nice enough to let me use their internet, but my mom wasn't on skype.  So I tried my brother's cell phone because I don't even know my mom's number.  He was surprised to receive a call from a weird number but he right away told my mom to get on skype.  When we finally got connected I not only saw my mom but the whole party at our house.

     It was nice to see everyone and say hi to my mom on her birthday but I had to get back to the fundraiser, I had a job to do.  I was chosen by the seniors to be the official DJ, christian music only.  It was the best job available as far as I was concerned.  I played Toby Mac, Audio Adrenaline, Thousand Foot Krutch and lots of others.  I even played some 180 (my mom's old band) in honor of my mom's birthday.  The party was over by 11am and I was exhausted.  But I had to get some laundry done (minor underwear emergency was occuring) so I brought a load over to the girls' place because they have a washer.

     As some of you may know it's rainy season here in Cambodia.  It's been a relatively dry rainy season so far but that changed yesterday.  It rained and rained and rained some more, in short, it's Monday evening and my clothes are still in the washer.  No use in hanging them up when it rains all the time.  So while waiting for the laundry situation to develop, we decided we needed to ride our bike's to a market.  Best. bike. ride. ever.  I was peddling thru puddles and each time I pushed down, my foot was in it's own world of wetness.  So while my laundry dilemma continues, I had an amazing time playing in the rain. 

Minor update since my internet wasn't working when I first wrote this.  It's Tuesday night now and I just got back and my clothes are still wet!  I brought home some essentials...  but it would be nice to get some clean clothes back over here sometime.

My Life

The end of week 2 is almost here so I'm kind of getting into a groove in life.  Unlike most other schools here in Cambodia, we only have classes Monday thru Friday we all  need that day of rest on Saturday.  The teachers all have worship at 7am, then the students join the teachers in their home room for worship.  Classes actually start at 745.  I teach 3 or 4 classes a day out of the 7 periods then I teach an after school class for some kids who failed last year.  After all of that it's around 4 o'clock and usually I have a goal to accomplish not involving school.  I need to get off campus at least once a day or else I feel like I'm not getting the most out of this adventure. 

My trips off campus always seem to start with going over to the mission, that's where the church is and where the girls live.  Even more importantly, that's where the washing maching is located.  We were given pedal bikes to use while we are here so it only takes us about 5 minutes to get there.  Even though its a short trip we still see some interesting things.  I am just as likely to see a lexus drive by me as I am to see a cart pulled by a couple of oxen.  There are some mansions in a lot right next to lots with nothing but trash and a few kids playing volleyball. The disparity between the haves and the have nots is shown on the same block and it is surprisingly very large.

Once we are at the mission we go to the girls' house and then we all find a tuk tuk to take us someplace into town.  Whether we are looking for groceries or music or electronics or just exploring the last stop of the day is always at an ice cream place.  It's become our thing to have ice cream almost everyday.  I don't know why exactly.  Obviously it tastes good, maybe it reminds us of home or maybe its just nice to have something cold when we've been sweating all day.  Either way it's something we do and we enjoy, although some more than others...Annie....

I appreciate weekends way more than I used to.  The weekend, to me anyways, is a time off from school work but it has become much more than that.  It's a time where I can relax a little eat good food (instead of the stuff I make) and fellowship.  But if I'm being completely honest, the best part is that I don't have to be up at 6 in the morning.  But tomorrow I do, so I better get going...    Juab khnia thngay kraoy 

Here I Am

So, it's August 8, Sunday night, and I'm finally starting this thing.  After a summer tour around the western hemisphere, I took 3 bags and a backpack to Southeast Asia.  Cambodia wasn't ever a country I dreamed of travelling to, and trust me there were a lot of countries i did dream of, but now that I've been here for 2 weeks I can't imagine a better place for me.  I mean God sent me here, so there is no other place for me to be. 

The first week I was able to relax a little bit and get used to my surroundings, the second week was a whole new experience though.   I try not to guess why God has done things the way He has, I just keep the faith that everything He does leads me down the best possible path for success, however that might be defined.  So it just so happens that my very first time teaching was this past Monday in front of 20 or so 10th graders more or less eager to learn Biology.  See I last took  or even just thought about a Biology class in 2002 when I took it in high school freshman year.  So far I feel like I'm learning just as much, if not more (according to the kids' test grades) than my students. 

I've met some great people here in Phnom Penh, I'm sure if anyone will continue to read this blog youwill get  to know all of them in time.  But for my first post I have to mention Tim and Fay Scott.  Tim is the man I kept in contact with before leaving the states for good.  Upon arrival here they let me stay at their place with my new roomate Travis.  They fed us and showed us around town, don't know what I would've done without them.  They're like the den parents to all of us and there's nothing they don't have a good answer for. 

Well, how much do people usually write in one post? I feel like I could go on and on and on and on about my experience so far and what I hope to do in my time here and the amazing people that work so hard doing everything I've been doing multiplied by a few billion for a dozen years.  Then there's my amazing family and church family that have made this whole thing possible.  But, it's late Sunday night, a new week is starting with another Biology class in the morning...