mum/me/dad
happy days
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
the shady papaya
ive had a funny couple of days.
we got a new cleaner for the church. neang (the old one), in fairness, was absolutely terrible at it. and she had no initiative, didnt speak a lick on english and was genrally rubbish. plus we couldnt really trust her and she borrowed money and never paid it back. so instead of waiting and giving her another chance like steve had done before he just decided to move on and find someone else. which turned out to be good, although i dont know if this one is going to work out i really hope it does because we have sowat as our new cleaner!i vaguely remember writing about sowat ages ago (back around the beginning of october), i went to visit his house with steve. really nice guy who used to teach english and was part of the church for a while but stopped coming and started to work as a motodop (moto taxi) and has since found things a bit tough, but remaind good friends with steve and modge and has just started work today. he is great fun and really hapy to be in a job, he only works mornings and does his taxi stuff in the aternoons. it was nice to see him today and im hoping i will be able to steal him for a few mins every now and then to help me with my language. so thats a masive plus!
my friend isaac, or rather the girl who is working for him and now living downstairs in their house, has just re-opened the 'shady papaya' cafe/restaurant. i must say i was pretty impressed with it the other night. good menu and nice atmosphere. although its not in the centre of town and was quite empty when i went there (its only a small room) so hopegully it will take off, its in a pretty good neaghbourhood and so might start to get noticed if they market it well. im going to give them a bit of business every now and then, id really like it to work out. he (isaac) is a really great guy and we get on pretty well, so we have a laugh together.
i listened to the jars of clay album 'redemption hymns' today. if you havent heard it or have never heard of the band then look em up, well worth a listen. two great songs particularly are 'i'll fly away' and 'stormy banks of the jordan' some great lines:
'when shall i see that heavenly place and be forever blessed.
when shall i see my fathers face and in his bosom rest.
im bound, im bound, im bound
for the promised land.'
ive been reading isaiah recently as part of my reading shedule. chapter nine is classic, although traditionally read at christmas some of the tuff about jesus is amazing, written centuries before he was ever born yet vividly describing things that happened to him and things he was going to say. prettymind blowing.
God is good.
Ben.
we got a new cleaner for the church. neang (the old one), in fairness, was absolutely terrible at it. and she had no initiative, didnt speak a lick on english and was genrally rubbish. plus we couldnt really trust her and she borrowed money and never paid it back. so instead of waiting and giving her another chance like steve had done before he just decided to move on and find someone else. which turned out to be good, although i dont know if this one is going to work out i really hope it does because we have sowat as our new cleaner!i vaguely remember writing about sowat ages ago (back around the beginning of october), i went to visit his house with steve. really nice guy who used to teach english and was part of the church for a while but stopped coming and started to work as a motodop (moto taxi) and has since found things a bit tough, but remaind good friends with steve and modge and has just started work today. he is great fun and really hapy to be in a job, he only works mornings and does his taxi stuff in the aternoons. it was nice to see him today and im hoping i will be able to steal him for a few mins every now and then to help me with my language. so thats a masive plus!
my friend isaac, or rather the girl who is working for him and now living downstairs in their house, has just re-opened the 'shady papaya' cafe/restaurant. i must say i was pretty impressed with it the other night. good menu and nice atmosphere. although its not in the centre of town and was quite empty when i went there (its only a small room) so hopegully it will take off, its in a pretty good neaghbourhood and so might start to get noticed if they market it well. im going to give them a bit of business every now and then, id really like it to work out. he (isaac) is a really great guy and we get on pretty well, so we have a laugh together.
i listened to the jars of clay album 'redemption hymns' today. if you havent heard it or have never heard of the band then look em up, well worth a listen. two great songs particularly are 'i'll fly away' and 'stormy banks of the jordan' some great lines:
'when shall i see that heavenly place and be forever blessed.
when shall i see my fathers face and in his bosom rest.
im bound, im bound, im bound
for the promised land.'
ive been reading isaiah recently as part of my reading shedule. chapter nine is classic, although traditionally read at christmas some of the tuff about jesus is amazing, written centuries before he was ever born yet vividly describing things that happened to him and things he was going to say. prettymind blowing.
God is good.
Ben.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Road Trip
visit:
www.sjtucker.blogspot.com
my dads blog with all the pictures of their recent visit.
so the long awaited university visit is coming up this friday. sothy has the day off uni so we have an entire day to visit as many campuses as poss. it should be a good one. i really hope our student stuff starts with a bang, im sure it will. me and chris have discussed the possibility of building a table tennis table...the excitment grows.
my uncle is still in cambodia, or laos, im not really sure where he is right now, but he will be in the city on friday. so maybe in the afternoon we will do a visit to the shooting range. this sounds like a bunch of old soldiers trying to make a bit of cash from the ageing weapons and slack police control. apparently its just a brick wall that you can blast to pieces with an ak47. i cant wait.
ive got a couple of country visits coming up which im looking forward to. isaac knows this family way up in poipet, which is 6 hours away, who has his bb gun so we're going to do a road trip for a few days to retrieve the gun, all in the hope that we will return and kill many rats. then libby, who works in a slightly nearer province, as a nurse and oversees the running of a local village medic centre, has invited me up there for a few days to see a bit more of the country and help out a bit. im especially looking forward to this as the village is 'cham' which are one of cambodias muslim minorities, so not only a different province but a different religion and culture.
thanks for leaving comments. if you want to but cant figure it out (ness bush) just click on the blog title eg. ROAD TRIP and click on the post comment tab.
grape vines (good times)
Ben.
www.sjtucker.blogspot.com
my dads blog with all the pictures of their recent visit.
so the long awaited university visit is coming up this friday. sothy has the day off uni so we have an entire day to visit as many campuses as poss. it should be a good one. i really hope our student stuff starts with a bang, im sure it will. me and chris have discussed the possibility of building a table tennis table...the excitment grows.
my uncle is still in cambodia, or laos, im not really sure where he is right now, but he will be in the city on friday. so maybe in the afternoon we will do a visit to the shooting range. this sounds like a bunch of old soldiers trying to make a bit of cash from the ageing weapons and slack police control. apparently its just a brick wall that you can blast to pieces with an ak47. i cant wait.
ive got a couple of country visits coming up which im looking forward to. isaac knows this family way up in poipet, which is 6 hours away, who has his bb gun so we're going to do a road trip for a few days to retrieve the gun, all in the hope that we will return and kill many rats. then libby, who works in a slightly nearer province, as a nurse and oversees the running of a local village medic centre, has invited me up there for a few days to see a bit more of the country and help out a bit. im especially looking forward to this as the village is 'cham' which are one of cambodias muslim minorities, so not only a different province but a different religion and culture.
thanks for leaving comments. if you want to but cant figure it out (ness bush) just click on the blog title eg. ROAD TRIP and click on the post comment tab.
grape vines (good times)
Ben.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
sunkissed
im really annoyed i just wrote a massive long blog that took like 20 mins, and it just got deleted on this crappy computer.
the gist...
me and dad found a deserted beach on the other side of this island we visited on a boat trip, it looked like something out of 'the beach' film. pretty awesom.
so now we are all sunkissed and ready for bbqed baracuda and happy hour drinks.
must say i had this awe inspired silence as i stood in the surf on this beach. i really was speechless, the beauty of creation blew me away today.
live everything for the glory af god and you cannot go wrong.
Ben.
the gist...
me and dad found a deserted beach on the other side of this island we visited on a boat trip, it looked like something out of 'the beach' film. pretty awesom.
so now we are all sunkissed and ready for bbqed baracuda and happy hour drinks.
must say i had this awe inspired silence as i stood in the surf on this beach. i really was speechless, the beauty of creation blew me away today.
live everything for the glory af god and you cannot go wrong.
Ben.
Monday, January 22, 2007
hole in the ground
wow. avid readers...if you exist, apologies for the lask of blogging this past week has been mental. literally.
folks arrived saturday evening and we've had a few days chilling out in the city, ive been indulging in expensive hotels and sight seeing. so its been a nice few days but im looking forward to another trip down to the beach tomorow where again i plan on doing absolutely nothing. result.
i think they enjoyed visiting the church and spending an evening with steve and midge, the boys were really hyper, so the evening was quite nackering, but on a whole it has been a positive few days in the city and i think it has put their minds to rest about what im doing and how im living here. it really isnt a hole in the ground that people seem to think. and yes, joe, cambodia does have electricity. thanks to the french, who also built all the plumbing. sounds good, eh? but the truth is there are power cuts and the toliets do break with 'stuff' comming up the wrong way.
news humm.....
its been a good couple of weeks being back here, its funny but i felt like i was coming home when i got off the airplane and stepped out into the city. its funny ive never really been a city person (i dont think i would normallyt choose to live in a city) but its where i am for the time being. i seem to have carved out a life for my self here, having my parents here has emphasised that fact, so i dont know how i will feel about leaving this place but im sure when the time comes i will be looking forward to being in the uk again, god willing! people have already started talking about what is going to happen this summer and mention me leaving along with charlie another british girl in the church who is leaving to get married.
sorry things are not exciting and adventureous. im thinking of going to ho chi minh city in vietnam for the weekend in feb and maybe up to kampong cham province or stung treng for a few days just to see some more of the country, if i get the oppertunity.
for anyone interested, my email is:
bentucker_87@hotmail.com
please drop me a line, i love hearing from people.
living it large.
Ben.
(blog dedicated to julie sweetman, mum always says how much you love to read. pass my love to dan and adrian. faithful nephew. ben.)
folks arrived saturday evening and we've had a few days chilling out in the city, ive been indulging in expensive hotels and sight seeing. so its been a nice few days but im looking forward to another trip down to the beach tomorow where again i plan on doing absolutely nothing. result.
i think they enjoyed visiting the church and spending an evening with steve and midge, the boys were really hyper, so the evening was quite nackering, but on a whole it has been a positive few days in the city and i think it has put their minds to rest about what im doing and how im living here. it really isnt a hole in the ground that people seem to think. and yes, joe, cambodia does have electricity. thanks to the french, who also built all the plumbing. sounds good, eh? but the truth is there are power cuts and the toliets do break with 'stuff' comming up the wrong way.
news humm.....
its been a good couple of weeks being back here, its funny but i felt like i was coming home when i got off the airplane and stepped out into the city. its funny ive never really been a city person (i dont think i would normallyt choose to live in a city) but its where i am for the time being. i seem to have carved out a life for my self here, having my parents here has emphasised that fact, so i dont know how i will feel about leaving this place but im sure when the time comes i will be looking forward to being in the uk again, god willing! people have already started talking about what is going to happen this summer and mention me leaving along with charlie another british girl in the church who is leaving to get married.
sorry things are not exciting and adventureous. im thinking of going to ho chi minh city in vietnam for the weekend in feb and maybe up to kampong cham province or stung treng for a few days just to see some more of the country, if i get the oppertunity.
for anyone interested, my email is:
bentucker_87@hotmail.com
please drop me a line, i love hearing from people.
living it large.
Ben.
(blog dedicated to julie sweetman, mum always says how much you love to read. pass my love to dan and adrian. faithful nephew. ben.)
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
incredible hulk
great to hear from jon bateman! it seems like such a long time since we last maxed it up together. the point of listing my reading list was not an attempt to sound holy but an attempt to sound human, whether i finish it will determine that! forgive me for sounding overly self involved. when it comes to blogging i think you have to admit at least a little bit of self obsession. maybe not true for everyone.
football last night was mental after about 10 mins i was on the side heaving. i really thought i was having some sort of breathing fit. after 3 weeks with almost no exercise my fitness levels are even more depleated than they were before, normally i can last about 15 mins before i get a stitch. gutted.
im well looking forward to my holiday next week. i have the full week off with my parents and i fully intend to chill. this last week has been pretty good though i really feel like im growing into a new skin out here, although when i was back over christmas i didnt feel like anything significant had changed in my character. maybe ill come back all muscular and green like the incredible hulk... i wish, well maybe not green.
ive been going round the corner to chris and dale frosts house for food every evening in an attempt not to fade into inexistance. but ive got a meal out with dave, a friend from football, tonight. so its been good getting to know people out here and sharing in with their lives. as belinda stephenson recently said on her blog about their wedding, they wanted a community wedding, i have learnt the value of throwing yourself into community. good one bel.
God is doing everything i wanted him to do in me, moulding and shaping me to be more like him.
Romans 5:3-5
Ben.
football last night was mental after about 10 mins i was on the side heaving. i really thought i was having some sort of breathing fit. after 3 weeks with almost no exercise my fitness levels are even more depleated than they were before, normally i can last about 15 mins before i get a stitch. gutted.
im well looking forward to my holiday next week. i have the full week off with my parents and i fully intend to chill. this last week has been pretty good though i really feel like im growing into a new skin out here, although when i was back over christmas i didnt feel like anything significant had changed in my character. maybe ill come back all muscular and green like the incredible hulk... i wish, well maybe not green.
ive been going round the corner to chris and dale frosts house for food every evening in an attempt not to fade into inexistance. but ive got a meal out with dave, a friend from football, tonight. so its been good getting to know people out here and sharing in with their lives. as belinda stephenson recently said on her blog about their wedding, they wanted a community wedding, i have learnt the value of throwing yourself into community. good one bel.
God is doing everything i wanted him to do in me, moulding and shaping me to be more like him.
Romans 5:3-5
Ben.
Friday, January 12, 2007
the macdonalds of cambodia
thursday (yesterday) was a completely crazy day. bear in mind that i am still sleeping off jet lag and re-adjusting to the heat here, which means im up at 5am and asleep by 7pm.
we had home school in the morning which is always enough to wipe me out for the afternoon, however i found out this week that my quite relaxing thursday afternoons are to be no more. i was volunteered to run a football class at the hope school co-op, this is basically all the kids who are home schooled get together once a week and do karate, music and sport for an hour. this basically meant that i spent an hour kicking flat footballs around with five year old kids who i had never met and whos parents were not interested in helping or joining in. excuse my obvious dislike for the situation, to make things worse it is during the hottest part of the day and is on the field where there is no shade. i started to think that it was all one big joke they were playing on me to see just how 'servant hearted' i am. at the rate its going my servant heart will attack.
to add to this i moved house and had to clean both the old house (in the morning) and the new one in the afternoon. i forgot to bring my towel from the old house so i couldnt have a shower after my sweaty football club and i didnt have any food. so i went out to get a burger from luckys, which is the macdonalds of cambodia. en route to luckys i saw a really bad accident on the road, no one was hurt but it still wasnt nice. i was soo tired by the end that i fell asleep at about 7pm and forgot to spray the room so in the morning i was woken by high pitched mozzie sounds near my ear and found that i had been biten all over during the night.
see what i mean...pretty crazy!
today i had an easier ride. im living above the church in the sunday school room (where there is a seperate bedroom and kitchen!) so it means i dont have to drive all the way to the office every morning. which is good but it also means im a fair distance from anything social that might happen. i started reading martin l jones's exposition of romans today, i was surprised to find it a relatively light read and flew through the first two chapters, i also planned out my readin g schedule for the next 8 months. this is something i know i have to do and stick to or else i never ever read. my faith shrinks when i stop reading. so i have romans, isaiah, ecclesiasties, john, 1+2 corinthians, daniel, galatians and ephesians to read as scheduled into my work time. im reading lots more on the side.
'let all the world look to me for salvation...for i am god...there is no other.'
Isaiah 45:22
living in third gear.
Ben.
we had home school in the morning which is always enough to wipe me out for the afternoon, however i found out this week that my quite relaxing thursday afternoons are to be no more. i was volunteered to run a football class at the hope school co-op, this is basically all the kids who are home schooled get together once a week and do karate, music and sport for an hour. this basically meant that i spent an hour kicking flat footballs around with five year old kids who i had never met and whos parents were not interested in helping or joining in. excuse my obvious dislike for the situation, to make things worse it is during the hottest part of the day and is on the field where there is no shade. i started to think that it was all one big joke they were playing on me to see just how 'servant hearted' i am. at the rate its going my servant heart will attack.
to add to this i moved house and had to clean both the old house (in the morning) and the new one in the afternoon. i forgot to bring my towel from the old house so i couldnt have a shower after my sweaty football club and i didnt have any food. so i went out to get a burger from luckys, which is the macdonalds of cambodia. en route to luckys i saw a really bad accident on the road, no one was hurt but it still wasnt nice. i was soo tired by the end that i fell asleep at about 7pm and forgot to spray the room so in the morning i was woken by high pitched mozzie sounds near my ear and found that i had been biten all over during the night.
see what i mean...pretty crazy!
today i had an easier ride. im living above the church in the sunday school room (where there is a seperate bedroom and kitchen!) so it means i dont have to drive all the way to the office every morning. which is good but it also means im a fair distance from anything social that might happen. i started reading martin l jones's exposition of romans today, i was surprised to find it a relatively light read and flew through the first two chapters, i also planned out my readin g schedule for the next 8 months. this is something i know i have to do and stick to or else i never ever read. my faith shrinks when i stop reading. so i have romans, isaiah, ecclesiasties, john, 1+2 corinthians, daniel, galatians and ephesians to read as scheduled into my work time. im reading lots more on the side.
'let all the world look to me for salvation...for i am god...there is no other.'
Isaiah 45:22
living in third gear.
Ben.
Monday, January 08, 2007
colourful language
Im back! It seems such a long time since i left this place and i had a strange feeling as i arrived and got off the plane. i had forgotten how much the place smells, it really does. it is a sort of hot, sticky, dusty, palm tree smell, either way it smelt good!
my journey back was interesting, it was more comfortable this time. i had a bunch of interesting single serving friends (as i call them) first guy was thai and leaving london to go back to bangkok after spending 6 months studying english in eastbourne, he knew a bunch of people from kings church down there, we had a good chat. small world.
the second guy was a character. from oman to thailand i had an essex cabbie sitting next to me. he was actually quite good company despite his colourful language. i did find some of his stories a little questionable. he said one of his friends was shot in thailand and died last year after a few locals tried to steal his bike. then he said he went on a fishing trip to the south china sea and a german bloke jumped over the side to go swimming but the current was too strong and by the time they lifted the anchor to get him he was gone. he spoke so casually about the whole episode i felt it only right to sit with a sceptical look plastered all over my face. to which he simply kept saying 'yeah...no f***ing joke'. soon after he had a couple of beers and fell asleep. he has a wife in thailand who he goes to see once a year...i will make no comment on that!
despite having 10 hours to wait in bangkok i could sit in the bangkok airways lounge this time because i was flying out with them. so i checked in with them as soon as i got there and sat in a nice big comfortable chair sipping orange juice and reading the paper, the airport lounges are great, free food, drink, internet and loads of papers from all over the world. also i realised that last time i was in bangkok airport i only explored one end of the airport terminal, i couldnt believe it when i realised that the terminal building was twice as big as i had thought there was atleast another hour of shop browsing i could have done to pass the time when i didnt have the lounge...gutted.
i really enjoyed my short visit to England and i must say i cannot wait to get back into the busy church life over there. but for now there is alot to be done here and im just settling back in and soprting out what im going to focus the rest of my time here on doing.
first thing is first...i need to get my bike fixed!
Ben.
my journey back was interesting, it was more comfortable this time. i had a bunch of interesting single serving friends (as i call them) first guy was thai and leaving london to go back to bangkok after spending 6 months studying english in eastbourne, he knew a bunch of people from kings church down there, we had a good chat. small world.
the second guy was a character. from oman to thailand i had an essex cabbie sitting next to me. he was actually quite good company despite his colourful language. i did find some of his stories a little questionable. he said one of his friends was shot in thailand and died last year after a few locals tried to steal his bike. then he said he went on a fishing trip to the south china sea and a german bloke jumped over the side to go swimming but the current was too strong and by the time they lifted the anchor to get him he was gone. he spoke so casually about the whole episode i felt it only right to sit with a sceptical look plastered all over my face. to which he simply kept saying 'yeah...no f***ing joke'. soon after he had a couple of beers and fell asleep. he has a wife in thailand who he goes to see once a year...i will make no comment on that!
despite having 10 hours to wait in bangkok i could sit in the bangkok airways lounge this time because i was flying out with them. so i checked in with them as soon as i got there and sat in a nice big comfortable chair sipping orange juice and reading the paper, the airport lounges are great, free food, drink, internet and loads of papers from all over the world. also i realised that last time i was in bangkok airport i only explored one end of the airport terminal, i couldnt believe it when i realised that the terminal building was twice as big as i had thought there was atleast another hour of shop browsing i could have done to pass the time when i didnt have the lounge...gutted.
i really enjoyed my short visit to England and i must say i cannot wait to get back into the busy church life over there. but for now there is alot to be done here and im just settling back in and soprting out what im going to focus the rest of my time here on doing.
first thing is first...i need to get my bike fixed!
Ben.
Friday, January 05, 2007
the old man and the first lady
pretty mental few weeks.
yesterday was the funeral, it was a nice service and a testament to Robb, thats all i'll say.
Im looking forward to getting back out to Cambodia, i really feel reenergized and ready. like i said before i know what im going back to, so im aware of what will be more realistic and what i will be capable of achieving for the next 6 months. more than anything im looking forward to being in a hot tropical climate again, this english weather really is as bad as everyone always says it is.
the old man and the first lady are coming out two weeks today, im hoping to be able to organise a trip down to the beach for a few days, not that i really need the holiday but just because its worth the trip and you wouldnt want Phnom Penh to be your only experience of Cambodia. my dad has travelled extensively round India and the family went there in october. so its not their first 3rd world experience and i imagine PP will be alot more developed than alot of India especially the rural ereas they visited. contrary to popular belief i do not live in a mud hut and eat rats every meal, in fact im pretty minted, comparatively speaking.
alls well that ends well.
Ben.
yesterday was the funeral, it was a nice service and a testament to Robb, thats all i'll say.
Im looking forward to getting back out to Cambodia, i really feel reenergized and ready. like i said before i know what im going back to, so im aware of what will be more realistic and what i will be capable of achieving for the next 6 months. more than anything im looking forward to being in a hot tropical climate again, this english weather really is as bad as everyone always says it is.
the old man and the first lady are coming out two weeks today, im hoping to be able to organise a trip down to the beach for a few days, not that i really need the holiday but just because its worth the trip and you wouldnt want Phnom Penh to be your only experience of Cambodia. my dad has travelled extensively round India and the family went there in october. so its not their first 3rd world experience and i imagine PP will be alot more developed than alot of India especially the rural ereas they visited. contrary to popular belief i do not live in a mud hut and eat rats every meal, in fact im pretty minted, comparatively speaking.
alls well that ends well.
Ben.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
fat boy slim
literally mental.
what a great gig. 26 000 people cramed onto madera drive in the freezing cold rain dancing to old fatty. it was brilliant. i was singing the tunes all the way home, which took one whole hour...
ive had a massive stress this morning trying to change the dates of my return flights to the UK later on this year. i cant do it without the paper ticket, which i left in PP. so i need to go abd find their office in bangkok...great, and sort it all out, hopefully i can do it there without the need for the old ticket, otherwise i have to go back to PP get the ticket and fly back to bangkok to sort it all out. rubbish, i though i could sort it all out with one phone call.
christmas and new years were top draw, although im now looking forward to getting back out to cambo where everything is cheap. although because of this tickets stuff im a little worried im not going to be able to sort it out and will get deported...
watch this space
ben.
what a great gig. 26 000 people cramed onto madera drive in the freezing cold rain dancing to old fatty. it was brilliant. i was singing the tunes all the way home, which took one whole hour...
ive had a massive stress this morning trying to change the dates of my return flights to the UK later on this year. i cant do it without the paper ticket, which i left in PP. so i need to go abd find their office in bangkok...great, and sort it all out, hopefully i can do it there without the need for the old ticket, otherwise i have to go back to PP get the ticket and fly back to bangkok to sort it all out. rubbish, i though i could sort it all out with one phone call.
christmas and new years were top draw, although im now looking forward to getting back out to cambo where everything is cheap. although because of this tickets stuff im a little worried im not going to be able to sort it out and will get deported...
watch this space
ben.
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