we had a seriously cool road trip yesterday. it started off as being a day out at 'chisel mountain' which at first was just an hour outside the city, then it turned out to be more like 2. by the time we left and got there it was lunch time so by the time we had climbed this little hill and had our picnic it seemed a good time to head back and have a chilled out afternoon in the city. from the top of the mountain you could see for miles and miles, even though it was quite a small little bump in the terrain. you could see as far as the sea, which was a little while away. so we all decided to head off down to the beach spend the afternoon having some food then driving back in the evening. by the time we actually got there, which was a lot furthur than originally anticipated, it was getting dark. we had enough time to eat some superb seafood and then a shortn walk then the 3 hours back to the city. i tell you it was great. the town is caled kep and is a very small fishing village where they have these masive crabs and big fish of all sorts of variteies, most of which you probably wouldnt find in the tesco frozen meat section. so we had an assortmant of recently decesed fish, which was obviously great.
it was a good oppertunity to see a bit more of the country side, although it all looks mostly the same, there were a lot more rice fields down this road because the road follows the river most of the way down right near the vietnam border. kep was a khmer rouge stronghold untill 2002 so there are still alot of bullet ridden buildings, and im sure if you wondered off into the forest you might come back with only part of a leg remaining. the rice paddies are so green, so much so that it actually hurts your eyes looking at them and there are these beautiful pink flowers that blossom this time of year, although its the dry season and hasnt rained for months the river still provides enough water to farm nearby. there is a strong burning smell as the farmers burn the old crops and start to churn up the ground for next season. i like to think i would like to live out in the country in the middle of nowhere, buy some land and a little shack and take it easy for a while but the truth is you are so far away from civilisation i would begin to go insane after a while, im only just keeping my sanity here in the city. the thought of living in the outback does make me smile though. everyone is so happy and friendly.
we did get lost a few times on the way back and had to stop for gas a bunch of times as well, which was pretty funny really. a lot of people out in the city see white people very rarely, so even stopping for gas can draw a crowd.
one thing you see a lot of is these big red cool boxes on the side of the road, there are loads of little shops that all sell the same things and they all have cool boxs with drinks in them. we stopped and got some water in a little town somewhere on the road south. wteve started drinking it and then said 'someone has peed in this!' we all shouted 'ughhhhh' and then threw it out the window. that was pretty yuck. a good thing about these shops, particularly in the country, is that they sell fruit. so we cought a few dozen fresh mangoes and had some coconut juice straight out the shell, it then took me the best part of en hour to pry the shell open and scoop out all the tasty insides.
the actual beach is not really that nice, there a lot of rocks and stuff. one thing they have a lot of is crabs. we caught this big one that would have been ready for cooking in probably a few weeks, it was pretty big but not quite big enough to eat yet.
it was a good fun day out, although very long, i enjoyed it. i am completely exhausted today becaue of it and probably wont recover all week, but it was worth it.
on and on and on it goes the world it keeps on spinning.
Ben.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
love affair
this week (and the past few months) have seen the rekindling of a childhood love affair between me and a great dame called 'peanut butter', this all started years ago way back before we had met but after my 'nutella' addiction. i spent some time in rehab getting over that one only to stumble into a short fling with someone know as 'rasberry jam', that was short and sweet. after several years of the sober lifestyle i finally felt free enough to make myself another sandwhich. hence the peanut butter. its been a long and winding road but i feel i have come out of the tunnel a stronger person and now i want to settle down.
...speaking of love affairs, i just had a pretty eye opening conversation with Sothy about this girl at uni who appears to be in love with him. he said it is a massive problem for him because she is rich and her dad works in the government and he is not rich or handsom (his words). he told me that if he wanted to marry this girl her parents wouldnt allow them and they could even have gangsters come and kill him. i know this all sounds a bit extreme, when he said that last bit i nearly laughed, but i can assure you he was deadly serious...i advised him out of my vast experience and knowledge in the subject and decided that my work was done. then i saw that it was good and rested.
i found out today there is a music school here in PP that charges $10 for a month to study music and $5 to learn guitar. this is an hour lesson every day of the week for a month for the equivelent of 5 pounds. when i told Sothy my guitar lessons in england used to cost $30 (15 pounds) for just one hour he couldnt believe it, then when i told him that was cheap he was amazed. the contrast is incredible, yet if you consider that a lot of people earn $50-$100 per month the relatively speaking it is probably more expensive here...crazy.
isaac offered me a job the other day. we were just casually chatting and he dropped in the conversation 'if you want to stay here, man, you can run my restaurant' in his west coast accent. to which i laughed and said 'i think i would bankrupt you', this is almost certainly true. nice to have the offer though! i always thought running a business would be good fun.
im off to buy some more rat traps!
3rds the one with the hairy chest.
Ben.
...speaking of love affairs, i just had a pretty eye opening conversation with Sothy about this girl at uni who appears to be in love with him. he said it is a massive problem for him because she is rich and her dad works in the government and he is not rich or handsom (his words). he told me that if he wanted to marry this girl her parents wouldnt allow them and they could even have gangsters come and kill him. i know this all sounds a bit extreme, when he said that last bit i nearly laughed, but i can assure you he was deadly serious...i advised him out of my vast experience and knowledge in the subject and decided that my work was done. then i saw that it was good and rested.
i found out today there is a music school here in PP that charges $10 for a month to study music and $5 to learn guitar. this is an hour lesson every day of the week for a month for the equivelent of 5 pounds. when i told Sothy my guitar lessons in england used to cost $30 (15 pounds) for just one hour he couldnt believe it, then when i told him that was cheap he was amazed. the contrast is incredible, yet if you consider that a lot of people earn $50-$100 per month the relatively speaking it is probably more expensive here...crazy.
isaac offered me a job the other day. we were just casually chatting and he dropped in the conversation 'if you want to stay here, man, you can run my restaurant' in his west coast accent. to which i laughed and said 'i think i would bankrupt you', this is almost certainly true. nice to have the offer though! i always thought running a business would be good fun.
im off to buy some more rat traps!
3rds the one with the hairy chest.
Ben.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
monkeys
me and dave at chi last year....man i miss impact.
im not exactly sure what is happening in this photo but i think the fact that we are wearing gorilla suits gives it a bit more credibility and makes it a little less concerning.
top five
i may have found a way to upload some more photos. dont hold your breaths but ill try and make the magic happen.
isaac and i went out for a drive round the other night which was good fun. we went all over the city and ended up at this place called 'miles' a jazz rooftop bar. they just had a bunch of guys sitting round jamming and they were all flippin amazing, i was by far the worst guitarist there (except for isaac)which isnt hard, but they all played about 30 instruments and were just jamming. it was intense. these two american guys were playing beach boys songs all night and they had the most best harmonies going down. it was the shiz.
i popped over to kerries to skank some food before football yesterday and quickly found out the boys had a crisis... noah had broken cam's bike, so i sat down with them and fixed the chain, when hayden comes running with this big grin on his face and shouts 'ben, your sitting on a rats head' i looked down and he was right...right by me was this dried shrivled rat head. hayden proudly recalled the story of his dad shooting this rat from the balcony then the cat coming and eating it all in the space of a few mins. that put me off the food, so i left!
its been quite frustrating that everything has been shut for chinese new year, everyone else had the sense to buy a bunch of food before the shops shut down. i didnt go hungry...my skanking techniques have been refined and honed into this one perfect line: 'ahh i feel a bit faint today...could i have somthing to eat' haha brilliant. problem is everyone is wise to it now so they just expect that i'll turn up for food whenever i run out or cant be bothered to cook.
top five tales from cambo so far:
1) haydens rat story
2) beach holiday with parents
3) my week without sleep in october
4) running into a concrete pole and being scared for life
5) the river festival
anyone want to add a top five list?
if you havent seen high fidelity you really should go and get it out.
Ben.
isaac and i went out for a drive round the other night which was good fun. we went all over the city and ended up at this place called 'miles' a jazz rooftop bar. they just had a bunch of guys sitting round jamming and they were all flippin amazing, i was by far the worst guitarist there (except for isaac)which isnt hard, but they all played about 30 instruments and were just jamming. it was intense. these two american guys were playing beach boys songs all night and they had the most best harmonies going down. it was the shiz.
i popped over to kerries to skank some food before football yesterday and quickly found out the boys had a crisis... noah had broken cam's bike, so i sat down with them and fixed the chain, when hayden comes running with this big grin on his face and shouts 'ben, your sitting on a rats head' i looked down and he was right...right by me was this dried shrivled rat head. hayden proudly recalled the story of his dad shooting this rat from the balcony then the cat coming and eating it all in the space of a few mins. that put me off the food, so i left!
its been quite frustrating that everything has been shut for chinese new year, everyone else had the sense to buy a bunch of food before the shops shut down. i didnt go hungry...my skanking techniques have been refined and honed into this one perfect line: 'ahh i feel a bit faint today...could i have somthing to eat' haha brilliant. problem is everyone is wise to it now so they just expect that i'll turn up for food whenever i run out or cant be bothered to cook.
top five tales from cambo so far:
1) haydens rat story
2) beach holiday with parents
3) my week without sleep in october
4) running into a concrete pole and being scared for life
5) the river festival
anyone want to add a top five list?
if you havent seen high fidelity you really should go and get it out.
Ben.
Monday, February 19, 2007
official photo editor?
just a few shots from out trip to the beach in january.
nicola - do you want to be my official blog photo editor? i cant seem to upload any photos from my digital camera, maybe if you have any good ones you could send them or i could send some of mine to you and you could post them on here for me?
enjoy,
Ben.
chaos
i bought some salami for the rat trap this week. its gonna score me a mega catch, maybe it will be so good i could become one of those guys from the discovery channel who catches things for a living...?
ive been using this facebook site to catch up with some people i havent seen for a while and seeing some seriously great photos. i got all remisent of the good old days! el clubbo in brighton for nicolas 18th a couple of years ago and christmas walks along the beach this year, happy days.
one thing i realised at christmas which i knew before but never really noticed is how much i love all my friends. i realise its mushy, and a little concerning, particularly the photo of me kissing luke.....let me explain, that was during a very hyper night clubbing in brighton after we had both been hit on by gay men, not a story i like to tell often (laughing). but seriously christmas was such a valuable time for me, to see everyone come together and support each other was amazing and im sad that i cant be there at the moment, but seeing a bunch of photos this week reminded me how much i love everyone and miss you'all. ahhh happy days.
its starting to get hot here, really hot. not thast it isnt always hot but it is getting hotter at the moment. around april/may time is the hot hot hot hot time of the year. apparently it is either seven showers a day and a long siesta (which is fine by me) or death by melting. it can reach 46 degrees during the day...thats pretty hot. so my monthly laundry trip has become a fortnightly one as i seem to be getting through several sets of clothes each day and have seriously been considering reverting back to ice cold showers instead of my hot ones simply because id rather come out refreshed rather than sweating still.
its been great to hear from so many people in the last few weeks i feel like since christmas i have been in contact with so many more people from home which is really good. im really pleased people are taking an interest in the things going on out here. im still really excited about khmer new years in a few weeks down in the province with poli. its gonna be a good one...which reminds me...chinese new year has been a bit uneventful but i did see some dragons dancing in the street today which i had to stop and watch for a while, i think because im living out on the edge of the city im not as exposed to all the chaos.
i found out this week that wat phnom (the big temple in the north of the city that the city was named after) used to be a lot more wild than it is. when my parents were over we went walking round it and they have an elephant and a whole bunch of monkeys that live there. sothy was telling me they used to have crocadiles, snakes and tigers as well. for some reason like tourism they moved the more rare animals into a nature reserve about 50km from the city. when uncle neil was over we met this lady at fcc who is doing a phd study into panthas in ratanakiri (jungle way up in the north east) that was intersting.
so i'll remember to write some more about history and culture this week when i get the chance.
Ben.
ive been using this facebook site to catch up with some people i havent seen for a while and seeing some seriously great photos. i got all remisent of the good old days! el clubbo in brighton for nicolas 18th a couple of years ago and christmas walks along the beach this year, happy days.
one thing i realised at christmas which i knew before but never really noticed is how much i love all my friends. i realise its mushy, and a little concerning, particularly the photo of me kissing luke.....let me explain, that was during a very hyper night clubbing in brighton after we had both been hit on by gay men, not a story i like to tell often (laughing). but seriously christmas was such a valuable time for me, to see everyone come together and support each other was amazing and im sad that i cant be there at the moment, but seeing a bunch of photos this week reminded me how much i love everyone and miss you'all. ahhh happy days.
its starting to get hot here, really hot. not thast it isnt always hot but it is getting hotter at the moment. around april/may time is the hot hot hot hot time of the year. apparently it is either seven showers a day and a long siesta (which is fine by me) or death by melting. it can reach 46 degrees during the day...thats pretty hot. so my monthly laundry trip has become a fortnightly one as i seem to be getting through several sets of clothes each day and have seriously been considering reverting back to ice cold showers instead of my hot ones simply because id rather come out refreshed rather than sweating still.
its been great to hear from so many people in the last few weeks i feel like since christmas i have been in contact with so many more people from home which is really good. im really pleased people are taking an interest in the things going on out here. im still really excited about khmer new years in a few weeks down in the province with poli. its gonna be a good one...which reminds me...chinese new year has been a bit uneventful but i did see some dragons dancing in the street today which i had to stop and watch for a while, i think because im living out on the edge of the city im not as exposed to all the chaos.
i found out this week that wat phnom (the big temple in the north of the city that the city was named after) used to be a lot more wild than it is. when my parents were over we went walking round it and they have an elephant and a whole bunch of monkeys that live there. sothy was telling me they used to have crocadiles, snakes and tigers as well. for some reason like tourism they moved the more rare animals into a nature reserve about 50km from the city. when uncle neil was over we met this lady at fcc who is doing a phd study into panthas in ratanakiri (jungle way up in the north east) that was intersting.
so i'll remember to write some more about history and culture this week when i get the chance.
Ben.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
greenpeace
i have so much to say i dont know where to start....
bad news first,
danik - Sothy's sister has been really sick recently, at first he said it was cancer, but we are not sure exactly because i think he uses that word a lot if someone is very sick. we went round to their house just opposite our building to pray for her after church today and she said that she has an infection because of water in her lungs. tomorow she is alos having an opperation on her nose because she has trouble breathing and they think the two things might be connected. so this is obviously not good...
also i found out this week that i cant go to sydney for the conference there in march. so ive been pretty bummed out because of that. im thinking of going anyway for a week and then maybe to new zealand for a week in april or june. i need to go check my diary and my bank balance! god willing!
i want to write a blog about cambodian history. ive learnt a surprising amount about the country right from the angkor empire around 1100 ad right up to present day. so watch this space, i haven't time or zeal to write anything convincing at the moment.
so good news....
poli - he is a young khmer guy from kompong speu who has been in the city for 4 months and came to learn english. his province is about 48km outside PP and another 10km from the main town to his farm. this morning at church he decded that he had heard enough about the bible and this jesus bloke and simply decided that he wanted to know more about him. so we prayed with him and he said how happy he was that now he belives in jesus. it was a really special morning.
midge has her sister over for a few days so they went up to siem reap where the angkor temples are for a little holiday leaving just steve. so we decided to go out for lunch to parkway. so me sothy, steve and poli went out for some noodles. it was really great to spend some time getting to know more about him and his family and his home. khmer new year is in a few weeks time and poli invited me and sothy to go out to kompong speu to stay on his farm with his family for a couple of days. let me say this is not only incredibly kind but also very special, it is great that he wants to have us with his family for the new year and especially having a young western guy from the city come and stay is a big deal in their culture particularly in the country where they dont see many white people. so im massively excited about going and gave him a big YES!...how cool, khmer new year on a rice farm in the middle of cambodia. brilliant. that was the most best thing that happened to me this week.
just a side note,
did anyone hear in the news about the japanese whaling ship that got stranded out at sea and was drifting towards new zealand last week? i thought it aweful ironic that the only ship in the area that could save it was a green peace ship that was out, originally, to protest against it andtry to stop it. there was this whole spiel in the radio about how the japanese needed to swallow their pride and accept help from greenpeace.
com'on england
Ben.
bad news first,
danik - Sothy's sister has been really sick recently, at first he said it was cancer, but we are not sure exactly because i think he uses that word a lot if someone is very sick. we went round to their house just opposite our building to pray for her after church today and she said that she has an infection because of water in her lungs. tomorow she is alos having an opperation on her nose because she has trouble breathing and they think the two things might be connected. so this is obviously not good...
also i found out this week that i cant go to sydney for the conference there in march. so ive been pretty bummed out because of that. im thinking of going anyway for a week and then maybe to new zealand for a week in april or june. i need to go check my diary and my bank balance! god willing!
i want to write a blog about cambodian history. ive learnt a surprising amount about the country right from the angkor empire around 1100 ad right up to present day. so watch this space, i haven't time or zeal to write anything convincing at the moment.
so good news....
poli - he is a young khmer guy from kompong speu who has been in the city for 4 months and came to learn english. his province is about 48km outside PP and another 10km from the main town to his farm. this morning at church he decded that he had heard enough about the bible and this jesus bloke and simply decided that he wanted to know more about him. so we prayed with him and he said how happy he was that now he belives in jesus. it was a really special morning.
midge has her sister over for a few days so they went up to siem reap where the angkor temples are for a little holiday leaving just steve. so we decided to go out for lunch to parkway. so me sothy, steve and poli went out for some noodles. it was really great to spend some time getting to know more about him and his family and his home. khmer new year is in a few weeks time and poli invited me and sothy to go out to kompong speu to stay on his farm with his family for a couple of days. let me say this is not only incredibly kind but also very special, it is great that he wants to have us with his family for the new year and especially having a young western guy from the city come and stay is a big deal in their culture particularly in the country where they dont see many white people. so im massively excited about going and gave him a big YES!...how cool, khmer new year on a rice farm in the middle of cambodia. brilliant. that was the most best thing that happened to me this week.
just a side note,
did anyone hear in the news about the japanese whaling ship that got stranded out at sea and was drifting towards new zealand last week? i thought it aweful ironic that the only ship in the area that could save it was a green peace ship that was out, originally, to protest against it andtry to stop it. there was this whole spiel in the radio about how the japanese needed to swallow their pride and accept help from greenpeace.
com'on england
Ben.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
8 years old
ahhhh....my football trainners finally gave in last night. after literally three and a half months my thin, useless shioes that i had come to love finally split. i must add that usually they die within a month, so mine were legendary. it hurt so bad, there was a big hole in the toe and my sock got worn away as well so by the end i had a pretty raw toe.
i cant believe my eyes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sorrel Daisy Tucker. i cant believe your 8 years old today... im joking i know you're 15. have a good one sis, im going to try and ring home later and will send an illegal copy of 'miss potter'in the post as soon as i get down to the market and win a fight over my conscience to buy it for you...again joking.
chinese new year this weekend so everything shuts down for a few days, a lot of people from the province come to the city for the festivities and a whole bunch go to the province to see family, so i honestly have no idea whether it will be busy or empty, probably normal. they've been carting round these big old tree/bushy things all week, which i recon must be something to do with the new year. i havent seen them before this week, maybe they'll decorate the riverfront with them. i rmemeber back in november when the riverfestival was a few weeks away and this metal works round the corner from kerrys house (where i was living at the time) were frantical;ly building these octagonal portar loo's, apparently they had a big problem last year, because there are so many people down t the river and people need to use the loo. what do you do when there is no where to go.....you go in the river, which is a bit of a problem when people are swimming and there are crowds of people all lined yup along the shore watching the boat races. fortunately i didnt wotness any of that malarky, but i wouldnt nbe surprised if i had.
im moving back into kerrys for a few days whilst they go out of the city to see some friends, im feeling a bit mixed as whether to stay up at the church or move back in with the evans household. its really just a matter of a hot shower and a cold shower. now ive had the relative luxury of a hot shower for the last month im not sure i could wake up in the morning knowing i have nothing but a ice freeze to look forward to...ughh.
... i heard a rumor terry scard has been allowed to preach in worthing? i really cant believe it, whos idea was this? the plave has obviously gone down hill...
my latest cambodian t-shirt idea goes thus:
cambodia - if you cant beat them...kill them.
i think its pretty historically accurate, i'll leave the authorities to be the judge of that...
thats all for this weeks edition, coming next...the times and trials of a rat killer.
Ben.
i cant believe my eyes! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sorrel Daisy Tucker. i cant believe your 8 years old today... im joking i know you're 15. have a good one sis, im going to try and ring home later and will send an illegal copy of 'miss potter'in the post as soon as i get down to the market and win a fight over my conscience to buy it for you...again joking.
chinese new year this weekend so everything shuts down for a few days, a lot of people from the province come to the city for the festivities and a whole bunch go to the province to see family, so i honestly have no idea whether it will be busy or empty, probably normal. they've been carting round these big old tree/bushy things all week, which i recon must be something to do with the new year. i havent seen them before this week, maybe they'll decorate the riverfront with them. i rmemeber back in november when the riverfestival was a few weeks away and this metal works round the corner from kerrys house (where i was living at the time) were frantical;ly building these octagonal portar loo's, apparently they had a big problem last year, because there are so many people down t the river and people need to use the loo. what do you do when there is no where to go.....you go in the river, which is a bit of a problem when people are swimming and there are crowds of people all lined yup along the shore watching the boat races. fortunately i didnt wotness any of that malarky, but i wouldnt nbe surprised if i had.
im moving back into kerrys for a few days whilst they go out of the city to see some friends, im feeling a bit mixed as whether to stay up at the church or move back in with the evans household. its really just a matter of a hot shower and a cold shower. now ive had the relative luxury of a hot shower for the last month im not sure i could wake up in the morning knowing i have nothing but a ice freeze to look forward to...ughh.
... i heard a rumor terry scard has been allowed to preach in worthing? i really cant believe it, whos idea was this? the plave has obviously gone down hill...
my latest cambodian t-shirt idea goes thus:
cambodia - if you cant beat them...kill them.
i think its pretty historically accurate, i'll leave the authorities to be the judge of that...
thats all for this weeks edition, coming next...the times and trials of a rat killer.
Ben.
Monday, February 12, 2007
sundial in the shade
good to hear from a few of you this week. keep emailing its great to hear all your news.
we went bowling today and i got beaten by a girl, i said it was because i was sick but i lied. i was just rubbish.
steve and midge have been in bangkok getting some medical tests so the boys have been here in the house with libby for a few days.
im rethinking our conversation club student stuff. originally i wanteds to have this cool, trendy, student union type open house once a week. then we realised that the khmer are not cool or trendy and all they want to do is learn english. so im thinking about using the time to do a class instead, wwich was really not what i wanted to do but then i remembered that im not doing anything i really want to do. im doing a lot of stuff to help like home school and kids club that i would never chose to do but its good to help out whereever there is a need and i think doing an english class will meet a need. so anyway i havent decided but will give the club another week or two and see what happens. im not being negative im just trying to be realistic.
everything else is business as usual.
benjamin franklin once said:
'hide not your talents, they for use were made. whats a sundial in the shade?'
i love that quote. im going to start trying to play to my strengths a bit more, even though helping out whenever doesnt mean you can chose what you do but there is more things i can do that im good at to help. my fridays have been quite recently so im plotting something new, i dont know what yet, i have a lot whizzing round my head!
another day another dollar. although i dont get paid, so that doesnt really make sense.
how about this...
cambodia - the land of the free...if you can afford it...
im working on a good slogan to put on tshirts. this is an easier way to get deported. although. kosevs idea in the last posts comments page was also good.
take it easy you'all
ben.
we went bowling today and i got beaten by a girl, i said it was because i was sick but i lied. i was just rubbish.
steve and midge have been in bangkok getting some medical tests so the boys have been here in the house with libby for a few days.
im rethinking our conversation club student stuff. originally i wanteds to have this cool, trendy, student union type open house once a week. then we realised that the khmer are not cool or trendy and all they want to do is learn english. so im thinking about using the time to do a class instead, wwich was really not what i wanted to do but then i remembered that im not doing anything i really want to do. im doing a lot of stuff to help like home school and kids club that i would never chose to do but its good to help out whereever there is a need and i think doing an english class will meet a need. so anyway i havent decided but will give the club another week or two and see what happens. im not being negative im just trying to be realistic.
everything else is business as usual.
benjamin franklin once said:
'hide not your talents, they for use were made. whats a sundial in the shade?'
i love that quote. im going to start trying to play to my strengths a bit more, even though helping out whenever doesnt mean you can chose what you do but there is more things i can do that im good at to help. my fridays have been quite recently so im plotting something new, i dont know what yet, i have a lot whizzing round my head!
another day another dollar. although i dont get paid, so that doesnt really make sense.
how about this...
cambodia - the land of the free...if you can afford it...
im working on a good slogan to put on tshirts. this is an easier way to get deported. although. kosevs idea in the last posts comments page was also good.
take it easy you'all
ben.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
i have a dream
life has been hectic. i cant believe its february. in fact, things have been happening at such a speed i wasnt paying attention to what day or date it was, so when i found out it was feb i was literally flabergasted (aweful spelling, im unsure but no longer care), what a great word.
ive been working my way through the third season of west wing these past few days, which is obviously brilliant, and so completely absorbing i often forget the time and end up in this space/time continuim where nothing happens but an aweful lot of american politics and office banter. i must be honest and say that it is a relief to have somewhere to escape into and somewhere that you can forget where you are and just enjoy a few hours of tv, even if it is a fiction story about ego inflated politicians. i started watching heroes on the tv, but it got a bit nasty so i couldnt watch it with frosty, im going to wait till west wing finishes then get heroes on dvd... sorted.
today at home school i picked up one of the boys books on the wright brothers, its only a small book so i easily read through it and finished just after lunch. i never knew soo much about them, in fact i only knew they were the first people to fly and not a lot else. if i could be anything like those guys i think it would be great, they did so much cool stuff, despite being near death from typhoid and restricting infections because of various different things happening. what a great story. next week we get to chose and memorise a famous speech. i was thinking abe lincoln at gettesburg, anything churchill ever said or m.l.king 'i have a dream'. pretty great school stuff, although its mostly american stuff they do have a great education and know a bunch of stuff i never learnt. ive enjoyed it the last few months because the boys know what they have to do so they just get on with it and let me sit in the corner reading all the history and science books. the stories about when they built railroads and telegraph poles all accross america are amazing and building skyscrapers. its all good.
i also found out, just by thinking and also experience, a bunch of things not to do whilst driving a moto.
1) do not attempt to tie your shoelaces whilst driving a moto
2) do not attempt to answer a phone call, with your helmet on
3) do not try and pick your nose (it gets messy)
4) try to avoid driving under lamp posts at night or else the swarms of mossies will really hurt your eyes.
5) try not to change up to a gear that doesnt exist.
so you can tell ive had fun. (all safe mum...i made most of those up for a few cheap laughs)
until another day....probably soon.
Ben.
ive been working my way through the third season of west wing these past few days, which is obviously brilliant, and so completely absorbing i often forget the time and end up in this space/time continuim where nothing happens but an aweful lot of american politics and office banter. i must be honest and say that it is a relief to have somewhere to escape into and somewhere that you can forget where you are and just enjoy a few hours of tv, even if it is a fiction story about ego inflated politicians. i started watching heroes on the tv, but it got a bit nasty so i couldnt watch it with frosty, im going to wait till west wing finishes then get heroes on dvd... sorted.
today at home school i picked up one of the boys books on the wright brothers, its only a small book so i easily read through it and finished just after lunch. i never knew soo much about them, in fact i only knew they were the first people to fly and not a lot else. if i could be anything like those guys i think it would be great, they did so much cool stuff, despite being near death from typhoid and restricting infections because of various different things happening. what a great story. next week we get to chose and memorise a famous speech. i was thinking abe lincoln at gettesburg, anything churchill ever said or m.l.king 'i have a dream'. pretty great school stuff, although its mostly american stuff they do have a great education and know a bunch of stuff i never learnt. ive enjoyed it the last few months because the boys know what they have to do so they just get on with it and let me sit in the corner reading all the history and science books. the stories about when they built railroads and telegraph poles all accross america are amazing and building skyscrapers. its all good.
i also found out, just by thinking and also experience, a bunch of things not to do whilst driving a moto.
1) do not attempt to tie your shoelaces whilst driving a moto
2) do not attempt to answer a phone call, with your helmet on
3) do not try and pick your nose (it gets messy)
4) try to avoid driving under lamp posts at night or else the swarms of mossies will really hurt your eyes.
5) try not to change up to a gear that doesnt exist.
so you can tell ive had fun. (all safe mum...i made most of those up for a few cheap laughs)
until another day....probably soon.
Ben.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
partners in crime
this week marks the most busy week of the year so far, i cannot explain what happened, i just didnt get a chance to sit down at all. which i guess is a good thing.
fridays are normally my relaxed, end of the week, admin day! but this week me and Sothy went out to a couple of universities to hand out the invites to our new conversation club, which i will mention more about in a min. then me and chris spent the afternoon crafting a png pong table out of some old ply wood and splintered shards of wood, it was great fun, although we busted a bunch of decent screw heads and very nearly broke chris's drill. we need to screw in some more rafters to stop the ply from warpingt and paint the thing, but its pretty much done and dusted, result. then in the evening i met up with my uncle neil who had just completed a trip up to laos with his friend steve bull, it was a really interesting evening talking about all their travels and all the various interesting places neil has been to, he is a bit of a die hard traveller, i write with caution as i know he will probably read this!...he is a great bloke, one of the best!!!
we spent more on the meal and drinks that evening than i spend in a month on food...gosh.
so...........students!!!
today was our first conversation club, after the khmer bible study over lunch, me and sothy drove up to the uni and waited for the masses of people who we fully expected to be waiting for us to lead them to the church for the first week of our new club. sadly, i thought at first, only two young guys showed up. i was pretty gutted and thought about calling it off but then we started chatting with them and they were such great guys. both of them from the province have moved to the city for uni and really want to practice english, learn guitar and make friends with a whitey (me) so we sat round at the church for an hour chatting about our families and our homes, future plans etc. although it was a bit slow, they both promised to come again next week and will tell all their friends as well. small beginnings, sothy left with a big grin on his face, we are being faithful with what we have for now and hope that it will grow beyond our expectations. sothy really is my partner in crime over here, there isnt a lot i do in the church without him, although we still dont know eachother very well, we have grown to be good friends. i know when i leave cambodia i will miss him bery much. i said i will buy him a plane ticket to come over to england if/when i get married, he thought that was hillarious, as he doesnt plan on getting married till way after he is 30. i said ASAP!!! he laughed, i dont think he really understood!
ive been enjoying myself here, especially now i have some games on my laptop and i bought west wing series 3 yesterday, so ive been hanging out at peoples houses who i know have dvd players and slip it inot conversation just when i feel it is appropriate and im not imposing, so that they have to invite me in to watch it so that they dont feel guilty for being inhospitable.
man i love being young, you can get away with soo much.
he saved us because he delighted in us. psalm 18:19b
peeling in the sun,
Ben.
fridays are normally my relaxed, end of the week, admin day! but this week me and Sothy went out to a couple of universities to hand out the invites to our new conversation club, which i will mention more about in a min. then me and chris spent the afternoon crafting a png pong table out of some old ply wood and splintered shards of wood, it was great fun, although we busted a bunch of decent screw heads and very nearly broke chris's drill. we need to screw in some more rafters to stop the ply from warpingt and paint the thing, but its pretty much done and dusted, result. then in the evening i met up with my uncle neil who had just completed a trip up to laos with his friend steve bull, it was a really interesting evening talking about all their travels and all the various interesting places neil has been to, he is a bit of a die hard traveller, i write with caution as i know he will probably read this!...he is a great bloke, one of the best!!!
we spent more on the meal and drinks that evening than i spend in a month on food...gosh.
so...........students!!!
today was our first conversation club, after the khmer bible study over lunch, me and sothy drove up to the uni and waited for the masses of people who we fully expected to be waiting for us to lead them to the church for the first week of our new club. sadly, i thought at first, only two young guys showed up. i was pretty gutted and thought about calling it off but then we started chatting with them and they were such great guys. both of them from the province have moved to the city for uni and really want to practice english, learn guitar and make friends with a whitey (me) so we sat round at the church for an hour chatting about our families and our homes, future plans etc. although it was a bit slow, they both promised to come again next week and will tell all their friends as well. small beginnings, sothy left with a big grin on his face, we are being faithful with what we have for now and hope that it will grow beyond our expectations. sothy really is my partner in crime over here, there isnt a lot i do in the church without him, although we still dont know eachother very well, we have grown to be good friends. i know when i leave cambodia i will miss him bery much. i said i will buy him a plane ticket to come over to england if/when i get married, he thought that was hillarious, as he doesnt plan on getting married till way after he is 30. i said ASAP!!! he laughed, i dont think he really understood!
ive been enjoying myself here, especially now i have some games on my laptop and i bought west wing series 3 yesterday, so ive been hanging out at peoples houses who i know have dvd players and slip it inot conversation just when i feel it is appropriate and im not imposing, so that they have to invite me in to watch it so that they dont feel guilty for being inhospitable.
man i love being young, you can get away with soo much.
he saved us because he delighted in us. psalm 18:19b
peeling in the sun,
Ben.
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