faster and slower at the same time

Home/family life has become much slower since we got to Australia over a year ago.

 The chronic illness has forced us both to slow down in day to day things, and slightly longer term things too.

 But at the same time, its feels like things are going faster. With stable electricity supply and all the machines everyone has here in Aust, things are expected to happen much faster.

Strange feeling! Only just realising that now, looking back on last year.

What do I do at work

FOCUS girls meal at Vietnamese restaurant 

 Recently about 10 FOCUS girls had a meal out together. It was fun to spend some time with them, and great for them to get to know each other a bit. Some of them met for the first time as some people only go to small groups, and others only to our big FOCUS meetings, others may only come a a holiday program or social event every so often.

That night we had some Aussies, a Bengali, some Indonesians, some Chinese.

Duck lunch after FOCUS girls graduation 

update on live below the line

Well, Becky has finished the week of only eating what she could buy for 2$ per day (see post from last week). At first her goal was to raise 400$ for education in PNG, but she has now raised the goal to a LOT more than that as you can see here on her page.

almost that time of the year again

Its almost the time of year when we say lots of goodbyes. In Cambodia its the end of the academic year so lots of people are about to leave the communities we were part of . Even though we are in Australia now I work with international students. 

International student visited Uluru recently

At the end of semester 1 last year I discovered a that quite a lot of the people I had been sharing my life with from week to week were finishing up, and its the same this year.

Watermelon biscuit made by an almost departed international student

These photos are all from various students who I have been getting to know over the last 2 semesters. It will be sad to say goodbye to them! They only have a month left at uni here.

i really like having food (enough of it, choices etc)

It wasn't meant to be a series but I think its turning into one. " I really like..." so much to be thankful for!

Yesterday I had a flashback/reminder of something I find hard about living in Cambodia. I was reminded that I'm so rich compared to most people, and I feel uncomfortable about that. I don't feel uncomfortable about it normally, in my day to day Aussie life, but yesterday I was around someone who is "living below the line so others can rise above it".

Becky's week of food- less than $2 a day

One of my friends is doing "Live below the line" This week she is eating only what she can get for $2 a day, and asking us to give money for education in PNG. Heaps more on the website, if you want to donate to her click here.

And here is a link to her speaking this morning about how its going, you may need to be her friend on facebook to see this.

"We'll do it because while we struggle to Live Below the Line for one week, there are 1.4 billion people doing it every day. That's over 60 times the population of Australia - forced every day to live in the most desperate and degrading poverty."

i really like taps

So much to be thankful for! As well as washing machines i really like taps, as does Nicole the blogger

In my first year of marriage I had Khmer language lessons from some of the Bible school students who live on campus. When I tried to find out the word for "tap" they didn't seem to know it , which i thought was really weird.
later Soeun told me Khmer has a word for tap, but its a loan word from French. I guess if you don't grow up with taps, if they are not that common, you don't really need a word for them!

i really like washing machines

"I really like washing machines" i wrote and a friend posted the clip below in response.

My mother in law brought up 4 kids with no washing machine. I was thinking about that today as I did a load of washing. I've got a cold, and when you're not feeling well doing small things take a lot of effort, so I'm especially grateful for access to a washing machine this week! But even when I'm well, I can't imagine hand washing all my clothes.


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Remote learning

 I've been learning lots of interesting things about Cambodia since I left just over a year ago. Every now and then something comes up that reminds Soeun of his childhood and we end up talking about all these things which seem like they are from another world.

 Life in a Cambodian village in the 1980's was quite different to my life in Phnom Penh more recently. I guess being away from it gives me the brain space to learn more.

Cow cart ride

 Earlier this year we ate food from Noodle Box, a take away food shop. On the chop stick  wrapper it said "Man with one chopstick go hungry". His grandpa, who was Chinese, used to say that to him when he was teaching him how to do things (like look after water buffalos).

 The photos above are some picturesque Khmer village photos we took when we travelled to visit people. As Soeun talks about his childhood that's what I'm imagining. The photos below are more like the reality of life in Phnom Penh these days.

 It can be hard to get around - floods, traffic, heat, dust, construction sites etc etc...

This particular traffic/ construction site was amusing. The big new houses had been built too close to the telegraph poles, so then the poles had to be moved.

 Sore throat. Nice to stay home and drink hot ginger and lime.

Numerical snapshot of my semi- nomadicness

# of pieces of furniture we own: 0 (apart from the beanbag and hammock we were given)

# of suitcases we have: 5 (plus a 70 litre backpack)

#of places that are currently home: 4 and 2 halves

#of languages my husband is familiar with: 4 dead, 5 living

#of places our siblings currently live: 6 different towns

#of addresses I’ve had in last 13 years: about 9? Depends how you count

Vietnam- Cathy's brother missing since Friday, still looking for him as this news story tells

Vietnam- Cathy's brother missing since Friday, still looking for him as this news story tells
They are trying to get more public awareness to help find him

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cake, health, weekends and other stuff

photo by Arun

 I spent Easter weekend with on the annual conference my AFES group runs. "Jesus Christ: Man. God. Sacrifice. King" was the title.  The photo above was part of how we learnt about Jesus.... I can't take any credit for this artwork, I was in a different group. I also don't know how it actually relates to Jesus.

It was exciting to sit with the international students and go over the talks with them. A few of them seem to be at significant points in their relationships with God, so it was a great way to spend Easter!

photo by Danny

Yesterday FOCUS went for a walk from one beach to another. As the students mostly have holidays this week we have more time to get to know them. On the train/bus there and back we had some good conversations. The rain held off for pretty much the whole time we were walking!

Two weekends in a row I was away so last weekend it was nice to not be away. Soeun's health has gone downhill again since the end of last month I really hate seeing him sick. I also don't like going away and leaving him at home alone sick.

Missing Person in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam 2012 - Edwin De La C...

The brother of a missionary in Cambodia went missing on Friday.  If you are in Vietnam, or know people there, please watch this clip, they are trying to find him.

cross culture confusion at festival time- Khmer New Year and Easter!

This is a big time of year in Cambodia!

Khmer new year traffic is dangerous, people travel and drink more than usual

A friend in Cambodia took this photo (below) the other day, Khmer new year celebrations at her church. In this game you have to blindfoldly smash a clay pot filled with candy/flour etc. (see my facebook wall for more!)

At this time of year in Cambodia there are people throwing water (day time) and playing games (night) in the streets.

Happy New Year face, as well as water fights people throw powder at each other to celebrate  at this time of year.april 2009

"What are you doing for Khmer New Year?" some Khmer friends asked Soeun on the phone the other day. He tried to explain he wasn't doing anything as we don't have that holiday here in Australia, its just a normal day. That must have seemed like a non answer to them, as they kept asking him the same question!

You've heard teachers are respected in Asia? This is the reality - the youth did this!

It reminded me of a conversation I had recently with an Aussie friend about Easter and Christmas in Cambodia. I was saying how I was enjoying being in Aust where churches have Easter services on Easter Sunday and services on Good Friday, and Christmas services on Dec 25th. As that's what I grew up with it feels nice and normal to do that!

 I think I confused my friend when I was trying to explain that doesn't happen in Cambodia. The dates that were so important to me growing up don't have the same meaning in my husband's country. And the holidays that were big for him growing up are a non event here- seemingly incomprehensible so his friends on the phone the other day!

Easter often usually fall near Khmer new year, when lots of people are away visiting family so churches I've been at don't usually have Easter on Easter. And of course December 25th isn't a public holiday so unless it falls on a Sunday a church wouldn't do anything that day. It seems like they usually pick a Sunday some time between Nov-Jan to have their Christmas on.

Party decorations in April at the Bible school

Bible school hall set up for KNY party, April 2010

The weather is really hot and humid in April in Cambodia, more so than usual. 

We usually travel to visit relatives in the province, as do most people. It only took us 3 hours one way but we usually saw about 3 traffic accidents each time. We also saw lots of tables set out to welcome the new year angel. (see photo below) 

A table set up to welcome the new year angel, households all across Cambodia have these set up in mid April, we see so many as we travel to visit family in the province. 


Each year the old angel leaves and the angel that will look after Cambodia for the coming year arrives. You can see it on TV- the first time I experienced this I was totally weirded out as you can read here. 


(actually my 1st KNY i was in the city and didn't notice, the weirded blog post is from my 2nd one when i was at in laws house, april 2007)


Each year the angel comes at a particular time some time around mid April. Once we were woken up in the night by fireworks cos the arrival time was around 1am. This year I've heard its 7.11pm on Friday 13th

Fish and mango lunch


As I enjoy the cold weather and eating hot cross buns, I'm remembering that at this time of year I'm normally eating mangos and feeling very hot and tired!

April is unbearably hot, redeeming feature of this season- cheap and plentiful mangos, they cost  25-50 US cents each  

When Soeun was young he lived in a village. All of April was one big holiday. They finished one rice cycle in March and they didn't start the next one until May. It was so hot they rested during the day and played games at night. But for city dwellers these days it is a three day public holiday.

Familiar sights and sounds

A Cambodian tune with Christian words we sang at church and Bible school- have a listen, you'll know at least one word! And the photos are of familiar things as well.