New Favorite Song

CAMBODIAN PICTIONARY!

For the first time ever, I am making a public release of one of my pet projects. This is a game that is fun for expats and visitors to Cambodia, but good luck if you've never been to southeast Asia.

Game Play:

1. Use paper or a white board to draw the clue in the given time. (Some Examples)
2. One team draws and guesses while the other team judges.
3. You can make up your own rules for steals and lightning rounds.

Some notes:

1. This game works on Microsoft Excel. I've never tried it with Open Office.
2. You need to enable macros for the game to work. If macros are not enabled, the buttons won't do anything when you click them.
3. This game might work on some versions of Excel for Mac. But don't count on it.

Please feel free to pass this along. My apologies for any spelling errors or grossly offensive content. Please email me with your suggestions for words to be added to the list! Keep an eye on this page for future updates, as I have several ideas planned.

And with no further ado: CAMBODIAN PICTIONARY v4.1

Time is Flying By

So I decided to make a post today just to share an article in the Phnom Penh Post about the 900th run of our running club (at approximately 1 run per week, that's a big number!). Naomi and I have been running with the Hash House Harriers since our first week in Cambodia, and it has been a great way to make friends, see the countryside, stay in shape, and generally broaden our Cambodian horizions. You can find the article online here, or you can download a pdf of it here.

Besides running, I have been spending my time learning Japanese, doing some project management of the new Lord's Gym in Svay Pak with Aim4Asia, and helping Yejj with a redesign/reworking of their website and some of their literature. Not to mention getting to help Naomi with some Excel-Fu here and there for IJM. All in all, it's been a blessed season... and I'm not really looking forward to our looming return to the States, which I guess says a lot about how glad we are to be where we are now.

Photo: me and a 8-foot (ok maybe 3'6") barracuda caught deep sea fishing in Sihanookville in February on a weekend trip with some friends.

Back Where I Started - One Year Later

So it’s been a long while since I’ve posted any thoughts or updates here, so I figure I’m pretty well overdue. Naomi and I enjoyed a wonderful 3 weeks back in the States over Christmas and New Year’s, and we (somewhat reluctantly) returned to Cambodia about 3 weeks ago on the 6^th.

When we first arrived just over a year ago, I did not know how I was going to spend my year. I started by spending the first couple weeks getting our house settled and furnished, setting up phone lines,  buying a motor bike, etc. After about a month, Naomi and I started studying Khmer at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, I started volunteering with AGAPE and started teaching English and computer classes at our church (New Life Fellowship), and at the Ministry of Public Works, while concurrently applying for jobs. As posted here before, I was overjoyed when I found a job with a top Korean engineering firm working on one of the country’s premiere projects.

My employment with GS E&C was a great experience, where I learned many things about Korean culture, the construction industry, and Cambodia. Unfortunately, this project was put on hold and all local staff were laid off (including me) about 2 months ago due to the global financial crisis – which hit Korea particularly hard. I had about 3 weeks of unemployment before our trip to the US, which I used to train for the Angkor Wat half marathon – Naomi beat me by 2 minutes, but we were both very pleased to finish around 1:50 – and then to prepare for our trip back to the states (and to get pretty good at crosswords).

Since returning, I have once again found myself seeking the most productive and valuable way to spend my time. I have begun to study Japanese – something I have always wanted to do, but never had the mental energy to do it. It has been REALLY nice to get to practice with Naomi, and I am thankful for this one great activity to help direct my mental energy – not that crossword puzzles are a complete waste of time, just that speaking and reading Japanese might provide more long-term returns.

I have once again started looking for jobs and volunteer opportunities… but I am hesitant to jump into the first volunteer position that I can find. After living here a year, I am more skeptical of NGOs than ever – questioning whether the sum effect of their overwhelming presence here in Cambodia.

Naomi continues to pour her energy and heart into her work with IJM, and I know that one of the best things I do here is to support her in this season. It’s definitely a blow to my ego, but we both know that God is doing some truly significant work through her, and it is my pleasure to play just the smallest supporting role.

OK that’s it. Just a quick update on what I’m up to. I’ll try to get another post up in the following weeks. I’ve been taking a lot of photos these days with my free time, and will try to get some links up soon.

Josh
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Could it be the best pizza in Cambodia?

Wagon Wheel Restaurant

012-873-341

(click image to enlarge)

It's way the stink out there in Toul Kork, so call 012-873-341 and have Gerd deliver some pies to your house and see for yourself!

Full Wagon Wheel Menu

Holidays

There are a lot of holidays in Cambodia. This year there's 24 public holidays! That's 24 WORK days of... no work! Knowing exactly when the holidays occur isn't as easy as it may seem, but the best source I've found to stay up-to-date on Cambodian holidays is http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/e-visa/info_holiday.aspx

Date in 2008  Holiday Name

1  Jan. 1    Tue  International New Year's Day
2  Jan. 7    Mon  Victory Day over the

                  Genocidal Regime
   Feb. 21   Thu  Meaka Bochea Day

                  (Unofficial holiday)
   Mar. 8    Sat  International Women's Rights Day
3  Mar. 10   Mon  Women's Rights Day Holiday

                  (Observed)
   Apr. 13   Sun  Cambodian New Year
4  Apr. 14   Mon  Cambodian New Year Holiday
5  Apr. 15   Tue  Cambodian New Year Holiday
6  Apr. 16   Wed  Cambodian New Year Holiday
7  May 1     Thu  International Labour Day
8  May 13    Tue  King Norodom Sihamoni's Birthday
9  May 14    Wed  King's Birthday Holiday
10 May 15    Thu  King's Birthday Holiday
11 May 19    Mon  Visakh Bochea Day (Buddha Day)
12 May 23    Fri  Royal Ploughing Ceremony

                  (Pithi Chrat Preah Neanng Korl)
13 Jun. 18   Wed  King Mother's Birthday

                  (Norodom Monineath)
14 Sep. 24   Wed  Constitution Day
   Sep. 28   Sun  Bonn Phchum Ben (Ancestors' Day)
15 Sep. 29   Mon  Bonn Phchum Ben Holiday

                  (Observed)
16 Sep. 30   Tue  Bonn Phchum Ben Holiday
17 Oct. 1    Wed  Bonn Phchum Ben Holiday
18 Oct. 29   Wed  King's Coronation Day

                  (Norodom Sihamoni)
29 Oct. 31   Fri  King Father's Birthday

                  (Norodom Sihanouk)
   Nov. 9    Sun  Independence Day
20 Nov. 10   Mon  Independence Day Holiday

                  (Observed)
21 Nov. 11   Tue  Bonn Om Touk (Water Festival)
22 Nov. 12   Wed  Bonn Om Touk (Water Festival)
23 Nov. 13   Thu  Bonn Om Touk (Water Festival)
24 Dec. 10   Wed  International Human Rights Day

Many of these holidays are Buddhist religious festivals, which are based on the lunar calendar and the dates change from year to year... so be careful to always check for the current year's holiday dates.

Why Visit Phnom Penh?

1. We have a sweet guest room

2. There's lots of fun things to do! Check out this recent article from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/travel/21hours.html?bl&ex=1222056000&en=e988142cbc6e5775&ei=5087%0A

Once Bitten Twice Shy

So this past Monday (25 August) I had one of my scarier experiences in Cambodia. So much so, that I have actually postponed blogging about it until now, when I am fairly certain I’ll make a 100% recovery. I actually didn’t even tell my family until yesterday, just to save them from unnecessary panic… 

The story starts last Monday, as Naomi and I rode the Super Cub home from the Chinese Noodle Restaurant on Monivong. As had become my tradition with every return home, I stayed downstairs to play with my landlord’s dogs while Naomi went upstairs.

My landlord has two dogs, Bel and Jo-Jo. They are both un-neutered males, both about 4 years old, and both a little… well unpredictable. Bel is the “house dog”, who gets to sleep inside at night and generally seems cleaner and better loved. He’s also more of a punk – some days he’ll run right up and play with me for as long as I’d like, while other days he’ll just stay in the house (where I can’t chase him). 

Jo-Jo is about 45 lbs, and roughly the size of a Australian Shepherd. Jo-Jo on the other hand is always more eager to receive love, as he gets very little.  Jo-Jo, while affectionate, is also rather unaccustomed to human interaction, and rather wary of people. He’s growled and even snapped at me in the past when I’ve accidentally rubbed him the wrong way.

On Monday, as typical, Bel wouldn’t come near me, but Jo-Jo came right up and I started petting him. Bel, jealous at the attention being given his rival decided to start provoking Jo-Jo with some somewhat innocent pawing and yapping. However, Jo-Jo and Bel are at that touchy stage when there’s no clear “alpha”, and the dogs regularly get into scraps with each other.

 In response to Bel’s provocation, Jo-Jo started growling, and I attempted to prevent a fight by turning his head, a tactic successfully employed on several previous occasions. However, this action backfired, and Jo-Jo viciously snarled at me and bit my right wrist. 

When he bit me, I tried to subdue him by grabbing his collar, but this just further pissed him off, and he turned and REALLY bit my wrist. 

I remember looking down and seeing him with my wrist in his mouth, shaking it like a chew toy, and I immediately grabbed him by the neck. I started choking him, and he was getting more and more enraged. At this point I had the tiger by the tail, and I was afraid to let him loose, because he was more likely than not to lay into my leg or something.  My landlord, who was standing by for most of this incident, had no idea what to do to stop the attack, and was holding a pinky-thick bamboo stick (to fight him off?).

I tightened my grip and picked the dog off the ground, and he’s now choking and spasming. I see a pool of blood on the ground and my first thought is that he’s coughing up blood. Then I realize it’s not his blood but mine. At this point, I realize I got to get my arm cleaned up as soon as possible, and start looking for a way to neutralize the dog’s threat. I consider choking him out, but then realize it will be much quicker to just throw him out the gate and close it behind him, which I promptly did.

 At this point I run upstairs, and call out to Naomi “he bit me”. Her face turns white as she sees the blood pouring down my arm and off my elbow. I go straight to the bathroom and started washing out the wounds. My landlord and Naomi come to help and pretty soon we had my wrist cleaned and bandaged. I’m still panting and sweating like I just came through a fight for my life, and I tell Naomi it’s time to go to SOS, our local medical clinic.

 My wrist is throbbing, but not bleeding, and I tell Naomi to grab some money, as I remembered from another late night visit to SOS that it’s at least $100 to play ball after hours. I turned down an offer from my landlord for a ride, as I still wanted some time to cool down, and we walked 5 minutes down the street to the clinic.

 The staff at SOS was fairly competent and they had me on a bed and were getting me cleaned up again within 10 minutes. As I type this I can count about 17 major puncture wounds on my right wrist. The gnarliest was on the underside where a small piece of fat was hanging out – it was pretty gross. The doctor snipped it off, cleaned everything twice with Iodine, and wrapped me up with some gauze.

 Then we started looking around for other wounds, which I had on both feet (must have kicked something) and my left knee. Doc cleaned and bandaged these, and then started looking into vaccinations.

 Now like you, I had heard the rumors and seen the episode of Beavis & Butthead where they got 20 shots to the stomach for rabies then find out on TV at the end of the episode that you only need 5 shots in the arm now. Thankfully, B&B were right, and it’s only 5 shots to the arm now. I’ve got 3 down and 2 more to go in the coming weeks. Jo-Jo had been vaccinated previously (according to my landlord), and was not displaying any signs of rabies, but they recommend vaccination in case of any bites. Had he been suspected to be rabid, I would have required a $940 shot of rabies immune globulin.

It had been a while since my last tetanus vaccination, so he decided it was time for another.  Also, as with any wound in Cambodia, the risk of infection is very high, so the doc prescribed a 5-day course of amoxicillin.  He also gave me some Tylenol (I won’t need those, though I…) and told me to observe the dog for 10 days to ensure he’s behaving normally and remaining healthy. 

Thus began the road to recovery. Tuesday and Wednesday were some of the worst on record, as I moped through work, barely able to move my hand (but somehow able to drive my motorbike?), and very down. I changed the bandages twice per day, took the antibiotics, kept the wounds dry, and prayed for a speedy recovery.

Thankfully, God was gracious, and everything has been healing faster than ever. I will probably be bandage-free tomorrow, and my arm feels fine, save a little numbness on the side of my thumb remaining from a damaged nerve.

I’m still pretty angry at the dog, and my landlord has been careful to keep him away from me. I’d love to be friends with him again, but I’m sorry to say that I think the next time he comes within arm’s reach of me will be the last time he does anything.

UPDATE - Auto-Run and Virus Protection

So, just about every Windows computer in Cambodia is infected with viruses, most (if not all) of them transmitted by memory sticks.

After some research, I've learned preventing memory sticks from auto-loading viruses onto your PC is REALLY SIMPLE!

YOU NEED TO DISABLE AUTO-RUN! To do it, simply download this file and double click it.

If you get a virus warning, you can download this file, change the file extension from .txt to .reg (you may need to change your Windows settings to view file extensions) and double-click.

This will make a change to your registry which will disable the auto-run feature for all removable media.

Next, if you're already being hit by viruses, I would recommend Avira Anti-Vir and Spybot Search and Destroy. Both of these are excellent freeware programs, and I personally believe putting up wit Avira's annoying daily pop-up ad is well worth the protection it's providing me. Finally, let me just put in a plug for the best freeware website ever. I've never felt tricked or misled by a single word on this site. 100% recommend!

And finally, let me just let out a rant: Please stop incessantly refreshing your desktops, Cambodian tech guys.

Some Photos of My Work

My boss asked me to take photos of all the Korean staff at my office for an upcoming dinner with their families in Seoul (the husbands won't be attending). I think it's kind of like those hostage movies where you take a photo with the newspaper from that day... proof of life.

Anyways, I think some of you may find it interesting to check out my Korean coworkers (roughly half of the saff are Khmer) in the album here

And, there's some photos around the site and the office here

And, as always, you can check all my photo albums at this link.

My First Super Magic Ultimate Toilet

The Day Has Finally Come...

As I stepped into our company restroom today, a newcomer greeted me within my stall:

[Dun…Dun…Dun… …. DUNT DUH!!!]

For years I’ve heard about them, and today was my day to get to experience it “firsthand”.

I remember my friend Ben Keane telling a joke in 5th or 6th grade about a guy who snuck into the girls room in Japan and the toilet seat with 3 buttons and it automatically washed and dried your backside.

Well this one’s got 15 buttons!!! Check this bad boy out:

1. STOP. Very important
2. WASH. Key feature. Going nowhere without this one.
3. BIDET. The only button I didn’t have the courage to try.
4. DRY. Delivers as promised.
5. NOZZLE CLEAN. I guess the nozzle gets dirty from time to time. This extends the nozzle without turning any water on.
6. ECONOMY. I think this turns off all heating functions. Only for cheapskates. If you can’t afford to have your magic toilet use warm air and water, what’s the point?
7. WATER TEMP. Lets you adjust the temperature of the water.
8. AIR. Lets you adjust the air temperature. I recommend “M”
9. SEAT. This lets you pre-warm the toilet seat itself. These things are popular in Japan, and I’ve heard they have several cold-toilet-seat related deaths each year.
10. MASSAGE ON/OFF. I’ll admit this was the first button I pressed. Maybe it shakes the seat to keep you comfortable while you sit? No such luck. It pulsates the water if you prefer. Just a gimmick if you ask me.
11. MOVE ON/OFF. Didn’t figure this one out yet. Does it move the nozzle head to improve your massage? This may require further investigation.
12. PRESSURE – HI. Adjusts water and air pressure. Honestly, highest water pressure was a little disappointing.
13. PRESSURE – LOW. See above
14. NOZZLE – FORWARD. Moves nozzle forward to help get that perfect trajectory.
15. NOZZLE – BACKWARD. In case you overshot the perfect trajectory while pressing #14 lets you re-adjust backwards.

Nozzle extended in "Nozzle Clean" mode.

In all, I think we’re going to have a wonderful relationship, Mr. Super Toilet! But, please don’t electrocute me…

I don't think I've seen a single grounded plug in Cambodia.

The Best Smoothie In the World

The Pineapple Passion Smoothie from The Shop
(note: The glass has an orange colored band. The Smoothie itself does not have an orange layer)

This is a picture of what is without question, absolutely the best smoothie money can buy. The $2 Pineapple passion fruit smoothie from The Shop on Street 240, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

It’s made from fresh pineapples, fresh passion fruit, bananas, and voodoo! Your first sip will be forever remembered much like a first kiss or the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. An unforgettable awakening of your senses and your spirit.

Naomi and I shared the smoothie above over 3 hours ago and thinking about it still quickens my pulse and makes my mouth water. The tart pineapple and passion fruit flavors wonderfully mix to make your breath stop short, and the fresh Cambodian bananas provide a wonderful sweetness and creaminess. Finally the crunchy passion seeds provide a wonderful texture and improve the presentation. SO GOOD!

Click image to enlarge

Phone Numbers in Cambodia

The Cambodian phone system can be a little confusing, so here's a quick lesson. For the following, P will represent the prefix, and N the 6 or 7 digit phone number:

1. The country code for Cambodia is 855.
2. Phone numbers take the following form from INSIDE Cambodia: 0 PP NNN NNN(N). Ex: 012 999 999.
3. Phone numbers take the form of +855 PP NNN NNN(N) when you dial from OUTSIDE of Cambodia. Ex: +855 12 999 999. Note that you REMOVE the "0" before the prefix.
4. Now, regarding prefixes, there are a many of them. I have put together the following list for your information. This is helpful, because there are a lot of prefixes and sometimes you don't know where you are calling. The nice thing is, you always know if you are calling a landline or a mobile phone, depending on the prefix.

Mobile Phones
Camshin (CAMBODIA SHINAWATRA)	011
Mobitel (Cellcard)	012
qB (CADCOMMS)	013
Hello (Telekom Malaysia)	015
Hello (Telekom Malaysia)	016
Mobitel (Cellcard)	017
Mobitel (Cellcard)	083
Mobitel (Cellcard)	089
Mobitel (Cellcard)	092
Viettel	097
Star Cell	098
Camshin (CAMBODIA SHINAWATRA)	099
Landlines
Phnom Penh	023
Takhmau	023
Kandal	024
Kampong Speu	025
Kampong Chhnang	026
Takeo	032
Kampot	033
Sihanoukville	034
Koh Kong	035
Kep	036
Kampong Cham	042
Prey Veng	043
Svay Rieng	044
Pursat	052
Battambang	053
Banteay Meanchey	054
Pailin	055
Kampong Thom	062
Siem Reap	063
Preah Vihear	064
Udar Meanchey	065
Kratie	072
Mondul Kiri	073
Stung Treng	074
Ratanakiri	075

This may take the cake...

source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008081321168/National-news/Police-Blotter-13-August-2008.html

WOMAN GIVES BIRTH ON A MOTO TAXI
Oeng Ny, 25, gave birth to a baby girl on a moto taxi outside a hospital in Veal Vong commune, Prampi Makara district on August 11. Oeng Ny lived with her husband, 28, and their two children. Oeng Ny's husband said that he put Oeng Ny on a moto taxi to take her to the hospital after she told him that she had a stomach ache.

A Quick Pronunciation Guide

Please, under no circumstances, should you refer to the Capital of Cambodia as "Nom Penh" or "Fnom Penh". Please. This drives me crazy. I would let it rest, but we went to watch a documentary the other night where the narrator Sam Waterston (who should know better) mispronounced the city's name about 15 times (You too, dictionary.com). Arrrgh!

Here's a little help for how it should be said:

1. This is the first consonant - "Pho" - an aspirated "P" sound like "papa"
2. This consonant "Naw" - makes a "N" sound, and the since it's written as a subscript you combine it with the preceding consonant. In this case it's "Puh-naw"
3. The vowel "Om". Makes an "Om" sound. (Word 1 complete: Phnom)
4. The vowel "Ae". It actually comes after #5 (right to left doesn't always apply for Khmer script). In this case, it makes an "ee" sound.
5. The consonant "Po", it makes a sound like a b and a p put together
6. The final consonant "ño", it sounds just like the spanish "enyay".

So ultimately, we have "Puh-nom-peñ" (or "pə-näm-peñ"), but if that final enyay is a problem, don't sweat it. Just don't get caught saying "Nom Penh" or I may have dump a bucket of prahoc in your bed!

If any of you have any further insight on this issue, please comment away. I'd love to be set straight. But no mater what crazy colonist decided that it was at one point OK to bastardize this city's name and amputate it's first syllable, it's time to start pronouncing it the way it's written.

Friday Breakfast

So there's this great little cafe on the northwest corner of Street 294 and Sotheros, right on my way to work. They have all kinds of traditional Khmer breakfasts, but this one has to be my favorite: Vietnamese (Khmer?) style coffee - extra strong with sweetened condensed milk, chaway (fried bread), and noodle soup (Khmer Pho') with beef and peppered meatballs. MMMM! Total cost? 5,000 Riel ($1.25). Notice the rain. It rains a lot!

Minor Accident Prone

So it started on Friday night, as Naomi, Sarah, and I were cruising the city looking for a place to eat. We went to the Gym Bar to watch the Olympics, but the place was packed out worse than Superbowl Monday-morning so we decided to head over to Cantina (O man, their tacos are definitely my favorite in PP). Of course, that drain on 178 STILL isn't finished, and the street is blocked off between Bright Lotus and FCC, but that's never stopped me from using the sidewalks to get there. This time, however, Naomi suggests the path is a little too rough for 3 people on a motorbike, but I assure her "everything's under control", and promptly jack my ankle all up on the curb about 3 seconds later. Ouch!

Ok, fast forward to Sunday, we're running the hash like we should be, I've got the bugle in hand and there's about 30 newbies with us. About 500 meters in I get caught looking too long at an extra-creative hare mark, and miss the rough spot in the path... and roll my ankle. It hurts, but not too bad and I was able to run the rest of the 10 K with few problems... it's a little swollen today, but I think Gary Hilliard is right - when you roll it and can run through, you'll be better off with less swelling.

Ok this leads us to this morning. The left turn to get into my project site is a notorious pain in the neck, and for some reason it was extra gnarly this morning. So I went ahead and was using the sidewalks (notice a theme here?) to get around the stopped traffic. This was no problem, but after I merged back into traffic, as I was making the left a motorbike came speeding the other way and I had to hit the brakes. Some dingus in a Lexus RX400 rear ended me, breaking my taillight. 4 Days, 3 minor accidents. Not a bad weekend!

A Cambodian Coke Can

In case you wanted to know, this is what a Coke can looks like here. Cost: 2000 Riel ($.50). Sweetener: Cane Sugar (O so much better than HFCS!-ick!)


Bonus: "Thumbs-Up Sauce" (Brown vinegar, mmmm...)

Please call of...

So text messaging plays a large role in the life of any Cambodian (who, by the way, text almost exclusively in English!).

I use predictive text input on my phone, it’s a great tool, it makes typing on a number pad much faster, but why oh why do the programmers make “of” come up before “me”!?!? What the hell? I’ve decided to put together a list of my biggest predictive text peeves. Given, I’m using a phone from 2005, so maybe the Nokia geniuses have this figured out… if so, how about a firmware upgrade, Nokia?

Top 10 predictive text peeves:

	You Want	You Get
10	truck	usual
9	Khmer	lines
8	night	might
7	mom	non
6	crap	asap
5	beer	adds
4	go	in
3	no	on
2	home	good
1	me	of

Cooler weather, family in town

It's been the rainy season since the beginning of July, but recently we've been getting this great new kind of rain – the all-day cool drizzle. We had been getting the super hot afternoon thundershowers for about a month and a half, but these past couple days it's been notably cooler. I think maybe even under 80 during the day!

To help us enjoy this cool weather, Naomi's sister Sanae and her mom Marcia came out to visit us. It's been really great getting to show them around town and around Cambodia. We're really growing to like it here - so it's really fun to get to show off our host country to some fellow Americans.

We took a trip to Kampot over the weekend and spent 3 lazy days by the river bicycling, hiking, and kayaking - just what the doctor ordered! And if any of you need a recommendation on a good PP-Kampot taxi driver, I have a great one.

Sanae took off this morning to fly back to the US, and Marcia took a flight up to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. We're looking forward to a couple more days with her before she flies back and we're back to rattling around in our empty house once again. Like I've said before, we have a great guest room, so if you're interested, just let me know!