Two weeks ago, Charlotte came down with a respiratory infection. It isn’t COVID-19, we had that back in December, but rather a more mundane illness. Actually, the December bout of COVID-19, which we suspect was the third time we had it, was milder than this respiratory illness. Charlotte is feeling better now. Unfortunately, she shared…
Month: February 2023
Visiting Sokhim’s Vegetable Garden
During my visit to Kratie in January 2023, I meet with a poor farmer named Sokhim who lives along the Mekong river in Kratie province. She is a recent widow whose husband passed away after a lengthy illness leaving her to raise five children on her own. Sokhim’s husband was building a new house for the…
Little Doggie Bozo
The “Prince” of our street lives across from us. He’s a little black dog owned by an Excellency and he clearly thinks he owns the entire world. The Excellency has a pack of dogs, all larger than the little “Prince”, but he’s absolutely the alpha. After Crystal’s traumatic dog fight experience under our gate we…
Airplane Meals
I’ve been meaning to write about airplane meals in Asia for awhile. The quality of the in-flights meals, snacks, and drinks surprised me when I first flew here back in the early 2000s and that hasn’t changed over the last two decades. It was a particularly stark contrast during our visit home last year when…
Protected: Kill the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Baby Shower
The MCC Cambodia team surprised us with a baby shower this afternoon. It was really lovely of them. It’s hard to be far away from parents, grandparents, and siblings as the due date draws near. Even though we’re well prepared. It’s still hard. So it was nice to feel love and support from our MCC…
A boy named January
During my visit to Kratie in January 2023, I attended a village savings group meeting and meet a boy named January. Actually, he’s named មករា, Meakaraa, which is the Khmer word for January. Several community members told me that មករា was “not normal” and blamed his mother, Sophea, because she did not “did not take…
Catherine singing on the way to school
Catherine singing a song of her own creation on the way to school. ♪ We live in Cambodia right now! ♫
2023 YAMEN/IVEP Alumni Gathering
Every year (when there aren’t COVID-19 gathering restrictions) we host the Cambodian YAMEN and IVEP alumni at our home. This also includes the current SALT and YAMEN participants serving in Cambodia, as well as the outbound Cambodian IVEP/YAMEN participants who will be leaving in July. This isn’t just a social gathering – though it’s wonderful…
Catherine chasing birds
This last week we’ve been hosting the MCC DPRK (North Korea) Program Director, Stacy Nam. She came to join the team conducting the 5-year Program Review of MCC Cambodia & Myanmar and is acting as the Peer Reviewer. I’ll say more about the program review in future post. This post is just about a series…