baking inspired by Cambodia

Once of the most inspirational things about being in Cambodia was rediscovering the joy of freshly prepared foods made from whole foods (rather than pre-packaged, convenience foods). As I sat down to meals that had 4 or 5 components–a soup, cooked vegetable, crudites, meat/protein, rice, and fruit-and noted how happily my dining companions and I [...]

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perusing Phnom Penh

Anywho, the night we arrived in Pnom Penh, we felt like walking, since we’d been stuck on a bus for 8 hours. So, we checked into a hotel (taken there by Sam, a really nice guy with an Australian accent. He’s Khmer and has never been outside the country and has no idea how he [...]

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getting to Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh….we survived!!
What a city! Well, we had big, big plans for Pnom Penh, and then half of our group got sick. I’ll give you a hint: it’s the half of our group that is NOT a germaphobe and who is always teasing the germaphobe half about being too concerned about germs. :-P NEENER NEENER [...]

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Siem Reap, Day 2!

Yes, that’s right. we got up at 4:30 AM VOLUNTARILY. We rode via moto (a motorcylce with a passenger cart attached to the back)  to Ankor Wat in total darkness except for headlights. The driver dropped us off, and we stumbled along in total darkness except for our LED flashlights to what seemed like a good place to [...]

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Siem Reap, Day 1!

warning: this is CRAZY LONG….read at your own risk! ;) also, the keyboard here at the hotel internet cafe is AWFUL, so please forgive any typos.
 
omg…what a day it’s been!
 
ok, first things first. We left Bright Future School (and Nick’s company) yesterday via bus. We took the “GST” Bus Line on Nick’s Recommendation, and not [...]

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teaching in Cambodia! :)

Well, we had a marriage “first” today: the wunderhub and I taught English TOGETHER as guest speakers in Nick’s Adult English class. We taught 11 Bible College Students for 90 minutes. We started with introducing ourselves, then moved on to a vocabulary and pronounciation lesson. The theme we chose was medical terms, since many of [...]

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When the stars converge…

or rather, when 4 of my most favorite things converge–the Wunderhusband, hydrangeas, swing dancing, and stars–it makes for a downright awesome anniversary trip!
Happy THIRD anniversary of marriage to US! :)
 Eeep. Three years married. That makes me sound old.
After a whirlwind 2  days in AZ (where my beautiful cousin got married and my best friend celebrated [...]

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alive!!

and very well! Just got my laptop back–my uncle graciously repaired it, so it holds a charge now! More posts to follow…and lots more China news, etc.
For now, it is wonderful to be back in America and eating American food and seeing my loved ones.

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FRESH BAKED BREAD–WHEAT bread!

We eat in the school cafeteria every day, and ever since the first day, it’s been a struggle. We have 6 vegetarians on the team, so they make special tofu or fish dishes for us. They also give us alternative entrees when they have particularly Chinese foods (like chicken feet, pigs feet–with the fur and hoof [...]

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happy change

My roommate extraordinaire, Megan, and I get to be partners due to some staff re-shuffling on our team. So, I get to help out with “Stories” instead of “Songs”! SO cool!
We’re getting interviewed by a local news station today after our last class. I don’t know what to expect, so it’ll be interesting.
On an incredibly [...]

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alive but anemic

ack. It hit me today. I walked up 1 flight of stairs and couldn’t get enough oxygen. Airflow was fine, O2 was not. I’ve been chowing vitamins and enriched power bars, but I guess that hasn’t been enough. There aren’t very many beans here (my fave iron source).
 The kids have all but mastered the “th” [...]

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Rested and Ready for Another Week

Thank you for all your comments and emails…it is SO NICE to hear from people back home. I was listening to some of the Wunderhusband’s and my fave songs on yesterday’s bus ride (Thanks for the mp3 player loaner, Munchkin!!), and I had to stop ‘cuz it made me cry. Miss you, babe! It’s like [...]

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GOOD TIMES and KARAOKE IN CHINA!! :)

WOW. We got through our first week of teaching: crazy schedule changes, room changes, cockroaches, buckets of sweat, and all! :-P My poor roomie got sick, but she’s dosing up on Zinc, Airborne, and vitamines and feels like she’s beating back whatever is trying to grab hold of her! (One of her students sneezed directly [...]

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general info on China trip

I realized that I haven’t posted much background on this trip. Here’s a link to our program!
Thanks, Globetrotter, for your insightful questions! Hope this answers any that you have! Please feel free to ask for any further info!

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this time tomorrow…

(Lord willing and the creek don’t rise), I’ll be on a plane with 30 other team members headed to Dongguan, China!!!
I’m spectacularly excited and the vast number of unknowns about this trip has me jittery (but in a positive, energy-giving way).
Please pray for safety–there was a huge explosion at a karaoke bar in Beijing (we’re [...]

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98 degrees in the moonlight

Welcome to Arizona! I just sat at the pool and read 2 chapters of _Getting Things Done_ while my little sis swam for an hour. It was starry, with a big half-moon, and it was 98 degrees, at 11 PM.
Still, there’s a BIG difference between sitting in the sun in 98 degree weather vs. sitting [...]

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lessons on being a pirate…

while kayaking in the Dana Point Harbor.
No matter how witty your taunts or how massive your splashes,  if you capsize your OWN kayak while taunting or splashing your opponents, your piratical credibilty drops significantly.
yep, that’s especially for you, wunderhub!:) love you, babe!

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minus eight degrees

aka, 8 degrees BELOW zero.
That was the temperature when we arrived in CO on Thursday night. Our jeans froze as we waited for the shuttle to take us to the hotel.
When we woke up the following morning, there were heaps of snow everwhere. Some cars in the parking lot were buried almost up to their [...]

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CRAZINESS!

New Word for the Day: Invious
Definition: Untrodden. E.g., I hope the path my life takes is heretofore invious. : )
The last several days have been insane and heretofore in my life, quite invious. Where to begin? Let’s start with Vegas.
Yes indeed, I took my very first trip to Vegas just last weekend, and WHAT A [...]

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