Wednesday, Sept. 24

It’s 7 pm, and the lights are on. The toilet is filling, the car batteries, computers, telephones and cameras are charging. Even though it’s party time for the community, it’s a peaceful and productive time for me. Something about being able to actually see the interior of my living quarters is kind of exciting. Even during the day it’s pretty dark in here, in some corners, at least. These two hours are the best time of day to do work around the place – cleaning, organizing, sorting.

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The sounds of the night at Wat Opot… crickets, frogs, and chanting monks

Today I spent most of the day on the internet, on Wayne’s computer. (There’s no Mac OS 10.5 driver for the modem he uses – but I think I’ll be able to use my telephone once France Telecom decides to communicate my unblocking code to me so I can get a Cambodian sim card.) We’ve decided to invest the necessary funds to be online for the hours it will take to get a new Wat Opot site up and running – and I’m excited, because, as you all know, I’m an internet junkie – and it’s fabulous to have the excuse to spend whallopin’ great lumps o’ time on the web!

While I have the chance, I’ll very likely take the opportunity to add things to previous posts – photos, and perhaps some sound files – so check on them from time to time.

I’m having some trouble with my Respirando email, though, and will soon be sending out a new address to use. I’m fed up with the service (or lack thereof) at Amen, who hosts Respirando.net, and am looking into new solutions. I think several very important emails from professional contacts in France were not delivered to me this summer, and I’m paying the price – my reputation for not answering emails is only partly justified… these particular emails I would never have ignored!

I couldn’t log into my email all day, despite the fact that I was online for hours. So be on the lookout for an email with a new address to use for me. (I’ll have my Respirando mail forwarded automatically to the new address, so don’t worry if you forget and use it instead.)

Sri Ren just came in, all excited, with a black plastic bag in hand. Like a small magician, she reached in and pulled out a blender – saying “you fruits, zhwooom!!!” Wow. Home-made smoothies with local tropical fruits. Life is good

Tomorrow I’m going to give the cook 30 or 40 dollars to add something special to the evening meal to celebrate my birthday. I figure she’ll know what to do to make the kids happy. And as a birthday present to myself I’m having an outfit made for those special occasions when one might want to dress up. The sewing teacher took my measurements today, a bit challenged by the fact that I told her that I wanted the outfit to fit even if I lost 10 pounds… We’ll make the skirt adjustable, and the top will be more of a jacket, so it can be loose later. I’ve picked out a Khmer-type cotton fabric, and I think it’s going to be just lovely. She asked me to draw a picture of the kind of top I wanted, and I looked around the room and saw a blouse on one of the women that I liked very much, so I just pointed and said “that!” For about 20 dollars I’ll have quite a nice hand-made ensemble. Can’t beat it!

Now i just have to find something to put on my feet other than the muddy 1 dollar flip-flops I wear every day…

Wayne is in a re-arranging mood. Today he had them take everything out of the office, and they’re going to paint it and move three desks in. Boxes and boxes of stuff have been moved to a newly-appointed storage room in the other half of the volunteer house, and medications and snacks will be given out on the porch. That way kids won’t be in and out of the office at all hours, and everyone will be able to share the printer in the office space.

There’s excitement in the air as we prepare for the arrival of the Taiwanese on Friday. A tent will be set up, and everyone will be put to work cleaning the place up. Not that it really needs it – it’s actually kind of impressive how little mess there is when so many people live together in a place. They do a good job keeping things neat.

It rained but good today, finally. It wasn’t really a storm, but there was a tiny bit of thunder in the distance. Lots of wind, though, and as a result the temperature is quite bearable this evening (probably about 80° F) and we all feel better about the rice crops. Much, much more rain is needed, however, so we’re all praying this is just the beginning of a good, wet period.

Wayne’s over giving out medications and snacks, so I’m going to go play on his computer while he’s busy. I’m dying for Bluehost to activate our new domain name (no, I won’t tell you what it is until it’s ready to go live!) We’re going to use WordPress to set up a site with static pages and a blog that Wayne, the volunteers and the kids can update periodically. Some fun things are planned… wait and see!

XOXOXOXOX

B (feeling less depressed now that I have a real project to sink my teeth into.)