A Month of Firsts

What a hectic month its been.

I thought when Jill and I moved over here we could develop a routine and things would find some sort of 'normalcy'.

I was wrong.......

We are accomplishing a lot, but my goodness, it certainly is hectic.

We've got a real nice house to rent here in Siem Reap. We have several bedrooms, one of which we use for an office, a living room/dining room and a kitchen. We even have a washing machine. And that, my friends, is a BIG deal. I spent 2 years washing my dirty clothes in a plastic bucket. No more.

Well, to the firsts.

---I visited our newest mine field last week, and got to see my first 'bouncing betty' blown up. A bouncing betty is a landmine that has 2 charges. The first blows it into the air. The second kills you. It's activated when you step on it. Nice to see another one bite the dust

---Jill and I spent our first Thanksgiving outside the US and figured we'd just have another day at work. But our friends Jed and Terry, who own the Warehouse http://www.thewarehousesiemreap.com/ fed 25 of us. And they did it from a restaurant that isn't much begger than the one we had in our first house.

And it was their anniversary.

---Mikki (our mutt from home) saw her first water buffalo and tried to jump out of the car.

---We got our first visitor! Scottie Williams, who we've known for about 15 years (from the Clipper games) got some time off from school and took a 1 week trip to Thailand. Well it was really a 3 day trip to Thailand 'cause he took the bus to Siem Reap with his friend Valerie and they stayed with us for a couple of days.

---Jill trained her first volunteer, Harvindar (from London) at the Museum School and she starts full time on the 7th.

---I got to watch my first half marathon in Cambodia, Today (Dec 6) was pretty interesting. The Angkor Wat Half Marathon, 10k, 5k and Bike Race started this morning at 0620. we made it there at 7am. It looked like thousands running. I've done 11 marathons, 6 half's and a bunch of 10ks. this was a well run as any I've ever seen, and a LOT better than most.

Maybe I should run next year................

This week is kinda up in the air. We have some folks here from the US doing a story on land mines and that will take some of our time.

We may have found our truck! It's a Russian troop carrier and fits our budget. It will allow us to move everyone and all the equipment to the field in one shipment. Right now we need to make multiple trips. At least the mine field we are working right now is near by. The next one is way out in the jungle and we need to have that freakin' truck by the end of the month.

SOOoooo

If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping.......

Go to http://www.landmine-relief-fund.com/

Make donation and we'll send a note to your loved one thanking them for changing a life here in Cambodia.

Babu out

back soon