My dear friend,

You know who you are, so I won't elaborate... This post is dedicated to you, since I won't be there to wish you a Happy Birthday on the day itself... Ain't this a great motivation for you to read my blog?? I guess you probably do read, but maybe you're getting bored with my tardiness of updating my blog..

Sometimes when you're too close a friend with someone, you kind of take things for granted. I think sometimes I'm like that too. Forgive me if you ever feel that I take your friendship for granted. You're right. It's really funny how even though we're pretty much different in every way, and yet we share much in common. I don't know if our tastes for things just kind of merge after hanging out so much or we just have the common interests even though we are so different, but I do know that I feel extremely privileged to have you as my friend. I don't even remember how we became friends...It doesn't help that my memory is obviously deteriorating by the day... I remember when we asked you to teach us how to do mimes in preparation for mission trip to Japan a few years ago. I was thinking, gee, such cool things that you could do! Even then, I was impressed at how people like you could teach so naturally. In retrospect, I'm sure God knew that what good friends we would be to each other and how well we compliment each other when He brought us together.

Thank you for the great friend you have been to me. My favourite phrase for you is, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have known much about colours and colour coding and matching... You brought colours into my life! You brought the orange and yellow out of me. :)

Thank you for all the fashion tips and for all the information you think are useless but I find rather interesting. Although I must say... my sense of fashion is rapidly deteriorating without your guidance...

Thank you for all the scolding and nagging and encouragement because you cared, and for telling me the truth when I was out of line even when it hurt. I always think it takes more to be honest and point out the mistakes/problems then to just sit back and not do anything when you see something wrong, knowing full well that it's tough being the "bad guy". But you know what? That's one thing I appreciate the most about you; your strength in doing something that I can't.

Thank you for always taking the initiative to organise things and keeping things together, and for taking the time to care for others. I know it takes a lot out of you and even though sometimes you complain about it, you still do it because of your love for your friends and family and for God. I, for one, are one of those who really appreciate that effort.

I know the past few months have been really difficult for you. I know that sometimes you're trying to be all that you can be to your friends and family and students and everyone else and your strength fails you. You don't have to be all to all... We all have our weaknesses and threshold. Give yourself a break and rely on Him who gives you strength!

Love,

your coolest friend (almost) and also the most "blur"

Sometimes the most memorable things in life are free... like star gazing in the field on a clear sky. I shall remember last night always... The simple beauty of life, the gifts of God.

Last night as I was on my way back from teaching English, I looked up the sky and saw the brilliant sky. Numerous stars lit up the sky. And then I remembered Tess said that there was supposed to be meteor shower starting from last weekend. Tonight was like the end of it. I was so excited. Went home to get my camera. You see, the night before there was some nice stars too and I could see them from my house. But by the time I took my camera out, the clouds have beat me to it. Still I took some photos but it didn't turn out well. So last night I was determined to get SOME pictures. How often do you run into meteor shower at the right place and at the right time??

Anyway, I couldn't stop looking at the sky. It was just so... mesmerizing. Looking at the sky is one of my favourite past time activities.

Back to the story.... I got to the compound around 9p.m. and saw a bunch of them watching the sky. But it was still too bright, so we turned off all the lights nearby and took out the pawyi (foldable beds) and at first we were just putting them just outside the dining hall. But then eventually we moved to the newly made volleyball court. That was a great idea. We managed to get much better view. Ma Ma, Mickey's daughter, and a handful other people saw perhaps 10-15 shooting stars. I was going crazy. By the time they saw like 8-10, I still hadn't seen any!! As usual, my reaction is a little slower than... normal people. Everyone would be going, "Oh, oh, did you see that???!!" and I'll always be looking at the wrong place at the exact moment. Unbelievable, eh? Lying in the same vicinity and watching the same sky, but not seeing the same thing at the same time. It's amazing how you can see the power of God in all these wonderful creation. I'm certainly proud that the God I trust is so cool. Putting all the stars in their places and make everything come together so perfectly and lovely. I'm comforted by the fact that if He can create a complicated system like this, then He sure can take care of my problems and needs!



The following Psalm came to my mind last night (actually, it was just part of the chapter, I couldn't remember where it came from. Thanks to the internet, I found it!)

Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I was thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in such an interesting and memorable event... and with a cool bunch of people too ... It was awesome!

On a side note, there was a "small" accident. As usual, I was a little clumsy and accidentally dropped the pawyi as I was trying to fold it in the dark. It cut some skin off Adam and blood splashed everywhere. Just kidding, it was no Kill Bill.. Still, that was awful.. I felt terrible!! Hope it won't be too big of a problem...

1. Poops - you name it, all kinds of animals; cows, horses, dogs, birds, lizards, etc. Horses really poop a lot. I mean each time. Cows do pretty well too. Mickey built a basketball court not too long ago, and the dogs just LOVE to do their duties there...

2. Dust - absolutely no shortage of THAT in Cambodia. I've kind of stopped cleaning my house. The dust will always be there, no matter how much I clean it. Don't get me wrong, the house is still in a reasonable shape with Nara cleaning it twice a week. I just can't do it everyday...

3. Things falling apart or breaking - shoes, phones, equipment, shirts, cameras, whatever. My phone, for example. It has miraculously recovered lately, although only for a day. I'll wait and see if the magic continues...

4. Dirt on your clothes - especially the white ones.. That's why one has to keep buying new clothes..

5. Stars - on a good day, there're so many stars that you just want to lie down on a field and do nothing and watch the stars.

6. Copies - same same but different! You can get a "copy" for just about everything, eh? ipod, Sony mp3 player, Columbia pants, Adidas tees, North face backpacks, Crocs.... Heck, even WHO guidebook for drinking water, and of course, most of all, movies and CDs. I don't think you can even find original ones here. I must say, the ipod shuffle look almost exactly the same as the original.

7. Sweat - usually it's piece of cake for me to sweat like a pig, but lately the weather's been so cool that sometimes I can go through a day without breaking a sweat!

8. Smiles - I think I've been too conditioned by life in the city. Sometimes I forget to smile. But the Khmers... they don't.

9. Power failure - that should happen at least a few times a day or every other day.

10. Unstable internet connection - sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't. Teaches me to be patient.

11. Beautiful sunsets.... What can I say?

12. Cheap and good stuff - food... clothes.. for the price you pay, the quality is good enough.

13. On a more serious note, contaminated water source - wells that are supposed to help people ended up poisoning them. Yesterday Mickey and John went to another village to check out cases of arsenic poisoning. Apparently it's really bad. Just 5 years of putting in the wells and the villagers are already showing advanced symptoms of arsenicosis. This is probably the 2nd or 3rd villages that have alarmingly high cases of arsenicosis. The question is, shouldn't the one who put in the wells be responsible to do something about it? Putting in wells without checking if the quality of the water is safe. It may cost a little bit but compared to the cost of putting in a well??

Cambodia is an interesting country. Actually RDI is quite an interesting place too. I 've learned a lot here, even though I don't always have time to pen down what I've learned.. This place grows on you after some time. It's funny how I've grown from knowing almost nothing about the country to learning to appreciate and love this place and the people here, even if there're so many things that're less than perfect. But really, there's no such place as the perfect place. Not if you're not content with what you have...

Actually, I really wanted to write about something else, but... this will have to do. I kind of forgot what I wanted to write about. As usual. There's a hole in my brain.