A little late

Well, last week was pretty good. I am having a lot of trouble getting junk done. I do so hate having so much to do.

The parents they will be here in 11 hours and 39 minutes supposedly. I shall be at the airport to meet them, as will i be there to meet Todd at the same time. I look forward to this greatly. In the words of the great shaper, the true fourth doom, "Mia alantin sa lyet tia no, e mia asha'man."

Love the old tongue. I shall endevour to grade tests tonight, but I am tired and lazy. Also, tired.

Went to the doctor for my ear, which is plugged with wax. He was useless. I did convince him to give me some wax remover stuff. Should help hopefully. grar.

Good night.

Self Reminder

I gots to put up the christmas decorating pictures

That Time

So, it has finally dawned on me that i am currently living in the space of time in between Christmas and Thanksgiving. I have never felt this to be a time period worth doing anything in, and my current laziness and lack of productivity when I force my self to work seem to indicate that the trend will continue. I think that, no I know that, since my family is coming to visit, I will soon become sick. Now, I would like to say that a stuffed nose has already manifested, and since my birthday is coming up soon, most likely I will procure sweets and become more sick.

So my computer has a virus of some type. It is just slowing things down right now, but I am watching my credit and debit cards closely to see if some spyware has taken info from somewhere on my computer. Probably ought to make sure everything is gone again anyway. I really wish that i had a big enough hard drive to install a linux partition on it and do all my internet stuff over there. If I did, then i would be safe from viruses for the most part. I keep windows for Excel and games mostly. Oh, and power point. I do love power point.

I am thinking that I might, in all the spare time i have, start a World of Warcraft character over here, and see what all the hype is about. Of course, the only reason such an idea crossed my mind is that here in Cambodia, there is no monthly fee!

It took me quite a while, but i've finally started on the Falconfar trilogy. So far, it seems promising, if a little ridiculous. I am also re-working my way through "lies my teacher told me." Good as ever.

This last week has gone off alright for such a non-productive time period. I have been thanking God that we had Friday off. That made for a heavenly time. Phil is in San Diego this weekend, attending a close friend's wedding. Makes you realize how much we've shrunk our world. I am mostly caught up in everything but health. We are doing some really fun stuff in Physical Science. Waves mostly. I love wave mechanics. On monday we will be starting sound off with some Mythbusters. Gotta love the Mythbusters.

I talked to the other student missionaries, and it seems that the hatchet is buried for now. I am indeed going with them to India. For that I am thankful. Being left out has always been a scary concept for me. That is why i learned to spell so quick. Hated Mom and Dad talking over my head by spelling things.

All in all, I must re-affirm that life is indeed awesome here on the other side of the world.

Vietnam Pictures

Ankor Wat

Ok, So I'm Lazy

Yes i have failed to post here in forever. I wish I had excuses, but I don't. To top it off, it's been like a month.

Ok, right after last post, the other sm's and i had a talk. I know i am caustic and sarcastic, but i didn't know that they were mad about it. So, I was pretty put off, especially when they essentially said that i wasn't invited to come to vietnam with them. I gotta admit, that really hurt. It is no fun to be left out. I have always hated that. I have dealt with that before, and it is actually what destroyed the sanguine in me, and replaced it with phlegmatic. My teachers have commented on this strange dichotomy (Choleric-phlegmatic is abnormal) before, and talking with Pastor Speyer, i finally understood what the source of it was. Anyway, I agreed to tone it down, and I am trying to make a point to spend more time with them. Ended up that I went to vietnam alone. I gotta say, i had a great time, vietnam is cool, but very different. Got to see some vietcong tunnels. got wedged in said tunnels. they weren't built for me. very low to the ground ended up on my hands and knees.

Two weekends ago, we had midterms. they sucked, but Tim helped me to grade, and Sharon helped me clean up the room. Those were both enormous help to me, since i was dealing with getting over being sick after thailand, and being depressed over what the other sm's said, and having to go to vietnam alone. I got the room clean, and the grades done, and that felt good. Vietnam pictures will be up soon, as will some pictures from ankor wat. Yes, they are several months late, but they are coming at least. I am doing better with keeping up on grading this half of the quarter, and i am giving out a lot of extra credit to my physics class.

Poor physics, I am way too hard on them. I am teaching concepts that are far beyond them because college physics is still stuck in my head. I am toning the work and tests down, and giving a ton of extra credit to make up for what i feel was unfair.

This week has been weird. Monday, Cambodia experienced a terrible tragedy, culminating in the deaths of approximately 400 khmer. Entire families have been devastated. It is during this time that we see the depths of suspicion in what is otherwise a very secular culture. The supposed cause of the accident was either that no people were sacrificed when the bridge in question was built, or the previous tennants of the island, HIV women, were forced to leave without the proper rituals. either way, the land is supposedly angry. The khmers are afraid. The houses are surrounded by rice and have bananas and incense out front to ward off the evil spirits. The vultures which were circling (to us westerners, it seems obvious that they were after the human carrion) as a sign that a dragon caused this calamity in the service of the land. Hopefully, we missionaries can find a way to be witnesses here, at least to our students.

Both I and Cambodia in general need your prayers during this time.

Thank you,

Travis

Christmas Music

This week was pretty average except for 2 things. The first was the thoroughly awesome Friday off. I slept. Yeah, that was pretty much all I did. I was gonna go to the Russian market, but I just stayed in bed. I did clean our stove-top though. I ate Phil's chips, so I need to go buy more. Also, we go through bread at a bizarrely fast rate.

Oh, and the 2nd thing was that Uncle Mike showed up Thursday morning. Not only was it totally awesome, but I was completely caught by surprise. When Sharron called me, it sounded like she was trying to soften a blow, like someone had died, and then there was a knock on my door, and it was Uncle Mike. He said he wished he had gotten a picture of the look on my face. He also made some derogatory comments about the cleanliness state of our room.

It was really nice to see him. um, otherwise this week was fairly average. I am getting caught up on the work that i missed when I was sick, which is frustrating work. We went out to a house church this afternoon. I got lost trying to find my way to ADRA.

HMMM. Oh, I didn't take any pictures this week and I keep forgetting to upload the pictures from Ankor Wat, which was more than a month ago. frustrating.

Oh yeah, the title. I am being driven nuts by my compulsion to listen to christmas music. Why, I don't know? Between "Ace of Spades" and random christmas songs, I can't stop humming and whistling on and on. It is amusing to my students, and infuriating to Phil, since when I am whistling with my headphones on, I whistle really loud. sorry phil.

Updates

ok, sorry for the lack of updates.

Here's the schedule im gonna try to follow.

Friday night i'll post whatever pictures i've taken that week,

Saturday night, i'll post a blog entry.

Thanks for the patience.

continued

anyway, i finally found my way to Mission Hospital. Stayed there over night, and found my way to everyone else Thursday morning. The girls wanted to go shopping at a mall. We got as far as the food court. There was so much american food!!! We just spent the rest of the day there. They also saw a movie, while I hung out in the bookstore. I was so thrilled to be in a book store again. Oh, there was an anime show there, and I got to hang out there while they were in the movie as well. We ended the day back at the hotel, stuffed to the neck with wonderful american food. We were there during the vegetarian festival too, so we got so much vegetarian food. Like every third shop was selling it.

On Friday we got up and went to the Tiger Palace. That was incredibly awesome. I'm gonna try to post pictures of it too. Got to pet lots of tigers. It was so fun! We got to see the bridge over the river Kwai too. I visited a monument to chinese people that died there. On Sabbath, we went to an english church service. Then, since I couldn't get ahold of the people i wanted to hang out with, i spent the day with Phil, his friend Sam, and the girls, who also had no where to go. We got to go to a royal palace, which Rama V lived in for 5 years at the turn of the century. (20th) Truly cool. Loved that place

I felt this accursed cold coming on Saturday night, so i got pizza and went to bed early. the girls went shopping at a night market, and Phil went to a show with Sam.

Sunday, we went on a tour, where we were paid to speak english with some Thai people who wanted to help their english skills. they were really nice, and bought us lunch on top of paying us. I got some great green curry. We also got our pictures taken with Thai Captain Jack! He had all the manerisms down perfectly, and even spoke with his accent. it was awesome.

Whelp, that's about all. Great time though, hate sick. good night.

oops

ok, been a month since I posted. um, sorry.

So here's the deal. 3 weeks ago, we were in Siem Reap. We went to Ankor Wat, which was really cool. I bought a wooden flute. the ruins were amazing. I can't wait to go back with mom and dad. I will post some pictures. Then 2 weeks ago, the internet was off when i wanted to post. That week was pretty average. Last week, was finals and we went to Bangkok, Thailand. We had an amazing time. I was originally going to go by bus. I wanted to do the bus overnight, and get all my grading done before i got to Bangkok. I didn't realize that the border closes at 8. Most borders don't do that right?

So then, we had already told Somara that I was going by bus, and she decided that she was gonna come with. So, up until Wednesday, the day we were leaving, I expected that I was going to go from Phnom Penh to the border, stay the night there, and then finish the next morning. Then Wednesday morning, I called to check to make sure that Somara's visa had come through, and it didn't. So now i was going alone. That was ok i guess, until i found out that no buses were leaving after 3:15. So, i would have to do the whole trip on Thursday. I decided that it would suck too much to miss a whole day of Thailand, so I finally caved in and bought an airplane ticket. My wallet is still aching. Plan better next time.

So I flew in on Wednesday, and got totally lost. The taxi driver had no idea where I wanted to go, and I had never been to Ekkamai International School, so I was no help.

{Class Time, Continue Later}

work

So, this last week, it finally dawned on me that I am not just here for fun, there's actually a lot of work to do. I mean I knew that before, but the amount of work really just came down on me. I had to do midterm grades, and I really didn't realize just how behind i really was. I am a little disappointed in myself. So, looking at a new half of the quarter, I've told my students that I am going to work much harder to get everything done on time from now on.

But enough about that on Sabbath. I am definitely happy for you coming, Sabbath. It is time for a break, a little time to blog, and some time to go to church... oh yeah, that's right, I can't go to church this weekend. Bah, I'm guarding, and not the fun kind where there's a pool in front of you, but guarding the school gate.

Still, this weekend is potluck, so I'm gonna make something for it as soon as I am finished guarding, and then take it over to the mission, so hopefully i can get a ride to this Mark's house, cuz I have no idea where that is. Maybe I'll be in time for the end of Sabbath School. With all of this, it is still Happy Happy Sabbath.

more

continued, sorry phil for the sideways pic

2nd round of pics

these are from an awesome restaurant trip.

1 month

Hard to believe it, but it actually has been 1 month that i've been here. Love it, except for the bugs. Taking a short break from grading tests here. I think that my Algebra 1 class is getting it. but that may just be misplaced optimism. None the less, this is really fun. it seems like the girls have finally fulfilled the greater part of their seemingly insatiable desire for ice cream, so looks like we'll be settling down just a little. hope to get out to see some more stuff though. On Thursday, which is test day for everyone, I have been doing a bonus question for everyone, and this week it was counting systems. For Algebra 1 it was binary, and for Algebra 2 it was a base 27 counting system. fun stuff.

Pictures Finally

here are the first few pics. more to come

Ooooo.... yeah.

Pictures... i used Pastor Gregory's computer, or rather Jonathan's, and my cards are now formatted for mac. blargh. Gonna take more pictures, and post them instead. Thanks for your patience.

Rain!

Tonight, the school had vespers, and Sharron asked us to do a couple of songs. We chose Amazing Love and When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. We practiced a couple of times, but didn't really have good access to a printer, so Olga ended up using the computer to play off of. It was kinda difficult, but i think that we did alright. It was pretty neat, because before each song, someone told a little back-story about the song, and then there was much music. But, what really made the night is that the whole time there was rain, thunder, and lightning. I enjoyed it so much. The girls on the front row cringed every time there was a flash, and covered their ears, which amused me greatly. Rain is awesome, so thank you God.

AHHHH

Looks like today is gonna be spent settling in. We, Phil and I are gonna finish unpacking tonight, and, we need to have lesson plans for the next week done by thursday morning. so... work time. On the plus side it is very hot and humid here. wait, no... on the plus side, it is not quite as hot and humid as it was on Sabbath here, and we are slowly adjusting. It is a little embarassing that a lot of the Cambodians are walking around in long sleeves here. Water from the tap is drinkable, but tastes a little bit off. It'll take some time to get used to it. Saw the Mekong yesterday! Pictures to come when we get internet in our room.

ah, after nearly 14 hours in the air, i am part way done with my flight. I have decided that one good way to deal with jetlag is just to stay awake all the time. Then again, that could just be because i haven't been able to sleep much on the plane. I would be strongly tempted to pay for the extra leg room next time.

I can has a water bottle? Not nearly enough water served on the plane, so i'm pretty badly dehydrated. heh, at least no long stops in security. only like 5 minutes while they looked for my batteries.

Hello

This is indeed my blog. I will be working on making it more, and I will try to update it frequently. For now though, this is all I have on my blog... Seriously, this is it... ... There is no more.