I feel a little bit like the crew from Gilligan's Island

Well not exactly, however, the feeling that I am leaving this tropical area for a thriving industrialized country is somewhat allowing me to, for whatever reason, contextualize and align myself with the crew from Gilligan's Island. The crew knew it was time to go for a variety of reasons, we are happy to leave for a while for a number of reasons.

I/We have pretty much run out of supplies here. For whatever reason, underwear seems to disintegrate out here - down to 2 pair that don't resemble something like a screen door. I am down to my last deodorant (started with over 20+ at the beginning of the year), I ran out of hair gel a little while back (only got this far because of the extreme group from church!) My dress shoes blew out the back end about a month ago- they are dead. My birk sandals are in need of a new bottom but could not be fixed by anyone here (even though they sell the "new" fake ones at the market, nobody could actually repair a "real" pair of birks in Cambodia- that is funny actually). I have sweat stained shirts I am embarrassed to say I have committed to this long in the journey. We ran out of Tim Horton's coffee, and honestly I am having a hard time drinking the stuff Les is making in the morning- it IS coffee but it just AIN'T coffee - if you know what I mean. This stuff is more like a black crude oil- and no matter how much sugar and 3 year shelf like milk substance I place in it- I can't seem to get down more than 3 sips before I give up.

Actually, I really do enjoy Cambodia. I know, like the crew from Gilligan's Island, that the many quirky things about this culture has grown on me (and our family). And with that quirkiness I am also starting to lose perspective on certain things- another reason to leave for a while. Yesterday, I nearly ran over a monkey that was crossing my path as I was zipping on my moto in front of the Wat Phnom and it reminded me of the time I ran over a jack rabbit in Manitoba and then gave it to my Dad to skin and eat. After I barely avoided the monkey I thought, "I wonder if monkey would taste like chicken?" You see, the problem is, I am subconsciously considering the idea that monkey is edible!! That is sooo wrong! Another lost perspective food related story: I also play hockey on Thursday nights with a mainly large core of Canadians out here. Afterward, we go to a place to relax and talk about the game. We casually order crickets from the menu! Are you kidding me? CRICKETS PEOPLE!!! That's right, LOCUSTS, NATURAL PLAGUES!!! And the real problem is... I kinda like them. One of the missionary guys across the table said, "it's kind of the Cambodian answer to potato chips". POTATO CHIPS??? WHO ARE WE KIDDING??? My problem is that I nodded and agreed with him that in fact I think he may be right. Mind you, unlike potato chips, I don't have to worry about getting any cricket legs caught in my teeth. So for any of you bold youth teens- if you plan on trying any crickets in your backyard- deep fry them first! Don't go eating them live or anything like that. Anyways, I hope when I am in Canada I won't start eyeing some of the pets and start wondering what that would taste like on the BBQ! Like I said, I am losing it and perhaps its a good thing if someone over in Canada can just give my head a shake to help me know I am no longer in Cambodia for a little while and I can get some perspective!

I am also feeling a bit like the SKIPPER from Gilligan's Island in the sense of figuring out what is relevant and how much stuff can we pack to make the journey back to Canada. There is only so much stuff we can take on our boat/raft as we cross the ocean to civilization. The suitcases are packed yet.... Actually I am bringing stuff back that I can't use, heck, no one could use here! Things like, a light golf jacket (thought that would help on the cool days- perhaps while playing golf?- seriously how did that get there in the first place) , an NFL football jersey (too hot to wear but got it from a guy visiting from China- by the way #21 LT Chargers [this info is for sports nut Gurv]), and an alarm clock that doesn't take 240V power (could have read the back on that one- good thing I didn't plug it in or it would have got ugly! Les did that with a night light - that'll teach her -lesson learned).

The boat is taking off soon. We are looking forward (NOT) to the long 36 hours+ of flight/airport time it will take to get back to Canada! However, we are very much looking forward to seeing all of you!

Blessings to all of you!
Deano



Acts 20:24

We are flying back to Canada in a week!

We are excited to come back to Canada for part of the summer. Below is a partial itinerary of where we will be. If we can we would love to stop in to see you if possible. (Large groups are "more efficient" than small ones.)

We leave Phnom Penh Saturday, May 30th at 11:25 am. Arrive in Hong Kong after 2:45 flight, to a long layover where we hope to leave the airport, for a quick visit into the city and supper. We leave Hong Kong at 12 midnight and arrive in vancouver at 9:05 pm on Saturday May 30th (hey, where did one whole day go???)That's after a 12 hour flight. Then, the horrendous layover--we hope to leave the airport to sleep at Edie and Al's as we don't leave for WInnipeg until 7:30 am the next morning, arriving in Winnipeg at 12:10 pm, a 2:40 flight.
Ok, so that's the juice on that. Wish us luck (or preferably pray for us) as this is going to be a long travel.

We are planning to reside at Dean's mom's place for the first 2 weeks of June, as she was able to get some much deeserved holidays at that time! yay! then with lesley's parents at the cottage and possibly in the city, for the second 2 weeks of June. This with little jaunts and sleepovers here and there with various friends and relatives. St. Anne, St. Vital, St. Laurent--better look out for us, all you "saints!"

We don't have an official departure date for leaving Manitoba, but we will be planning on getting to Edmonton and wherever the heck it is that Chuck lives BEFORE the July long, as we're scheduled to hang out in Calgary with Lesley's sister July 1-5. Hey Winship famiily, if you ever read this blog, are you going to be around that last week of June for a visit in Saskatechewan? We'd love to meet that newest member of your family, adn we missed you all last summer! Hopefully we'll connect with you before then.
Then, believe it or not, we're going to spend 2 nights camping on the lake in Kelowna with the entire Hein Clan (That's Dan Hein's family--he's our principal and good friend), as we've already booked to hang out with them and all their camping gear (We have no idea where ours is all packed) and it should be a blast!
That should set us up to arrive in Abbotsford July 8. Tim and Sylvia Smith have graciously offered us their basement for the month of July until we leave, to camp out there, and it's a great space for us-nice and roomy, private enough that we're not driving them crazy! So, we're really looking forward to that. They live close to the Abby Elem on McKee, so that's a new end of town for us. That should give us two Sundays at SOA, so hope you've all NOT planned your summer vacations then! We'll do what we can, right???

MIRACULOUS NEWS ALERT! I'm not sure how Greg Dyck, Darren Wall or Dave Jennings did it (they are all wonderful people who have been helping us with our paperwork, car issues and Dave, our sister-in-law's dad, has been collecting ALL our mail since we left and letting us know information all year! (WOW) but, between these three very helpful gentlemen, our van has been officially registered for the summer, so we will have wheels to do all this driving with! We were not sure how or if this registration across provinces was going to take place, but these guys did it for us, so we are super thankful, and really, it seems like a miracle out here to us that there have been no hassles (for us on this end) so it's pretty exciting! Now we're going to have to wear seatbelts for 2 months. that's going to be different...

As of this exact minute, we do not have departure dates finalized to return to PP, although it will be on or around July 24. Depends on a few factors that are not solidified, one of which is the decision for us to purchase one-way fares going back and leave our return options open at the end of next year, OR purchase return fares from this end, and get a very slightly reduced ticket price, but then we are locked in to returning out of PP. We are hoping we will have enough of our own cash to include Australia in our return travels, so that might mean we should just get to Cambodia this year, and work out our return details when we know more as the year transpires. Anyhoo, that's for later, but we would appreciate prayer in this way, as well.

So, we have begun some of the good-bye saying process, as we had our staff party this past Saturday. IT was hosted at a lovely little resort just outside of town with a gorgeous pool, and it was a very nice afternoon. There were speeches and tears for those leaving. High turnover is just a fact of life in this ex-pat/international world we are now living, and it's an ongoing thing. As hard as it may be at times, I revelled in the point that although we have many more good-bye's to say being in the position we are now in, we also get to meet more people this way, too! Also, God moves people in and out of Logos and they just have to continue their ministries in different places and often in different ways. There was much positive and blessings in the afternoon, and it was good.

Our last week is packed with "last" things--dinner with our landlords, dinner with some friends, getting final marks in Tuesday, finishing classes on Wed, cleaning up rooms on Thursday, and handing out awards and report cards on Friday! I think this week will fly. Oh ya, packing. How could I forget!!! Haha. I think that's going to take place sometime before we leave Saturday morning! I hope we can pack light--we are leavning most of things here and bringing as many WARM clothes as we can from here. I'm sure planning on a visit or two to VV Boutique to buy an extra sweatshirt just to wear at the beach this year! I know I say this over and over, but it's been + 40 C most of this week, and we just wake up, leave our aircon and sweat all day! We're so used to it, it's going to be cool to be cool again!

Last but definitely not least, we are on the precipice of buying a car for next year! As I write, it's sitting in our carport--we got to try it out this weekend. A 1989 Toyota Camr_. (The Y is missing, along with alot of the body work, which is par for the course here on PP street.) It was owned by a friend of Dean's who is leavning town, it's been well maintained, we can't beat the price and there's tons of Camry's all over town, which means used parts and maintenance is common, easy to find. It's a standard which turns me off a little, as the traffic here is enough to deal with without having to think about shifting all the time, but I did drive it a bit and think I'll get used to it. So, the deal should be finalized this week, then the car will sit for 2 months. Now is the time to buy as people are moving out, and things are going for sale. When we return in 2 months, everybody coming in will be looking for vehicles and the market is bad.

OK, I think that's about it. I'm coming home with PICTURES, lots of them, in actual HARD COPY format, that I will put into albums for anyone interested to see more of a glimps of our life and year out here. Cheap to print photos out here: 350 riels (that's about $0.03 per picture) so I got alot of them! Will album them when I get back right away. Been getting teacher gifts too, which is no easy issue out here--at least not for me. SO, all that year end stuff.

I will go and wish you God's Blessing until we either meet again, or we write again. Hopefully the former will come sooner!!! Looking really forward to seeing ALL of you!
L
:)

Random thoughts and visit to Marie's orphanage

Well I thought I would give a couple of random thoughts to let you all know what is going on. We have been busy dealing with the end of the school year things, getting ready to go back to Canada to visit some friends and family. Tonight is the school graduation and the big High school banquet dinner is tomorrow night. We are busy and having fun at the same time.

From may

Both Les and I will have slightly different jobs next year at Logos. Les will be working in a part-time music and part-time library position. My position will be changed to principal of the elementary school.

Julia and Maya have still had some real stomach problems so your continual prayer is needed and cherished.

From may

We just went to Marie Ens Orphanage this past week and we took a bunch of Logos staff and students out to help. It was great, all Marie's kids were off of school because of the King's birthday so we had alot of kids to work with. When we first arrived, Marie's kids all sang many Khmer songs for us with such energy and joy. Afterwards we hosted a number of activities. We ran a Canadian ball hockey session headed by principal Dan Hein, I ran a volleyball area with some help from some of the Logos kids, Les and the girls did some games with the little kids, and Anna Pedrosa ran a puppet show (translated in Khmer). Later a couple of us had a chance to pray for some of the elderly grannies who were ill. We all had lunch at Marie's place and it was just a great time to be out there. The girls all really like playing with Marie's dogs too. However, Maya is terrified if Marie's dogs come close to her.

From may

Les and Steph are off to another orphanage this afternoon to play with some of the disabled orphan children and I will take care of Jubes and Maya.

From may

Many of you know and wished Stephanie a Happy 13th Birthday earlier this week. Things are done differently out here and she had a hard time convincing some of her friends to come over to celebrate her birthday. (Actually her friends had a hard time convincing their parents to let them go celebrate Steph's birthday on a Saturday). The parents apparently just don't see the need, I guess. In the end, Steph was able to have a couple of friends over, although it meant Les and I driving them all over Phnom Penh to make it happen! Steph had fun and appreciated everything.

From may

Les also celebrated her 1st Mother's Day away from Canada. Steph baked some cupcakes for Les. Steph did a great job. Aside: After much searching, I had found a box of Betty Crocker cake mix- even though it took me 3.5 hours and many stores later to get it. It sure did taste great! We had some American missionaries over to help celebrate Mother's day too.

Of course Les and I celebrate our 18th anniversary on the 18th of May. We decided to celebrate it on the night of the 13th since that worked in our schedule. It was also the first time together alone for a night since we have been in Cambodia. It was great, almost felt like a honeymoon! We had a couple of staff members agree to look after our little ladies. (Although one of the staff members left early due to feeling ill and having stomach problems)!


We had a chance to stay over at the girl's house (Asian Hope orphanage) last Saturday night and have some fun with them. Actually what was kind of funny was we thought we would go over and watch a movie for part of the time, since they have a TV and we do not. As the house parents were leaving for their much needed break and a relaxing time out for the evening, one of them said to the girls, "remember no TV tonight- you are grounded (from watching TV) based on yesterday's events." Just had to laugh- no TV - Oh Well! We had a good time playing relaxing and looking at some of the photo albums some of them had made over the past couple of years.

Random fun- I got my first Whopper in Cambodia! Actually Dan Hein was coming back from the Bangkok airport and purchased the Whopper just before his flight took off and brought it into Cambodia! Well 3.5 hours later I ate it along with Julia, Steph and Maya. Les was not interested as she thought it might make her sick since the burger was in the heat for 3+ hours? I figured it couldn't be any worse than things I have eaten here. By the way, it tasted sooo good. Real beef- awesome - and nobody got sick from it!

We are also looking at buying a car before we leave. There are many cars for sale right now as many expats are getting ready to leave. We are looking at an 80ish toyota camry (they are not sure what year- has been cannibalized many times over) - fully rusted, broken speedometer, unknown km, everything makes a noise but the horn kind of car. These cars go for around $3000 USD. I know, it doesn't make sense but these are the cheaper more reliable cars available that is in our affordability. We will need a car to deal with all the dust and rain when we travel to the new Logos school building next year.

We have had lots of Heat, over 40C most days (in the shade according to the school thermometer). This increase heat means that more people try to use the aircon and therefore we are losing power more often. We are losing power anywhere from 1 to 10 hours per day. Not having a fan during that time is even harder than not having aircon.

From may

Blessings,
Dean


PS Happy Birthday to my brother Rod. Sorry I haven't said it to you directly yet. Our internet has not been working well here- I am sure it is power related and also the laptop microphone and speakers are starting to go, so it has been tough setting up regular communication.

PS Thanks to Greg Dyck, Darren Wall, and Dave Jennings for helping us get our vehicle figured out. Please pray that it works out so we can drive it when we get back in June to Winnipeg).

Current update

Hey everyone. We are one the winding down side of things here at school, although, we still are working on finishing strong. We will finish up this week, have a full week off, then two last weeks of school.

Dean posted some pictures in the last entry of the flooding rains. What he didn't tell you was about the storm the following Friday. Most kids had just been picked up from school, around 3:15, when the lightning and thunder hit hard. We heard stats that 8 inches of rain fell in around an hour, but to watch it was something entirely different. The problem with flooding right now is twofold--we're just coming off the dry season, so the streets are filled with lots of sand, dirt, garbage, and many other things that easily clog the drains (if there are drains) and I also heard that the ground is hard and dry, not used to the rain yet, so it's not absorbing the water very quickly. Whatever the reason is, the water just fills up the streets and everywhere.

By the time I left the school in a tuk tuk with some other teachers, it was about 3:45, and the entire driveway on the school grounds was flooded up to my mid-shin! I had to wade through the water to get out of the school property. And, just to mention, calling it "water" is being kind--the sewers full of raw sewage all back up into this "water" and it all swirls together, not to mention again, whatever is out on the streets floating around.... It is pretty gross to say the least, and we often see small children playing and actually swimming in the street water when it's really high.

Water was splashing into our tuk tuk on the short ride we were on, the driver's moto stalled a number of times, many motos and cars were stalled, stuck, and soaked people were walking around in clogged and totally flooded streets. The entire 592, our school's street, was a complete lake. I forgot to mention, that the water actually lapped up almost into the main building with the office, so the custodian dumped a pile of sand on a tarp, to protect the building. All this in under an hour! We were shocked, and I had never seen it this bad. Some who have been here longer even said it was something. I did hear from many poor souls who thought they could travel in the city later that evening, that many main streets were just parking lots. One family we know, just pretty much abandoned their car and went to a restaurant for supper.

So, it's all in the name of a good story. By the next day, everything was drained.

Well, we have a pretty important family event coming up this mother's day--Stephanie's 13th birthday! Sounds like it's going to just be a party weekend, with friends over on Sat to Sun, going to the school drama production on Sat. night, (the Diary of Anne Frank, who by the way, was 13!), One or two sleepovers, lots of junk food.. that kind of thing. Steph was handing me a mild bit of attitude the other day, so I kindly requested if she could just hold out a few more days and wait until she actually TURNED 13, that would be great! haha. STeph is definitely growing into a mature young teen, and we are enjoying every minute of it. Ok, well, most minutes.

Next week if off for us--the king is having his birthday, and with some other stat holiday's we had to take, it's a great week for us. We're going to wrap up so many things in the house and the classroom, get all our errands done to come home, start packing, do our last "souvenir" shopping, that sort of thing. I asked Sokhom to teach me a few of her famous dishes, and she's heartily agreed to teach me, so I can pass it along, hopefully, this summer! We are hoping to get out to Marie's Rescue for one more visit before we leave. Also, Dean and I will celebrate our 18th Anniversary, on the 12-13th, while the kids go to our friend's house for a sleepover. We cannot go out on the weekend, as it's the High school grad, and may as well celebrate when we have the free time (Our actual anniversary is our 18th, on the 18th!) I'm hinting big on some jewelery, but not sure it's taking hold! haha

So, that is all for now. Can't think of too much more to say, except that we are excited for the next few weeks. Things are going really well. I don't think we realize just how hot it is here, and how much we're used to it. Dean and I were at Russian market on Saturday ( a tiny, khmer market, with narrow aisles, known for it's incredible heat. We get a call from a friend who tells us the thermometer at school, in the sun, is registering 114 degrees farenheit. I felt fine in the market, not that hot at all! This morning, the same thermometer read +37 C at around 8 in the morning! I was shocked, as it did not feel anywhere near that hot! Yikes! It will be interesting to go a whole day without sweating, that's for sure.

We love yous all. Have a great May Long weekend! God Bless!
Les