Happy Birthday Maya, and Happy Opening Ceremonies Logos!

Greetings again, loved ones.

Today was a very special day in two ways, it was Maya's 6th birthday and it was also the official Opening Ceremonies for the new Logos International School Campus.

From logosgrandopening

Last night before going to bed, Lesley made up a bunch of Happy Birthday signs, so when we hauled Maya out of bed this morning, she was very excited to see the well wishes all over the walls. Also, yesterday, we went to the best toy store in PP, and spent some of her "birthday" money to buy a special toy. As much as I pulled her to the barbie section, she was pretty fascinated with these action figure toys and watches. It's from an asian cartoon out here called Ben 10--very popular. The character Ben can turn into 10 different aliens-cool. So, we wrapped those up for this morning, and had her "open" them over a quick breakfast of nutella and yoghurt!

THANKS, X-Stream! Quick interjection: The XStream group from SOA sent us a Christmas package that was full of licorice and Tim's and NUTELLA for Julia and the girls. So, Nutella is being consumed at an alarming rate both morning and night here at our house. Who invented that stuff? I mean, it's basically cake icing that you can smear all over toast and claim it to be a meal??? I don't get it, but the kids sure do and they're loving it! Thanks guys, we appreciate it a ton!

From logosgrandopening

Out the door we whipped to get to Logos for a 9 am Opening ceremonies program. Lesley had to direct the elementary choir with 2 worship songs (15 kids out of all the Gr 3-6's showed up to practice, which was a poor turn out, but if Jesus can feed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, why can't we make beautiful music with just 15 kids?) Dean was the MC and host for the event, so he was up late last night putting the finishing touches on his speeches. He did a great job and the event was really nice, and very touching actually. Khmer dancers, Korean dance, high school choir. Very nice.

From logosgrandopening

From logosgrandopening

We had the head of Asian Hope fly out for the event, and when he saw the school driving up, he said he had tears in his eyes. It really is a sight to see, especially when you've been on the end of working toward it and waiting for it for so long. The builders were honored, the education minister was there and lots of parents, staff, students and general interested ex-pat community. A Special thanks to Dan was expressed for the vision and tenacity to see this through. Food was also baked up by the Asian Hope girls home (dozens and dozens of cookies) and was free refreshments for all. (That was quite a highlight.) All said and done, it was over at 11:30 and all the staff headed for a meeting, to prepare as best we can for the traffic mayhem that is going to ensue on Monday morning! :)

From logosgrandopening

We then had an impromtu birthday party for May. We nabbed Sophie and Tabby to come over after the ceremonies, and they had lunch with us (Kraft dinner, big treat) and played for the afternoon (sometimes more with Julia than Maya!). After a bit of down time with Tom and Jerry, we headed off to Pizza company for a birthday supper. Maya was quite happy with the day, although it was pretty low key for her, but kept asking if she was already 6. Yes. Then she would say, "next is 7, then 8, then 9..." SLow down, May, not too fast, ok? 6 is enough for now!

We took lots of pictures of today, so they should be posted some day soon. Just a quick entry today. More to tell you after this week, maybe after Monday, to depict some tales of complete mayhem, or a rather smooth transition! Time will tell which it will be. We're already expecting the power to fall short, once all the kids get in there, and all the air cons are turned on! And hopefully the pool will be ready to use--it's currently losing some of it's green color, as it's being treated! :) Should be interesting. We're all pretty excited, though.

From First Staff Meetingg at the New School

Ok, lots of love to all, and will talk soon!

See all 37 pics here

Logos Building Update and Greg Sreys Wedding

From Family Pic from Greg and Sreys Wedding

If you would like to see more pics

What a Day

Today was the reason why God invented holidays, for those of us who are rich enough to be able to take them!

Dean and I went furniture shopping this morning before heading to Logos, in order to get a few things for the new school. the X-Stream group from Seven Oaks in Abbotsford has fundraised some money for us, and I was hoping to use some of it on library furniture, Dean needed something for the office.

High: We went to the "furniture street" and looked around a bit--I found good seating at a shop and was elated when the deal was settled. Low: When Dean and I parted ways, (we were each going to run separate errands on our motos before going back to school), I headed down the street, only to be pulled over by my favorite people, the Cambodian traffic police. Not again.

Turns out, the street we were on, that starts out as a normal, two way street, suddenly turns mid stream into a one way, and the cops sit about 50 metres past the well hidden "do not enter" sign, and pull people over. I was shocked, had no idea that this street was like this, and apparently, neither did Dean! There he was on his moto, we had said goodbye not 1 minute before, and he'd been caught too. He, however, had called "the powers that be," some of his "connections" and apparently had got the fine down to $2.50. So, I jabbered on and on in english about how unfair this was and "you shouldn't treat foreigners who come to your country to help this way" kind of yada yada, and dug out my $2.50 to pay.

I pay, and peel out of there as fast as I can, only to get another 50 metres, turn right, where the arrow said I could go, and another cop comes off the sidewalk to pull me over! I was shocked and really ticked, and tried to avoid him. He got hold of my moto and I stopped, but then I just gave it the gas and pulled off. He hit the back of my bike with his baton, but missed me. Others we know have been hit by the baton that they all carry (if you try to run, some of them try to hit you) and others I know have had their car hit.

By now, I'm shook up, and start to crying. I pulled over further on, tried to decide where to go or if I should just go home, but I just could not stop crying! Behind a helmet and a facemask, my eyes just poured tears! It's just not fair--I didn't DO anything wrong!!! (or so I thought.) I finally turned around to head to one last store before going home for lunch, but couldn't even make it there. Decided to stop for "coffee" (an iced coffee, that is,) and try to regroup. Still crying, not sure why.

I sit at the coffee shop, Dean calls and I try to tell him why I'm so upset (he didn't see me get pulled over by the second cop just seconds later) and you're not going to believe what he called my attention to. You know when I left the first cops? Peeled out of there after shoving my money at them? Ya, discombublated BRAINO, took off in EXACTLY THE SAME DIRECTION--AGAINST THE ONE WAY THAT I HAD JUST BEEN PULLED OVER FOR!!! That's why the second cop tried to get me--he saw me coming the wrong way off the one way! What a fool, and an idiot! Even Dean said the cops were waving after me, and he was trying to yell for me to stop but I was gone. I don't know what I was thinking except that I was trying to get to a certain street, and it was that direction and I just went brain dead.

Well, at least the second pull over made sense now, however, I still was feeling a little rough. SO, I sat crying, in the coffee shop, and pulled out my bible. Hey, maybe not reading this little book for a few days has something to do with my state of mind??? Brothers and Sisters, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

What do I open up to? Acts 9, I think, where the Roman Centurian invited Simon Peter to his home, and Peter has the vision of the animals coming down on "what looked like a sheet" and he was told that what you eat doesn't matter, where you go (to a Gentiles home) doesn't matter. Jesus came and died for everyone. And I was so convicted.

You see, it's been crunch time for us. We've made the family decision that we are pursuing a third year at Logos. And now the doubt is creeping in and our enemy is using what he can to disuade us that this is what God wants for us and that staying in Cambodia longer is God's will for us! I mean, in my tears and fury, as I ran away from the authority here in this country, I just swore and said out loud, "I HATE this place!" I mean, that is what Satan wants me to believe!!!

It's so easy to think at this stage of the game, "you know what? I don't HAVE to stay, I could just go back this summer, after enjoying a lovely trip to Australia, then resume "normal," easy life! I've done my share, I've obeyed God, and now I can have my life back" It's easy to slip into this selfish thinking! Even this past Sunday, we heard from one of our favorite guest preachers at ICA (Timothy Paton, a frenchman, with a lovely thick accent when he preaches in English!)) He asked," Are you still passionate about the lost? Do you still see the poverty, the suffering, the need for Good News... are you still passionate about what brought you here?" Yes, it would be easier to just say, "yup, all finished. Boy, wasn't that a great ride!" But God wants us to TRUST him. I've gone the way of trusting myself, and let me tell you, greater things come from the smallest submission to God, than the greatest effort I ever put forth!!!!

Over Christmas, at Stephanie's insistence, I read the book "the Hiding Place," the true story of Corrie Ten Boom, the famous dutch woman who worked for the resistance in WWII, and who helped as many jews as she could, hide from the germans, then was taken to a concentration camp herself. What a great read, if you haven't ever read it, I recommend it, because it is so incredibly faith building. The way Corrie and her sister Betsy, who died in that camp, just kept thanking God for EVERYTHING they had there (including the fleas, amazingly, that kept even the guards away from them, so they could share god's love and hope with everyone there.) I mean, if those ladies could thank God for their situation in a concentrations camp, then couldn't I thank God for the opportunity to stay here (where it's anything but a prison camp--we have so much freedom here, to share God's love, it's amazing!) Can't I be thankful, maybe even for the police???

So, then, I thanked God for the bible reading. I thanked God that he came for everyone, the Jews and the Gentiles. I thanked Him that he died for all the Cambodians, even those sitting right there in that cafe, ignoring me as I cried. And I even thanked him for the police, for making me see my horrible indignity towards them, and my pride and arrogance, and I wondered what Jesus would do to a heart, if the next time I was stopped, if I gave freely, even more than required, and told them that this money was for their children, and that JEsus loves them. Don't you think that's what Jesus would have done? Maybe...

Anyways, I regrouped and saw alot of stuff more clearly, but the day didn't get that much better. Hormones were raging, let me tell you. I went home, had lunch with the girls (I feel guilty for leaving them, especially Maya, but they have some things to do and we're trying to arrange for hanging out with friends.) I got to school and, of course, nothing (and I mean NOTHING) of anything that was supposed to be done, was done. The computer desks being fitted for the library weren't installed (supposed to be done yesterday), the library floors not swept or mopped (swept into piles yesterday, still there), and the music room was untouched, although I had been told yesterday by the head cleaner that it would be cleaned today. It's something that Cambodia can do to you, is to take away your hope sometimes, that something might get done that someone tells you will get done, depending on who that person is. It's like a big, happy surprise when something actually get's done on time, or the way you have asked for it to be.

I swept the rest of the library. Ly helped, bless him. He has so much to do and tomorrow he's even taking a 16 year old girl that his family knows from the province, to the dentist and paying for her to have a whole bunch of her permanent, rotten teeth removed.

I waited for about 2 hours for cleaners to come back from lunch (i'm not exaggerating) and when I did, I begged for the library to be mopped. They continued to sweep the hallway. I took the broom from her hand, and said, no, go mop the library. The poor girl took off like a shot and started mopping the library. I waited outside the library door until she was actually DOING it. I left to start sweeping the music room.

It was not likely that when I went back to check on her work after about 20 minutes, that I would find her mopping. I didn't. The other cleaner was there, telling me something in khmer about going upstairs. I just couldn't take it anymore. I lovingly went to the person in charge of them to ask WHY they REFUSED to clean the floor (that I swept for them, because they didn't do that either!!!) SHe said it wasn't their area! The girl that cleans the library floor didn't come back from lunch, even though she's getting paid and said she would return.

Do you know that on Monday, I asked for cleaners to clean the music room and library, and was told that they wouldn't be coming in until THURSDAY, one of the resons being because they didn't get lunch. Seriously. The school is a MESS, it's still a construction war zone, and there is enough cleaning for our staff, who I must add are being paid to do this job, to clean from today until the very moment that kids arrive on Monday morning (not to mention we're hosting an opening ceremonies on Saturday!)

I guess I finally came to the realization that the buck stops with me. Once I finally accepted what I've known all along to be the inevitable, I just left them not cleaning the library I resolved to clean up the music room myself, and I spent hours today sweeping concrete dust and left over air con garbage into a huge bag. Glad I had a mask. At 5 o'clock, when I left the school, the cleaners were out at the gate just siting around with the guard, one was drinking an iced coffee from a bag. What to do???

ANyways, enjoyed a lovely ordered in supper at our friends the Dedert's place and we all got to hold little Calvine, who by the way, is doing pretty good, gaining weight and reaching some milestones. He's super sweet, STeph can't get enough of him. It was nice to enjoy some company.

For me, today was a reminder of my sinful nature, and evertime I think I'm doing a good job or that I'm "not that bad" of a person, I think all I need to do is remind myself of today. It was a mess, just like my music room. Thank the Lord He came to save me from this wretchedness! However, tonight, I'm going to rest well. That will help a little. And I'm going to give thanks for the cleaners.

2010 with gladness.

From Vietnam

Happy New Year! 2010 arrived for the Weisses much sooner than it did for most of you! haha We would like to wish you all a Blessed New year, a year filled with health and joy. We also hope your Christmas Season was fun, restful and full of thanksgiving. I would say that was how our was. If you would like to hear about our life for the last two weeks, backtrack with me... It has been interesting, good and different. Here's why:

See all 65 pics here

Flip back to Dec 21 and 22, Monday and Tuesday of the first week off of school. We had moved everything physically into the new school, but the school was still in a state of disarray in many ways-installing air cons, doors, white boards, meants lots of drilling into concrete and DUST! Messy and bad air for breathing. While most classroom teachers were able to unpack and set up their rooms before Christmas, myself (Lesley) with the library and the music room, found myself just wandering around, measuring things, thinking about what I could do then the dust finally settles. I didn't unpack a single library book box, to save on the dusty mess, and waiting for some counters in the music room did not allow me to unpack, really, anything. My plan was to wait until after Christmas break. I hope this plan does not backfire on me. Tuesday evening, we pack to leave for Vietnam.

From Vietnam

Dec 23, Wed. We get up at 5:15 in the morning, to get to a 7 am bus ride. It was nice actually, with a bathroom on the bus for emergencies, so after the normal fiasco of mayhem at the Vietnam border (I'll talk more about this coming up) we arrived at our hotel by 2:30 pm. Pretty good time. We walked around the area we were in, checking out the sights. Ho Chi Minh--same, same, but different than Cambodia. A little richer, a little more advanced, but to our dismay, it was no Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. For some reason I expected to come home with a pound of starbucks coffee, or have enjoyed a McDonalds burger and fries--sorry, not in HCM, or at least not where we were. Yes, there are markets )living in PP, been there, done that!), yes, there are some fast food joints, coffee shops (I like vietnamese coffee, not everyone does, but it's good for me) and yummy frozen yogurt shops. Can't complain, but still, we have those in PP. So, it was pretty much a same same, but different sort of trip and experience.

Vietnam is still a socialist republic. You wouldn't notice it really, just with the people, but what was noticably missing from the scenery, were the ginormous, mansions and the lexuses, but pop up and drive all over PP. At least not what we saw, was there any sort of that kind of corruption money there. Millions of motos, driving VERY fast, did I mention millions??? Crossing the street was an action of stepping out into oncoming, speeding traffic (much faster and busier than PP) and edging ever so slowly, until you see motos going around you, and eventually, you make it to the other side! It was even really hard to just walk from place to place in the downtown area that we were in: Motos are parked all over what would be considered the sidewalk, so in order to walk, you have to keep jutting out onto the road, where the traffic is moving. It wasn't easy or pleasant, especially with Maya, so we ended up taking the taxi's alot for safety. They were so cheap, $1 or $2 max got us just about everywhere we needed to go, so it wasn't like it was breaking the bank.

Our Ho Chi Minh hotel was quite nice, with a lovely breakfast buffet included, so it made the Christmas portion of our trip feel a little more fancy. It was nice to have a bit of a special time at this hotel. It had a pool, which was hard to find in the downtown, and it was worth it, as the kids used it everyday. It also had carpeting in the room (nice treat!) AND a bathtub, which we all used at least once. Now you wouldn't think we are hard done by to not have a bathtub in Cambodia, it's not problem really, but when you finally DO have one, it's like, "Alright! A Bathtub!" We all felt it, and used it and enjoyed the hot soak! Funny! You never know how much you miss something til you don't have it!

We also did sight seeing, lots of lovely old buildings, including a cathedral, left by the French (Yes the French inhabited most of Vietnam until they were driven out in the 50's, so there's still alot of french speaking, etc around.) After visiting some war monuments, and reading about the history, I tell you, the Vietnamese have been at war with someone, for most of the 20th century, and it's such a sad history for the people. THey are fervently proud of their country, and appeared to fight to the nose for it. INteresting history if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Anyways, in a nutshell, it was really lovely to see Saigon, the "Paris of the Orient." We enjoyed our time there.

Dec 24, THursday, Christmas Eve: We decided to get tickets for the Water Puppety show in the evening, after a nice supper. IF you're an Amazing Race fan, this is the same exact theatre, (we're pretty sure:)) that was showcased on the show. ANyways, in trying to find a restaurant previous, we thought we'd just go somewhere close to the small theatre, ran around looking, and ended up in the "non-restuarant" part of town, and sort of got frustrated. We tried to head (on foot) to where we remembered seeing a nice one the day before, but when we finally got there, it was CLOSED for the evening. It was right across a park, that was starting to get really filled up with people, celebrating the eveing. As it turns out, as we stood outside this restaurant delibreating what we were going to do now (hungry, and running out of time to see the puppetry show) the waiter motions us to a seat, and says they wil give us a meal, special for us! Turns out as a read a sign later, they were closing at 6:30 and we had arrived at 6:15, or something like that, so whether they felt guilty for trying to close up early, or if they just took pity on us pathetic foreigners, either way, they served us up the best meal we had on our whole trip!!! And, seeing as there was no one else in the whole place (we sat out on the patio on the street) the food came fast, they ended up not even charging us for the drinks, AND we considered this just one glaringly obvious gift from God that night! It was really a cool experience--they didn't have to serve us, but they did, and did so very well, and with a smile and best wishes! It was truly a neat experience.

From Vietnam

So, we were only 5 minutes late for the puppety show, it was cool and the kids really liked it, then we tried to get back to the hotel. Well... Let's just say it was around 8 pm. Every cab we tried to hail was full, and so we just started walking. We were in a long walking distance to our hotel, but it was doable, however, we just kept thinking we would catch a cab sooner than later. I can't beging to tell you about the traffic--basically, what seemed like EVERY citizen on HCM was out that night, because of the celebrations of Christmas eve. As we walked, we had to walk on the roads, as the sidewalks were jammed with people and motos, restuarants, and stuff!!! Little kids dressed up in Santa outfits (this is a favorite thing for asians to do to their children!) it was an absolute zoo! Crossing the street on a normal day is taking your life into your own hands. We had to cross a 6 point corner intersection, that was simply a sea of motos, people. No lights, as it was a round-a-bout, so it was just unbelievable. I didn't think we were going to make it, but slow and steady, it was possible. IT took us about 45 min. of walking through what would be parade-like-traffic (you know, like when you leave a bomber game or the santa claus parade with hundreds of other human beings?) we finally staggared into our hotel. Is this what traffic is always like? I mean really, what did we have to compare? It was only our second night there. However, on talking to another tourist who had been in HCM for 3 christmases now, he said he had never seen anything like the number of people and the traffic as it was that night. Apparently Christmas Eve is a time to get out. THink TIme Square on New Years Eve and you'll get the picture.

From Chi Chu Tunnels

Dec 25, Friday, Christmas morning and day. Uneventful and a little sad, but I think we went to the market. Steph was sad the night before after our harrowing trip home, as the pining for a tradition Christmas was high in her heart, but was ok after a little while.

From Vietnam

Dec 27, sunday morning, we left our lovely hotel, and prepared for a train trip north, to a coastal town called Nha Trang, which is a beach, resort type town. Not sure what to expect, but had heard fairly psitive comments about both the train ride and the beach. The train was anything but what we had expected. It's a funny story, actually. Alot of our friends out here tell us, "just another story for your blog." and they're right. When interesting things happen, it just makes for such great tales on this blog! I write this just as much as a record for our family, as I do for all of you to know, so I hope you don't find me long winded.

From Vietnam

ANyways, the train. We book seats in the regular car, so you're seated like a bus, or airplain. The train arrives at the station with decent looking cars, until we get to the one we're booked in, and it's OLD looking, and fairly gross. The smell inside the car is of old, smelly socks, or something stale. THe seats are old, the paint is scratched up. Ok, well, what did we expect for a Vietnam train? It certainly didn't look like some pictures we saw on the internet.

From Vietnam

Rules: No smoking on the train. Apparently the news that smoking can kill you has not reached any of south east asia. Everyone here smokes, and cigarettes are dirt cheap, and it's bad enough when people smoke in restaurants, or your hotel room smells of smoke--it's one of those things you just chalk up to SE Asia. Part of the experience. But on the train, smoking is allowed "between" the cars, and anyone who went there to smoke, left the door open to the passenger car! So, they may as well have been smoking right in the booth!!! I have to interupt here with the information that I was kind of sick by this point. I started the trip getting a cold, and these days, colds for me turn very quickly into sinusitis, so breathing, clarity of airways, was a challenge even if the air was ocean fresh! I was just struggling. The smoke was not helping. The final straw was the passenger behind me, who at his best looked like he'd been drunk for days, who just simply lit up sitting right in his seat! No concern whatsoever for anyone around him! (The train was packed.) I couldn't believe it, as this seriously broke even the SE Asian rules! I told Dean, he motioned the buy to butt out, finally another Vietnamese passenger told him he couldn't smoke in here, but had to walk 5 feet to the middle of the cars and smoke there, with the door open! It was hillarious!

From Drunk guy behind and a woman and child "sharing" the seat beside Les.

I've got to run now, but when I come back, i'm going to write about the pushing getting on the train and on my seat partner and her little toddler, who, for 6 hours bumped, kicked, elbowed, pushed and finally drove me from my little seat. It was a joy, let me tell you. But seriously, I will keep writing when I have a minute. We're off to a wedding today of two of our teachers, Greg originally from Oregon, and Srey who is Cambodian. They had a heck of a time getting their paperwork ok'd from the cambodian government, so this is truly a day to rejoice! I will take off from where I left when I return. Lots of love to you all!