Job possibility

Jen is really jealous of how I find jobs. A few months before graduation, the technical VP at Epic called up Max, one of my professors, and asked if any of the people on the college ACM programming team were interested in a job. I was, and shortly after that, I was hired. After Epic, I just contacted the Fool because it looked like such a cool place to work, and after a day of interviews there, I was hired. It was the only place I interviewed, or really even seriously applied. After the Fool, I managed to work my way into the job at the Embassy in Mexico, I'm still not sure quite how it happened. One day there was no funding, then a call came to say there was funding and a job if I wanted it. These jobs just happen, and I'm never sure quite how.

It is looking like the same thing is happening yet again. A few weeks ago we had dinner with a British couple that has been here for 10 years or so. They know everybody. She does education work, he does a bunch of things in the NGO world, mainly helping start lefty nonprofit businesses. One of the guys he knows here runs a business called Yejj. They do IT consulting, support, etc, and use the profits to help train disadvantaged Cambodian people. They teach, among other things, workplace skills, IT basics, and English. It looks like a fantastic company, and the director has indicated to me that he thinks I could certainly get a job with them. We just need to sort out the details - how many hours, how much pay, specific responsibilities. So it certainly isn't a sure thing, but it is looking very promising. And I think that I'm ready to get some part-time work. We've got Ellie signed up for 3 mornings a week at a preschool starting on her birthday, and that will give me the time to do something like this, I expect. We'll have to see. In any event, it is nice to pursue to know that my options aren't limited to staying at home. If I decide to stay at home full time still, it will be truly that - my decision.

Julia and others

Ellie loves everything and everybody these days. She literally doesn't know the word hate. She has also been missing Julia. We asked her who she wanted to invite to her birthday party, and without even thinking she said "Julia!". That was followed a few hours later by this:

Ellie: Ellie loves Julia.
Daddy: That's really nice. Julia loves you, too.
Ellie: Ellie loves Melissa.
Daddy: And Aunt Melissa loves you also.
Ellie: Ellie loves Uncle Pete, too.
Daddy: And Uncle Pete loves you.
Ellie: Ellie loves cucumbers.
Daddy: Um... great!

Another exciting croup experience

Ellie and I have been sick for the past few days. At first it was just a cold with a mid-grade fever. Nothing to worry about, we figured. I took her in to the SOS Internatinal clinic here, and the doctor gave her Robitussin and said to keep her comfy with that and ibuprofin. Then yesterday afternoon, about 6 hours later, I hear her cough, and it sounds like a seal. Uh oh. But she changes position (she's sleeping on the sofa at this point) and the cough gets more normal. Ok, perhaps just a false alarm.

Well, needless to say, about 9pm the seals are back, this time with stridor, the wheezy breathing that comes with croup. Jen and I are both remembering January, when we had to take her into the ER in DC because she was having so much difficulty breathing. She's not that bad yet, but we aren't in DC, so we are getting nervous. We call the SOS clinic, and the on-call doctor says to just bring her in so he can examine her and give her the steroids if necessary. We start to rush around, call a good friend to come and just make sure Ben is fine, and when he arrives we zip out to SOS, at around 10pm. The doctor does a lengthy exam, listening to everything, and then they pull out the nebulizer. Ellie screams and fights, but they take a break in the middle to give her steroids, and the second time on the nebulizer she's much calmer, and she even falls asleep at the end.

After we come home, she has a few more awakenings, but she sounds much better, and this morning she woke with no fever. She's been gradually getting better all day. You'd think that was good, but I've been keeping pace with her, only in the opposite direction. I've been spacy and feverish all last night and all day today. I don't quite know what we'll do if she's running around full bore tomorrow, and I'm still like this. We also appear to have infected Sinen, so we are working with just Somany, who has her hands full with Ben. I've been on Ellie duty in order to limit the infection as much as possible. Ah well, we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

The good news is that the SOS took our call very seriously, and is more than capable of handling croup or similar problems. They have a whole mini-ER set up, and there is always somebody on call. That makes us feel a whole lot better about being here.

Em and Aaron come for a visit

Em and Aaron became our first visitors this weekend. We had a lovely and relaxed time shopping at the Russian Market, going to Tuol Sleng, taking the Phnom Penh reality tour (which is what we call Jen getting lost on the way to the Killing Fields), having terrific massages, shopping for silk, eating at an open air bar overlooking the Mekong, and taking Aaron to the SOS Clinic. (OK, that last part wasn't so much fun, but he should be on the mend now!)

The bottom photo is us in front of the Independence Monument, one of the major landmarks in town.

Ellie feeds Ben

Here's Ellie feeding Ben a bottle. She really loves to be involved with him. She's also helped us to feed him solids by sitting on our lap and holding his bowl of food, or putting some rice cereal on his spoon. And she is surprisingly patient with him. Every other word out of her mouth is "No, Ben!" but she rarely hits or pushes him--even when he grabs her hair or her toys.

Smiley Ben

Ellie in her playhouse

Peace Corps Trip

Fisherman on Mekong, Svay Rieng province

Peace Corps Trip

Old Khmer woman and village kids

Peace Corps Trip

Old Khmer Woman, Kampong Trabek province

Peace Corps Trip

Children playing in rice field, Kampong Speu province

Khmer Proverb for the Day

The Governor of Sihanoukville shared this with me on Thursday:

"If you're afraid of your teacher, you won't have knowledge. If you're afraid of your wife, you won't have children."