Many years ago we took our daughter out of public middle school and sent her to a local evangelical Lutheran private school. It was the least expensive of the several private schools in the area and was well-regarded. Seventh grade had been scary year, as middle school years often are. The last straw was when … More Voluntourism Done Right (and Wrong)
One Saturday in August 2007, while in Phnom Penh once again for work, I decided to go to the Russian market, which was the best covered market for tourist shopping according to the guides. It was pretty far away from my hotel, so I planned to take a moto down there in the morning. Just … More Spirits, Strange Ancient Men, and Widows
I may have been a straight A student, but I can’t hold onto a purse or passport to save my life. “Easily distracted”, I say. No matter, it seems that either through my good karma, a guardian angel, or the kindness of strangers, I have sailed through one potential catastrophe after another while traveling abroad. … More A Ditz in a Foreign Land
Part I: In 2009 I traveled to Cambodia again for my clinical training project with the Cambodian mental health organization, TPO. I traveled alone, having long before gotten the hang of moving through southeast Asia successfully without knowing anything more than how to say hello and thank-you in three languages. After this upcoming stay of … More The blood beneath the yoga mat: Ecolodge #2
During the 5 years I spent traveling back and forth to Cambodia for work I also had several vacations in Vietnam and a dozen weekend stopovers in Bangkok, I noticed the importance of luck and gambling in the region. I learned that both Vietnam and China have long placed restrictions on their population’s ability to … More Luck meets Karma in SE Asia: An intro with four sixty second stories
Feb. 19, 2017 From 2005-2010 I worked on a training project that sent me to the capitol of Cambodia over a dozen times for a week or two at a stretch. Phnom Penh traffic is pretty heavy, with a rich mix of cars, tuk-tuks, cyclos, motos, and bicycles. Until recently, there were few stop signs … More Gentle Chaos–Biking Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Other states, other lives, other souls 