I'm Dreaming of a "Hot" Christmas

One of the worst ideas we've ever had

There were a couple of lights out in our house and they are too tall for us to change. To change them you have to have a pretty high ladder. Our landlord (who lives one floor below us) had taken care of one light like this before without too much difficulty. So, we decided to ask him to fix a couple more. That has proven to be one of the worst ideas we ever had. We have survived without those lights just fine, but figured it would be nice if they worked. We thought it would simply mean he brings his ladder and changes out the bulbs. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. We think the reason the light wasn't working before was because there wasn't enough power going to it. He sort of fixed that by re-routing power from somewhere else. Unfortunately the result was that if we took a shower, the combination of the water heater plus bathroom light flipped the breaker for the bathroom and you were suddenly showering in the dark in cold water. This was never a problem before. Also, a new development in the problem is that the kitchen socket can no longer provide enough energy to run the fridge plus any other appliance at the same time. We have burnt out 2 power strips to discover this. The kitchen was never a problem before. We told him that there was a new problem and he sort of came to fix it some more. Now the outlet for our water cooler no longer works. This was never a problem before. Overall, asking him to fix our lights is one of the worst ideas we have ever had as it has resulted in problems that never existed before. Here is a picture of the new fuse box. I was going to post more pictures, but they won't post for some reason.

Waterfall

A few pictures from our trip to the waterfall. It was a really gorgeous place and it was nice to be out of the city and away from the noise and pollution from all the traffic. The picture of our group setting out on the hike does not do the trail justice. It got a lot rockier and a bit steeper a while later. (Mom, check out the UCLA hat on that student! I have no idea where he got that.)

Sleepover

We just finished a 3 day holiday here. For one of the nights we invited some friends over to all make dinner together and then spend the night. We cooked and ate and then played games for a few hours. Then Dave and I went to bed sometime after 1:30am and they continued playing video games until about 4am (or so I was told) and were back on the PlayStation2 before 8am. We all had fun.

Family, thanks for visiting!

So, it's been a few months now, but my mom and sister came to this side of the world in August. We all traveled together on a tour in China and then they came and saw where I live and work. We had a great time. Here's a few pictures.

Friends, thanks for visiting!

Last month, a couple friends came all the way from America just to visit and encourage us. It was a real blessing. Here's a few pictures.

Annoying Cambo Sounds #3

Annoying Cambo Sounds #2

The dog next door must be part hound...It usually starts up barking in the early morning and goes all night and into the day. It takes a break sometimes in the afternoon because of the heat, so that is nice!

Morning Wake Up Chant

Driving To Work

I took a little video of me driving to the university where I teach. It's a little wobbly and windy, but it gives a little taste of Cambo traffic! - Note to Matt's family, he would never do this, so don't worry!

Ride That Ostrich!

Trip to Vietnam!

Hey friends,
A couple of weeks ago we took advantage of a holiday here and no classes and took a trip to Vietnam! Here are some pics of our trip, we went to three different cities in a week and took 8 different modes of transportation, including an ostrich!

Trip to the countryside!

Hey friends! Here are some pics from my 3 day trip last week to the countryside. I drove me and one of my national friends 4 hours on my moto to get there! Then the next day we got in a crowded van and rode another 4 hrs into the countryside. It was a long trip! We had a really fun time though and I had a host of new and exciting experiences. I enjoyed what you could call a legit village experience sleeping on a front porch with bats over head, seeing pigs slaughtered at 4am, cramming in a van with 34 people plus all their stuff, taking a "bath" in front of a whole family and village, digging a hole for a bathroom wherever I pleased and lots of water buffaloes! It was so much fun and a very eye opening trip!


Stopped for a little coconut break!








The vans we rode in for 4hrs!



This is what we think of "swine flu"!