Daily Duties (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Daily Duties

The following is a list of the toturous things that I have to put up with each day that I go to the orphanage.

Breakfast - Jeremy and I usually start off the day with a big breakfast because we normally don't eat again until dinner time. There's 2 different places we choose to eat at, both serve yummy baguette sandwiches, sweet milk coffee, fruit salad and delicious sweet banana cake! We then get 2 bottle of waters to go.

Shopping - Down the road from the orphanage we always stop at the local market (the same one where I saw Cliff Richards in January). Thom, our driver comes in with us and does all the speaking and bargaining for us. First we walk have to walk through all the stalls with the dead pig heads hanging and live fish jumping and flopping onto the cement that's covered with this sludge. Normally we buy a serving of either fish or pork, veggies and 1 or 2 large branches of bananas. For about 90+ mini bananas I pay about $1 USD. The lady knows me and calls me a rich NGO Money Man, she generally doesn't budge on her prices. On different occasions we buy various things like medicine, milk, eggs, soap, etc.

The Arrival - The moment we get through the gates, we always have to get yelled at by the kids. They scream out our names and grab our hands before we even get a chance to get off the motorbike. They normally take the food that we've brought for them out of the way, it almost seems as though the food is just in their way to get to us. Once we're off the bike we then go through a ritual of everyone hanging off our bodies for about 3 minutes. The following 20 mins are usually followed by different hand games, ie: thumbwars, rock/paper/scissors, paddycake type games, etc.

Capture the flag! - I love this game! I'm sure you know what it is. If not, basically you have 2 teams and 2 flags. You have a middle border that if you pass are liable to be caught and kept hold of until you're released by one of your other team members. If you can make it to the flag and back without getting tagged, you've won. This game takes strategics and patience. It can often take 30-45 minutes to play. Its my new favorite thing to do there.

Lia Ke Si - A game similar to Duck Duck Goose, but instead you've got a scarf that you use to basically chase and beat your oponent with around the circle while everyone chants a cool song. I still can't get the words out of my head!

Football/Volleyball/Basketball - All with the same ball! To specify for the Canadians, Football = Soccer, I hardly ever call it soccer anymore. I haven't played this many sports since I was in Jr. High school. Needless to say, the kids always kick my ass at football. I introduced basketball just the other day. Rotona and I were bored, we found an old basket with a hole in it and hung it up to a tree, voila!

School - No, Jeremy and I don't go. The way there system works in Cambodia is that there's 2 different times for school, 7am and 1pm. So half go in the morning, the other half in the afternoon. So on certain days at 1pm there's only about 6 kids left with us to play with and we all get bored. Generally we end up taking naps or just sit around and do a whole lotta nuttin'. Hard life I tell ya.

First Aid - Thank God this doesn't happen every day, but normally during all our roughing around, some one steps on something sharp or someone bangs into something, etc. You know, kids will be kids. So, we normally have to help patch someone up. I bought a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some cotton balls about 10 days ago, its not even funny how much is left. What did they use before I bought some?

The Departure - Much the same as above, but in reverse order. It also entails almost each of them individually asking me first and then Jeremy as well, "Tomorrow?" as they point to the ground. Once they've figured out that we're returning for another adventurous day they then tell us "Goodbye, good luck to you!". I'd love to know who taught them that phrase! Their english obviously is close to nil and what they do know isn't up to par. Oh well, at least we communicate. They know our names quite well, but still call out "You! You!" when they want our attention. But not only will they yell out "You", they'll combine with "I", meaning, "Dean, look at me, I have something to tell/show you". So half the day we're hearing "You, I, You, I!".


No More I Love You's

Its an Annie Lennox song, but I have no idea what its about. I wonder if it can relate to my situation. Yesterday a couple of the kids said something to us in Khmer. Jeremy asked what they're saying, yep, they've told us the "L"word. Damn it! Why'd they have to go and do that? Why do they have to make it that much harder for us to say goodbye when we do? I guess I didn't really need to hear the words to know that it was true, but hearing it makes it so... real. I can honestly say that up until that moment, I wasn't as attached to them as I was in February. Well, to be truthful... bullshit! Of course I am, I just didn't want to admit it. I can only imagine how the kids feel. I feel like a bastard almost for coming back into their lives and then leaving again. Was it right, was it wrong? You know the saying of "Its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."? Well, is it true? I believe in that saying, but sometimes the words are so much easier said than done.


The Reality

I don't want to go into too much of the politics of the state of the Lighthouse Organization itself. All I'll say is that Cambodia is Cambodia and some things just can't be changed. With that being said, I'm still relieved that the orphanage is no longer under a corrupt manager and that they're all going to school and they're all getting the attention they need and deserve. Unfortunatley funding for them is hard to come by and I hope and pray with all my heart that when I leave, these kids will have food in their mouths from day to day. Its hard to believe that I've basically been the sole provider for about 25 people. Well not me, THANK - YOU to those of you who have donated money... again!!! Can't say it enough... thanks, thanks, thanks! Ah kun tom-tom!


The Gap

Quick shout out to the clothing company! I don't particularily like Gap clothes, but about 4-5 years ago I bought a pair of grey 3/4 length shorts. They've been through hell I tell you in this last year! I'm sad to say that I'll have to discard of them in the near future. They've got a rip by the knee and in the ass. I really loved those shorts, I'm sure you've all seen me wear them.


1000 riel!?!

I can't believe I spent 1000 riel (Riel = Cambodian currency) the other day! Thom our driver came into the market with his bike to pick up a 50kg bag of rice. That combined with me and Jeremy on the bike, he got a flat tire. I felt bad and offered to pay for the tire as Jeremy sat on the side of the road waiting with all the bananas and rice, etc. Luckily the mechanic was only 2 mins down the road! Anyway, when I asked how much it cost I couldn't believe it! 1000 riel is equivalent to.... (drum roll pls) $0.25 USD!


King's Coronation

I don't know if this makes world news headlines, but Cambodia has a new King! King Sihanouk, who has been the King of Cambodia since the 1940's (I think), has stepped off the thrown and his son is being coronated this weekend. Please note that he was in exile during the reign of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian Genocide from 1975-79. Anyway, there's a nice buzz in the city, Cambodian flags and pictures of the new King are up everywhere. For the last 2 nights, including tomorrow evening, there are fireworks over top the Royal Palace where they King lives. Unfortunatley only Khmer people can go to the actual coronation, maybe I can blend in.

After visiting the kids today we went to watch the fireworks. Socheat, a twentysomething year old guy that used to live at the orphanage (who I was very, very glad to see the other day doing some yard work for the next door neighbor), was on his bicycle home. I invited him with us and so Thom told him to give Jeremy his scarf to hold on to and he'd pull him along. It went fine for a while, he almost lost balance at one point when silly me grabbed his handle bars to help him slow down. Idiot I am sometimes ! Anyway, as we were going along, there was a big pothole in the ground and he didn't let go of his scarf so that he could just ride it through himself. Well, I don't need to state the obvious. Poor guy. His knee and foot's all scratched up and his bike tire went a little wonky. Thom fixed the bike and I put some antiseptic stuff on his cuts. His pants got a big hole in them though. At least he enjoyed the fireworks. I treated us all to some steamed buns from a street vendor, yummy!

Sigh of Relief (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Okay, so yesterday I went to the Lighthouse orphanage. Yep, sure did..................... yep....... that's what I did alright.........

Oh! Do you wanna know what happened? The suspense can kill ya, can't it? I was so nervous the whole ride there on the back of Thom's motobike. A few hundred meters away I thought I was going to be sick or something. Well, the moment we entered the gates of the property two of the older guys that live there spotted me and yelled out 'Hello!' each of them gave me a hug, these are two grown men we're talking about here. Then children came out and started yelling "Dnam-rai" which means elephant in Khmer, its a nickname they gave me back in January. I could never (still can't) pronounce it correctly and so they always shout it out at me.

So there's about maybe 16 kids at the orphanage still and I know about 10 of them. One of the new kids is the little brother of Aroon (who was there before and still is) and I couldn't stop staring at him because they look so much alike. A lot of the kids there are related to one of the ladies that live there and that's obviously why they were never taken back to their families.

Aroon and I were looking at old photos and I asked him if so-and-so was still there and he said "no", then I asked another name and again "no". Then he named about ten of his old friends and said "no." Poor guy, it must be hard to be one of the only ones that was left back and not brought to a proper family. I found out today that one of them has gone off to get married and another is now working at a clothing factory. I wish them well. Most others have gone back to their "homeland".

After being there for a couple of hours a man drives up in a motobike, he came over and asked which one of us is Dean. He introduced himself to me as Ken, the new manager of the orphanage. He then went on to tell me how he knows about the old manager and how he was evil and basically starved the kids. Ken then appologized for the torment that these kids have gone through and said that he is trying his hardest to get a proper structure to the orphanage and that he's applied for funding from an NGO. Ken also said that he's heard a lot about me and the other foreigners that were there before he came along and thanked us for all that we've done. Later in the day I heard one of the kids talking in Khmer and the words "Phnom Penh Water Park"come out of his mouth, I looked over and I could see Rotana describing how we took them to the water park and how I was tossing him into the water that day. Ken said that he hears about it all the time!

Thom found out some info about Ken from the kids and he reckons that Ken is the real deal, no lies. Ken actually sold his mobile phone and his bike when he first took over, just so he could feed the kids. Unfortunatley, we discovered today that Ken is working for the same director that the old manager was working for. I don't know what this means exactly, I don't know what the director's intentions are, but I'm hoping for the best. I am putting my trust into Ken. You can actually see that he cares for these kids, he actually plays with them and tends to their needs. Today he enrolled about 6 of them into school and applied medicine into an aching girl's tooth.

Laura has decided to put her efforts back into the orphanage. Hooray for Laura! Hopefully her and Ken can work together and do some real good. She came to the orphanage today with Jeremy and I and I don't think it takes very long to fall back into that same state of mind.


I NEED HELP!

Look, I know that I've already sent out an email (to Canadians only) requesting that you send me money via email banking, but I'm asking again. Only one person has responded to my email (Thanks Kitchie!!!!).

In the past 2 days I've spent about $20 US and I only have $130 left. This money has bought a proper meal for the kids (twice), a supply of simple medicines like paracetamol (aspirin), cold medicine, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls and toothache relief. I asked Ken earlier today what kind of medicines they already had and he opened up his bag and said "only this". It was a tiny little drop bottle to prevent infections. I also picked up some soap, toothpaste and laundry detergent.

Again, I don't want to beg for money, but I guess if I don't the children may end up doing it themselves.

Thanks for your support. Even if you don't send me money that's fine, I completely understand. I would even just love to hear from you, a friendly email giving me your kind words and an update from yourself would be wonderful! I miss you guys!

Change & Greed (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Change

Have you ever seen that 'Friends' episode when Chandler and Ross' friend named "Gandalf" is coming to town and they get really excited because he's such a spontaneous and fun guy to hang out with? And in the end Gandalf never even shows up and they get disappointed?

I think that's how I'm kinda feeling right now. I don't really know what I expected coming back to Phnom Penh a second time, I knew that it wasn't going to be exactly the same, but I didn't think it would feel so akward either. As I said in my previous blog, its nice to come back to a place you've already been to because you're not lost or disorientated. However, here's there's been a lot of new development in the past 8 months! On the other hand, there are a lot of people that still work here who I know and they all recognize me. Actually so many people recognize me and are saying "welcome back, hello again, I know you", and I don't even remember them!

I'm so scared that when I go back home to Calgary, this is how I'll feel. I'll expect everything to go back to way things were, as I left it. I know that its not possible.


Old Friends

3 of the people that I've now spoken to are Laura, Thom and Jack.

Laura is the one I used to volunteer with, she basically feels the same way that I do but her feelings are maybe a little more deep than mine, because she's been here for 4 months now and doesn't know exactly her direction here in Phnom Penh. She came back to Cambodia for the same reason I did, but she hasn't once gone back to the Lighthouse for various reasons.

Thom is a wonderful Cambodian man who drives a motobike, he used to drive us to the orphanage all the time. Not to mention help us out in many different ways, by translating for us, giving us advice, helping cook, etc, etc. He's told me that all the kids at the orpahanage are different now and I might not even know anyone there. He hasn't been there in 2 months and says that the Lighthouse is just big trouble. He actually brought me to another orphanage today, it felt really weird to be at another place, it was run by an NGO (non gov. org.) and it was really well organized and structured. I felt quite helpless there, it seemed like the only thing needed there was donations. Towards the end, the children were opening up to Jeremy and I and so I realize that they too crave for companionship.

Lastly, I spoke to Jack, another motobike driver. I only know him from a guesthouse I stayed at here previously, in my eye, he's a shauvanistic, cocky bastard. He knew that I used to volunteer at the Lighthouse and told me that its still open and he helps out there now because he's friends with the manager. Hmmm... the manager is the one who basically kidnaps these children from their parents and siblings and exploits them for money. So I wonder what Jack's 'help' really is?


Greed

So where does this leave me? Well, I don't really know. The part where greed comes into play is that my heart is longing to see the children that I care so much about. I know that most of them aren't there. I should feel happy that most of them are back with their proper families, but deep down I almost wish they were all back at the Lighthouse and that everything were to go back to how it once was. How selfish of me to say that, I know. That's just my own feelings talking I guess.

I could cut my losses right now and not go the Lighthouse and just stick to the orphanage where I went to today and make new friends with real orphans whose parents really have died. Or, I could go to the Lighthouse and see if there's at least one kid that I know there. And if so, I would then probably spend the rest of my time there. I wouldn't want to come for one day and get his/her hopes up and then not show up ever again. The way I look at it is, even though the Lighthouse is corrupt, the children that are there are not, they are the victims of 'Rithy' the manager. I don't want to open a huge can or worms like last time, all I can do is maybe provide some relief to these victims while they're at the Lighthouse.

I'll keep you posted...

Continued Support for Cambodian Orphans

(Published October 11, 2011 - from the drafted archives)

Hello everyone,

Right now, I'm in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I will be going to Phnom Penh in a couple of days. As before, I will be volunteering at the same orphanage as I did earlier this year. I made a promise to those kids that I'd return and I'm sticking to it.

As you may be thinking from an email I sent out a while ago, the orphanage was shut down. Yes, this is true, the orphanage was shut down. But since then, it has re-opened and some of the kids that were there before are still there. I don't know exactly the state of the orphanage, if its still corrupt, unorganized and poor.

I do still have some money that lots of you donated to me back in January, I've been saving it for when I returned. I told you, that I put a lot of that money towards an English teacher, I have no idea whatever happened to that because as I said, the orphanage went through a lot of shit a short while after I left in February. I'd like to think that once the orphanage got back up, the teacher kept on teaching them and that the water we paid for one year kept on coming. That's what I'd like to think, I don't know what happened. I guess I'll find out soon.

So anyway, if its possible for you to spare some cash, $10, 20, 30... or more, it would be greatly appreciated. The best way for you to do this is via internet banking. It is quite easy for you to do an internet email money transfer, you only need to provide my email address and a password. For the password, you can use one of your own and then email me the answer, or if you'd like, just use the word "Lighthouse".

If you've already donated to the orphans and don't want to again, please don't feel pressured. If you feel like your money won't go to good use, I can put you rest that I'll try my hardest to make this money do a world of good to some wonderful children. They truly are wonderful!

Okay, that's all I guess. I hope to hear from you soon. All the best guys.
Dean.

Backtrack (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

365th Day

Today, October 14th, 2004 means that I've been gone from home a whole year. I can't believe that its been that long. Congratulations to me on my 1 year anniversary!!!

On a seperate note, congratulations to my dear friends Lillian and Aldo on the 2 year wedding annniversary on October 19th!! Love ya guys!

So after New Zealand, we went into Singapore for 3 days and then to Bangkok for 3 days. Its weird to go back to places you've been already because you don't have that disorientation nor that awe of being somewhere new. We stayed at hostels/guesthouses that I'd already been to and I took Jenny and Jeremy to places I've already seen for their benefit. All I could keep thinking was, 'wow, it was about a year ago that I did this, it still looks that same, hey that's increased in price a little, I remember this'.



Familiar Faces

Its even weirder when you walk into a place and the person working there says, "I remember you!"

I went into an internet cafe and the guy said that he remembered me and that my skin looked darker than last time. He remembered my friend Janeth from the Philippines (Hi Janeth!! Hope to see you in December!) because they used to talk a lot I think.

Last night when I got into Siem Reap after that dredgeful 18hr bus ride from Bangkok (supposedly the bumpiest in the world), the guesthouse owner said I looked familiar, but it was a different guesthouse. He looked familiar too, but how could this be I asked myself because I didn't stay here last time?

He said, "yes, you were here with someone last time, an English guy"

I said, "yes, I was with someone but he was Swedish" (Hi Nicklas! This is you I'm talking about!)

"Oh, right, Swedish... then you went to Phnom Penh, right?"

"Yes, I did go to Phnom Penh!" The thing is, almost everyone travels with a friend and 50% of the people go to Phnom Penh after Siem Reap. I was tired and feeling ill, I agreed and went to bed.

This morning as I was checking out of that guesthouse because it was too expensive and far away from the town, the man cleared things up, he used to own the Merry G.H. but has since re-located and changed business names. Now I remember!

Rumor is, the bus ride isn't really supposed to be that long, but they drive you around on that damn roller coaster ride til 1am in the morning so that you're so tired when you arrive in Siem Reap that you don't want to go find any other Guesthouses, besides the one they drove you to. How convient!



Largest, The Most, The First...

Every place has its own claim to fame. In Singapore, they've got the "Largest Fountain in the World" and "The Most Southern Point of the Asia Continent". I was at "The Most Eastern Point of mainland Australia" while in Byron Bay and at "The Most Southern Point of mainland Australia" while at the Promonotory N'tl Park. New Zealand I saw the "AJ Hackett" bungy jump, yep, the first ever! N.Z. had something everywhere, too many to remember actually, I think that the bus tour company does a lot of research to find out these little pieces of trivia to enhance the tourists' experience.



I ain't scared of Bats

In Singapore, they've got this Night Safari thing, you walk around in the dark and look at nocturnal animals. Its pretty cool, you're basically at a zoo, but during the night. Anyway, there's all these animals making their primitive noises and you can't see them, it can get quite scary at times cause you don't know how far away they are. You're not allowed flash photography or the use of flashlights to see them. Sometimes you see them, sometimes you don't!

Jenny and I went into the "Bat Cave" as I'd like to call it. Needless to say there's lot of bats there, you walk through and there's bats crawling on the cage above you. Every now and then, they'll swoop down and almost graze your arm or leg. Cripes, that's some scary shit, Jenny screamed a couple of times and I ended up running out of there once I saw the exit!!! Hahahaha!!! Funny now I suppose.



Keeping a Promise

In a couple of days, I'll be back in Phnom Penh to visit the children that I fell in love with last January. In an update a while back I said that the kids were re-united with their families and the orphanage was closed down due to corruption. Well, things have changed, the orphanage was actually re-opened a while ago and some of the kids are still there. I'm nervous and quite excited to see them. Nervous because I don't know what to expect. And nervous because I am not sure that I'll be able to help them out the same way we did in January. I guess I'll take it one step at a time. I'll keep you informed...

I'm gonna be (Christchurch, New Zealand)

In about 7 hrs I'll be on a flight to Auckland, 3 hrs after landing I'll be on a flight to Singapore! I'm so excited to go back to Asia, leave this western world and its odd culture behind. Well, for a while anyway.

New Zealand's been a whirlwind tour and I can't even remember one town/city from the next. All I can say, as I did the other day, its beautiful, really is middle earth.

I had my last hot shower for who knows how long. I paid for my last expensive meal for a good 5 months. Tomorrow when I arrive in Singapore, I can probably throw away my jacket I bought here in N.Z. (for only 50 cents!!!! at a used clothing store) into the garbage bin, pity though casue I really like it. Oh well.

Hmm... what else will be my last for 2004??? My last expensive lots of things I guess; internet, hostels, tours, activities, souvenirs, etc, etc.


On another note, I hate trivia games, I suck at them. I just left my hostel pub because it sucked. This question and that question, I dunno.

Chasing Natalie and George

Natalie Cole and George Benson that is. Natalie was in Las Vegas last year when Jeremy and I went to see Gladys Knight (I love Gladys!!!!! Bless her soul, and her amazing voice), and Natalie was performing 2 weeks after we left. She was in Sydney 2 wks after we left, she was in Auckland 1 day after we left!!!

George Benson was in Sydney a month after we left and is going to be in Christchuch in about 2 wks.

All I can say is... Bugger!

Talk to you all from the other side.

Rain On My Window (Queenstown, New Zealand)

Well, I've got a few days left here in New Zealand, I'm quite excited to go back to S.E. Asia and I'm a little sad to leave this stunning country. Last time I said that there's lots of greenery and not much else, I've got to admit that everywhere I look there's something beautiful to be in awe of. Sadly, a lot of the days on my rushed tour are stuck in a bus staring out the window or trying to catch some zzzz's. There's been a lot of days when all it does is downpour and so the rain on my window taints my view of the magnificient scenery. I reckon the rain though is what makes everything so vibrantly alive!

The other day I almost melted when our annoying bus driver who calls himself "Popstar", aka Ricky Martin said, "Guys, as we're leaving the town of Makarora I've got to play a specific song I do everytime I leave here..." It was "What a Wonderful World" by Mr. Louis Armstrong. If you know me well enough, you'd know that I love that song and sing it quite often to remind myself that yes indeed, life is good! Ahhhhh....

The Maori People

For Jenny's birthday which past on the 26th of September, we went to this cultural village of Tamaki. We learned about the culture of the native people of N.Z., the Maori. They are of Hawai'in descent, huge big boned people that make scary looking faces while they stick their tongues out, and, they're the nicest people ever. I'm not too sure how many Maori people there are here, but I'd say its a good percentage of the population and unlike in some countries where the natives aren't treated as 100% equals, here they are embraced by the Kiwis everywhere.

For the culutural night we had some traditional dancing, including the famous 'haka', then we ate a meal that's cooked underground for 4-6 hours. It was a feast! They sang Happy Birthday to Jenny and got a honeymoon couple to dance for us. On the bus ride home, the driver who memorized every single one of our names, made a person from each country sing a native song. I got stuck singing "O'Canada", I didn't have much choice, he suggested the hockey song. Don't that have lyrics? I could've sung a good ol' Celine Dion tune, that'd have em singing along!

To the Extreme!

Well, I haven't gone bungy jumping nor sky diving here but I can honestly say that I'm not gonna regret not doing it. I'm a shitless bastard when it comes to heights.

However, I've done some cool things like luging, kayaking, glacier tramping, walked/boated through a glow worm cave, saw some volcanic/thermal geysers and boiling mud, and today, snowboarding.

Here in Queenstown its quite chilly and there's lots of snow in the mountains. Its a weird feeling to be around the snow and mountains, makes me feel like home I guess. I can't beleive that today was the first time I've ever tried snowboarding, a bit ironic that I've come all the way to N.Z. to do it when I'm a couple hours away from the Rocky Mountains in Canada. Oh well, got start somewhere. You wouldn't believe how soar my ass is right now from falling down like a milion times today!

The Glacier Tramping was pretty cool, I've never been in a glacier before! What happens is you're guided through the Franz Josef Glacier with hiking boots that have metals spikes attached to them for grip. I was able to see a little avalanche streaming down the side of the mountain like a big brown milkshake or slurpy. There's also these crevaces that go down up to 70 metres. As well, there's lots of little streams winding through the whole glacier and they all drain into natural holes made by the melted water, again they drop down quite far. The whole time I was on the ice, I couldn't stop thinking of that Sylevester Stallone movie, 'Cliffhanger'. I know, silly of me.


The Gorgeous Cassanova

So on this bus tour thing, you're stuck with a lot of the same travellers for quite a while until someone decides to stay shorter or longer in specific towns or cities. We've been with this English guy now for a quite a while now on our trip and we're finally getting rid of him tomorrow. Why am I so cruel? Because, about week or so ago, Jeremy and I were staying in an all male 4 bed dorm room with him and Sebastian this German guy we hung out with for a while. Anyway, generally the rule is to try and be as quiet as possible especially when everyone is sleeping. Well, Mr. English, who's a little overweight, really hairy and about 30+ yrs (no offence anyone), worked very hard that day at trying to seduce a young Irish girl who's about 20 years old and he thought that it was about to pay off at 4:30am that morning. In they come, a little drunk I'm assuming, they start whispering to themselves, don't know how long they were whispering for before all of us woke up. You know when you whisper but you're really loud when doing it, there's not even any point in whispering! I could tell that everyone was awake because you couldn't hear any deep breathing or snoring going on, we were all hoping in our heads that the couple would shut up and soon. I kept telling myself that I don't want to be awake if they actually do start to do the vertical dance. They kept talking about it, but no action was really happening except for some loud sloppy kissing. The conversation was quite odd, first she started telling him "I just want you know to know dat you're gorgeous, all me friends tink dat of ya." (that's my irish accent) A few moments later, "uhhh... no... you're gorgeous". Wow, you're swift Mr. English! Then the converstation starting going towards orgasms and vibrators and crap like that. I finally got sick of it, not to mention I had to really pee. I tried coughing a few times so they'd get the hint that I was awake, didn't work. I counted to 3 and got the guts to get out of bed and stormed out of the room to use the toilet. When I got up, they hid under the blankets and pretended that nothing was going on. How clever of them! When I returned I turned this knob for the timed heater to kick in, fortuanatley it makes a louding ticking noise and it soothed me back to bed and everyone else. Jeremy and Sebastian I guess also got up and used the toilet, I was asleep by then. I think the funniest thing about it was that after the girl got him all riled up she said "I just want to let you know, that nothings going to happen between us tonight." Then she kept talking about something else and Mr. English interupted and said, "what did you just say?" Hahahaha, all that work for NOTHING!

For those of you who've seen the movie Empire Records, he now reminds me of that English Rock Star that slept with Rene Zellwegger in the film. Every time I see him I shudder.

Eh?

I've been saying 'eh' quite a bit in the last few weeks, even before I left Australia. The thing is they say it quite a bit in Aus and tonnes more here in N.Z. However, as opposed to Canadians they put more of an emphasis on it when they say it at the end of sentances. Its weird how you pick up the local language, I'm sure that once I get back into Asia I'll forget the words I'm saying now and start saying other phrases and whatnot.

Here's some Aussie talk that I've gotten quite used to hearing and doesn't really phase me anymore. Some of them you'll have to figure out for yourself. Lots of it comes from the British.

• you's or ya's
• feeling crook
• flogging
• nah, I'm 'right
• you 'right mate
• how ya going?
• nah
• yeah (this has a real twang to it)
• reckon
• mate and matey
• the lot
• won't be a moment
• in a tick
• ta
• righteo
• cheers! (or course)
• no worries
• crikey
• buggar

See ya, CHEERS!