The Angkor Wat International Half Marathon and Bike Race is only 6 months away. Time to start training!
For those of you who like the idea of exercise but dislike its manifestation, there are also 10 and 5k races and, even better, a 50k bike rally! (The last is my chosen event.)
If the name alone doesn't convince you, check out the maps! You get to do athletic crap at Angkor Wat! How cool is that?
Of course, sane people would say, "I could go to Angkor Wat and *not* overexert myself at 13 latitude." To you people I have no coherent response.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Visak Bochea
OK, I'll admit that before, I didn't fully understand the theological underpinnings of Visak Bochea. But recently I was talking to a monk at a nearby pagoda, and he filled me in. First, it's pronounced Visaka Bochea, even though my calendar leaves out the final "a." Apparently, this day is the commemoration of 3 events that all happened on the same day of the lunar calendar, the full moon day of the 6th lunar month: Buddha's birthday, the day of his enlightenment, and the day of his death. Now I'm no scholar, but trying to put it into my own frame of reference, I thought that would make it like rolling up Christmas and Easter into one. A big deal, right? It turns out that the actual celebrations resemble those of a typical holy day at the pagoda: laypeople bring food and incense, and prayers and chants are offered. I guess Buddha, in the spirit of humility, wouldn't have wanted us to go to too much trouble.
Dear The U.S. Dollar,
I know your ride on the currency coaster has been thrilling and now you want to kind of sit there laughing dazedly for a while, but I was hoping you could, y'know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, just a bit, just to maybe 4,000 Khmer riels. Because 3,993 is a really awkward multiplier.
I'm sure you'll take this into prompt consideration.
Love,
Liz
I'm sure you'll take this into prompt consideration.
Love,
Liz
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Longest Chapter
The Cambodian public schools use a book called English for Cambodia that supposedly integrates culturally relevant content with English grammar points (non-explicit) in a series of 6 books. Theoretically, 11th graders learn out of Book 5.
Chapter 6 of Book 5 is entitled The Importance of Education. The second section is called Life Skills. The grammar points to be focused on in this chapter are "either...or" and "neither...nor." Just to give you a little taste of the, um, really interesting content of the books, I reproduce for you the first third of the selected text.
"Education has various purposes. One purpose is to prepare students to meet the demands of society. Society, however, needs well educated girls as well as boys. Both girls and boys must, therefore, be given the same opportunity to go to school and find a job when looking for employment. They can hardly succeed in this, however, if the content of the materials they are provided with focuses neither on the real needs of society in general nor relates to both boys and girls in particular. Rather, educational materials need to focus on life skills - skills that are needed for work and everyday life in society and at home. Without them, students will neither be able to learn anything useful for themselves, nor want to take their education seriously."
The irony is painful.
Chapter 6 of Book 5 is entitled The Importance of Education. The second section is called Life Skills. The grammar points to be focused on in this chapter are "either...or" and "neither...nor." Just to give you a little taste of the, um, really interesting content of the books, I reproduce for you the first third of the selected text.
"Education has various purposes. One purpose is to prepare students to meet the demands of society. Society, however, needs well educated girls as well as boys. Both girls and boys must, therefore, be given the same opportunity to go to school and find a job when looking for employment. They can hardly succeed in this, however, if the content of the materials they are provided with focuses neither on the real needs of society in general nor relates to both boys and girls in particular. Rather, educational materials need to focus on life skills - skills that are needed for work and everyday life in society and at home. Without them, students will neither be able to learn anything useful for themselves, nor want to take their education seriously."
The irony is painful.
Dirty Footprints
I've been playing around on the internet a lot today, and I decided to calculate my carbon footprint. This should be easy, right? Just type "carbon footprint calculator" into Google and have my pick of corporate, NGO, and government-sponsored calculators. Here's the problem. Most of these calculators assume that you live in a developed country, usually the U.S. or Europe. I did find one that had "China" as the only Asian option, so I selected it. But then the questions started: "How do you insulate your house from the cold?" Um, how do I break this to the calculator? It's not what you might call "cold" here. The house I live in is made up of one layer of boards, placed next to each other, with no insulation. Any insulation would just fry us all in our beds come hot season.
The calculator also wanted to know what my primary vehicle is: a motorbike, diesel small car, diesel truck, or regular-fuel car or truck. I looked hard but couldn't find "mountain bike" in the list of options.
Clearly, I am not emitting enough carbon to use these fancy calculators. In fact, my internet search for carbon calculators today has probably resulted in the emission of more carbon than any day full of normal activities back at my site. Still, I'd like to know for sure.
The calculator also wanted to know what my primary vehicle is: a motorbike, diesel small car, diesel truck, or regular-fuel car or truck. I looked hard but couldn't find "mountain bike" in the list of options.
Clearly, I am not emitting enough carbon to use these fancy calculators. In fact, my internet search for carbon calculators today has probably resulted in the emission of more carbon than any day full of normal activities back at my site. Still, I'd like to know for sure.
Seriously?
April lies at the epicenter of Cambodian holidays, with many public employees (or at least schoolteachers) taking the entire month off. May is not far behind, with some esoteric holidays of its own. Starting off on the right foot, May 1 is International Labor Day. Just when you're about to despair, having worked for nearly 2 weeks straight, the king's birthday affords you 3 days of relief: May 13, 14, and 15. Coming right on its heels is Visak Bochea, or the day Buddha was born (and walked on 7 lotus flowers). Finally, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony rounds off the month with 2 days of festivities involving oxen. Who could ask for anything more?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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