dark nail polish? an unscientific poll

Recently, I painted my nails a very fashionable dark color (similar to the picture on the left). The color I picked was less black and more of a deep purple. Kenyon obviously didn't like it. How do I know? He commented on it almost everyday with a crinkle in his nose saying, "why did you paint your nails black?"

S: because I like the color.

K: a very ugly face demonstrating he obviously did not agree.

After a couple of weeks of this, when the polish began to chip, I painted my toe nails a bright pink color. Kenyon's immediate response was, "you painted your toe nails!" This time it was more of an approving tone in his voice.

A colleague commented on my bright pink toes a few days later. I told her it was obviously Kenyon's preference, I had previously had them a dark color and he didn't like it, he commented on it every day. She showed me her light pink toes and said she painted two colors. One was a dark color, which is very much in fashion, and the pink color she was sporting that day. She said her husband had nothing good to say about the dark color.

So, this is an unscientific poll, what do you think of dark nail polish? Like or dislike?

Amazing Race: Siem Reap version

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know there is one television show I love. It is really the only show I watch regularly, season after season. What is it? The Amazing Race. Love that show!
Recently, we were planning a staff retreat and wanted a fun activity one afternoon. Of course, I thought a version of the Amazing Race would be the best way to spend our time. A few years ago I participated in a Kansas City version of the Amazing Race with my friend Fiona. We did well at the competitions, except we had a slow driver who took a wrong turn once and ruined our chances at a strong finish. I wasn't sure how this would go over in Cambodia - would they like a scavenger hunt that has them running all over town doing crazy things, or would they just look at us like we were stupid for suggesting it? Much to my delight, they loved it! Here are some pictures from my teams perspective of the Amazing Race adventure.

This is my team - Ratana, Phka, Serei, Chetra and me. Siem Reap is home to Angkor Wat temples. Our first clue was to get a photo of our team and Angkor Wat. Most teams drove all the way out to the temples to snap the shot. We (and one other team) opted for the painted version.

One of the things we had to collect along the way was a photo of a team member and a foreigner (barang) in a white shirt. As we are riding around in our tuk, the three guys would yell "white shirt!!" and point every time we saw a foreigner in a white shirt. There were many as Siem Reap is the largest tourist destination in the country of Cambodia. Eventually, we stopped at a stop light and a tuk pulled next to us with two foreigners in white shirts. I asked them if we could get a photo with them, this is the result. My teammates continued to yell "white shirt!!" and point even after we had taken the picture, it made me laugh every time.

We were given a photo of a concrete crocodile and told to get a photo with our team there. Luckily, I had been walking the town the afternoon before and seen that near the river so we knew right where to go. I think I was one of the few that actually rode the crocodile. Chetra's pose (in the back) makes me laugh every time I see it. While there we tried to accomplish another task, which was to pick up 15 plastic bottle tops. We hit the jackpot in bottle tops at the local volleyball court (sand volleyball is VERY popular in Cambodia).

Though we had many laughs, we did not emerge the victor. I blame the slow tuk driver we had. At one point we needed to go and find a stop, he stood there smoking a cigarette and looking at us like we were crazy for trying to rush him - he certainly wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere. It seemed everytime we were in a race with another team on the same road, we got passed up and left in the dust. I have learned my lesson, if you want to win the Amazing Race, a good driver is essential! Can you tell which team won? That's okay, I like these people so I can celebrate their win with them, even when I am the looser.

All in all, it was a fabulous afternoon. Thanks for the memories!

blog stats: an idea to bring people together

I am not one to care about the statistics of how many people read this blog - those change month to month, sometimes it is high and sometimes it is low. My life is not a popularity contest. I started this blog to keep in touch with family and I still believe my family are primarily the faithful readers. I recently looked at my blog stats and one of the options was to view a visitors map. It didn't surprise me that most readers are from the US, what did surprise me is how many readers are from other places and where they are from. Without my realizing, my blog has gone global! I post this because I thought you might find it interesting too. By reading this blog, you are part of a global community.

This got me thinking about how I might use this blog to bring people and cultures together. Since I know nothing about this (blog gadgets or add-ons, nor how to use a blog as a social networking site) I thought I would pose this question to you, the reader.

Would you be interested in getting to know people from other places through this blog? If you are somone who knows about these things, are there tools or strategies you suggest for accomplishing this?

Maybe this idea will start something new...maybe it is just an idea that will disappear like so many other thoughts that go through my head, but I thought I'd put it out there on the world wide web and see what comes back. I look forward to hearing from you.

Andong community

We are currently doing work in a couple of urban resettlement communities. This is Andong community. There are over 700 families living in this community. We recently conducted a nutrition assessment on kids under five and found that around 38% of the kids are malnourished. That is an astonishing percentage! We are working to remedy that situation. There are many problems in this community, many, we cannot solve them all. We will do what we can for these kids.

how do you know your country is developed and not developing?

If your country can build and sustain a mall like this,

then you know you are in a developed and not a developing nation.

this photo was taken at a mall in Bangkok, Thailand