Sayings of Jesus & Buddha

Jesus: Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.
Buddha: With the relinquishing of all thought and egotism, the enlightened one is liberated through not clinging.

Jesus: There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.
Buddha: Stealing, deceiving, adultery: this is defilement. Not the eating of meat.

Jesus: As he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, for I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
Buddha: The bodhisattva made his appearance at the fields of sports and in the casinos, but his aim was always to mature those people who were attached to games and gambling. To train living beings, he would appear at crossroads and on street corners. To demonstrate the evils of desire, he even enetered brothels. To establish drunkards in correct mindfulness, he enetered all the taverns.

Jesus: Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Buddha: Consider others as yourself.

something somebody

Two highlights from teaching English today:

One of my male students (about 18 years old) wore a "High School Musical; The Concert" T-shirt to class. (Good work!)

One of the fill-in-the-blank exercises included the following text: I know somebody who loves you. Me.

Ski

When I'm asked, "what is your favourite sport?" I want to simply say, "ski". In Cambodia the word pops up in so many sports. It can be a bit confusing to and time consuming to talk about all the different ski sports in but it can make for interesting conversation. Here's my list of ski sports, with the English version of how I explain them in Khmer.

1. Skiing: ski on ice with two boards going straight.

2. Snowboarding: ski on ice with one board, standing on the side.
3. Water skiing: ski water, use a machine boat to pull you, no waves.
4. Surfing: ski water, with waves.
5. Bodyboarding: ski water, with waves, but don't stand up.
6. Rollerskating: ski on four wheels.
7. Rollerblading: ski on four wheels that are in a straight line.
8. Skateboarding: ski on four wheels on a board, standing on the side.

I don't do any of these sports in Cambodia but I love and miss ski (especially ski 2, 4&5!!)

Getting Better

I was reminded this past week that in 1997 fighting once again erupted between Khmer Rouge and Royal Military forces in this area, resulting in 80 000 Cambodians fleeing to Thailand for refuge. Two camps were closed in 1998. The final two were closed in 1999 when the last of the displaced Cambodians were returned.

When this border still seems chaotic I need to remember that it's only been ten years. Things are getting better.

maybe there is a reason

We're in a new town in Cambodia.
We're building a new work with new partnerships from a new office/ home base.
We have eight projects/ activities planned for 2009 with a current grand total of two full-time team members (that's including me!)
In my spare time I'm attempting to train for a marathon and write my first book.
Sometimes I go a little crazy.