The Doldrums

Wow...it is been 3 months since my last post! I started a post about 6 weeks ago but never finished it.

I just finished a 10 day holiday in a nice country and have to go back to work for 6 weeks. Argh.

School has been really, really busy. We are in the thick of accreditation. It makes for a lot of extra tedious work that I don't know how anyone can enjoy. The schools weeks fly by and the weekends are usually spent catching up on rest (and nursing hangovers.)

A few of the highlights in the last 12 weeks (from least to most recent):

1) Attended an International Baccalureate training workshop in Kota Kinabalu. The venue was amazing - there was a 27 hole golf course at the hotel and the food was all really high quality. The workshop wasn't so stimulating but at least I've got the piece of paper and a little more knowledge about IB.

2) 4 guys and I put a team into the inaugural FCC Nations Cup at the Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap a few weeks ago. It was amazing organized and the course was spectactular, even after being pounded by Typhoon Ketsana. It was a two day tournament (Saturday and Sunday.) Team Canada came in second on day 1 and then edged out the competition on day 2 to win! Looking forward to defending our title next year.

3) I adopted a street cat. His name is Umi and he is a monster. He is very clever and growing like a bad weed.

4) I spent the last 10 days in Laos. It was water festival in Cambodia and I was told everyone and their dog comes to Phnom Penh. I flew from P.P. to Vientiane and spent the first 3 days in Vientiane. It immediately struck me how quiet and slow-paced everything is there. There are some nice sights, great food and the sunsets over the Mekong were an enjoyable way to spend an evening. After Vientiane I took a bus to Vang Vieng and stayed for 2 nights. The main draw to Vang Vieng is the tubing, which was a very enjoyable trip. There are bars and rope swings and volleyball courts set up along the way and if you go at a leisurely pace it takes about 4 hours to do. Vang Vieng itself isn't a very nice town though - the guesthouses are run down and the restaurants are pretty crap. Luang Prabang was the last stop in Laos. It is a world heritage city and very worthy of the title. There are wats everywhere, natural scenery within easy access, excellent restaurants and it doesn't feel overrun with tourists. I did a mountain bike/kayak day trip to a nice waterfall, wandered around the town in awe, and took a bus ride to another beautiful waterfall. From Luang Prabang I flew to Bangkok for a night with the old gang, and then returned to a pile of work and a messy house yesterday.

There are six weeks until our Christmas break now and school will definitely be very busy until then. Reports are coming up and the accreditation work will hopefully finish up. I have to go to the village where I'm taking my "Week Without Walls" sometime this month to check everything out. That will be a full weekend of buses and boats I'm sure. I'm also going to try to get out of Phnom Penh on the weekends more often. Supposedly there are some nice sites nearby and I feel the need to take advantage of them. Finally, I am going to do the Angkor Wat Half Marathon on December 6th so I will be doing a lot more training for that. I don't know what I'm doing for Christmas break yet - either Vietnam or Indonesia - but I am attending a Khmer wedding the first day of the holiday.

One last point, this week at school Jackie Chan is coming to speak to the students. That's right Jackie Chan! (I just noticed that Umi has ruined my number 1 key on my keyboard.) He and a few other celebrities and nobel laureates are coming to Thailand and Cambodia to talk about peace and their work. Oliver Stone is slated to come in January.

Alright...picture will be put up today or tomorrow.