All part of the job

Last week I was handling English and French correspondence from the prime minister and the king as they sent condolences to our bishop.about the death of Pope Francis.

Today I was overseeing the pumping out of our DDP septic tank.

Height of the Season

If you like mangoes–my favorite fruit!–it’s a great time to be alive. We are at the peak of the mango season and they are everywhere. Mango trees appear on almost every household lot and right now many, many people have many, many mangoes. People are giving them away and dealers like this one above are selling a kilogram (2.2 lbs.) for 75ยข. Love it!

Gaining experience–and confidence

Today I finished a meeting early and stopped in our DDP barbershop to look presentable again. The young deaf man on the left is a new barber trainee and he was a bit terrified to work on me, the boss! The trainer (R) was there, though, so he took on the challenge and did a good job. The worst part of the new barber trainees is that in their fear and caution, they are very slow!

Full of fizz, for sure!

This afternoon I was riding my bike home from a grocery run with a six-pack of Coke Light in the bike basket. I hit a bump in the street–not an uncommon experience in Phnom Penh–and one of the cans exploded, ripping open the whole side! Quite a surprise!

Hygiene? What’s that?

I’ve been trying to get this picture for months. This is a street vendor selling meat on the road to the school where I have mass on Monday mornings. Those are slabs of meat draped over the back of the pickup truck. No need to bother with a table or even something under the meat. Heck, the buyer is going to cook it, isn’t she?

Usually my tuk-tuk driver is going too fast or there is traffic blocking the view but today I finally got my chance to take the photo. This is 6:00 AM in the morning. At 6:00 PM in the evening this will be your hamburger. Life in Phnom Penh….

[The comments are turned on for this, if anyone is so inclined.]