“Hold on up there! I’m gonna do a wheelie!”
Author: Charles Dittmeier
Technology and Deaf People
Technology has really benefited the deaf community. Twenty, thirty years ago, communications among deaf people was either face-to-face or via TTY or TDD machines attached to telephone landlines. Now, with the advent of smartphones and cheaper data service availability, deaf people can communicate more readily, like this young deaf woman signing to her friend on a smartphone Facebook Messenger connection.
Topics: Wood #8B
Here is the second set of photographs of commercial places that display the heavy wooden furniture that is so valued by the community. Click here to see the pictures.
Topics: Wood #8A
This is the first of three posts about heavy furniture–especially the universal wooden stools–found in a wide variety of shops in Cambodia. Everybody wants it! Click here.
Mango Season
When the weather doesn’t change throughout the year and there are no sports seasons and the trees don’t shed leaves, one of the few indicators of time are the seasonal fruits. And now it’s mango time! Hooray! IMHO, this is one of the best parts of Cambodia. I was never really exposed to mangoes before I came to Asia but they have become a much-appreciated new part of my diet when they’re available.
Notable Quotes
“You can read the Bible literally or you can take it seriously, but you can’t do both.”~ Bill Tammeus, Columnist in the National Catholic Reporter |
Topics: Wood #7
Another distinctive feature of Cambodian wooden furniture is the large wooden vase-shaped object, a purely decorative adjunct to any home or business setting. They are all sizes but the really large and massive ones are the ones that catch your attention as you walk into a business or someone’s house. Click here to see more of them.
What’s Going On?
Jim McLaughlin, former Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cambodia and a frequent visitor here as he continues his microbiology work in the kingdom, spotted this suspicious vehicle on Phnom Penh streets. What kind of nefarious V Ice is going on in the back of this truck? It must be hot stuff since it’s a refrigerated truck but there could be many different kinds of mobile v ice.
St. Vincent de Paul Society: 400th Anniversary
In 1617 St. Vincent de Paul began forming groups, mostly of women, to serve the poor in his region of France. He was joined by St. Louise de Merillac and their ministry spread, not only throughout France but around the world. Now more than 260 groups trace their origin to St. Vincent de Paul and basically every Catholic parish has a St. Vincent de Paul Society group to serve their local area. This is a large number of the St. Vincent de Paul Society members in our English-speaking Catholic community in Phnom Penh—a wonderful group of committed Christians filled with compassion and love for those who need help. This month the Cambodian Catholic Church has been celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian movement.
Topics: Wood #6
Almost as surprising as the great desire for wood furniture is the number of shops selling wood furniture; but then maybe the great number derives from the great desire. Click here to go to the table of contents and then click on #8.