Dittmeier – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

I’ve been here before….

50+ years ago I used to have my hair cut at the Tri-City Barber College in Louisville. Then I went to Asia for 42 years, and for the last 20+years in Cambodia I had my own barber school, a job training program for deaf youth.

Today I returned to Tri-City after the long absence. It’s in a different location and the staff I knew are no longer there. The same could be said for a lot of my hair: it’s no longer there. But I got a cut from Eli, a delightful young man, eager to please, and he only charged me $7!

False Alarm at Nazareth Home

Tonight about 8:35 PM, the Nazareth Home fire alarm went off. It is LOUD! Protocol here is if you call in any alarm, go out to meet the first responders. I didn’t know what was going on but went out to meet the fire trucks which arrived in three or four minutes and then showed them where the fire annunciator panel is located. Nazareth Home has three buildings and the alarm was going on in all of them. It took ten or fifteen minutes to find the annunciator panel in the main building because it was a Saturday night and staff were gone and offices locked up but finally they found it and were able stop the alarm. The firemen were a delightful group and while waiting, we taught each other about the organization of the fire department and about life with deaf people in Cambodia. An interesting evening! But we still don’t know why the alarm went off!?

Working on it…

In March I injured my shoulder in a freak occurrence. I thought it was just a bruise or a sprain but when I went for a medical exam on arrival in Louisville, my new doctor said that if it was still hurting seven months after the injury—it was, I should try therapy. I have been going to KORT therapy now for 9 or 10 sessions. Today Betsy was trying some pressure on muscles they say need to be strengthened to take pressure off the hurting shoulder area. There is progress but I’m getting resigned to the fact that there is going to be some pain the rest of my life.

Returning to Kentucky and the USA

My plan for re-establishing myself in the United States is to participate in different church and civic activities, find out what is and isn’t being done in Louisville and how I might help, and basically just trying get around so I can see what my future role(s) might be. One group I encountered is a theology discussion group that gathers to talk about a book on eco-spirituality by a theologian named O’Murchu. I met with them for the first time today and it was great group of people and a wise investment of interest and time.

Candlelight Vigil

Fr. Pat Delahanty organized the vigil. He has been working on social justice issues for many years.

Representative Morgan McGarvey from the U.S. of Representatives spoke of the value and the rights of immigrants. He also honored his predecessor, Rep. Romano Mazzoli, who authored the last major immigration bill in Congress. Rep. Mazzoli’s son Michael also spoke.

The ever-faithful contingent from the larger Dittmeier family also made their appearance in support of immigrants and their rights.

Turn Out the Vote

Tonight a group of political activists gathered at a local pub to write postcards to potential voters in a special congressional election in Tennessee next month. The postcards urged people to vote without mentioning any candidates or parties by name.

Six of us from the larger Dittmeier family turned out to write postcards.

First Kentucky Snow

A garden court yard at Nazareth Home Clifton

Today the Louisville temperature went down to the mid 20ºs and we got a few snow flurries and a little accumulation for an hour or two. This is the first time I’ve seen snow falling for 20 or 30 years.

Airport Plane Crash

While we were eating dinner tonight, a UPS cargo plane crashed at the Louisville airport which is the world headquarters for the UPS air services. A UPS MD-11 took off for Hawaii and then immediately went down, impacting three miles from the end of the runway. It is still continuous coverage on all the local TV stations and very little is known except the plane had a full load of fuel for the 8+ hour flight to Honolulu and created a huge fireball when it came down in a little populated industrial neighborhood. The emergency alert system contacted all the mobile phones in the area. 4 people are known dead and 11 injured and those numbers are expected to rise. The Louisville airport is in the middle of the city and fears of toxic chemicals and a spectacular smoke plume moving across the city caused officials to establish a shelter-in-place order that included the Nazareth Home where we live, but just now the air monitoring agency has determined there is nothing to fear so that area has been reduced.

Too Much Food

Life at Nazareth Home Clifton is good. The rooms are simple but nice, the staff are friendly and helpful, and the food is really good. And REALLY plentiful! We keep asking the kitchen crew to lessen the amount of food they put on the plates when serving us. Here is a photo of my choice for dinner tonight: taco salad, dirty rice, and refried beans–and way too much of it!

Cousins Gathering

Our large extended family has a long tradition, started by the Dittmeier grandparents, of getting together. My visits to the United States were often occasions for such gatherings, and my recent return to the U.S. became an opportunity for the cousins to come together.