Category: Uncategorized

E-mail woes…

While I was in the US, my e-mail client (the software that I use to read and write e-mail) got corrupted and I have been fighting with it ever since. The software puts markers on e-mails that have arrived and flags them as read, deleted, etc. Somehow the markers got scrambled and I have not been able to view some of the mail that I downloaded to the computer but now cannot display. I’m sorry if I haven’t answered something you sent me!

USA Trip — #9

Monday in Kentucky

My main activity centered on lunch and dinner today. Before and after those meals, I was able to do a lot of work on the computer. Especially I need to prepare a homily for next weekend since I will get in to Phnom Penh late Friday afternoon and have to preach the next day.

At lunch time I met with a group of former seminarians from St. Thomas Seminary in Louisville. They were students a couple years after I finished there but I have known them, especially through David Browne, my brother-in-law who was in that class with them. We had a really enjoyable lunch with them and their wives.

For dinner I met with a super group of women, all working in sign language interpreting for the Louisville Catholic Deaf Community. We go way back, when I taught some of them in high school. L-R: Norma Lewis, Sally Newton, Peg Darcy, Donna Laswell, Nancy and Patrick Reynolds. A wonderful group!

Not a good night…

It’s Saturday morning now in Phnom Penh. Last night I was trying to do an update here on the website but a convergence of hardware, software, and scheduling gremlins intervened. After opening and working on the computer twice and after re-installing some programs, I think I’m back on the air now.

Apologies

I have been having a terrible time with reports due to New York yesterday and then several other tasks that have kept me away from the keyboard. I hope to get back on track on Saturday.

Sunday, 4 August 2019

Travel to Ho Chi Minh City and then to London.

Sunday morning was just a usual Sunday. Here, on the way to mass at St. Joseph Church, I found workmen renewing a permanent display that features the royal family. I believe the Queen Mother’s photos were there last week, and since they are now removed, it probably means that another of the royal family is having a birthday or special day to remember.
I’ve mentioned before, when you see a woman on a motorcycle with a towel or wrapped in a towel, you can be sure she is holding an infant or toddler, and if you look closely, you can see a small sandaled foot sticking out from under the lower left edge of the pink towel. This family was near the airport as I was riding there.
This worker is open one of the cargo compartments on an Airbus 320 in Phnom Penh that was preparing for a departure shortly before ours.
Our plane to Ho Chi Minh City was a much smaller 64-seat propjet. Here we are deplaning at the Tan Son Nhat airiport in Ho Chi Minh City.
This is one of the best sights I have seen in an airport in many years. Tan Son Nhat airport has discontinued the constant announcements of departures and missing passengers that plague most airports. Now they only announce gate changes. Other airports, take notice!

I arrived a Tan Son Nhat at 6:00 PM but didn’t leave till 1:00 AM the next morning. Luckily the time passed quickly as I ate some pastries I brought with me and caught up on some work and then read more of Les Miserables.

Troubles Galore

I have been trying to finish the posts from the trip to Bangkok but keep encountering difficulties. Now I can’t find the photos! I downloaded them from my camera and put them in a folder on an external drive, but now they’re GONE! I’m trying to recover the originals on the SD chip in the camera that’s been problematic, too. Stay with me a bit longer….

Notable Quotes

We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.

~ Pope Francis, speaking about refugees

Lower Middle Income Status

According to World Bank statistics, Cambodia was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world between 1998 and 2018. During that twenty-year period, Cambodia’s average growth rate was 7.7%, a really impressive rate of growth–and one that is continuing today even though so much of the economy is informal, like the women above selling on the street who pay no business registration fees or taxes. Results of the rapid growth have been dramatic: Cambodia has moved from a Least Developed Country status to a Lower Middle Income level and during the period of 1998-2013, life expectancy increased by 23%.

On my way…

I am at JFK airport in New York City waiting for my sixteen-hour flight to Guangzhou. I may not be able to update the website before I get back to Phnom Penh—and I don’t arrive there will midnight Friday–so it may be a while before I get back to here.