7-11 in Cambodia

A 7-11 in Thailand

Thailand is just about the 7-11 capitol of the world. It has 12,000+ 7-11s in a country about equal in size to Oregon and Wyoming together. The whole United States doesn’t have that many although 7-11 is headquartered in Texas!

Now 7-11s are coming to Cambodia, brought in by the same company that operates the franchises in Thailand. Woohoo! Are we big-time or what? There are already articles in the paper asking that a good portion of the products be of Cambodia origin.

Make-It Technology

I mentioned a couple days ago (May 12) that the microphone for my desktop wasn’t working, so today, on the way back from examining St. Joseph Church to see how many people we can put in church with physical distancing, I stopped at an audio systems shop to have them check the mic. Determining that the mic is good, I asked them to make a cable with a better connector, and in true Cambodian fashion two guys sat on the floor and each attached a connector to a five-meter cable. ….Then I found out the mic will only work with a battery supply in the setup I wanted to utilize. Bummer.

…so long to wait!

[From Phnom Penh Post]

Cambodia has not had a new case of coronavirus in more than a month, and only one of the 122 positive infections is still receiving treatment. There have been no COVID-19 deaths in the kingdom. The government has closed schools (March 16th) and churches and casinos and spas, but otherwise life is almost like normal. People are on the streets. The markets and shops are open. Fewer people wear a mask.

Then today the Minister of Education announced that the plan is to reopen the schools the 1st of November, a decision that surprised many because the attempt at some sort of online education has not gone well.

Make-Do Technology

This week, today and tomorrow, I am leading an online retreat for the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Cambodia. We are using Zoom and getting it set up took some doing:

  • My desktop computer has no microphone but I needed to show a PowerPoint from there so I made one Zoom connection with that computer. (I have an external mic for the desktop but it stopped working.)
  • Then I used my smartphone for a second connection for speaking and listening to the group.
  • I needed good background for my presentation so I moved to the end of my desk for the blank wall behind me, and then turned the monitor a bit sideways so I could see it. I couldn’t face the monitor because it put bright reflections on my glasses.
  • Working sideways on my desk, I had no place for the keyboard and mouse so an ironing board became a credenza.
  • I added the table lamp on the desk to help balance the light coming from the windows.
  • Our office wi-fi connection went out so I had to use the data connection on my phone to connect to the Internet. Luckily my data connection here only costs $5 a month.

The setup had its quirks and problems, but in the end we basically got through the two-hour session and hopefully tomorrow it will be easier and smoother.