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This year we have an especially large group of young men and women in our English Catholic community who are graduating from secondary school and moving on to universities. At our mass this morning we recognized them and gave them a blessing as they all prepare to depart to other countries for the next phase of their education. From L to R: Charlotte, Bea, Miriam, Mikael, Juliyus, and Manuel. Congratulations to you all!
Lanes? What’s a lane?
It’s not really obvious in this photograph, but the rectangular fixture on the top rear of this tuk-tuk is a solar panel. I’m not sure what it is powering. Quite often these tuk-tuks don’t even have headlights or taillights. Maybe this driver has hooked up some small LED lights inside the passenger compartment.
Yesterday I rode nineteen miles–just within the city of Phnom Penh—on the back of a motorcycle taxi going to meetings, visiting a hospital, etc. That is not fun. As an extra exciting element, we had a tremendous rainstorm while I was out. My motorcycle taxi driver (above) and I could see it coming so I stopped and bought a cheap plastic rain poncho like he is putting on, and then when the first drops started we pulled off and covered up before resuming the ride. If you’re on the back of a motorcycle, the poncho can’t cover your legs so I was soaked from the waist down.
Every year two students from the University of Notre Dame in the United States come to Cambodia to be part of the Maryknoll community as part of their school work. Last week two young women arrived to spend the summer of 2017 with us.
Margarita “Mar” Borromeo Diego is a sophomore at Notre Dame. She is originally from the Philippines where she began her university studies.
Olivia “Liv” Donnelly is a junior at Notre Dame. She is from Connecticut.
Liv and Mar arrived last week and had met most of the Maryknoll community in Cambodia but today they gathered with the whole group for our weekly liturgy and dinner together. Here they watch as Maria Montello prepares the first hymn for our liturgy.
This is a typical small “wet” market, in the Sen Sok area of Phnom Penh.
This is the hottest part of the year in Cambodia. Temperatures are routinely in the high 90ºs and low 100ºs F. The AccuWeather RealFeel is daily from 100º to 115º. And then you have the young women who cover up as completely as possible to avoid any sun reaching–and darkening–their skin.
Today we basically just had mass and breakfast and then everyone took off for points north. Click here for the final retreat pictures.
This was the last full day of the priests retreat and it involved some concluding activities. Click here to view the day.
This third full day of retreat followed the same pattern as the first two except that we had a little less rain. Just as much good food! Click here for pictures of the day.