Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
At least once a year, Bishop Olivier comes to the Maryknoll office for one of our Wednesday meetings, a liturgy, and then dinner together. It’s just an informal time to talk and catch up with what we are all doing and for us especially to hear more about the workings of the diocese here.
Well, now I know what it’s like to be at the pinnacle of power! Today I parked my bicycle (the first one in the row above) down near the farther window because that is where the other bicycles were. But when I came out, the guard had moved my bike up to the head of the line, basically creating an executive parking space. I have to be careful not to let the power and prestige go to my head….
Pineapples are starting to appear on the streets now! Another season has begun–one of my favorites. IMHO, there’s not anything better tasting than fresh pineapple!
Another type of establishment that invests heavily in massive wooden furniture are the restaurants, especially those on the road. Take a break from driving to have lunch and you’ll likely find yourself sitting on a heavy wooden stool. Click here and scroll down to #5. Restaurants.
The appearance on the streets of some fruits marks the beginning of a season of the year, but not so with bananas. They are available all year round, in multiple sizes, shapes, and colors. Here a husband and wife team make an early morning delivery to the small markets they supply with Cambodia’s staple fruit.
In a home, a hotel lobby, a fancy office, the heavy wooden furniture might fit. In a gas station? An auto body shop? No….. Click here and scroll down to #4.
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.~ Nelson Mandela
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The conclusion of Pope Francis’ address to a special joint session of Congress in September, 2015:
“A nation can be considered GREAT when it defends liberty as Lincoln did; when it fosters a culture which enables people to “dream” of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work; the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.”
It probably happens in every culture and I’ve certainly observed “cruising” in US culture as I was growing up and as I worked with youth in Kentucky. Cruising–riding around aimlessly with your friends–is part of youth culture here in Phnom Penh, too. Here a group of high school girls take to the streets on a Sunday afternoon.
Last week our visitors to DDP were from Finland and today they were from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York. Chris Kurz and Tommie Sarchet (white sweater) came to discuss training for teachers in deaf education, something that is greatly needed in Cambodia.