Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
This past weekend Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, MEP, came to both our Saturday night liturgy at World Vision and our Sunday morning mass at St. Joseph Church. It was good to have him with us as a reminder that the English-speaking community is part of the Church of Phnom Penh. Here he gathers with our choir and musicians after mass on Sunday morning.
Buddhist wats or temples tend to have muted yellows and browns as the primary colors of their buildings; nothing too dramatic. But today, going past this wat on the riverfront, I was surprised to see the white and rather garish red colors that have appeared on the gateway arch and on some of the stupas in which famous monk leaders and other dignitaries are buried. I’ve never seen anything like the white and red paint in a wat. I’ll have to ask what it means although it could be something as plebeian as an undercoating to prepare for later more traditional coats of paint.
On my old website I occasionally featured a series of photos about some theme. I called them Topic pages for want of a better term. I take a lot of photos in Cambodia on different themes and I am going to start the Topic pages again.
Here is a first effort this second time around with some photos on car door protectors.
This evening I had a chance to have supper with Fr. Bob Piche and four of the Cambodian seminarians. It was a good opportunity to learn more both about them and about their program. Good guys!
Phnom Penh is a big small town and the majority of the people have not yet left the rural areas although they are living in the city. Signs of rural life are everywhere, with lots of chickens, a few pigs, quite a few cattle, and even a few goats.
Some food places require the driver to come on to their property and approach the restaurant at the drive-thru window. These juice shops–only set up in the morning rush hour–take another approach and bring their products to the edge of the road, even into the road.
Today I received some photographs from the trip of the DDP staff to a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. Click here to view the added photos from the last day of the staff retreat.
Earlier I showed a picture of the first drive-thru lane at a modern hamburger fast food place in Phnom Penh. Actually drive-thru lanes have been a part of Phnom Penh life for a long time as this photo shows.
On the day after Thanksgiving, the Maryknoll team was invited to the Sokha Hotel for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the beginning of the hotel’s holiday season. We were invited because one of our former students is now working at the hotel.
The program began with some Christmas carols sung by the children in blue shirts, from a children’s organization that had its roots in Maryknoll fifteen years ago. The Christmas tree was set up in the main lobby of the hotel which is quite impressive because of its size.
Other music was provided by a professional tenor and then the songs sung by the choir above, most of whom are Filipino choir members from the English Catholic community.
I had to miss most of Day 4 with the group because I had to return early in the morning to Phnom Penh to be home for a special occasion this evening. I was only able to get a few photos before I left in the morning and will depend on some other staff to supplement those with pictures they took during the day while I was in the van coming home. Here are my pictures from the morning before our departure and the others will come as soon as I get them. Click here and then click on Friday for the first batch.