• Feel All the Things

    I wasn’t going to write about the train journey back to Tokyo, but I had too many interesting revelations while reading Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar, and a few interesting conversations with Yuuki.  Iwate saw us off with some less than ideal weather, clouds hanging darkly over the sun and a light bit of…

  • Return to Dust

    While deciding what to do for my birthday, I headed back for Phnom Penh with the volunteers of “Project Abroad” and chose to book another three nights in the City of Dust. I’m starting to find out just how much of a foody destination this city can be, with literally any kind of food you…

  • Nothing can Koh Rong

    We didn’t see much of Sihanoukville in our time there before leaving for the islands, but that’s okay. It looked less-than-ideal.      I’ve heard from a lot of people that most places in Cambodia end up being “love it or hate it” destinations. The reason behind this, I assume, is a lack of knowledge about…

  • Happy Phnom Penh

    Despite all the things wrong with this city; the dust, the insanity of it all, the traffic, the heat, the devastation from which is it still recovering, and the unbridled capitalistic ventures of the money-hungry, Phnom Penh has a lot of really cool stuff to offer people. After seeing the killing fields with the English…

  • Oxyflacaslop

    I had designated the next day as a work day. It was finally time to catch up on my blog, and it would also serve as a sort of penitence for me for having left all those children. But around three in the afternoon, something horrible began to happen to me. My face started to…

  • Hello teacher, where you going?

    I was excited about being able to finally help a bit organizing community activities, teaching kids, and singing songs while building relationships with professionals in a new country. The first thing that happened at the education center, which was one of about 60 in various parts of Cambodia, was for the director, Ms. Dany, to…

  • City of Dust

    Arriving in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought it was likely similar to Bangkok but less developed, and I guess that was correct to a point. But to use the phrase “not as developed” would be an incredible understatement. There were lots of immigration workers running…