Director of CCF is ABC's Person of the Week

Scott Neeson, who founded and runs Cambodian Children's Fund, was named "Person of the Week" by ABC News on Nov 28th. Although Scott told me he would prefer for the media to focus on the center and the children, it is nonetheless a good story.

Check out this short video:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/story?id=6025169&page=1

No Golden Arches Here

How is this possible? How can it be? We have failed to bring the Good News to entire country??

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have found a country that *gasp* has NO McDonalds. NO Starbucks. NO Dunkin' Donuts. NO 7 Eleven.

Not a single recognizable chain throughout this entire nation??? Actually, there is one KFC (Khmer Fried Chicken?) that opened earlier this year in Phnom Penh. I've not visited yet but I hear it's like a real restaurant and, apparently, the best place to work in town.

But seriously, no McDonalds??? It's not that I'm craving a Big Mac -- because after my weekend of expelling EVERYTHING in my body from both ends -- I'm not eager to eat anything that doesn't resemble a dry, plain piece of bread.

But it's the prinicple of the matter. I've been to other places in the world far from the United States of Consumerism and no matter how remote or unfamiliar, you could always rely on at least one pair of gleaming yellow arches.

Israel: McDonalds (of course, no cheeseburgers since that would be unkosher)
Mexico: many, many Mickey-Dee's - sometimes with jalapenos
Hong Kong: offering child-sized sweet pudding/potato/milk thingee
Honduras: Golden Arches, plus Pizza Hut, and the ever-present Dunkin' Donuts
Canada (Toronto): I can't recall but I'm sure they had one!

What is the deal? Anyone who reads this, (bless you, you must either be my mom or not have an exciting life), please sound off. What other countries have you been to that did not have McDonalds?

The Mundane Becomes Exciting?

***explicit content. do not read while eating. :)****

Naomi was right. Living abroad DOES make the mundane, everyday, humdrum activities of life interesting. For instance, a simple trip down a few blocks to my guesthouse would have been a snooze in LA. (Maybe. Depends on what part of LA.) But in Phnom Penh, it was a crazy experience that led to a great story!

Another example: using the "toilet." Bathrooms here might contain either
1. a "Western toilet"
2. same toilet with toilet paper
3. same toilet with toilet paper to be used and thrown away, NOT flushed
4. same toilet with toilet paper AND a bum-gun (flexible bidet)
5. NONE of the above
6. ALL of the above
7. a combination of one or more of the above

For today, I am going to focus on option #5. I've known about "squatter" toilets for some time, ever since my roommate went to China one summer, but I have successfully avoided using one up until this stage of my life.

{For those of you unfamiliar with playing catcher while using the loo, a squatter toilet is basically a hole in the ground where you do your business.)

Yesterday, there was no avoiding it. I HAD to go. You KNOW I tried to hold it... but nature was calling. Oh, was it calling.

I was at CCF's community center building near the trashdump -- fairly modern, simple facilities except for the whole restroom situation.

I took a deep breath, repeated that "When in Rome" garbage, and went in to survey the conditions.

Dark. Damp. Ants everywhere. A porcelain-lined hole on a ledge about 2 feet from the ground. A square pit of some sort. A green plastic pot. (Oh man, I NEED to put a picture here!) I'd sort of listened to the children doing their business and after the inevitable tinkle or grunting (#1 or #2), I always heard scooping and pouring of water.

So I was seriously doing the pee-pee dance, hopping from foot to foot, while I contemplated how to use this thing.



Oh shoot... I have to run.... more on this later.... :) Or maybe not.. maybe best to imagination.