Vietnam

Rolling twos

2008-04-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

The past two days have been filled with twos.
2 mopeds
2 planes
2 ferries
2 buses
2 countries
2 travelers (still!)
2 time zones
Too little sleep

....and 3 airports

A few more details on Vietnam that we forgot to mention......

Sidewalks: they are for eating on, cooking on, and driving your Honda om up on to parking on. Not really so much for walking on. As a foreigner, it keeps you on your toes, because you're watching for people sitting on stools, motorcycles coming an going up over the curb, potholes and sidewalk damage, and parked motorbikes, along with trying to figure out where you're going, figure out when to cross the street, and figure out when it's safe to step in the street to step around the blockade of motorbikes, people, stools, food carts, piles of gravel, construction debris, etc. I'd say at least 50% of the sidewalk space is taken up by obstacles of one sort or another. That may not be the problem I was having walking, though. Yesterday when we were in the self-acclaimed "city of pedestrians and primitive modes of transport" (mostly bicylces, and Honda om), I ran smack into a cement telephone pole on a completely bare sidewalk (one of the first I've seen!) because I was busy gawking at something.

Suntans: not cool. Women and men throughout the country are often decked out in long pants, long sleeved shirts, hats, and full face masks that wrap around from the back of the head, across the face so just the eyes are showing, and to the other side. It's not a modesty thing or religous attire so much as a culture (or so we read) that favors light skin. The women wear full arm length gloves to ride in. All this in 90-100 degree heat and high humidity.

If light skin is a bonus, we pasty white foreigners must've looked really cool at the beach. Imagine that! Ahhh......the beach. Gotta tell you about that. Clean white sands as far as we could see, warm clear water of the South China sea, fishing boats trolling just 100 yards offshore, and just a smattering of tourists in this tropical paradise. We didn't spend nearly enough time there because we were so busy doing all the other things we were doing, but oooooohhhhh it was nice! We planned our last hours of free time the afternoon before and the morning of departure, and they involved lots of floating aimlessly in the warm sea water, gazing down the beach, and running our toes through the sand. What's more, the jaunts to and from the beach required the services of our trusty Honda om driver named "kayakmedic" and his sidekick "Reb". We cruised on a 1-pedaled motorbike (the other pedal fell off in the middle of the street as we were driving!!! yikes) for as much time as we could manage -- a great way to see the rural areas and explore that beyond the main tourist routes. To rent one, you just walk up to any of the many rental stands (set up on the sidewalk of course), pay your $4 for the day, and they hand you a key and helmets. Easy as that. No paperwork, no licenses, just $4 and an agreement on what time you'll bring the beast back.

Safety: we were really surprised at the safety regulations in place in Vietnam. Mandatory helmet law (as of 2 months ago), seatbelt law, government workers wearing reflective safety gear, litter crew on the river wearing PFDs, and so on.

We are making our way home, right now we are in Seoul S. Korea. We had an 8 hour lay-over so we did a quick jaunt into the city via bus and ferry and did some hiking in a nice park and had a great lunch. We will see you soon and have lots of stories!

Old Man and the Tea

2008-03-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

So what do a 2'x 4' pane of glass, a 40-gallon basket of piglets, two flat screen TVs, a hog, two tourists, 47 watermelon-sized squash, and a Vietnamese family with twins have in common?

They can all fit on the back of a small motorcycle. (Actually, if it was Cambodia, they'd all be on the back of the SAME motorcylce!) These drivers are amazing!!! Who needs a station wagon when you can carry all that you need on a 2-wheeler?

We rented a motorcylce today and drove 48 kilometers up into the foothills to explore so Cham ruins. Except for a few short rides in Cambodia, I haven't been on a motorcycle since I was a kid. Andy grew up riding, and so we felt safe enough, particularly in this rural area where the traffic is mostly other 2-wheeled vehicles. It was so fun going at our own pace (not dependent on a driver or having to negotiate fares). The seat was fairly uncomfortable for our big gringo derriers, but the thrill of the adventure far outweighed our aching backsides.

About 2/3 of the way through the trip we stopped for a photo op in the middle of a little village. As I was taking pics of a woman carrying huge baskets overflowing with ....something?...., a very old man came out of his house and crossed the street to talk with Andy. He spoke a small amount of English, and was giving Andy directions up to My Son (the ruins where we were headed). He looked to be in his 80s, so thin of frame that his chest and abdomen were concave, either by age or poor nutrition. But he carried the friendliest smile, and a genuine interest in helping us understand where to go. As we started to put away the camera to leave, in his couple of broken words of English, we understood him to say he was inviting us to his house for tea.

To say his home was modest is to overstate it. His bare cement, one-roomed home room contained a table and chairs, a thermos of hot water, a tea pot, three glasses, a few posters on the wall, and a mango. He shared his tea, mango and home with pride, all the while trying to communicate with us in Vietnamese, English and French (oh how I wish we spoke French!). We got that he used to be a French interpreter, but not much more than that. We were able to share that we have a son (showed pictures), and how old we are. Beyond that it was simply four souls (a neighbor joined us) trying to communicate across a language barrier beyond our abilities. Still. what an honor! He refused our offer of compensation for the mango, only wishing us well and sending us on our way. What a real privelege to be invited in a home, especially by someone who has seen many hard times. I can't see opportunities like this happening in America, with our closed houses, air-conditioned cars, and lifestyles that leave little time for anyone we don't already know.

As for the ruins -- they look like they're straight out of Indiana Jones (duh-duh-duh-DUH!). Over 1000 years old (I bet they didn't have building permit problems back then!), they have survived tropical storms and jungle. The rock is a different color than those at Angkor Wat. Almost a brick red, the contrast with lush green of the forest-jungle is striking.

More tomorrow --- it's bedtime here!

Gone from Saigon -- headed far, far a Hue

2008-03-29T03:25:00.002-07:00

Sorry for the bad pun :)

We are in Hue now (pronounced "whay") -- a city famous for its poets, scholars, and emporers. Hue sits more or less at the halfway point between Saigon and Hanoi. Since we are on a short holiday (unlike nearly all the Europeans we've met, who are travelling for a month or two or more), we hopped a flight rather than taking the train or open bus here. The down time before the flight gave us a chance to see a few more sights in Ho Chi Minh City before we left. Somehow we found the same cycle driver we had the other day (or he found us..... hmmmm.............???) and so cruised the city at the breakneck speed of, well, as fast as a 58 year old guy can pedal an aging bike with a buggy and tourist attached.

Hue is beautiful at night (which is all we've seen of it, really). Huge old stone structures rising like palaces, waterways lit to reflect back on the stone walls of the canals, giant courtyards in front of the Citadel, and wide tree-lined walkways stretching the length of the many waterfronts throughout the Imperial City. Moats, small lakes and the Perfume River define the layout of the streets in the area, and at night locals come in hoards to walk along the water, play "futbol" in the courtyards, and cruise the streets on Honda oms and bicylces. The whole fortress area is probably 4000 meters across, and every bit of it seems pleasantly alive, and very romantic as far as cities go. (Of course, sitting on a slab of rock along a river bank somewhere, listening to water lapping on PVC, the smell of wet gear wafting through the air is also just as romantic, depending on your perspective.) So...while we aren't exactly city folk, we are loving every minute of it here.

Well...OK. Almost every minute of it.

But first I have to tell you about our hike today. It starts off with a conversation that went something like this:

Waiter: "Where you go today?"
Me: "To Bach Ma"
Waiter: "Ba ca?"
Me: "Oh! Ba Ca." I said it very carefully, so as to get it right this time.
Waiter: "Ba ca?"
Me: "Yes, Ba Ca."
Waiter: "Ba private ca?"
Me: "Huh?" (intelligence dropping by the minute)
Waiter: "You go by private ca?"
OH! ding ding ding! Me: "Yes, by private car!"
Waiter: "Ba private ca to Bach Ma?"
Me: "Yes.....I think so......."

So off we went, ba private ca, to Bach Ma National Park, a huge ecological preserve marking the biggest green space of its kind between Laos and the coast. The mountains there reach up to 1700 meters, and we drove up to nearly 1500m before starting our first hike. The single-lane road was crazy narrow and windy, with hillsides nearly vertical on both sides of the road. Road crews were busy repairing washouts from the nearly 8 meters (8 METERS!) of rain they get there every year. And we thought Washington was wet.

At the top we picked our way through a trail overgrowing with vines, bamboo, and tall grasses, out toward a former helicopter landing area (the whole terrain was a heavy combat area during the American war). Losing the trail, and afraid of losing ourselves, we turned back for the main trail. Andy scampered up and around the corner while I stopped to look at an inchworm that was cruising at breakneck speed (at least as fast as that 58 yr old cyclo driver) toward my foot. I couldn't believe how efficiently he was moving -- tail to head, then stretching out and repeating the whole thing over again, quick inch by inch, as if rushing off somewhere. But why toward me? That was weird.

Then I noticed my shoes. And my socks. And somewhere in the back of my brain I could feel it dawn, the gears of consciousness struggling to awaken... Oh my god. Leeches. LEECHES.

"Andy!" ........no answer.

My feet and ankles are covered in leeches......Breathe. Breathe. MY FEET AND ANKLES ARE COVERED IN LEECHES. Heart pounding.

"ANDY!!!!" ......still no answer. ""AAAANDDYYY!!!!"

YYYucccckkkkkk!

Andy never did hear me (off taking pictures of course!) and I had to act like a grown up and reign in the panic and get the damn things off. UGgggh.

In truth they never did stick directly to my skin long enough to really attach, but they were burrowing in the lace holes and every other crevice on my boots, suctioned to my socks (how they do I don't know), climbing ever higher by the second. Holy cow. There is no caffeine rush quite equivalent to the adrenaline rush I got from the sight of them squirming all over my lower extremities. While I never had another incident quite so bad, I continued to find a close cousin, leechus imaginarius (purely the product of an overactive mind and poor vision) on my toes, ankles and legs throughout the rest of the day.

All that aide, it really was a good day, and a beautiful park. Incredibly steep hillsides just covered in jungle forest, dropping away to rice paddies and the lagoon far below. We hiked along a waterfall trail with several deep, emerald green pools perfect for swimming. :) And yes, we did.
We heard all sorts of insects with little tiny chainsaws (I swear that's what it sounds like), and a number of striking bird calls, including one who would consistently answer Andy's immitation gibbon call. And, we think we actually heard two gibbons calling back and forth, but couldn't be sure since the forest was so thick, and because, well, we aren't entirely sure what gibbons sound like. (Maybe they sound like Andy.)

Anyway -- back at the hotel in Hue now, three fruit smoothies, a Hue mushroom-shrimp-sprout pancake, and a plate of squid later. We topped off the evening with a serious study session on American culture with a local waiter who is studying to become an English teacher. He was preparing for his final exam, and had all sorts of questions he was having trouble finding the answer to: everything from who walks down the aisle immediately before the bride to what the beliefs of Martin Luther King and Malcomb X were. Interesting stuff, it is, to look at "American culture" as a topic of study. Not sure if we successfully explained "Keeping up with the Jones'".

Tam-bi-uht from Hue!

More Pics

2008-03-29T03:25:00.001-07:00

Big white guy at the helm Here are just a few pics, We think we have captured some great shots, but when we put this card in to download these pics, a virus was placed on the camera card. So you will have to wait till we get home to see more
One of our guides
The floating market
Check out this chick!

Pics

2008-03-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

Frogger

2008-03-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

So do you remember that Atari game "Frogger". Crossing the street here is much like advanced levels of Frogger, except that we are actually successful at it here (so far......)

Imagine looking to the left and seeing 2 dozens or so Honda om (motorcycles) bearing down upon the patch of street you intend to cross. They come in a steady stream, no clear breaks in between. And then you take a deep breath and step off the curb. Keep moving....moving....keeping the same pace. Handlebars swish behind you, inches from your back. Tires leave the pavement a foot's width before your soles land in the same spot. Keep moving...don't hesitate. It's like a fine set of gears, each tooth out of the way before the next falls into place. The biggest mistake you can make is to hesitate, to interrupt the flow. A cough in the gears could make everything come to a grinding, schreeching, foreigner-squishing halt. Keep moving. Don't think too much.... Almost to the other side. Don't forget to breath. Don't look sideways too much -- have to see where you are going. At last you arrive at the other side. Somehow it all works. I've seen no one squished yet.

They enacted a helmet law here 2 months ago. Amazingly, people seem to follow it. This is the first country I've seen (other than the US) where brain buckets are the norm. I was also going to say they seem to drive more conservatively here compared to Cambodia...but then we had a 3 hr bus ride last night that put that in doubt. Girls on bicycles swerve in and among buses barrelling down the "hip hop highway" (so dubbed by our VH guide because of all the bumps in the road!) at 40 mph, sometimes sandwiched between a bus and a delivery truck with just inches to spare on both sides. We sat in the front seats of the bus along with an Australian and an Irish woman, and all of us were squirming in anticipation of the potential disasters an arms reach out the window, but all for naught. The VN bike riders don't even seem to flinch, let alone look back to see what is bearing down on them. Again, it all seems to work -- buses, bicycles, pedestrians, Honda om weaving together flawlessly.

"Me-kon De-uhta"

2008-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Wow....where to begin. Just in fromour 3-day Mekong Delta tour. So much to tell but can't fit it all in...

The story begins with an unfortunate incident in the bathroom at our hotel. .....So there I was.....sitting....sitting......when I hear the person on the other side of the wall (another room) flush, and suddenly the toilet underneath me erupted like a volcano, spewing and burbling things from unknown parts all over my back side. EEEEEEeeeeeeWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Needless to say I hit the showers. Makes one appreciate the finer art of American plumbing.

The next morning we got up at 5:30 (well, woke up at 3:30 because of jetlag,and layed there for a couple hours, until we fell asleep for a few minutes right beforethe alarm went off). We packed our bags, had a quick breakfast of VN coffee, tea, baguette & jam (birthday cake was also on the menu, but we didn't order that!) and then hurriedly huffed our packs and camera gear and water bottles about 1/2mile to the travel agency where we met our tour. We stowed the big bags, then boarded the bus, only to ride it back across town to...the front door of our very guest house, where everyone ELSE on the tour was getting picked up! Oops.

Off we went, 3 days in the delta, a whirlwind tour of boats, boats andmore boats. We probably rode on at least a dozen if not more --- little ones like canoes, speedboats, rowboats with criss-cross oars, junks (refers to the type of boat, not what it carries!). The boats carried us through a maze of waterways and delta islands so intricate we felt as if we could have gone either 4 miles or 400 miles and we wouldn't know the difference.

To our surprise, our enormous new camera lens (roughly the size of a small cannon -- what were we thinking???!) has been a conversation starter rather than an intimidator. The guides and the locals are curious about such a hefty piece of equipment, and love to tell us to take photos of their friends, or they want to take photos of us with it. We've handed the whole thing over a number of times, and so actually have a few pics of us together on this trip. Nice, considering tomorrow is our 10th anniversary!

Today one such venture lead to another, and soon Andy found himself standing at the helm of the rowboat, delicately balanced on the stern platform pushing on the long, narrow criss-cross oars that propel the boat (and me, and our camera and our guide) down the Mekong. The guides thought it was a hoot that the big tall white guy could row, and Andy and I were grinning ear to ear. I got a turn as well, but got "fired" in short order because we were heading in among the houseboats and I simply couldn't steer the darn thing straight! We were quite the spectacle, garnering comments from people on the houses and the other boats. Our guide was enjoying it as well, and didn't laugh too awfully hard at my attempts to do as well as Andy! Our main guide later told us it's the first time he's ever seen a tourist row one of those boats. Pretty cool :)

The first night of the trip was a homestay in a little village on Bihn An island. There, we walked the trails to town in the evening, and on the way got waylaid by a group of men having cocktail hour. Andy was urged then cheered on as he threw back a shooter of sake. (I think they all had more fun than he did!).

Last night we overnighted on a junk -- a beautiful wooden boat with rooftop decks and lots of windows indoors. As we slept, the boat cruised 100k up the Mekong. I awoke at 4:30 (slightly better than the first night), so tiptoed up to the deck for the cool breeze and a change of scenery. As the sun came up, a handful of us watched the waters around us transform from a river as empty as the Columbia to center of commerce as busy as any major US shopping mall. The floating market seemed to wake up more with every minute, and by the time the sky turned from black to pink to a hazy grey, there were coconut barges, banana boats, fishing boats and dozens of others crowded in and among eachother for the next 1/2 mile. We watched, and when they weren't busy, they watched us.

People here are so very friendly. Quick to wave, and quicker to smile. True, genuine smiles. It seems as if they are truly as happy to see us as we are to be here. We haven't experienced the jaded, commerce-laden interactions of other countries.

I haven't yet learned many VN words, as we have in other countries. I was all excited to try out a sentence I've been practicing ("that was a very good meal"), when I read in a book about an American diplomat that was aiming to bridge the cultural gap and ease tensions by doing the same. He intended to say "I am very honored to be here," and instead, in this highly tonal language, it sounded to VN ears as if he'd said "the sunburnt duck lies sleeping!" So........I'm practicing my sentence a little more. :)

I know how to say hair cut, duck, and thank you. Those should come in handy.

We are boat people (but you already knew that)

2008-03-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hello from the Mekong Delta! A quickie -- we are on bikes & still have to get back for lunch before our boat leaves....

Statistics for this jaunt: Numbers of:

Boats we've seen -- 5000+ easily
Boats we've been on in the last 2 days -- 6 or 7
Bicycles we've been on -- 2
Total number of bicyle pedals at the end of the trip -- 3
Degrees --- Africa hot
People -- 10 stars :)
Bushels of longan fruit at the "factory" this morning: 30+
Boatloads of long grain rice -- 100's
Photos taken to date: 400+
Spring rolls eaten -- not enough
Waterways & canals in the delta -- 2000

Wonderful 3-day tour through the Mekong Delta. I had no idea how central the waterways are to the way of life here. They are everything. The canals and rivers are freeways, access to homes, transport routes for everything from rice to soda to pineapple to sand to gasoline. Kids grow up on boats. Pilots steer from hammocks (try that on I-5!). At any given moment in any stretch of water there are 20-40 boats within eyesight.

We did a homestay last night. More like a dormitory in the home (all 10 of us slept there), but it was in the jungle. Homes connected by small diked pathways just big enough for a motorcyle. We were free to wander and explore. Watched the sun set over a bridge with kids flying kitess until it was too dark too see. Great uproar when 2 kites got tangled!

Will write more when we can.... off to yet another boat through another waterway. Love it here.

Hola! ....I mean sin chao!

2008-03-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie here because we're headed to the boat.... And I'm not sure what Andy wrote already because I can't get his posts to pull up, so sorry if this is a duplicate...

We spent the day yesterday wearing down the soles of our Chacos on the streets of Saigon. Found a GIANT market (ooooh....lots of goodies, but don't want to lug them around for a week so we'll come back the last day). Had an avocado shake, lots of spring rolls, etc. It's very sticky hot, but not unbearable. Also didn't see too alwfully many tourists until dinner time. Apparently we all congregate for creature comforts at the end of a long day.

Took a nice long cyclo ride with a toothless guide (Andy's driver) and a guy who reports that he was on the roof when the last Americans were airlifted out of Saigon three decades ago, and has a large dimpled scar above his eye where he was shot. He was my cylco driver. FULL of knowledge about the city and sites. Talked 100 miles an hour and I know he was speaking English the whole time but I only got about 30% of it! Went to the War Museum, a gruesome reminder of things past and present, including a whole recent photography exhibit on land mines and demining around the world. Very, very sad doesn't express it all.

Today we are headed on a 3-day boat (& some biking I hope) adventure through the Mekong Delta. Sampans and fast boats. One night with a host family and one night on the boat. Should be fun! Andy continues his quest for pepper salted squid, but so far the best is still to be found in Portland!

I miss Cedar.

Having fun! Will post again when we can!

Reb (& Andy)

Day one in Siagon

2008-03-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

We had a good first day. Spent most of the day getting in to
the swing and doing a little sight seeing in the city. we
rented cycloes and spent several hours listing to the driver
huff and puff as he tried to push me around the city. We
booked a three day trip down the Mekcong delta, we will do
a combination of boats, busses, biking, do a night as a home
stay and on the second night stay on a junk river boat. back
late Thur night, We will call your Thur AM around 07:30
Andy

Siagon

2008-03-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Just a short post, after a little over 20 hrs of travel we are here! We will post this afternoon when we get back from exploring

Andy + Rebecca

Heading Home

2008-03-05T21:03:00.001-08:00

The final Mexico blog

The closer to the end of the trip the busier things became. When I last signed off we were headed to the BBQ. It was a very nice late night gathering attended by a number of dignitaries from El Grullo, the deer appeared to be about the size of a medium sized dog, very small by our standards. It was cooked in a pot with spices and didn’t taste too bad.

Monday: I did all the classroom lectures for my extraction class, in the morning. The afternoon was the Graduation ceremony. We held it a day early due to the Mayors from the towns represented not being available on Tuesday. We had a total of 30+ students throughout the class and gave 23 certificates of completion out, mostly based on attendance. After the graduation the Mayor of El Grullo took all the students, from all the towns, instructors, and all the students families that were in attendance, out to a very nice dinner, well over 40 people.

After the dinner four of us went to Autlan to a small orphanage and saw the kids there. Kyle had brought some small toys for all the kids, they were thrilled. The orphanage was very small with 17 children from ages 4 or 5 to 17, both boys and girls. Two years ago there were 11 children and they thought they were over crowded. They do have a new building that they are waiting to move into. Just like the USA they are waiting for the occupancy permit. It’s hard to believe it is an issue compared to where they are now. Any way I managed to get out, without totally breaking into tears. The kids did seem very well cared for, happy, and very well behaved.

Tuesday morning came before class the former mayor took us out to a great breakfast in a neighboring village. Then it was time to go kill cars, otherwise known and auto extraction. The plan was to start at 09:00 sharp, as I told the students, 09:00, Not 09:05, not 09:15, not 09:30, not 10:00, but 09:00 ready to go. Some how most all the students made it on time. That is were the plan ended. At 10:00 we still did not have an interpreter, tools, know were the cars we were going to cut up were, or know when we would know. At 10:30 I decided to teach a forcible entry class off the cuff. We walked the neighborhood looking at locks, bars on windows, doors and gates making entry plans. I made the students pledge that they would only use the tricks I showed them for good and not evil! Finally about noon we got word were the cars were. We showed up at the junkyard and were met by a really scary looking older man, who showed us which cars we could work on. One was a van that a family had been killed in, on a head-on crash. I could see were they had worked on the doors without success. After being at the junkyard a while I finely gave up on getting the tools I was waiting for. Oh-well, make a new plan again. I was able to show some simple techniques with hand tools and we were able to get the vans doors open, rather off and out of the way in just a few minutes. We also cut up another older car. I think they did learn a lot. The day worked out ok but it was really hot out in the sun with no shade.

After class we checked out of the hotel that had been our home for the past week plus and boarded a van for a three hour ride through the mountains to the coast where we will fly out on Thursday afternoon.

Today we relaxed and wound down from our go full speed all day and night routine as well as did some debriefing and future planning. We also did a nice several mile hike down the beach and did some exploring as well as having a couple of good meals. Tomorrow we will have the morning and the head to the airport.

I want to thank everyone that has been following along with my adventure; left commits, and sent emails. I am planning on coming back to this area in the not too distant future to do more training and scout that river! In just two weeks I embark in an adventure with Rebecca to Vietnam, It will be a different type of trip; I’m really looking forward to seeing her and Cedar again.

Good Bye Mexico
Andy

2008-03-02T21:32:00.001-08:00

Just got back from the Square, the city Square is like the hub of the town with a carnival type atmosphere on a very small scale. The square is encompassed by and ice cream shop on each side, the church, city building, a couple of banks and countless other small shops, in the square are lots of park benches, food venders and lots of trees, it seems to be the place the entire town cognates in the evenings. Beings that graduation in tomorrow after noon we all took our boots down and had them shined. Mine were in very bad shape due to them being my work / teaching boots, they have not seen any wax in a long time. The shoeshine dude spent nearly a half of an hour on them and made them look academy new. He only charged $1, I gave him $3 what a bargain. Last nigh the guys from the fire department killed two deer for a BBQ tonight. So I’m headed off for a late dinner. Hope it’s not to late of a night I’m doing the teaching in the morning.

Some rope work

2008-03-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

2008-03-02T15:23:00.001-08:00

Day of ropes and more

Yesterday was my day to lead the teaching. I had the job of doing a rope rescue class. Ordinarily that would be no problem, you know ropes and me. The challenge was the lack of equipment. To do rescue systems by the book it is very gear intensive. Here we are very limited by equipment. El Grullo had two ropes, two prussic cords, several pulleys, six locking carabineers, and four non-locking carabineers. Autlan had one rope, two figure eights and two carabineers, Ayutla had nothing! I had brought down thanks to “Firefighters Crossing Borders” two prussic cords and a couple pieces of webbing. I started out by teaching knots followed with ladder slides with a two to one system. After lunch we moved up to the skate board park known as “Kent Washington” and built several systems with the gear on hand. The students all seemed to learn a lot, I really received a lot of good feed back saying that my class gave them real skills they would be able to use with the limited gear on hand. At the end of the day I was both mentally and physically exhausted, but it was a great day!

So we get done with teaching and it was time to go to dinner. We were hosted by Tiemo a rancher that heads the public lands distribution for farmers in the area. Just that night he had finished his new courtyard and entertaining area at his home (very nice). Also there were many other “movers and shakers” in attendance, including the past mayor that started the fire department, most of his former administration, a police chief from the next town and several other people that I’m not sure who they were. We had a great meal and lots of laughs and even got some work done. Home around 23:00.

I had a great talk with Rebecca via IM Live through the Internet before heading to bed. This morning I embarked on a cultural adventure and left at 07:00 with Tiemo, to go “milk cows” something that I had not done since I was a kid. It’s a good thing I don’t need to make my living milking cows. I was very slow. We still managed to get back in time for breakfast and get to class on time.

It hard to believe I’ve been here a week already, in some ways it seems like we just got here it others it seems like we have been here a long time. At any rate we have done a lot in a short time, and will do even more in the next few days.

This is a nine-day class with no days off. We know this has been really tough for a lot of the students, most of which are volunteers that had to take time off work to be here. The students from Autlan and Ayutla travel over and hour each way to be here. One of our students Gissell comes to class all day, leaves class to work an evening shift as a nurse at the hospital, then some nights pulls her volunteer shift all night at the fire department, before coming back to class. All of the students have put a lot of effort into their training. Today (Sunday) we are doing strategy and tactics, Monday I’ll teach the classroom portion of my extrication class, with Graduation in the afternoon. Then back again on Tuesday for the hands on part of extrication. Hopefully we will have several cars to kill at the wrecking yard. The Graduation will be attended by the student’s families, as well as the mayors and officials from the towns represented.
The El Grullo fire department had a video made that is on the Internet at http://www.cheshvan.blip.tv and click on the second picture. The guy that made the video is a local filmmaker that is very talented. Watching the video you would think they don’t need much help, just keep in mind some things look a lot better with editing and a good script. Anyway check it out it does give a good view of the area and people we are working with.

2008-02-29T15:51:00.001-08:00

We started the day with our normal breakfast with lots of fresh OJ. YUMMMM! Each day we start the students with PT and a run. We head into the heart of town circling the square several time singing cadences while running. We sure get a lot of looks from the citizens. They know their fire department that is out training with the “Gringos”. It is a lot of fun doing the morning run this way and gives the community something to talk about.

Today I responded on my Mexican fire response in the engine. During this morning’s class the call came in for an unknown type fire on the outskirts of town. Now let me tell you how a fire response works here. The call somehow comes into “066” and get radioed to the fire fighters, Here in El Grullo “Oscar” the paid captain is the only one that can drive the engine. This is somewhat of a good plan because the streets are so narrow and choked with parked cars. More than once we had to do multipoint turns to get around parked cars, (I have trouble getting the mini van around here, none the less a large Fire engine) He is a very good driver! Oscar had to come from wherever he was, get the engine and respond while other firefighters responded via mopeds. It must have taken us 10 minutes to get less that two miles. One at the scene it turned out to only be a garbage fire that got into some tires. The bad part was, that the fire was at the water purification plant and may of damaged the utility lines that supply the plant.

Last night the beds that we bought for the firefighters were delivered, much to their surprise. They were very happy, something we all take for granite, a bed off the floor.

Today has been a full day of first aid and CPR training. (I think we need Cedar here to help. Last week at 3 ¾ years old, he taught his preschool classmates CPR, we are not sure if his teachers were ready for that or not)

Last night while both of the interpreters from our group (Gonzo and Jose) went to have a several hour meeting with the Mayor of Auytla. We went to at taco shop in the main square of town and were forced to order without help. We were all so happy that we managed to order in Spanish without any help. Of course when our food came we were let down, due to not getting what we thought we ordered. Despite that we all enjoyed our meal and finished to evening off by stopping at an ice cream shop. There is nearly no tourism in this region and very few people know any English.

I did learn the river in the gorge out of town runs year round and there is access on hour north into the gorge. (I’m thinking KAYAK run) I hope I can break free for a couple of hours before we leave and do some scouting. But I’m not going to hold my breath, our schedule is really tight. Tomorrow I will be spending all day leading the teaching of rope rescue, Sunday will be tactics, fire extinguishers and on Monday and Tuesday will be “Crunch Time Mexico” auto extraction.

We just finished a quick trip up to “Kent Washington”. “Kent Washington” is the name of a skateboard park up on the hill, paid for by one of the civic originations from Kent. The park unfortunately is just far enough out of town that it does not get used. ---Except by us, being that it is on the hillside it will be a great place to do our ropes class. The only down side it is on a south facing hillside with no shade. It will be a heavy sunscreen and lots of water day tomorrow.
It is so hard to get the experiences and paint a picture of these trips into just a few paragraphs. Please drop me a line ask any questions, give comments and let me know someone besides Rebecca is reading and following along.

Andy aka Kayakmedic

2008-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Check out the Jackson Kayak Sticker! I think there may be whitewater here in the rainy season

2008-02-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

2008-02-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

2008-02-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

a day in the sun

some pics

2008-02-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

El Grullo, I took this pic from the roof of where we are training with ladders.

dinner with the Mayor

2008-02-27T21:54:00.001-08:00

So much of what happens on these trips gets done off the training ground. Having the right political connections is key to getting the whole system to work. Tonight we had dinner with “El Presidente” other wise known as the Mayor of El Grullo. The Mayor appears to have much more influence than even major US city mayors; it was a real honor to have dinner with him. We were picked up by the former Mayor, the only Female that has ever been elected in this area. We drove to the Mayor’s residence, a villa that looked like a drug cartel casa from the movies. He is a very well known businessman in the area and has made it possible to have five career firefighters to be hired since his election. He also was the one that allowed the training to take place in El Grullo. We were planning on training in Autla, but none of the equipment we were planning getting here including the engine, arrived in time for the training, so like most training we do, quickly a new plan was laid out and students are receiving great training. We were treated to some of the best enchiladas I have ever had, cooked by the Mayor himself. We also had the best-grilled prawns I have EVER had!! Some un-named members of our group did secure the continued need for Agave plants. (We’ll see if they show up for breakfast) Today at the fire station we did confirm the on duty crews are sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Noting the need for comfort all the instructors pulled cash together and bought them beds, they should be delivered in the morning.

2008-02-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

Another great day of work. We started the day with PT that included a several kilometer run through the main square of the town. A few side aches, lots of sweat and even more smiles. Once PT was finished we split the group onto two teams and congealed the two groups b y having a team building exercise. Today the challenge was to move an egg from a starting point about 12’ and place it into a cup, only touching it with their personnel utility ropes. Neither of the eggs were broken and teams were solidified. Then it was off to the cultural center and fire station for advanced ladders and hose operations. Once again in near 100F heat, (just like at home) Tonight we have been invited to the Mayor’s home for dinner. I’ll try to write later tonight.
Andy

Mexico 07

2008-02-26T20:25:00.001-08:00

Oh to Mexico

Oh what a fast change of events, a week and a half ago our house was selling and we were going to be “homeless” this week. Well last weekend the house sale fell through and looking for the bright side I said “hey now I con go to Mexico on the teaching trip! And Rebecca agreed as long as I agreed to go to Vietnam next month. So just a few days later I was on the plane, catching up to the group already in Mexico.

We are doing training in southwest Mexico between Guadalajara and Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco. (an area Pancho Villa apparently spent much time in based on his picture hanging every where) This is an area “TAP-FIRE” (the organization I am down here with) has come for several years as well as having support from Firefighters Crossing Borders. Currently we are in the town of El Grullo, which is a sister city of Kent WA. Two years ago the city of Kent donated a very nice 1989 Pierce engine that they surplused to the city of El Grullo. The fire department is very well established and supported by the local Government quite the contrast from Cambodia, were we feel like we are starting from scratch with limited support. One thing in common is the enthusiasm and eagerness of the students.

My adventure started Sunday night after getting no sleep on shift Saturday / Saturday night. A 21:00 flight from SEA to LAX and then a 01:45 flight from LAX to Guadalajara getting in right at sunrise Monday morning, with nearly no sleep on the flights. After getting through immigration and customs, I was met by Gonzalo Tello, a volunteer firefighter from Gig Harbor that had arrived two days before. After a couple of stops in Guadalajara, including a great breakfast at a market that included a 32oz fresh squeezed mixed juice we were off on a three plus hour drive to the training site in El Grullo. After leaving the outskirts of Guadalajara heading into the Sierra Madera’s, the drive and scenery looked identical as the drive from Phnom Penh to Sinokville in Cambodia, with rolling mountains, cactus and sparse vegetation. Once in the mountains there was quite a contrast from Cambodia with the vegetation continuing to be sparse and the desert continuing. The most amazing thing in the mountains were the thousands of acres of agave plants. Agave plants are the principle ingredient for Tequila. (I have not seen where they grow the worms yet) Also along the way I saw numerous authentic cowboys outfitted on horses. Oh yes, the car that picked us up and hauled us to El Grullo also was part of the adventure. Typical of much of the world, the standard are not quite the same as the USA, we only had to push start it nearly every time we stopped and my door would want to fall off if I opened it too wide (about 10”) but it did get us to our destination safe and sound. We arrived at the Hotel around 13:00 met with the rest of the group that was at lunch. Rather that getting some much needed sleep, I elected to go to the training site and get a “feel” for the students and what we would be doing. Well once there my stand back and watch for today plan didn’t last long, So I ended up helping teach ladders the rest of the day, after walking back to the hotel to get boots, helmet and gloves. The day was rounded off with dinner and a quick phone call to Rebecca. After three days with nearly no sleep I am caught up today and feeling great.

A little about the town we are in. El Grullo has a population of 32,000 including the surrounding areas and is one of the cleanest places I have ever seen! There is no litter, the streets and sidewalks are all washed and swept, the buildings despite being older than dirt all sport fresh paint, there is no signs of poverty, the people are very friendly and appear to be happy and content. It is very obvious the citizens here take a lot of pride in thier community. (I really like this place!) We really are in the “real Mexico” no fuffy resorts here.

Today we started with breakfast at a local restaurant (fried bread with jelly and bacon, withy a very large glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Then more training with ladders and hose opps at the canal. Lunch was provided by another local restaurant, Spanish rice, a meatball and potato soup, and fresh tortes with a fresh fruit drink served in a 5 gal. Bucket. (Yummmmm) Well training for the day is complete and I am posting this before we head out to dinner and getting a shower after training in near 100F heat. Will post more ASAP

Andy

Lots of Pics

2007-02-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

In the next few days we will post lots of travel pics @ www.kellyday.com

Still alive

2007-02-04T07:13:00.000-08:00

Still alive

Sorry I’m so far behind! The last week of classes was really busy, with only mostly only Gary and I there for the EMS side. But moving to HOPE worked out very well, all of the Police students were very happy not to be at the academy. At the academy they were required to be at dress ready at 0700 for the singing of the national anthem, in uniform, with hair cut to the proper length. Let’s just say they were very happy to be out of that environment. The first Monday even our interpreter showed up at HOPE and did everything he could not to go back to the academy. We were able to use some of the tope returning students to teach some of the classes. Not personally being able to speak Khmer, I’m not totally sure were they were saying but watching body language and the reaction of the other students it sure seemed they were doing a good job. We ended the EMS classes with 44 EMT students many of which were first timers. We have made some good contacts for next year and will have new students from the trauma hospitals ambulance service that are currently untrained. This will be another big step. I’m not sure if the Police EMS system will ever get going or not, there are some big obstacles to get through first but we’ll keep training and not give up on that dream. We also took three more AEDs that we were able to give to HOPE hospital; they are already on the ambulances and in the ER. The fire classes went well as they could, we were constantly confronted with equipment that was breaking down, such at engines that could not draft from a water supply, and also the Ladder truck didn’t get running again until the last day of classes so the aerial training that Bruce had planned on never did come to be a reality. None the less we did manage to fill the days with good instruction by adapting and overcoming. Rebecca arrived Thursday night and was able to attend the final official ceremonies, complete with news coverage from four TV stations. I also was able to get Rebecca a full tour of HOPE Hospital the first morning she arrived complete with watching the 250 showing up for the morning lottery, hoping to be one of the lucky 5-10 new patients to be seen that day. We both had tears in out eyes after the first two picks, seeing the pure joy and excitement of the patient’s picked knowing they would finely receive some medical care. The tears we had also reflected us knowing that around 250 other people wound not see medical care that day. Friday night we had our annual party for the students. This year the Australian’s organized it so of course it was a big BBQ at the local Aussi bar. The student’s really had a blow out time even though half had to leave the party (beer in hand) in the fire truck (that was at the bar also) to go to a fire. (Yes there still are areas we haven’t approached yet)

Most of our group flew out Saturday morning. I was able to send most of my stuff back with them, including my laptop computer. (Partly explaining how I got so far behind on the blog) A few of us that were still there trekked back out to the villages taking more bread and saw the wells that we paid to have put in the first week we were there. It war so cool to see how excited they were over their new wells. Rebecca had extra room coming over so she brought a duffel bag off children’s clothing and some national flags of Belfair (large blue tarps to cover leaky roofs) we were able to give them to people that really needed them. The cloths were such a big hit. We had handed out a bunch at one village and were getting ready to leave when someone pointed out one little boy with no pants (this isn’t real uncommon the children commonly don’t were pants until they are potty trained. But this little boy was a little older and only had a single old shirt to claim as his own. We reached in the bag found a pair of pants to fit him, put them on him and he and his mother were so happy. I can’t express the look of proud ness he had over is new pants. (More tears) One of the last villages we visited we had spent a while at and were getting ready to leave when one of our members noticed a little girl with something on here arm and asked me about it. At first I thought she had paint or something on it, but as I watched her I noticed she was trying to hide it. We had been playing with her and the other children for sometime prior and not noticed anything wrong. As I looked closer I could see something indeed was wrong (note FYI, I have tears now as I’m writing this) As it turned out she had dunked her arm into boiling water the day before up to the elbow, causing deep seconded degree burns over most all of her hand and lower arm. They had tried to treat the injuries by covering them with tooth paste. I can’t tell you how my heart sank knowing or not knowing what the outcome would be. This is a child if we were at home I would have immediately called for a helicopter and sent her to the burn unit at Harborview Hospital without thinking twice. But there is no helicopter; there is no burn unit, only us. Art (a paramedic from Belleview) and I went to work breaking out our “crew first aid kit” (only to be used for us tram members) (that plan went right out the door), stetting up an IV for irrigation, digging out bandages and antibiotic ointment. The mother drug the very frightened girl over to us, as the entire village gathered (very closely) around. Soon as we started putting saline on the injuries she calmed right down, standing on her own holding her arm out not even flinching. I irrigated and scrubbed her entire arm and hand getting the tooth paste off and cleaning the burns. As I did this she didn’t even twitch or squirm, it had to be so painful, any of us would have needed enough morphine to kill a horse to be able to withstand what I did to her and she had no pain meds at all. It was absolutely all I could do not to just fully break out in full blown tears myself while I was treating her. After cleaning the burns we dressed them in sterile bandages, gave here mother $40 to take her to see the local doctor in the nearest town and overly impressed how important it was they follow through with getting care for her including antibiotics and fresh dressings. We have our doubts If they would seek medical intervention $40 would buy a lot of food for a really hungry family, we can only hope. The girl looked to be about 5 or 6 we were told she was really 9 years old. Augh! I needed a breath after that one. Rebecca and I paid for several more wells to be put in. (thanks for the contributions to make that possible)

Sunday Rebecca and I headed north to do some touring and see other parts of Cambodia including the temples of Anchor Wat, one of the wonders of the world, the floating village, we attend a wedding, were invited to spend a evening in a village (and did) and so much more. It was so nice to share some of my Cambodia experiences with her. We are now home again, my sleep patterns are all screwed up, and the good news with that is the blog is updated.

We hope to go back next year and do it again, I still believe it’s a very worth while mission and we are making a difference. The night before we left there was a fire that burned 55 families out of the homes (I of course had to go and “evaluate the firefighting efforts”) they employed skills we taught them this year to stop the fire before it got any worse, but there still is a lot of work to do.

Thanks for your support on this journey.

Andy

Pixs

2007-01-24T01:19:00.000-08:00

Weekend away

2007-01-22T05:54:00.000-08:00

A weekend away. We took a four-hour express bus ride to the coast of Cambodia. One thing to keep in mind is the differences in busses here is how fast they reach their destination, same distance, same road, same number of stops. Yes this means the express bus drives faster and takes a lot more chances passing. Passing on curves, hills, curvy hills, with oncoming traffic, with oncoming traffic on hills on corners, ect. I think you get the idea here. The reassuring part is the bus is larger than most other vehicles; most that is. The road to the coast also is the road to the only port. So yes lots of very large slow moving trucks, lots of trucks to pass and play chicken with. All and all it only appeared we would die in a fiery head-on collision about one million times. Not bad for eight hours of travel. This is real good entertainment of someone that is into thrill seeking, so cancel your next base jumping adventure and buy a five dollar bus ticket.

The weekend was great; my only misgiving was Rebecca was not there to enjoy it with us. We all were happy to get some fresh air. The smog in Phnom Phen is awful infact. When you fly into Asia there is this gross layer of smog you descend through, often from the aircraft at altitude you cannot even see the ground due to the pollution. Looking at it makes me think all that we do at home hardly make a dent in the entire planet’s health, but I guess it’s a start. We stayed at a really nice hotel with a pool and private beach. Several of us ventured to the beaches the locals go to, I will say I enjoyed that beach much more. It we really great to see so many Cambodian people having so much fun. At night there, it reminded me of “Burningman” with the wall-to-wall thrown together bars lit with Christmas tree lights. The beaches were beautiful with warm clean water. The air temps were in the mid 90sF, all most the same as home plus 70F.

Five of the wells we paid for are already in and pumping fresh water. I saw the pictures of them this morning. It is amazing with a few dollars how quickly lives can be changes. We will be getting some help to people in the village I spoke of in the “really poor” area. I saw pictures of their homes also this morning, here are a few pictures. I’m looking forward to getting back to that area and see what has been accomplished. I’m planning on paying for at least one more well and either a house or repairs on several houses. I need a Costco to but a bunch of blue tarps.

The classes are back up and going again today. We managed to get the two EMS classes combined at HOPE Hospital today. The students from the Police are really happy to be back in town and not having to travel an hour each way, plus we have all the equipment we need for teaching here. Things seem to go so much smoother here. Walking back into HOPE this morning was like going to a friend’s house, welcoming and warm, with a feeling of comfort that really surprised me. It’s really good to be back here. We caught the classes up so they are near the level. Northwest Medical Teams have been doing he teaching here at HOPE last week but they moved on north and to Vietnam this week. We will use the two groups to teach each other in some areas. Hopefully this will promote the idea of them doing further teaching to their coworkers. Out on the drill ground today 103F. HOT!

That all for now.

Andy

A great day

2007-01-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

This morning Sos had a visit from a relative of his from out in the village area were we went last weekend. She told Sos of the village that is “really poor” she said they have no wells and don’t even have houses. I gave Sos money to put in a well and some money that they will use to buy some clothes. Together we gave Sos enough money to drill four wells in the area. He thinks they will be put in as soon as next week. He also says a house in that area costs about $150. Looks like I may buy a house in Cambodia and change a families life.

We had a great day of training! To day we stopped on the way to class and bought several “sticks” about 5’ long. We also rounded up several long backboards and some rope. When we arrived at class again bad news: no ladder truck or fire engine hat could draft water. On the EMS side it was full on practical hands on training utilizing materials and equipment available on site. All those wilderness medicine classes are coming in real handy. Even though we are not in a wilderness area, improvising with supplies on hand.
We built stretchers using the sticks we bought and rope. Moved patients in and out of windows, over obstacles and under vehicles. The Australians have been teaching search and rescue techniques to the fire group utilizing many of the same skills. So you can guess what had to happen: fire -vs- EMS in moving patients through an obstacle course. I have never seen such fierce competition with so much laughter and so many smiles. It was a great way to practice the skills learned and build teamwork. The Australians are always doing some teambuilding exercise, we’ll hear laughing look out and see their class down to their underwear putting all their clothing end to end to see which team can form the longest line. Despite all the equipment and facility issues the students are learning a lot and gaining valuable skills.

Jerry after three or four years is also making progress, meeting with officials concerning communications and emergency phone systems. For an example if you dial “119” (the emergency EMS number) the call goes to Calamed Hospital. There is only one line, without call waiting, answered by one person between 10:00 and 20:00. In the off hours the line does not get answered. And we complain at home about our dispatch.

Gary also has some good meetings and made so valuable contacts with the hospitals and some NGOs.

We still have some of our equipment sent over, that has not cleared customs, and hopefully it will clear today.

My thoughts are at hope as the memorial services occur at home. I’m sorry that I am not there to say good-bye.

Tonight we had a great dinner, “Italian” go figure, and it’s probably the most authentic Sicilian restaurant I have ever eaten in. They fly in the meats and cheeses daily from Italy and the cost for my meal was under $8.00. To be honest I would still rather have Cambodian food.

Tomorrow the national TV news network will be at class to film for the evening news. Unfortunately we won’t see it we will be on a bus to the beach for the weekend.

I also bought a cheep cell phone so we can problem solve between classes and ect. So if you feel so inclined to call me my Cambodian number is 011-548-206 I’m not sure what the country code is to access Cambodia, you’ll need to look it up. Look forward to hearing from you I have 400 minutes to use in the next two weeks. Phone and calling card all for $20.00

Andy

pics

2007-01-17T05:22:00.000-08:00

2007-01-17T05:16:00.000-08:00

Getting things done?

2007-01-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

Day something? Once again it’s been nonstop with things changing at every turn and I have all ready lost track of what day it is. As I say “no worries we’ll just roll with the punches” but then we get kicked it the ---well you know “whats”, and we start from scratch with new lesson plans. The big issue is that we at a new training facility a little over an hour from Phnom Penh out on the edge of nowhere. We learned the night before class the NGOs and the police EMS classes would be separate. The biggest issue is at the training grounds there are no medical training supplies, on the fire side, day one we arrived and “no” did I say “NO” fire equipment, so ok we’ll get trucks out here (an hour and a half drive each way). So next where’s the water supply for fire training? After some exploring we found a “pond” that could be drafted out of (complete with snakes and who knows what else). When we did finely get trucks the first one could not draft, so three hours later fire was in business and day two was complete. The Australian guys had much more success teaching Urban Search and Rescue, putting students into culverts and moving debris. Oh did I mention the issue with electricity? We have none in the mornings until they can find someone to get a generator running. This slows down the PowerPoint projector from our computer. Ok so now I have vented! The good news is we are adapting and the students are great! They are happy to be here and are very motivated. Oh did I mention the Ladder truck died on the side of the road on the way back to Phnom Penh last night? The good news is that it was gone this morning and we hear it will be back tomorrow. Also we arrived at Hope Hospital and the had forgot we were coming. After a few phone calls we had a class of 20+

Personally: sad news from home with the death of Rebecca’s grandfather. It is incredibly difficult to be here and not at home to help support her and the family. Harlan is someone I will really miss, he was someone I really looked up to and enjoyed spending time with listening to his stories of flying the B-24 during WWII. I’m so sorry I will not be able to attend his services and be with family. He will be missed by all of us.

The weather here has been around 100F HOT!!!! And they say it’s the cool season. I feel sorry for the fire students out in the sun, although we still see people wearing winter coats in the morning when it’s a fidget 85F.

I have been trying to get pictures up, but the Internet has been giving me difficulty. I will keep working on it as time permits. We are making plans for some R and R this weekend.

Thank for reading and drop me an email at kayakmedic@hotmail.com

Andy

2007-01-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

The OESP team all met and decided to spend Sunday visiting the villages where Sos has been having fresh water wells drilled with donations made by members of OESP. This also gave all of us the chance to become acquainted with our newest team members from the Australian Firefighters International. Before calling it a day there was the quick trip to the Russian Market to scope out the latest buys and to pick up some needed items.

Sunday
Everyone was up early today and we headed southeast out of Phnom Penh. About two hours later, we were in the area of the villages Prey Vang and Svay Rieng, right on the Vietnam boarder. Sos visits this area often, helping out the villagers. Today we brought along about 500 loafs of bread, some soccer balls for the kids as well as school supplies brought by our Australian members and also gave out pencils from Oly Fed.

It was quite a day, spent visiting areas that wells have been drilled to provide fresh water, seeing and interacting with those in the villages. Getting to these areas was not easy and we spent about three hours going place to place on the back of motor scooters over paths and across rice paddies. We gave out five hundred loafs of bread mostly to children. As we would stop at a group of homes we would only see a few people and with in just a couple of minutes there would be upwards of fifty people, all-staring at the novelty of white people. I asked Sos how often would a Caucasian venture into this area and he would say “never, white people never come here”. As we traveled around it was difficult to see such poverty. The kids were so thrilled to have their very own loaf of bread and a pencil, we would find the director of the school in the area and donate a soccer ball and some school supplies. It was amazing how many schools there were tucked away out in road less areas of the rice patties, with several hundred to over a thousand students. I would think how can such a sparse area have so many kids, but then when we would stop they would come from everywhere. I kept thinking putting a loaf of bread in there hands is a very short term solution to a very long term problem. Our main objective for the day was to see the wells and we did. Most importantly we saw first hand how a simple well can make village life so much better. Without a well they may need to walk several mile to get safe water. The wells a simple drilled by hand 150 foot deep with a hand pump. I’m planning on having a couple drilled with the money given to me. Overall we all got plenty of fresh air, sun (even some sunburn) and obviously were much warmer than our families in the Pacific Northwest.

We briefly met with Lt Col Chanda and found out that we will be doing all of the training at the Police training academy located about 45 minutes southeast of Phnom Penh. Everyone put our heads together and began reorganizing the training schedules that had been developed. As always, the team is prepared to adapt to unexpected changes.

Monday
Let the training begin. Our trip to the training facility took a little over an hour this morning. Talk about rush hour traffic!! The roads are narrow and everyone is heading into the city for work while we are on our way out of the city. Upon our arrival, we met with the facilities commander before going in to the opening ceremony. After opening remarks by a multitude of individuals, the group broke into Fire and EMS groups. Since we were at a new training facility, we asked for a tour so that everyone could scope out where they might be able to do each of their classes. That made it break time for the students, which lasted about an hour and a half.

Once the tour was complete, the EMS guys spent time doing a review of materials previously learned while the Fire group revamped their schedule for the next two weeks. Oh, did I happen to mention that the non-police personnel scheduled for the EMS class can’t attend the class at the training center? They will be holding their classes at HOPE Hospital being taught this first week by our other partners from Northwest Medical Teams which are here with us as well.

When lunch time rolled around, we broke for the day and will begin classes tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. The Fire group went to visit the Fire Station to show the Australian team what equipment they will be using, while the EMS group went to visit HOPE Hospital. In keeping with the day, upon arriving at HOPE Hospital, we found out that no students had shown up for class this morning. However, it was confirmed that there will be around 20 there tomorrow to begin their training.

So ends Day One …. It has been interesting and hopefully isn’t setting the tone for the rest of our stay. Watch this space for more to come on this exciting trip.

Day one 07

2007-01-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

Day one on the ground

It’s been a busy day; it has been a year since us changed. We walked in to our usual breakfast digs, the staff spotted us and came running up to us smiling saying “your back your back” and was on the phone calling other staff letting them know we were there. It doesn’t seem the city has changed at all despite construction everywhere. We then met with Sos who has been really busy getting things organized for us. We also connected up with the guys from Australia. They are a really squared away group that will be a big asset. They brought some really good training ideas and lesson plans that we will be using. We then moved to the hotel that we will be staying in for the next two weeks. Then it was a quick trip to the market to get a few supplies. The Australians took a trip to Tuslang killing prison museum S21. Then it was more planning and socializing with the Australians and the day was gone.

In the morning we are going to leave at 06:00 and travel out to villages, were members of our group paid to have wells dug two years ago. We are anxious to see how $200 changed whole villages. The villages we will be traveling to are several hours away, on the Vietnam boarder. We will take a van as far as the road goes, then take motorcycles as far as they can go, then the final bit on foot. It will be an incredible day. Oly Fed sent a big box of pencils, (thanks Sheri)(I hope I spelled your name right) I think this may be a great place to hand some out to children.

Need to get to sleep it’s going to be a long day. Look forward to hearing from you.

Andy

We are here (finely)

2007-01-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

We are here! Augh! What a trip, I think I was in transit over forty hours from home. Due to the weather in Seattle I arrived at SeaTac airport five hours prior to flight time. I caught an early shuttle planning on the roads being a lot worse than the turned out to be, none the less I’m glad I arrived early, because the roads did get worse after I arrived. The Plane boarded slightly behind schedule. Looking out the window of the aircraft we noticed a slight issue, there was over six inches of snow covering the plane. Fortunately the flight crew also noticed, unfortunately it appeared the good folks at SeaTac didn’t appear to have a whole lot of experience with deicing well a little over three and a half hours later we were headed down the runway. A new feature our plane had was a camera mounted on the nose gear with the images displayed on the TV screens so the passengers can see what they are about to hit. Well as we accelerated down the runway, either the person that had painted the stripe down the center of the runway was drunk and painted the line to resemble an “S” turns ahead warning sign, or we were blown allover the runway as we took off. It felt like the latter. Once in the air there was still a lot of “liquid” on the outside of the windows. I kept thinking, doesn’t that add drag? Well they must have known what they were doing, because the plane did continue to climb and we were on our way. We flew “China Airways” one thing our booking agent failed to take into account, was the fact that I’m over 6’3”. Normally I’m quite happy with my height, but China Airways spaces there seats for the average Chinese person, so that with sitting on the tarmac for nearly four hours and an a almost fourteen hour flight to Taipei (18 hours on one plane) ough! We also had a 200 mile per hour head wind most of the way that added a little time to our journey. We were scheduled to have a hour and a half between flights in Taipei. Well getting in over five hours late guess what? They didn’t hold the plane just for us in fact there were 34 people on the plane that were planning on getting on the Phnom Penh flight. China Airway’s was really very exceptional about getting us on a flight to Bangkok (another three and a half hour flight in small seats) and then another flight to Phnom Penh, and only eleven hours late to our destination. At SeaTac we did meet up with the guys from NWMT’s that had flown out of Portland. So we had a group of ten that flew out of Seattle total. The five guys from NWMT’s decided to take advantage of our stop in Bangkok and spend a day there and will fly into Cambodia tomorrow. Sos was waiting for us at the Airport with a van and even had a nice hotel lined up for us. So after forty some hours I could finely stretch out and fall asleep, and at 23:00 Cambodian time. Well with the 16 hour time change I am up at 04:00 typing out this blog. I’ll write more tonight, I think we are going to go out to visit some villages today and see some of the drinking wells our group paid to have put in two years ago. We are planning on paying for a few more this year. Oh and but the way it is going to be near 100 degrees here today.

Andy

On the way 07

2007-01-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

The day is nearly here; tomorrow I start my adventure back to Cambodia. We will leave just after midnight and arrive in Cambodia Friday morning. It sounds our classes will be larger than last year, with 60+ from the governmental police departments, three separate NGO originations, the riverboat ambulance and at least one group from HOPE hospital. And that’s just for the EMT class; on the Fire side we could see another 75 students. In total there are five of us going from the Puget Sound area, two fire instructors will be coming from Australia and two EMS instructors from NWMT’s that will spend the first week with us. It will be a very busy two weeks! As last year I will again try to post a daily blog of our trip, adventure and teachings. I really enjoyed getting feedback last year knowing how many of you were following our progress; it made the world seem a little smaller. Up front I will apologize for the grammar and spelling errors, after 18 hour days my writing skills aren’t so sharp. Oh well hope to here from you’ll follow my blog while I’m there at www.kayakmedic.blogspot.com and post comments. And yes it’s still not too late to help sponsor the trip by going to http://oesp.net/participate.html and clicking on my name.

Andy

Heading back 07

2006-12-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

Looking for that last minute tax deduction?

For me life isn’t always about crashing down a river or through the woods to the top of a mountain. Sometimes satisfaction comes from helping others. I’m in a job most people can only dream of, being paid to respond to emergencies as a firefighter paramedic. It is truly is a job I love and I can’t think of a profession I would rather be in. What many people don’t know about me is that I’m still heavily involved in several volunteer organizations, Olympic Mountain Rescue, a Mason County Fire District, and “Outreach Emergency Services Program” (OESP). Last January I spent two weeks in Cambodia teaching the first EMT class in Cambodia and helping set up the first emergency services system for the entire county with some to the top Cambodian governmental officials. It truly was the hardest I have ever worked on a vacation putting in 18 hour days. You can read about last years experiences by clicking January archives. On a daily bases at work I make differences in peoples lives while responding to people’s emergencies and with my teaching in Mason County and Olympic Mountain Rescue, the people I instruct make differences, but my experience in Cambodia was much greater. I was part of something that will affect thousands and thousands if not millions of people in the future. (That Was Big!) It really has left an impression on me how easy it is to positively affect people’s lives, never have I had students so grateful for instruction. I also have put back in to prospective how gratifying being a volunteer can be. This month I will be going back to Cambodia to continue were we left off last year and do additional fire training for the “Cambodian Fire Police”. Our group has partnered with Northwest Medical Teams who will be sending four additional EMT instructors, also from Australia we will be getting several fire instructors. It is really exciding to see the program grow and have such an impact. Last year Rebecca Graham editor of the North Mason Neighbor while at home in Belfair designed the Cambodian national EMS symbol via e-mail. Our funding is all out of pocket and donations, with the exception of the Cambodian government providing housing and transportation while we are teaching. To learn more about OESP visit www.oesp.net.. If you would like to help sponsor this year’s trip to Cambodia you may do so by donating you tax deductible contribution at http://www.oesp.net/participate.html and clicking on Andy Graham.

Home

2006-01-29T22:56:00.000-08:00

Home at last, after what seemed like two strait days of travel. The flights home were smooth and arrived early in all ports. We got into Seattle early but after the wait for our baggage and me being detained in customs for having pirated DVDs ( that they did let me keep) (I would advise everyone not to bring them home) I was the last to clear customs from the entire plane and finely got to see my long missed wife and Cedar. Oh ahhh the cool weather and rain, I love it!

Tonight I started sorting my pictures, read Gary’s blogs and sorted out the souvenirs I brought home. Looking at the pictures, the smiles on the faces of the students, hotel staff, Generals, Cols and people, really reinforces to me the impact we made while we were there. So often when we travel we just are specter as our passage goes unnoticed (as maybe it should in most cases) but this trip we made a real positive impact in so many ways. It’s my true wish I am able to duplicate this impact again in the not too distant future. The memories, details of trips and adventures always fade, but this trip will leave a lasting impression. I hope not only on me, but the people we encountered in Cambodia and you the reader of this blog as well.

Thank you for sharing in this adventure with me.

Andy

In Bangkok

2006-01-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

We found the one thing in Cambodia that runs early. Bangkok Air, our plane pulled out from the gate 20mins early and we arrived in Bangkok Thailand 30mins early. We will be spending the night at the "dayrooms" in the airport and on a flight to Japan at 06:00 I’m going to try to get some quick sleep.

Andy

Almost headed home

2006-01-28T00:27:00.000-08:00

Four hours ‘til we board the plane to Bangkok. It’s like a Grateful Dead song, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” The tally on the fire was 33 homes lost, but then it stated 55 families lost their homes. Gary has been all over the TV giving an interview at the fire scene. I was on the front page of the paper. This morning when we met the Royal Prince he looked at Gary and said, “I saw you on TV at the fire.” He then asked, “Who is Andy Graham?” He then proceeded to read the article from the paper. Our meeting with the Prince was very good. He is very appreciative of what we are doing for the Cambodian people and our motivation behind it. It was truly an honor to meet with him. Our next visit he wants to arrange for us to meet with the King.

This trip has been a truly wonderful experience. I found the people to be very friendly. A smile always gets you the biggest grin. I never have had any group of students so excited about a class and NEVER have I had students so grateful! It has been such an experience to come to a developing nation and help out so much. Thank all of you for helping me get here and supporting me while I was here with your comments and e-mails.

Some nights I almost had to force myself to write the blog because I was so tired, but it really helped knowing how many people where reading it. It was good to debrief the days’ events as well as get a record of them while it was fresh in my mind. I am really anxious to get back home to Rebecca and Cedar. Only a few more hours ‘til I get to hold them again. Prior to the trip I was a bit nervous about coming. I had no reason to be. Despite the past difficulties in Cambodia, it’s a great place to visit.
Yes, I will be hitting you up for help again for next year’s trip; we have already picked dates the same two weeks in January 2007

Andy

It's Gone Crazy

2006-01-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

Just when it seems things can’t get any crazier, they do. The day started out just as planned: a very nice graduation ceremony for the police, with lots of TV cameras and picture taking, then afterwards another long meeting with the General. (He calls me his brother now and really seems to like me.) It’s very obvious he is well educated, and held in high regard by his men. I brought up the need for all new police officers going through academy to have at least a basic first aid class, and he tentatively agreed to have it implemented (another big step). Tonight I introduced one of our “New Life” students that teaches a 12-hour first aid class, to the Police Col. I had them talk about sharing the curriculum used by “New Life” (connecting people and sharing information). They exchanged phone numbers and I hope things will happen. During our meeting with the General, he realized he had not presented us with our awards in front of the TV cameras. He then called CTN and ordered then to send the TV crew back to film the exchange. I was given a very nice engraved silver plate with Ankor Wat on it.

We stopped back at the hotel for lunch and were notified of a very large fire downtown (this whole place is downtown). Anyway, Gary and I went to observe. This was a fire that would have made any of our ICs at home hand in their badges and radios and go home. The block here are very large, maybe equal to four of our blocks. There are smaller blocks inside only accessible by narrow passage ways (2-3’ wide). The fire had started in the middle of course and spread to home units on two sides of the block. The buildings are 6-7 stories high with very limited access. Then there are the bystanders--thousands of them--and hundreds still inside the block trying to fight fire with hoses and pans of water. Almost no crowd control. We were in our OESP uniforms which are very well recognized and were able to move anywhere we wanted. (Not a whole lot different than anyone else). The Ladder Truck OESP donated was on scene and truly helped save the day. I will say there were some very interesting tactics. There are electrical feeds (overhead wires) everywhere. I looked at it and thought, “How are they going to be able to raise the stick?” Easy--you just put it up! Those wires will break or pull loose from somewhere. I was asked several times to help command the scene. (I declined.) I was also interviewed several times by papers and TV while on scene. The ladder truck had to be moved numerous times to reach the fire in different areas and sides of the block. Well, after four hours the fire was knocked down and only 40 homes lost. Not bad considering that in that block there are in the neighborhood of 500 homes. Without the ladder truck the loss would have been much higher.

We still managed to meet with the Hospital Director and give the students the written test. They all passed with high scores. YEA!! We handed out prizes to all the students. I have never seen people so excited to get gifts. It was really cool. The girl in the class Lim received the highest score. She had had her moped helmet stolen, so we made sure she received a helmet as a prize. (Talk about excited!)
Tonight we had the party with the General (my new brother) and the students. What a good time. I’m looking forward to next year when Rebecca will be with me. It’s nearly 23:00 and there are still people wanting to meet with us. I have to get up early to meet The Prince, so that’s all for now. I’ll try to post before we have to go to the airport

Andy

It's getting crazy

2006-01-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

Picture of the bird flu truck, headed to your favorate restraunt. We also see I'm guessing up to 40+ chickens being hauled on mopeds

Today was a really busy day and the next two days will be even more frantic. We expected to get the “Royal Treatment” while we were here, based on the previous years. Not that the treatment has been bad, but other than being whisked through customs and provided a new police van with a driver, it has been pretty low key, until yesterday. Suddenly it seems as is everyone of high importance has realized we are here and wants to meet with us.

The students had their practical examinations this morning and afternoon. Of course while the test was going on, another one of the very top generals and his entourage showed up to meet with us and observe the students. There were also more media people wanting interviews. And at the same time, the director of the hospital wanted to schedule a meeting with us. With all of that we managed to get all the students through testing. They did a truly awesome job! We even finished up early and had an opportunity to hit the market and again spent too much money. The girl from our class, “Lim”, escorted us and helped us negotiate the best deals. We also did shopping for gifts to give the students from the instructors. We bought each one a Khmer to English dictionary, as well as small gifts like balls and a couple of motorcycle helmets that we give out at our closing ceremony after the test.

Tonight when we arrived back at the hotel after shopping, one of the Cols, and the top adviser to the Prince and Prime Minister (I thing the equivalent to Condaliza Rice in the USA) was waiting for us. He was really personable and was very apologetic that we have not been receiving much higher attention by the Cambodian Government. We assured him we have been comfortable and not to worry. On Saturday morning we will be going to the Royal Palace and meeting with the Prince! WOW! I think with all the media attention we have received over the past few days, it has really called attention to what we are doing here. We are constantly reassured that for our next trip we will be taken care of to the extreme. (I’m still traveling in higher style than I am used to--no public buses and three meals a day.)

Speaking of meals--last night we took the front desk receptionist out to dinner. Hers is kind of an average story. She lives at home with her family of seven, works seven days a week, eleven hours a day, makes $70 a month and pays room and board ($45). In order for a family to agree to a wedding, the couple needs to pay the bride’s family $3000 to $3500 for the wedding. Every young girl we talk with is saving, but the couple can only normally put away $20-$25 per month toward the wedding. That is why so many young adults live at home.

Tomorrow morning we go to the police academy and have a very formal graduation. The police students had to go there tonight and rehearse. After the ceremony we go back to class and have the students take the written test (yes after). Then we have our total class graduation where we’ll hand out certificates, patches, gifts and prizes. After that we go back to the General’s Compound and have dinner hosted by the Cambodian Government.
Only 45 hours ‘til we’ll be on a plane. Yep, we’re going to be busy.
Andy

Big things today!

2006-01-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

History was happening today! We’re talking about lifestyles of the rich and famous in Cambodia. The first BIG thing that happened was the Ambassador of the United States of Cambodia came for a tour of HOPE Hospital. We were able to meet with him, explain the mission of OESP and what type of training we were doing in Cambodia this trip. We showed him the AEDs that Zoll donated to the Cambodian government and how we were training the first group of people in Cambodia to use them. All of this was in front of several TV cameras and a dozen of photo journalist. He seemed to be impressed with our program and what we were doing here and talked about the possibility of purchasing additional units for the embassy and Cambodia.

The next really big thing was we finally got the call to meet with one of the Top Generals. This General is the direct adviser to the Prime Minister and in charge of all police training. We were taken to a very secure high level compound to meet with him. The meeting couldn’t have gone better. We had picked up the sample of the patch we had made up and presented it to the General. We explained the issues of our students having access issues to patients and the need for a symbol and ID card that would grant them access. He looked over the patch and immediately ordered the col. That was in the room, to have the patches made official and placed on all the uniforms of the police students. The Col. Instantly pulled out a cell phone and made a phone call to get things going. The General then inquired further about ID cards. We explained, what our version of and ID card looked like and he asked us to provide samples by morning so that they could have them done and ready for distribution by Friday. (Another job for Rebecca) It’s amazing how fast things occur when the right person understands the issue and is able to give the order. Another really cool thing that happened was, I spoke of the need for the best student to be involved in teaching next year, so they could work toward becoming independent of our help in the future. We brought up a Major in the class and told of his ability to grasp concepts and assist other students. The General stated he would have the Major promoted to a higher rank and involved in training. (Another career is advanced due to OESP) One of the HOPE students last year was placed into medical school as a result of our program. The General seemed very pleased with our progress and wants our work to continue.

I was going to write about the people of Cambodia tonight but it’s getting late and that will have to wait till another night. There’s a chance we’ll be meeting with someone from the Royal Family tomorrow night. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Andy and OESP group

Tue. 1/24

2006-01-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

The day started out with our normal routine, breakfast, (fruit, toast, juice and noodles) then off to the hospital via our van. Just like all the rest of the days; hundreds of people hoping to “win the lottery”. This is the hardest part of the day, walking through the droves of people in need of care, knowing that the chances are slim that they will be seen.

Today we did a lot of review and answering of questions. I taught an MCI class with START triage. After lunch we got into splinting. I found some old lumber under the auditorium bleachers, dug down beep into the old brain cells and taught traction splinting the old fashion way with a board and cravats. (When’s the last time anyone of us tried that?) You would not believe how they get into cravat usage. You also would not believe how vulnerable “the private parts” suddenly become once someone is secured to a backboard and defenseless. I’m also sure a few of the students have one longer leg due to excusive traction splinting. Good learning and a lot of fun in the process.

Some have asked about the food in Cambodia. I find the food to be a cross between northern Thai and Vietnamese ( go figure being we’re between Thailand and Vietnam) Not too much curry, a lot less usage of fruit and coconut milk and not as spicy as Thai, The main spice is green pepper corn, garlic, onion and small hot peppers. We all seem to have our favorites and old standbys, Jerry- fried rice with pork, Christina- Fried vegetables, Gary-Morning glory with beef, and me Fried squid with pepper. We do all share and sample each others dishes. I’m still in search of the perfect Vietnamese salt and pepper squid like I get in Portland.

I haven’t talked about the traffic. You know how we joke about Asians not being able to drive? Well it’s just that we don’t understand that they must be some of the best drivers in the world and long as there are no rules to govern what is done behind the wheel. Bottom line No driving rules. The vehicle with the most mass has the right a way. Center lines are a very rough guide line at best. Most intersections have no stop signs. The streets that are one way, have two way traffic. If you want to make a left turn, and you get to the right side in the oncoming lane way before the intersection and all of this with a zillion mopeds zipping between in all directions without control. The truly amazing thing is that it works! Constantly ( and I do mean constantly) we are no more the a inch from other vehicles, mopeds, tuk tuks, cyclones and bicycles all at the same time, coming and going from all directions at all speeds, and no metal bending. I wouldn’t even attempt to drive a moped here, let alone a truck or bus. We ask how many people live in Phnom Phen no one seems to know, but when we ask how many mopeds there are, the answer is one for every person. I know this can’t quite be true because we constantly see entire families on one moped, up to six people plus groceries. Rarely do you see a single rider on a moped and most often the passenger is a female wearing sandals riding side saddle and a male holding something very large (door, ladder, big TV ect) I’ve only seen a couple af mopeds fall over and all with no injuries.
If you want to read some of the other’s blogs you can go to http://www.oesp.net/ and see them there.
All for tonight

Andy

Back to class

2006-01-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

Back to class today, Just as any other day there were a ton of people waiting for the lottery to be seen in the hospital today. Christina and I got a full tour of the hospital from the ER director. Hope Hospital is funded by three non-profit groups, located in the USA, Singapore and Japan. Their mission and goal is to deliver the highest quality of care they can with the resources they have, without sacrificing for the number of patients they see. This means they turn away over 200 people per day. When a patient arrives they are triaged and the acute patients are seen if there is room. . The non acute patient are directed to the lottery out of the over 200 patients that apply for the lottery each day only 10 are selected to become new patients They have a 10 bed ER, two surgery suits, one portable X-ray. In the near future the will have an ultrasound. They have what appears to be a good lab, a pathology lab that’s funded by a German doctor (the slides are E-mailed to him and he gives the results from Germany). No catscan, no MRI, no endoscope and what I found most surprising no ventilator. When we asked what they were in need of most the ventilator was the top answer, apparently during surgery the patient has to be manually bagged. They say they can bag someone up to eight hours, but no longer, so if a patient needs more than that they die. The medical ward is an 11 bed room with very sick patients. In order to be admitted you need to have at least 4 or more IV injections per day and most of the care is provided by family members. The med surg. Unit is also a 11 bed room with family members in attendance. They have doctors from all over the world that will spend a week volunteering a few hours a day to help with the high patient count. They do 600,000 lab test per year, do 250,000 x-rays a year and see 300 patients per day. All in all it appeared they do a really good job with the limited resources available.

We covered childbirth today, no one in class has ever seen a birth, in this society men are not allowed to attend births. We had a lot of fidgeting during this class and the most questions yet.

We also ordered patches and T-shirts with the new logo that we helped with (thanks Rebecca) today, if anyone wants one let me know quickly.
It’s still hot and the word is that this, is the cool season. In the next few weeks it will start to heat up. Glad I’ll be back in the cool rain by then
Andy

Anchor Wat

2006-01-22T07:43:00.000-08:00

I had an opportunity to visit on of the wonders of the world yesterday, Anchor Wat and the surrounding temples. They were built from1000AD to 1200AD. I just don’t know what to say that hasn’t already been written, Anchor Wat has stood the test of time incredibly well. The real disturbing thing we did see repeatedly, was the battle scars from the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese army. At the end of Pol Pot’s occupation the last battle played out in Anchor Wat, leaving bullet holes and blast damage from RPGs. The size of the Temple is incredible with a 600’ wide moat and numerous stone walls to get to temple and it was all done without mechanized equipment, we would have difficulty building such a complex and structure today. I found I enjoyed several of the other nearby temples just as much if not more. They were in much more advanced decay and just seemed much older. Rebecca’s father requested I take lots of pictures, so I did, although I didn’t have our good camera equipment. The next trip I want to spend at least one entire day shooting from pre sun up to sun down, this has to be one of the most incredible places to take photos I have ever seen. Ok here is something you don’t hear about too much; the children selling souvenirs. Out side each temple you are swarmed by children selling trinkets. The amazing thing is how the get you to buy. They’ll ask you where your from and then start quoting facts “of the United States of America, 280,000,000, 50 states, Washington’s capital is Olympia. Then they will trick you by challenging you to ask the any capital in the world and if the can answer you have to by something from them. They know their capitals!!!!! And if you say something like “you don’t even know where Madagascar is. They come right back with “off the west coast of Africa” (This is an 8 or 9 year old!) I don’t know what the education system is like here, but I don’t know a kid in the US that could hold a candle to the geography skills

Andy

The road to Seim Reap, life from the window

2006-01-22T06:52:00.000-08:00

The trip to Seim Reap is a 6 hour 314K adventure. Actually the road is quite good and paved most all the way with very few sharp corners. What amazed me was how flat and open Cambodia is. There was not a hill to go up or down on the entire drive and just a minimal few to look at from the bus. Now about life outside the city, I can only tell you about what I surmised from the bus window but after 12 hour on the round trip, I have some pretty good ideas, so here I go. Soon as we crossed the bridge out of Phnom Phen the scenery changed, from urban to very rural, as we headed north, it was very reminiscent of heading out of Guayaquil in Ecuador with homes made from planks and bamboo. Most all the homes are right along the road, on both sides for most of the way; with rice and grain fields as far as you can see. Behind the homes the field start spattered with palm trees. Nearly all the farming is done by hand or livestock. Every house has a huge stack of hay to feed the animals. There were continuous oxen and water buffalo the entire trip, as well as older men riding two wheel carts pulled by a small horse. One can only assume you will see the livestock disappear and be replaced with small tractors as in Thailand, with the economy growing. The houses were the traditional Cambodian style very small on pilings with a steep ladder and livestock or hammocks strung underneath. You would see toddlers crawling up and down the ladders (a sight that would make any USA parent freak out). Clean water seems to be a real issue. Along the road are small stagnate ponds of very muddy water where you would see children playing and washing in. (did I mention VERY muddy water?) There were as many children as oxen. The children would be working in the fields digging in the mud or trying to catch fish in the mud. one the amazing things I saw was a six year old leading two oxen down the road. All in all the children seemed to be happy, lots of smiles and lots of playing. I also got a real since of community and family. I would love to have the time to stop and shoot a ton of photos and interview people along the way. The other thing that caught my eye were the over loaded vehicles, be it moped with five people on it or a moped with driver, 100ld bag of feed, and two full sized hogs, to the vans with 20 or more people inside and good stacked on top another six feet high and then of group of people on top of the goods, or the small trucks with over 40 people. Every vehicle is a MCI waiting to happen, It’s a good thing most of the speeds are low. So there it is a 12 hour bus ride condensed into one long paragraph

Andy

AED day

2006-01-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Today we trained the students in the usage of the first AEDs to be in Cambodia, and had a refresher class in CPR. Exciting when you consider most clinics don’t have heart monitors. The class is really excited to be the fist group to be trained here. Rebecca also has spent a lot of time at home designing the EMS patch I think we will have the final version today. (Thanks Rebecca for the help). We will not have class tomorrow due to an issue wile the auditorium being needed by the hospital, so we’re taking off for three days to Anchor Wat, a 6 hour bus ride to the north. We have tried all week to get the government to provide the van to get us there but no luck. So a little will be coming out of my personal spending money. We’re going to stay at a nicer (3 star) hotel ($45 per night) compared to the $10 a night place we’re staying at in Phnom Phen.

Have I mentioned how hot it is here? I would say it’s in the 90s with 100% humidity very sticky. A few years ago there was a cold spell of 63F and many people died of hypothermia.

I spent a big $1.25 for a great hair cut this afternoon, and then they asked me if I wanted a massage afterwards (It looked to be the kind of place to best decline a massage, so I paid for my haircut and went to dinner. I’m going to keep this short tonight go I can get rested up for my bus ride early in the morning.

I also met a fire chief form Denver Fire doing orphanage work, he was able to take the children’s clothing that I brought along to an orphanage today. ( It’s strange how us firefighters always find each other)

Andy

Day three in the classroom

2006-01-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

Today our focus was PHTLS with rapid auto extrication (wow can these guys strap someone to a backboard with cravats!) I am continually impressed at how hungry for knowledge they are, wanting to always understand complex concepts (like types of shock and the physiology of shock) (that’s not an easy thing to explain through a translator, but we get it done) The doctor that’s the director of the hospital stopped in today to check in on the class and see how we were doing. The really fun thing was when we took the students out for extrication, back boarding and KED practice right in the middle of the hospital compound, was watching the hospital staff, patients and everyone else there gather around watching. It was very apparent they had never seen anything like that before.

I spotted who I’m sure will be the first Senior EMT instructor of Cambodia, He’s a Major that returned from last year and is a natural instructor helping other students and even organizing study groups at his home this weekend.
Tonight we broke away and did a little sightseeing and had a nicer dinner. We have been using the same tuk tuk driver when we need to travel at night. Tonight after dinner we went for ice cream and invited him to join us, he had never had ice cream before. Again something that seems so common for us a novelty / luxury to someone living here. (he really enjoyed it
Andy and the OESP gang

A few pics

2006-01-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling better today, I'll write about the days events to night
Andy

A huge day

2006-01-17T05:24:00.000-08:00

This was the kind of a day one can only dream of. I truly feel I saw history in the making and was a part of the future for Cambodian EMS. We learned that last years students are having real problems gaining access to patients. The Traffic Police don’t understand why the police we’re training need access to patient and if they are out of uniform they risk being hit with billy clubs trying to get to the patient. At an accident scene the traffic police secure a 50’ perimeter around the patient and deny any access.(even to other police) We talked about the issue with a group of our students and realized, if we create a EMS patch they can wear on their uniforms and an ID card with their picture signed by the top general, this would allow patient access. We are going to really try to get this done prior to leaving next week. Another issue is the public are unaware of what EMS is and are reluctant to let police help them. We are going to try to get the media involved in our class to increase public awareness. The last issue is the largest perhaps, our (minus the one female) student are extremely reluctant to touch a female. This is a major cultural issue we are going to attack with the help of Christine in class. Getting the students to hands on exams on females in class. (small steps) We hear a story of how a female that was involved on an accident that bleed to death, due to everyone (males) being afraid to touch her. I know some of these things may seem small but they will make huge differences in the future.

We did hear of a couple of real success stories. One of our past students had a code save of a drowning patient and another one saved his daughter that was choking.

The students are doing an outstanding job with the skills stations, despite the language differences. It’s so obvious how much they want to be here and succeed as EMS pioneers.

This morning as we entered the hospital compound there the over a hundred people (not including all the ones in front of the ER that had been there for who knows how long) huddled around a man handing out pieces of paper. Apparently each morning people wanting to see a doctor get a ticket and a lottery drawing happens, those lucky enough to have a lucky ticket gets to see a doctor. (what a system)

I could feel better today, I think it’s a combination of the hot weather, change in diet (I do love the food), malaria medication, the time change and who knows what else. If I get sick in won’t be the first time in a far off country.
Gary is off getting some three hour fluffy massage, Vu and Christy are getting the standard one hour massage for eight dollars, I and Jerry are doing actual computer work tonight. I really want to come back sometime and do some traveling here

Andy and OESP crew

In the class room

2006-01-16T04:19:00.000-08:00

In the class room
Our day started a six AM getup and police van pick up at seven. From there on the day got crazy. We had expected opening ceremonies with top generals to be at a location other than Hope Hospital. When we were shuttled directly to the hospital we were lightly confused and knew our planned schedule was headed sideways. The Col. Explained to us that they had learned from last year how much time we needed for class and how serious about training we were that they had all but eliminated the opening ceremony’s to give us more time and would have the big formal event at the end of next week.

The feeling I experienced as we walked together, through the hospital grounds, all in our new pressed uniforms, past the hundred plus patients hoping the be seen in the ED today, I have a hard time expressing. The poverty and lack of basic health care was so sad. We take so much for granite.

We made our way to the class room and were met by very excited student returning from last year. It’s just so refreshing to see individuals so excited about a program. We have a total of 34 students, 30 returning and 4 new ones form a faith based NGO called “New Life”, All students seem proud to be a part of what we are doing.

We placed a lot of emphasis on how the students sitting before us are the pioneers of Cambodian EMS, along with explaining how only thirty years ago in the USA EMS was new and how far a system car go in just a few years.
There was a short opening ceremony that put us four hours ahead of schedule right from the start. We hadn’t prepared for Tue. classes that we were now teaching today. We did over come. I guess it’s like any EMT class anywhere the first day doesn’t ever go quite as planned, but it still works out fine. Vu did a great job of getting the class under way. Things defiantly move at a different pace in Cambodia that became real apparent in the class room. I had an opportunity to teach, Teaching using a interpreter is really different, (I can’t tell any of my jokes or dumb stories) Well I’m going to sign off so I can prep the cases tomorrow.

Andy and the OESP group

A day in Phnom Phen

2006-01-15T06:44:00.001-08:00

A day in Phnom Phen

Today we headed the Fire Department to see how they were using the ladder truck that OESP shipped over last year. We found it to be in great shape. It’s obvious their taking good care of it. I gave them a couple of small suggestions on the maintenance of ground ladders. The generator had stopped working not long after we left last year. We spent several hours trouble shooting the problem (like my brother Rick use to say if there’s spark and gas, it has to run) we found that there was no gas getting to the cylinder. After first putting gas in the tank and fixing the float in the carburetor, we had a running generator. We talked about usage of portable lighting, ect. The training done last year seems to have had an influence. They assured us they were still using turnout gear while fighting fires. They run a fire every day and use the ladder truck whenever appropriate. I was really impressed at how clean it was for as often as it’s used.

The condition of the minimal amount of fire hose was horrendous. I really want to see some improvement / upgrades in the future, (let’s get them some hose)

After leaving the fire dept. Gary and I went to Toul Sleng (the high school that was used to torture and kill over 20,000 during the Khmer Rouge) the scale of the atrocities wasn’t fathomable. Our guide escaped into Vietnam after a year of the occupation at age 7 and told us of how her father and brothers and sister were killed.

On the brighter side we had a really good lunch and visited the Royal Palace. It was outstanding. When we returned to our hotel Gary’s luggage was waiting. (Yea!)
Tonight we went over our plan and power points for our classes that start in the morning.

From Andy and the OESP group Good night

In Cambodia day one

2006-01-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

In Cambodia day one
We made It!! after 38 hours of travel from home. We were met at the airport by several high level government officials and whisked past customs and immigration (wow I feel like a VIP) We were taken to our hotel and met for over an hour with the col. in charge of all police training for the Cambodian government (all on no sleep) we talked extensively about future EMS plans and this years training for Cambodia. I feel really good about what we’re doing here. It's a good thing.

The only problem so far is Gary Howe's bags did not arrive, lost in Bangkok apparently, we’re hopping to see them today. (Sunday)

We did go to a large market so Gary could get some clean --- well you can guess. lot's of cheep knock off brand label poor quality goods real cheep, (North Face packs for less than $10.00) and I think that's about what they were worth based on the quality. I hope Gary's new underwear hold up till his arrives.

Today one of our plans is to go to the fire dept. and evaluate to status to the fire truck and equipment that was sent over last year. I can see we will be as busy as I had planned on.
The country it's self doesn’t seen to be to much different than any city in Thailand, the normal hustle bustle of any Asian city, friendly people. I'm anxious to see what it is like out side of Phnom Phen, I'm guessing the poverty may be much more extreme.
Andy with OESP

Almost time to go

2006-01-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

Two days till we’re on a plane. We did get conformation the Cambodian government will be providing our transportation and lodging, Yea! I have spent most everything I collected on tickets, malaria medications (that insurance won’t cover) and such. Thank god for good friends. It looks as if we’ll have at least forty students, half of which will be returning from last year. We scored 3 AEDs that we’ll be taking with us for deployment. I’ve been working hard on getting the classes done that I’m in charge of. It’s going to be a real challenge teaching to non-English speakers. Well I’ll up date the blog soon as I arrive in Cambodia..
Andy

That's icky stuff

2006-01-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Today I met with the travel nurse and got started on my Typhoid meds as well as getting mes to prevent Marlria. Another $150+ spent getting ready to go only a week from today!

Andy

Update 1/4/05

2006-01-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today the Kitsap sun ran a nice article that makes me kind of sound like some sort of a superhero. Well I'm not I'm just one guy volunteering a bunch of time and doing what I can to help a lot of people, I'll repost an updated post from the beginning with info.

Friends, Family, Kayakers, Rafters, Fellow Firefighters, EMTs, Medics, and anyone else interested I’m looking for some help. (Yes me Andy) I have joined Outreach Emergency Services Program (OESP) http://www.oesp.net/ and spend two weeks in Cambodia teaching an EMS course and help with their EMS system. I’ll be leaving 1/12/06 and returning 1/28/06. During my time in Cambodia I will be spending Mondays though Fridays in class teaching since 1943 when the Japanese invaded, to the 60’s when US war planes dropped bombs, (this still is denied by the US government, but one of our members that is going was bombardingier that pushed the drop button) to the 70’s when the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot killed millions and millions, (in a country smaller than the state of Washington) to the 80’s with the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia has seen despair and hard times. Currently they have a democratic government (although there is still some corruption) and are working on developing infrastructure, including Fire and EMS. (ie things have been bad for a long time and now their trying to make things better)It looks like the Cambodian government will not be covering our hotel cost while we are teaching classes and I will have to pay for my own plane ticket and some other expenses. That’s where I am in need of help! I’m trying raising some money to cover my round trip airfare, (and no I won’t be taking a kayak) most of my time in Cambodia will be spent teaching. Helping teach EMS and Fire classes in a developing country has been one of my dreams for a long time. I really looking forward to the opportunity and think I’ll make an impact. 2006 will be the second year OESP has done this trip. Last year they felt as if they made a lot of real progress and have some good plans for this year. So if you have a few spare dollars to help support my endeavor I would welcome them. Even $25 would help. Nearly all of our time and energy during the trip will be devoted to helping the people of this developing country improve their futures. Donations can be sent to me at: Andy Graham / Cambodia EMS PO box 693 Belfair, WA 98528 360-731-1078 or online at www.eosp.net click partiapate and then on Andy every dollar I raise will be used to help people in some manor, be it my travel expenses and lodging or having a well dug for a community.

Cambodia bound

2006-01-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

Cambodia bound

Ticket to ride

2005-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Cambodia as of 12/22/05 I have a plane ticket in hand! Yea! If it wasn’t for all the help I wouldn’t be going. The expenses are adding up quick and the plane ticket was much more than anticipated, $1418.00 Ill be flying NWA. Our route of travel will be Japan, then to Bangkok were we have a 8 hour layover each way over night. So I’m planning on getting a room there each way and then to Phnom Penh, around 28 hours each way. With the time and date change leave Seattle Thursday afternoon and arrive Sunday morning. The Cambodian government apparently is having a budget crisis with gas prices as well. Do to the cost of gas they are not willing to have fire training done at this time. The good news is that we do have a EMT class to teach with 40 students from all over Cambodia and a lecture hall at Hope Hospital to teach at, so I’m on for sure. The bad news is the government hasn’t committed to covering our lodging and travel while were there, as of today and will be able to make the trip. Thanks again! I’ll be posting trip progress and expenses on my Blog site

Thanks Andy

Update 12/19/05

2005-12-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back from a very interesting conference were I had an opportunity to meet with a CCD official. The avian flu is my biggest fear associated with this trip. I got some good advice on not to kiss any chickens and such. The Cambodian government has waffled somewhat on who much their going to assist us while we're in Cambodia. As for now the fire classes are canceled but we're full steam ahead with the EMS classes, so my part is a go. I'm working on getting the best deal I can on tickets today. (their going up fast) and I still seeing a few checks roll in. (thanks so much, If it weren't for the help I could'nt go)

Account set up

2005-11-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

Today Gary and I did an interview with the Mason County journal. We should see it hit the streets this week. I also started a savings account just for the money and checks you all have given and mailed to me and sent to the web site, $1190 so far. Yea! Thanks again. Here's a list of donors so far.
GB $25.00
BPS $100.00
PH $20.00
EFC $100.00
TFA $100.00
SLM $50.00
MS $100.00
ND $50.00
BG $25.00
HG $50.00
GE $100.00
JLK $50.00
RB $20.00
RR $50.00
EG $100.00
JC $100.00
AD $50.00

$1090.00

It's coming together

2005-11-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

Gary Howe and I got together over the weekend and nailed down some teaching ideas and I was able to get a better Idea on what to expect while I'm there, It should be very demanding and busy and a lot of fun. The fund rasing is going great but I'm not quite done yet. Thanks to all that have helped out so much.

Andy

Cambodia funds 11/21/05

2005-11-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

Wow the response for help getting me to Cambodia has been overwhelming, now I’m working on getting enough to get me back home as well. Currently I’m half way into a round trip ticket at $1400 Thanks so much. Rebecca has stopped panicking about how we were going to be able to budget for my ticket. Some of you have asked about how to donate and get a tax deduction at the same time. The OESP web site is set up for that. Go to http://www.oesp.net/index.html then click on “Particapate” and you’ll see “Andy G” click on Andy and follow the promps from there.

On Friday I’ll be getting the teaching outline that’s been translated into Kamare that we’ll be using. I’ll keep you up to date as things happen.

Thanks so much
Andy

Cambodia bound

2005-11-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Friends, Family, Kayakers, Rafters, Fellow Firefighters, EMTs, Medics, and anyone else interested.

I’m looking for some help. (Yes me Andy) I have been asked join Outreach Emergency Services Program (OESP) http://www.oesp.net/index.html and spend two weeks in Cambodia teaching an EMS course and some fire classes. I’ll be leaving 1/12/06 and returning 1/28/06. During my time in Cambodia I will be spending Mondays though Fridays in class teaching.

Since 1943 when the Japanese invaded, to the 60’s when US war planes dropped bombs, (this still is denied by the US government, but one of our members that is going was a bombardier that pushed the drop button) to the 70’s when the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot killed millions and millions, (in a country smaller than the state of Washington) to the 80’s with the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, Cambodia has seen despair and hard times. Currently they have a democratic government (although there is still some corruption) and are working on developing infrastructure, including Fire and EMS. (ie things have been bad for a long time and now their trying to make things better)

It looks like the Cambodian government will be covering our hotel cost while we are teaching classes, but I have to pay for my own plane ticket and some other expenses.

That’s where I am in need of help! I’m trying raising some money to cover my round trip airfare, (and no I won’t be taking a kayak) most of my time in Cambodia will be spent teaching.

Helping teach EMS and Fire classes in a developing country has been one of my dreams for a long time. I really looking forward to the opportunity and think I’ll make an impact. 2006 will be the second year OESP has done this trip. Last year they felt as if they made a lot of real progress and have some good plans for this year.

So if you have a few spare dollars to help support my endeavor I would welcome them. Even $25 would help. Nearly all of our time and energy during the trip will be devoted to helping the people of this developing country improve their futures.

Donations can be sent to me at:

Andy Graham / Cambodia EMS
PO box 693
Belfair, WA 98528

360-731-1078

Feel free to pass this on to anyone you thing may be interested in helping. I’m planning on writing updates, while I’m there, when I can, on my internet Blog site http://www.kayakmedic.blogspot.com/ and list events and news of the trip. Our group in also looking for any usable medical of fire equipment expired or out of date medical supplies and drugs are welcome too.

Thanks for the help
Andy

2004-12-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

checking eachother out!

2004-12-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

smiley!

a couple more photos coming...

2004-12-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

have a couple more photos to post but we're having technical problems -- stayed tuned!....

2004-12-21T11:55:00.000-08:00

Andy, Cedar HyunSoo and Rebecca at Incheon airport, ready to come home

2004-12-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

The first time we met eachother!

He DOES have lungs afterall!

2004-12-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

We think that Cedar is just now starting to realize that his world has been upended. Last night brought our first assurance that this little one does in fact have a set of lungs in him! Our happy little babe wasn't so happy last night. In spite of a long spell of unhappiness (not Mom & Dad, just Cedar), and all the blunders these new untrained parents are making, we all managed to get sleep at various times throughout the night. Today has been smoother, but HyunSoo isn't as smiley as he has been in previous days. Can't wait to get that full-faced grin back more often. :)

Today will probably be our last post documenting our Korea journey. Just wanted to share a couple photos, and say thanks again to everyone for supporting us in getting this far. Your encouragement and excitement have been a blessing beyond belief.

Merry Christmas,
Andy, Rebecca & Cedar

p.s. photos to be posted here ASAP, as soon as I figure out how...

Cedar is HOME!!!!!

2004-12-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

WwwwwooooooooOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!

We are HOME!

Your good wishes and prayers must have been heard, as the plane trip was all peaches and cream. Cedar HyunSoo is just such a good little baby. He cried less than two minutes the entire flight, and that was because his parents aren't trained well yet. :) Several Korean grandmothers, and his own American grandparents, helped us along the way. Korean airport security folks, customs agents, immigration, and just about every Korean on the plane (men and women) also flirted with HyunSoo at one time or another.

Steve, Jeanine and Alison picked us up in SeaTac -- a joyful reunion! Cedar met his future girlfriend, although we aren't sure that Alison is convinced of that yet.

The carseat was the next big challenge. Living in a city with an amazing mass transit system, we figure he probably has never been in a carseat before. He loves to be carried and snuggled, so sitting all alone in a carseat for the 90 minute trek from SeaTac was a whole new experience. Our little one did reasonably well in the carseat for about 90 minutes. Unfortunately, it turns out it's about a 95 minute trek home! After he regained his freedom from the carseat, he was back to being a happy boy. What a good kid we got!

So - home now, and YYYAAAAYYYY for grandma & grampa!!! Andy & Rebecca got a 4-hour nap while Grandma & Grampa took care of our sweet one. Also, BIG HUGS to friends and family too. We came home to a cooler full of dinners and homemade goodies, welcome banners, and some special treats for Cedar. Can't tell you how much it means to know that you all travelled with us, sharing our updates and our excitement. Thank you so, so much. Hard to put into words how much this means to us. It's been a journey of a lifetime, and we are only just beginning.....

Love, Andy & Rebecca

p.s. -- will post a few photos once we get the blurry out of our eyes

p.p.s. -- We are feeling brave! If you'd like to meet our sweet little one, just give us a call. We think we'll be ready for visitors Sunday afternoon.

We survived night #1 & are headed HOME!

2004-12-17T19:01:00.000-08:00

Andy enjoyed a good night sleep last night....Cedar slept most of the night (with a couple of midnight snacks and some TLC)....Rebecca didn't sleep much --- a mind whirling and spinning with all of these new things and news from home.

We all woke up this morning to a smiling baby -- such a nice surprise! (look what Santa left us!)

Andy & Rebecca are both still struggling with being sick -- stomach ailments, heckuva cold, etc, but we remain in good spirits. SO GLAD to have the grandparents here too -- they have been a great support.

We're headed to the airport now & will arrive in SeaTac around 10:20 in the morning on Asiana direct from Seoul. We have to go through immigration with our little critter, which may take a little time. Feel free to meet us at the baggage claim if you want to meet Cedar! There will, of course, be other opportunities in the near future, so feel welcome but not obligated to stop by SeaTac. Steve & Jeanine are picking us all up, and we'll head for home. This continues to be amazing.

Please send good wishes for the flight home....

Love, Andy & Rebecca

AAAAhhhhh we got a kid!

2004-12-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

Holy cow! We have a kid!!!! :)

Ohmygod!

OOOhhhhboy!

It's a boy!!!

Wooohooo!!!

Acck!

Went to Holt this morning, and basically after one signature, they handed us our son, and said "You can go now." Wow.

Everyone in the room was crying. Except for Cedar. The foster mother was really broken up, and told us through tears at least five times to be sure and take good care of him. She is really a special lady, his oma. After we got back to our flat with HyunSoo, we opened the bag of goodies they gave us at Holt (including a "Guide for Adoptive Parents and Children" -- so he does come with instructions!). Inside an envelope we found an amazing surprise -- a professionally done portrait of the foster mom and HyunSoo. It is truly a beautiful gift. ...more tears...

So far so good... We've all happily survived the trek back across Seoul, including a 45-minute subway ride and a couple of good 1-mile jaunts through the neighborhood. He is fascinated by the camcorder, and by Andy, and quite content to play with us on the floor. Not sure he realizes his world has been turned on end yet, because we've seen no tears but our own yet. We're only 8 hours into parenthood....how long do you think our luck will hold???!!

When the diapers say they hold 18-24 lbs, how many days is that? :)

Hoping for smooth sailing on the flight tomorrow. Can't believe this day is finally here. Can't wait to show him & share him with everyone at home.

Love,
Andy & Rebecca

Gotcha Day postponed

2004-12-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hey all

A slight change in plans... Andy is flattened with the same sickness I had two days ago. It seems to be the regular flu (I'll spare the gory details), and we are afraid of sharing it with HyunSoo. Today was to be THE DAY that we pick him up, but given our state of health, we called Holt and asked to postpone a day. It was a long night, but Andy seems to be slowly pulling out of it, so hopefully we'll be set for tomorrow. It is disappointing to postpone our Gotcha Day, but when you look at the whole scope of things (a two-year adoption process for starters), this is just a minor blip on the screen. We can handle one more day of waiting! He's worth waiting for :)

So...in this land of fabulous food (translated roughly as ginger beef, BBQ pork, kimchi, noodle soup, dumplings, potstickers, seafood omelettes, chicken stew, squid, sushi and rice), Andy and I are now unable to eat much! My Dad theorizes that perhaps it's morning sickness! On a brighter note, since we are travelling with my parents, we have upgraded from our traditional backpacker-style accommodations to a few nicer places to rest our heads. Hate to admit it, but we are kind of enjoying this cushy (relative to what we are used to) style of travel!

Would love to post a few photos of us with Cedar, but aren't sure about downloading images from the camera. I've already fried one piece of electronics, so we are afraid to attempt much else, particularly with something as precious as photos of our first moments together. We'll wait until we're home this weekend to share photos of our little one. Did I mention he is as cute as ever? Even Andy is convinced we got the cutest one. :)

Hey - thanks everyone for your replies to our posts. It is such a joy to read them - a true bright spot in an already wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing in this journey with us.

If Andy is well enough, this afternoon we will move back to the flat we have rented. I don't know what Internet access (PC bang) is like in that part of town, but will give a virtual yaaahhhOOOOOO if we can once we have Cedar with us. Our new Gotcha time is 10:00am tomorrow.

Love to all
Rebecca & Andy

Back in Seoul

2004-12-15T01:55:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all! Rebecca recovered from her one-day flu, due to all the nurturing care her husband provided (Andy made me write that :) We are back in Seoul now (grandparents too) -- got up this morning and took the bullet train from Daegu to Seoul at an amazing 300km/hr. Spent the morning at the well-baby check-up. The doctor told us we have a "perfect baby"!

The baby check appointment was quite an experience. The room was about 12'x12', and there were probably at least 10 other foster moms, plus babies, plus another adopting couple, plus a social worker, plus the staff, plus us, plus a VERY hot space heater, just in case the temperature might drop below 120! HyunSoo/Cedar is just the happiest baby -- hope he stays that way on the way home, and after we turn his world on end. It was strange seeing all the other babies, knowing that at one moment they are all here together, and within weeks they will be all over the world. Holt works with Germany, Norway, France, the US and perhaps other countries as well. It is a strange feeling being at the center of "where babies come from".

Rebecca got to feed Cedar, and it was the first time she felt that maybe this one is really ours.

Met with Bob & Michelle this afternoon for some shopping and poking around Seoul. Tomorrow at 3:00 (roughly 10pm your time???) they give us HyunSoo for keeps. (AAaaaaaaa!! :) He is too big for most of the clothes we brought (oops), but we'll be OK with a little creative dressing. With Andy and Rebecca as parents, he might as well get used to being neither fashionable or a trend-setter early on!

We're headed back to the hotel to drink plum wine in preparation for this next adventure....

Love, Andy & Rebecca

Sick in Daegu

2004-12-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

We spent a coule of days being guided around by Rebecca's friend in southern SK he has been a great guide explaining much about the culture. Michelle and bob stayed in Gongahe for an extra day and Rebecca and I were going to head to soeul this morning from Daegu to Soeul, but she woke up running to the bathroom this morning and she hasn't been able to leave the motel room. We are hopping to be able to catch a train tonight.

All for now

Andy

Update from Daegu

2004-12-11T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hi! We are in other town for a few days. We don't get to see Cedar again until Wednesday, so we took a train down to the southern part of the country to explore and visit a friend. We are in Daegu, and just got back from dinner with a friend I met when I was here the first time. He and his wife have a little girl -- 11 mos. old and cute as a button. Watching her is a little bit like looking into the future...

We visited their house, then went out to dinner and back to their house afterward. Dinner was amazing -- dejigalbi with about 15 different side dishes. Delicious! Tomorrow we are going hiking together, and then to one of the traditional markets, where they are going to help me find a Korean baby carrier.

I have to tell you about the baby carriers here. The women (foster moms too) carry their babies on their backs in these wrap-around carriers, and the babes just get so snuggled in. It is so cute! Our little Hyun Soo, and my friend's baby too, just look so happy and content back there. When the women go out, they just put a coat on, OVER the baby in the back! Walking behind them, all you can see is the little feet sticking out the bottom - so cute!

I know I'm skipping around a lot, but oh well.. For those of you who haven't been to Holt, I thought you might want a little description. It's a very busy building, with big glass doors and all sorts of people coming and going, many of them women with little ones on their backs. There is a clinic in the downstairs part, and upstairs is the reception area where you meet with the foster mom. There are couches and chairs situated around a coffee table, and that's where we waited to meet Hyun Soo. It was strange, sitting there waiting, knowing that at any moment we were going to meet the little one we've waited for SO LONG to know. And then she walked in, and just like that, there he was! Very simple, no forms, no paperwork, no red tape, just us and the foster mom and DJ (social worker) and our baby!

Happy days,
Rebecca & Andy

In Korea

2004-12-10T01:39:00.000-08:00

We met our son today!!!!! He is very cute! :)

....this will be a quick post because we are at a computer sales stall in a huge mall...

After a loooong flight, and a night on the "ondol" floor, we awoke this morning and prepared to go meet Cedar. It was an hour on the subway and then a nervous 1-block walk to Holt. While we were outside taking photos, the foster mother walked right by us with our little one snuggled underneath her coat! I recognized her, but we couldn't see him under there, and she kept walking (to the FRONT door!). We accidentally went in the back door -- oops! So many babies in there, getting check-ups, coming and going with foster moms, etc. It was fascinating to see this other side of things, after wondering for so long.

They took us to a little reception room where we sat and talked a bit with the social worker. She said our son was there already, and then suddenly the foster mother walked around the corner with him on her back! He is SO DARN CUTE :)

We got to spend a whole hour holding him and playing with him while we talked with the social worker and the foster mother. He was fascinated by "Grampa's" beard! Andy has a magic touch -- had HyunSoo/Cedar laughing out loud over and over! Our little one sat with us and played for a whole hour--happy, curious and wiggly! He has very strong legs, and loves to jump up and down a lot when you hold him. We had the camcorder rolling, and have photos besides. On the way there I could barely keep my (happy) tears in check. When we were with him, though, I couldn't do anything but smile :)

We will see him again on Wednesday (your Tuesday), and then we get him (for KEEPS!) on Thursday. WoooHHOOO!!!!! Oh my!!! He is so precious. The foster mom told us several times that he is a very easy baby. They also said he is afraid of cats! Uh oh! :)

We're off exploring for now -- will post more soon.

Amazing trip, this is.

Love, Andy & Rebecca

Update on Cedar

2004-12-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

An update on our little one: he is now 6-1/2 months old, and very cute! He weighs over 20lbs, and is said to be easy-going and happy. They also tell us he paddles his hands and feet when placed in the water, and he loves to go outdoors. Must be our kid! :)

Off to Korea

2004-12-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Cedar is coming home!!! We got THE CALL, and are flying out Wednesday morning to Seoul. Holy cow!

We will upload information on this spot as we can throughout the trip. Internet access is fairly easy to find there, so we are hoping to give frequent updates on our journey into.....into.....what are we getting ourselves into???!?!!!!!:)

Our email while travelling will be wildsoles@hotmail.com, or it looks like maybe you can drop us a line here too. This blogging is new to us also, but it looks like it will be an easy way to keep everyone that is interested up to date.

Wish us luck and a happy journey! Our son is coming home! :)
Andy & Rebecca