Feeling stoopid and learning nu stuf

lol, got to school still yawning. Not a good sign when today is teach yourself Adobe CS3 day.
living in NZ and not affording adobe at Hataitai meant we learnt how to edit images using a rock and some spit (no really!) well maybe it wasnt that bad but it wasnt layers, filters, masking and rastarizing (hmmm does that mean Pete Tosh et al?)
So im sitting at my computer, the video file playing and some techie yank enthusing wildly about his vivid vortex of color (his spelling , not mine!) and im wondering how this is going to stick into my less than sharp medulla oblongata (and yes i know thats the bit which deals with basic functions smartie blog reader but still) you get the idea.
I will post my first childish photoshop attempts onto this page for your perusal.
Now im just going back to the tutorial.......i may be some time!

Something to make you think

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f2c2eba77f39993d118

Hope this works as it has some very cool animation supporting a strong set of ideas.

ahh tech teacher

Ahhhhh Teet the Meacher evening, what i wouldn't give to miss one of these!

Not complaining but when you get to school on the 6.10 bus, and you are looking at a 9pm bus home your enthusiasim for the corporate life of the school does flag a bit. lol, its actually not that bad, i quite like chatting to the parents about what we are doing in class and hopefully they are into IT enough to see the possibilities of what im trying to do.

The classes i teach are a real mix of cultures (we have been doing mind maps about ourselves, its certainly a different world when we need to write up Maid and Nanny and Driver on the board so the kids can add who is in the household!)

The problematic area of "what to do with the 2-3year olds in Nursery!!!!"has been semi-solved, we now have 3 10 min sections of viewing/participating as a group and independent, it is a lot of work but they are crying less now (which is every teachers aim!) lol

As im doing this im trying to make some posters for my room (really missing the laser colour printer from my old class!!)

well its off to another meeting then get ready for .....another meeting!!!!!

What is it about meetings?! id feel like dilbert but i dont wear a tie

My class in Cambodia

Some pics from my classes today.

Some Cyber Haiku, something to read and reflect when everything crashes around you.

WOW!

On the 8/08/08 Mahi and Gil got married in Bali, Mahi i met somewhere shady many years ago and Gil i met in London last year. They have a very cute son Tetahi.

I was in my first week in my new job so i missed going to the wedding and looking at the pics now i realise there are some damn beautiful settings in this world.

Good luck Mahi/Gil/Tetahi hope to get to Bali in the near future.

Chur

Now how is that for a reason to get up at 5.30?

View from our balcony a few days ago......... just wish i could sit and watch it for longer instead of running out the door carrying brekkie.

Jeff, Nick and Claudia come to PP

It was like Welli had dropped into Cambodia for the weekend, I know we pop up to AK like that but it was all a bit surreal.

Happily surreal i must say, there is nothing like sitting having a yarn with mates in a very different setting. (Picture Welli, but with outdoor dining/drinking, warm breeze and relaxed atmosphere)

Hopefully i fullfilled my role (self-appointed) as Cambodia's roving Ambassador to Welli!

Ably assisted by May and her sister Mom the guys were shown around the sights of Phnom Penh and assisted in making purchases, interacting with the locals and generally enjoying themselves.

Highlights were Jeff laden with purchases moving off to haggle without May's assistence (the lady looked over at May and smiled that "gotcha" smile)

Our after dinner walk along the lovely river boulevard that saw a cpl of Khmer boys larking on a moto crash into a food vender (what happened next we didnt stay to see!) and the remains of a rock throwing battle between a group of Khmer lads. All very unusual and as it is said here very Lop lop possibly even Scoot scoot (yes it has been spelt phonetically)

All in all a great cpl of days, the house is quiet now they've all gone. Hope to see more of them soon

Slideshow hints

if you click on the slides, it should open up my public photo album in Picasa (you might want to download Picasa, its free and is a good way of keeping all of your photos online in order)
I am currently captioning them all so hopefully this will be done today.
Monday i will upload the new photos from this weekend with jeff and May/Me exploring Phnom Penh
Enjoy
Matt

Doh! I forgot about my trip home!

Ok, going home.............


It was kinda strange, i was really amped to be seeing my family again but the country felt less like home than i thought it would.


I saw some good mates which is always fun, but to be honest i was just as happy hanging out at their places and chatting as i was going öut.






It was being home and talking with my family and sister and her boys that made the trip so special.


It was a short trip and i should have stayed for longer but i was wanting to get back to Cambodia and see May (yes, i am much happier when im with someone who cares about me, go figure!)





Highlights?

1. Seeing the faces of people close to me, when they realised it was me walking through the airport door.


2. Eating home cooked food from NZild


3. Seeing my Nephews, and realising they are growing up well fast, and into pretty cool kids.


4. Knowing that i can come back to NZ and many of the things i love about it will still be here, even if the people might move on


5. Cheese, yes thats right eating good cheese is a god given kiwi right (i miss it over here, its here but i cant afford it, oh and its French)


6. Takeaways for a day (yes im guilty)


7. TV channels all in the language i speak, i miss the history channel (and yes im a geek)

Things that came to me while i was back;

1. NZ is often a dark and drab place (come on people stop wearing BLUE/BLACK/GREY) and for the cynical amongst you yes i do realise im wearing all of those colours in the pic above!


2. Despite the cost of living going up and up NZ is still a pretty good place to live


3. Public health is a good thing, it has huge shortcomings but as a safety net it is vital


4. I love watching the AB's play (being overseas makes singing the anthem a bit more important!


5. I want to come and tour NZ, ive never seen Queenstown! or the West Coast and yet ive been to Sapa, seen Haolong Bay, gone snorkelling in the gulf of Thailand and swum in the Mekong.


6. I want to find a way to do all the things i perhaps should have done in my late 20's early 30's ( a dollar short and an hour late as a moto to live by aint so good)


7. I owned more shoes and Tshirts than any human being ever needed, and yet it was the samples of Hilltribe cloth that i bought in Laos that mean more to me now

So that is my recollections on NZ, not much really. It was lovely being back and i intend to go back and visit my homeland properly.

Kia ora katoa

Got to get a J.O.B.......you know the rest

Fulltime work you say?

It had to happen, so im now the IT teacher in an International school in Cambodia.

Nisc is a school of about 320 kids ranging from 3 to 18 years. It serves the expat and rich khmer communities.




My room has 25 computers running Windows Vista, a data projector and two functioning UPS supplies...... what that means is that when the garment factories down the road from us come back online after lunch there are rolling power outages, and without a UPS for each computer the kids lose all their work!




Wicked.

The politics about replacing these vital pieces of equipment and the ongoing battle to upgrade our power/internet supply is part and parcel of working and living in Cambodia.






So Im teaching IT to kids..... no problems there you would think?!



Well, its not that simple, my classes can be 24 - 11 year olds or 15- 3 year olds.



15 - 3 year olds is like herding cats, between the cacophinic calls of TEACHERTEACHERTEACHERTEACHERTEACHER to the crying children who have got scared by either A) windows crashing, B) the chair moving C) Their picture looking strange and are now crying inconsolably its one exciting teaching block!







Payday is a forthnight away so im living on scraps and looking at advancing some pay to see the week out (ahhh, its a cushy life as an expat! unlike the new teachers who get 500$ a month towards their living costs i as a "local hire"get nada) picture me darkly muttering that last line and you have the scene.



If i sound like im whining, im not just venting.

I will try out the slidesow gadget on the side of my blog to add more pics to explain why i choose to live and work in Cambodia.

The 3P's
The people
The place
The partner

I hope the sms sender works and if you like my blog you txt me any ideas.

Final thought for the blog

(Ahh the interweb, what doesnt it know? it certainly answered all of my questions about wang enhancement) courtesy of Homer ( no not the Iliad guy, the other one!) lol