TJ Phone Home

Last night as we were watching the Dog Whisperer, about 10:30, the phone rang. Now with caller i.d. a person is getting a little more careful about answering the phone -- it's nice to know who's on the other end of the line. When I looked at the phone, it was coming from somewhere I'd never heard of in California. Still, being a risk-taker at heart, I answered it.

And it was Talia. (I know that's not a surprise. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it here.)

She was calling from Phnom Penh and it was 11:30 Sunday morning there. Maybe.

Anyway, she just wanted to touch base and let us know what she's been doing. Here's the scoop....

First they went back to the orphanage where Tal worked last year. She was happy to tell me that ALL the kids and the wife of the couple who run the orphanage remembered her and were delighted that she had returned.

Then her team spent last week in a little village in the middle of nowhere, Cambodia. Several translators who work at the orphanage where they're staying have family who live in the village, and they wanted to spread the good news there. So the kids stayed in the village, without benefit of western amenities. They taught VBS and performed their skits and sang their songs and generally lived life with the Cambodians. Life is very rustic in the village, Tal told me. They had to shower by pouring a bucket of water over their heads and use "squatty potties." This was pretty extreme for kids used to their own bathrooms and hot running water ALL the time.

They were spending the day in Phnom Penh before returning to the orphanage for another week. There, they'll be doing whatever needs to be done. Although Tal did mention the possibility of working on the water system.

It was good to hear from her.

More later,
b

Look What I Found....

This is a picture from Talia's trip last year -- can you see her in the back? I'm hoping that there will soon be new pix on the Global Ex website.

Later,
b

Time Travel

After some SERIOUS confusion I think I have finally figured out when Talia is. Yesterday at work, Paula reminded me that when she flew west out of San Francisco, she must have crossed the International Date Line. So she's not only 13 hours ahead, which was what I was thinking, she's 37 hours ahead. She gained a day.

Imagine that. Here's it's 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. In Cambodia it's 8 p.m. Wednesday evening. She'll lose that extra day when she comes home again, but it's still playing with my head. I suppose you all had already figured that out, but I've officially caught up.

Whew...now I need a nap.

Flying Away

As I write this entry this morning, Talia is somewhere over the Pacific. She and her team flew out of Dallas late yesterday afternoon, heading for San Francisco. From there they were scheduled to fly to Hong Kong and then on to Phnom Phen. She phoned to talk to Kate Thursday night to say good-bye. I know those two are missing each other and will have a million things to talk about when they meet up in Texas in a couple of months.

I don't expect to hear from Tal until she actually lands in Phnom Penh. Last year she called when they arrived, about 3 in the morning here as I remember. But I wasn't complaining about the time. The phone connections were always terrible when we tried to talk, but at least I could hear that she was okay. She was good about emailing when she had a few minutes near a computer and I hope she'll keep that up this time.

Here at home the news is good -- all of Kate's funding has come in. We're going to the bank later today so she can deposit some and get a certified cheque to send away to Global Ex. I would like to say again and again and again, "Thanks!"

I'll let you all know when I hear from her.

More later,
b

Saturday Morning Update....

Talia called at 12:45 last night (this morning?) to let us know she'd arrived in Cambodia. Of course it was 1:45 in the afternoon there and we could hear hordes of excited teenagers calling their parents in the background. Now the fun begins.

Good-bye Girl

This morning Kate and I said, "Good-bye," to Talia. We were up early, hoping to get to Fargo in time for a lunch date with a friend, and woke her up to hug her one last time.

I know it's not the last time, really, just the last time for two months. That makes it more manageable. Still, we were sad and dripped a little on the way out of town. Talia's going to spend this week with Donna and Loren and their crew and next Monday, June 9, Donna will drive her to the airport in Minneapolis.

After Kate and I had recovered our composure and said a little prayer for Tal, we had a fun day. We visited most of the way to Fargo -- 5 hours -- listened to a lame story on tape, and held our breath hoping we wouldn't run out of gas before we got to the city. We ate at a nice little Mexican place (Acapulco) and spent an hour wandering around the mall looking for the last few things on Kate's South Africa list. I don't think her new Ramones t-shirt was actually on the list, but it made the cut anyway.

From there, we stopped briefly at Cassleton (20 minutes west of Fargo) to admire the world's largest pile of oil cans. It wasn't much to see since it was still wrapped in shrink wrap from being moved. Maybe we'll try again next time we go to Fargo. There's a story about it in one of last week's Fargo Forums (http://www.in-forum.com/photography/gallery.cfm?id=1194) if you're curious.

We made it home about seven, had hamburgers and fries for supper and were happy to get ready to sleep in our own beds. Now I get to spend a month enjoying quality time with Kate before we repeat the process when she's ready to fly to Texas.

More later,
b