Hi,
So I feel like I should make it clear that my crisis is, for the most part, resolved. I have calmed down, and looking back think that I wrote my last blog post at the peak of my anxiety. It was interesting to get people's responses. I very much appreciated the support I received, and was glad that people were able to connect to the emotions I was enduring.
Not much has happened since that post. I came into Phnom Penh with my translator Sai Ha, and we bought an air compressor, which is a fairly serious investment. Part of me hoped that spending a significant chunk of change (about $200) would motivate me towards doing more. As of yet, it hasn't succeeded to the degree I hoped for.
The most important recent news is that the two guys from Tramoung Chrum who are going to moto repair school in Phnom Penh will be finished in two more weeks. I'm quite excited for them to get back to SLP, because we will then absolutely have to open as a business.
My goals for the next two weeks are to build up some parts inventory, get more shelving (for storage and work surfaces) built and installed in the shop, and finally, to enjoy the holiday season with friends in Phnom Penh.
I hope everyone is well, and enjoys/enjoyed Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years, etc.
Ned.
P.S. I don't have any pictures of pies, forgive me. We made a couple of apple pies but used super fine (it was for dim sum steamed buns and stuff) flour, which made the crust powdery instead of flaky, which was odd. So the quest for the perfect apple pie/pie crust is ongoing.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Minor Crisis of Confidence and Other Topics.
PART I
Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I wrote, and things have been sort of weird. I've been trying to teach the 5 guys from Tramoung Chrum but am not really sure how to do so, and am concerned that trying to train them is removing my focus from setting the shop up as a business.
Plus I'm having low-grade Cambodia fatigue.
Things really came to a head when I made some foolish decisions. First, I bought some tools and parts in Phnom Penh that were the wrong ones. This was irritating because they were for very specific functions, and would have enabled moving forward on taking the Chaly apart/putting it back together. The correct ones are not available in SLP, so to not have the right tool can delay action on a certain part of the Chaly for several days. When there isn't something specific to do on the Chaly, there can be a lot of awkward standing around in the shop as I try to come up with something to do/teach.
Then I took the cylinder to another shop to get honed so we could put in a new piston and rings. They did so and I thought they had made it too tight, because the piston seemed to be scratching the cylinder walls. So I had them loosen it up, and I turned out to be wrong. Not a huge deal financially, the work cost six dollars. But since I'm theoretically supposed to know what I'm doing, being wrong was a blow.
Going to this other shop was also really disconcerting because they have so many parts and tools, and everybody seemed to be on top of their game. In other words, they are established and well run. It was very intimidating to think that we need to compete with them, at least on some level. It also raised an issue. If we need to get a customer's cylinder honed, we would have to take it to this shop. So why wouldn't the customer just go there in the first place? We could buy a machine, but teaching myself and others how to use it well is a daunting concept. That may well be the road we end up having to go down though.
Also, It's irritating to go to the shop and be responsible for six people (including my translator). They look at me for what they should be doing, and I don't necessarily know. So I have decided that this coming week I won't teach them, and will try to come up with a plan for how to proceed. I may decide to not teach for two weeks. This is apparently the end of rice harvesting season, so hopefully they can keep busy in TC. I still feel like I am doing them wrong somehow: there is definitely a sense of guilt.
While this decision has made me feel like I am negating my duties and my responsibility to others, It feels right in other ways. When I was growing very uneasy about the shop and the direction we were heading, realizing that I could take some time to develop a course of action without being responsible for the everyday activities of six people immediately calmed me down. So that's why I chose to do this. We'll see how it works out.
Also, Despite this feeling of being wrong, taking action like this ties into something I have had to learn the hard way, which is to become more active in situations I am not happy with. I think a few years ago I would have plodded on in teaching, making myself more desperate to find an immediate solution to the problem, instead of stepping back and working on it from a different perspective. So in that way it's a good thing.
Another part of the reason things have been weird is that I expected it to take a lot longer to make everyone understand the 4 cycles of an engine, how transmissions work, etc. For whatever reason, this turned out to be anticlimactic. I explained it, they got it, and that was that. I don't know how to teach people about fixing things, because It's mostly accumulated knowledge that sort of adds up over time. So if there is an unusual clacking sound in an engine, you can't really say "well if an engine makes this noise, it's this" because people hear differently, the same problem could make slightly different noises in different bikes, etc.
I guess the guys from Car Talk should be exempted from that statement, since they regularly identify problems from the most ridiculous re-enactments of car noises. But they have quite a bit more experience than I do.
Anyway, my method for fixing things is to isolate where the noise/issue is coming from and make an educated guess about what's going on. Then, If a customer approved, take that area apart, and look for the worn and/or broken parts. Then repair or replace them.
It's basic and complicated at the same time, and to really make these guys understand it, they need to do it. That was the goal with the Chaly, but with seven people (including me) in the shop, and one small moto, there isn't really that much to do. This is exacerbated by not having any parts, a small collection of tools, etc.
PART II
So I'm feeling a bit lost and guilty right now. I can't decide if spending weekends in Phnom Penh is helping or hurting that. Being in Phnom Penh a fair amount makes me feel like I'm not doing a good enough job on the shop, but having a social life is kind of a sanity saver.
Also, I recently received some praise about how well things were going. This generally makes me uncomfortable, because I become scared of disappointing people who have been pleased by my past actions. Somewhat absurdly, this makes it more difficult for me to do work. It's like a holding pattern, or mild mental paralysis.
It goes like this:
1. praise leads to fear of disappointing the praiser(s)
2. fear of disappointing leads to reduced ability to do work
3. Reduction in work output leads to guilt
4. Guilt increases fear of disappointing others
5. return to step 2
It's bizarre to understand this about myself but not know how to defeat it. I have gotten better over time, and I guess that's all I can ask for. Strangely, writing about it knowing that other people will read it makes it easier to deal with.
I don't know if people are interested in my self-analysis, but I imagine other people wrestle with this stuff as well. Sometimes it's nice to know that you are not alone. It seems fairly pertinent to this blog, because I think the function of my blog is to tell people what it's like to be out here. Sort of like a public journal.
I also see the blog as my anti-resume. Applying to educational institutions, jobs, and other things that are even vaguely 'corporate-y' is such an outrageous process it infuriates me. Trying to condense why I would do a good job or am an interesting person onto a few pages of paper is just ... I don't even know. It's like trying to explain why the universe exists by drawing a small picture. The complexity of the issue is so far beyond the medium you are conveying it on as to reduce it to a total caricature that does zero credit to it's source. So on the blog, I can describe myself more fully, for better or for worse, and feel that I am at least doing my existence justice.
Plus, because there is so much competition, everyone tries to present themselves as being miraculously perfect. This potentially makes me more angry than the resume issue. Life is messy, people are messy (myself included, as you may have guessed from my random self-analysis) and it seems very disingenuous to portray yourself as actually knowing what you are doing.
Although it's probably necessary for things like engineering. I mean, if your going to design a bridge, you should know how to. And I guess you need a resume that objectively reflects that.
Maybe my anger is just me being bitter because my resume is underwhelming. I just really don't like pretending to know what I'm doing or what life is about, and feel like at this point, my resume should basically say "I am trying to learn. When I care about things I do a pretty good job at them. I am applying here because I care about this. So please help me learn more, and let me do some good work for you." The fact that so many people would not take that statement seriously is upsetting. But the great hope is that people exist who do understand how something like that more accurately represents life, and is therefore more valuable than a bunch of bullet points starting with verbs and a list of "achievements". The second part of that hope is that I find those people.
Or more precisely, some more of those people, because I think this fellowship was started by people who understand that feeling, and I am grateful for them giving me the chance to come here, and make mistakes, and learn about life. Even if my resume and GPA are not stunners.
Well.
This wasn't quite where I intended for this post to go, but I feel a hell of a lot better. Hopefully I didn't just freak everybody out.I'm listening to A-Punk by Vampire Weekend and smiling uncontrollably right now. I guess this is catharsis by writing. I'll end the whine fest now, try to stop worrying so much, and see what happens.
Take care everyone. Hopefully I'll have good updates soon. There is a Christmas party this coming weekend that I'll probably be baking for, so expect more pie pictures.
Ned
Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I wrote, and things have been sort of weird. I've been trying to teach the 5 guys from Tramoung Chrum but am not really sure how to do so, and am concerned that trying to train them is removing my focus from setting the shop up as a business.
Plus I'm having low-grade Cambodia fatigue.
Things really came to a head when I made some foolish decisions. First, I bought some tools and parts in Phnom Penh that were the wrong ones. This was irritating because they were for very specific functions, and would have enabled moving forward on taking the Chaly apart/putting it back together. The correct ones are not available in SLP, so to not have the right tool can delay action on a certain part of the Chaly for several days. When there isn't something specific to do on the Chaly, there can be a lot of awkward standing around in the shop as I try to come up with something to do/teach.
Then I took the cylinder to another shop to get honed so we could put in a new piston and rings. They did so and I thought they had made it too tight, because the piston seemed to be scratching the cylinder walls. So I had them loosen it up, and I turned out to be wrong. Not a huge deal financially, the work cost six dollars. But since I'm theoretically supposed to know what I'm doing, being wrong was a blow.
Going to this other shop was also really disconcerting because they have so many parts and tools, and everybody seemed to be on top of their game. In other words, they are established and well run. It was very intimidating to think that we need to compete with them, at least on some level. It also raised an issue. If we need to get a customer's cylinder honed, we would have to take it to this shop. So why wouldn't the customer just go there in the first place? We could buy a machine, but teaching myself and others how to use it well is a daunting concept. That may well be the road we end up having to go down though.
Also, It's irritating to go to the shop and be responsible for six people (including my translator). They look at me for what they should be doing, and I don't necessarily know. So I have decided that this coming week I won't teach them, and will try to come up with a plan for how to proceed. I may decide to not teach for two weeks. This is apparently the end of rice harvesting season, so hopefully they can keep busy in TC. I still feel like I am doing them wrong somehow: there is definitely a sense of guilt.
While this decision has made me feel like I am negating my duties and my responsibility to others, It feels right in other ways. When I was growing very uneasy about the shop and the direction we were heading, realizing that I could take some time to develop a course of action without being responsible for the everyday activities of six people immediately calmed me down. So that's why I chose to do this. We'll see how it works out.
Also, Despite this feeling of being wrong, taking action like this ties into something I have had to learn the hard way, which is to become more active in situations I am not happy with. I think a few years ago I would have plodded on in teaching, making myself more desperate to find an immediate solution to the problem, instead of stepping back and working on it from a different perspective. So in that way it's a good thing.
Another part of the reason things have been weird is that I expected it to take a lot longer to make everyone understand the 4 cycles of an engine, how transmissions work, etc. For whatever reason, this turned out to be anticlimactic. I explained it, they got it, and that was that. I don't know how to teach people about fixing things, because It's mostly accumulated knowledge that sort of adds up over time. So if there is an unusual clacking sound in an engine, you can't really say "well if an engine makes this noise, it's this" because people hear differently, the same problem could make slightly different noises in different bikes, etc.
I guess the guys from Car Talk should be exempted from that statement, since they regularly identify problems from the most ridiculous re-enactments of car noises. But they have quite a bit more experience than I do.
Anyway, my method for fixing things is to isolate where the noise/issue is coming from and make an educated guess about what's going on. Then, If a customer approved, take that area apart, and look for the worn and/or broken parts. Then repair or replace them.
It's basic and complicated at the same time, and to really make these guys understand it, they need to do it. That was the goal with the Chaly, but with seven people (including me) in the shop, and one small moto, there isn't really that much to do. This is exacerbated by not having any parts, a small collection of tools, etc.
PART II
So I'm feeling a bit lost and guilty right now. I can't decide if spending weekends in Phnom Penh is helping or hurting that. Being in Phnom Penh a fair amount makes me feel like I'm not doing a good enough job on the shop, but having a social life is kind of a sanity saver.
Also, I recently received some praise about how well things were going. This generally makes me uncomfortable, because I become scared of disappointing people who have been pleased by my past actions. Somewhat absurdly, this makes it more difficult for me to do work. It's like a holding pattern, or mild mental paralysis.
It goes like this:
1. praise leads to fear of disappointing the praiser(s)
2. fear of disappointing leads to reduced ability to do work
3. Reduction in work output leads to guilt
4. Guilt increases fear of disappointing others
5. return to step 2
It's bizarre to understand this about myself but not know how to defeat it. I have gotten better over time, and I guess that's all I can ask for. Strangely, writing about it knowing that other people will read it makes it easier to deal with.
I don't know if people are interested in my self-analysis, but I imagine other people wrestle with this stuff as well. Sometimes it's nice to know that you are not alone. It seems fairly pertinent to this blog, because I think the function of my blog is to tell people what it's like to be out here. Sort of like a public journal.
I also see the blog as my anti-resume. Applying to educational institutions, jobs, and other things that are even vaguely 'corporate-y' is such an outrageous process it infuriates me. Trying to condense why I would do a good job or am an interesting person onto a few pages of paper is just ... I don't even know. It's like trying to explain why the universe exists by drawing a small picture. The complexity of the issue is so far beyond the medium you are conveying it on as to reduce it to a total caricature that does zero credit to it's source. So on the blog, I can describe myself more fully, for better or for worse, and feel that I am at least doing my existence justice.
Plus, because there is so much competition, everyone tries to present themselves as being miraculously perfect. This potentially makes me more angry than the resume issue. Life is messy, people are messy (myself included, as you may have guessed from my random self-analysis) and it seems very disingenuous to portray yourself as actually knowing what you are doing.
Although it's probably necessary for things like engineering. I mean, if your going to design a bridge, you should know how to. And I guess you need a resume that objectively reflects that.
Maybe my anger is just me being bitter because my resume is underwhelming. I just really don't like pretending to know what I'm doing or what life is about, and feel like at this point, my resume should basically say "I am trying to learn. When I care about things I do a pretty good job at them. I am applying here because I care about this. So please help me learn more, and let me do some good work for you." The fact that so many people would not take that statement seriously is upsetting. But the great hope is that people exist who do understand how something like that more accurately represents life, and is therefore more valuable than a bunch of bullet points starting with verbs and a list of "achievements". The second part of that hope is that I find those people.
Or more precisely, some more of those people, because I think this fellowship was started by people who understand that feeling, and I am grateful for them giving me the chance to come here, and make mistakes, and learn about life. Even if my resume and GPA are not stunners.
Well.
This wasn't quite where I intended for this post to go, but I feel a hell of a lot better. Hopefully I didn't just freak everybody out.I'm listening to A-Punk by Vampire Weekend and smiling uncontrollably right now. I guess this is catharsis by writing. I'll end the whine fest now, try to stop worrying so much, and see what happens.
Take care everyone. Hopefully I'll have good updates soon. There is a Christmas party this coming weekend that I'll probably be baking for, so expect more pie pictures.
Ned
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Shade House
So on weekends when I come back to Phnom Penh, I stay with a friend of mine named Ahti. He's an architect and has been working on a Shade House project for the people of Tramoung Chrum. It's a very interesting project, and I wanted to help do some work on it. So this past weekend, Ahti, Leb Ke, Alan, and I went to TC to start building the shade house. The point of this structure is to reduce the brutal sun of the dry season and the battering rains of the rainy season to allow more fragile plants like tomatoes and green peppers to grow.
It's basically a 45m long structure comprised of bamboo arches that support shade cloth, which is perforated plastic sheeting. We got a lot of work done in one day, as evidenced by the series of pictures below. It was a very good time, and It was interesting to build something, because it is so easy to see the change you have wrought. This is in contrast to the shop, which is a more complicated and nuanced process, which makes it harder to immediately see the progress made.
Here is the field where we started. This is basically where the shade house will start, and It ends at the small tree near where the people are grouped. At this time we were laying out surveying lines to keep all the ribs in line with one another.
Then we had to dig all the holes for the bamboo ribs. The TC guys could do this outrageously fast.
Around this time (post hole digging, pre-lashing joist and vertical posts) we had lunch. This picture was taken just before that. We woke up at 6:00 to get out there, and my breakfast consisted of a coffee and single piece of biscotti. By the early afternoon, I was pretty ready for some food. That's why I'm looking so sullen in this picture.
We then planted all the ribs and began lashing the vertical posts and the horizontal joisty-thing (I dont know what to properly call it.)
This guy was a master of lashing pieces of bamboo together. I surmised that he was a fisherman. Also, as a side note, nothing makes one feel weak like working with people who survive on hard labor. This guy's forearms looked like bionic steel cords or something. Ridiculous.
Barn Raising! At least thats sort of what it felt like. Also, the arched structure reminded me of a cathedral, so I named it the "Tramoung Chrum Cathedral of Organic Agriculture."
Then some TC guys lashed the ribs to the horizontal joist. Thats leb ke on the left.
This was the end result. Pretty cool. Once we demonstrated the basic operation, The TC guys ran with it. They are going to complete the shade house in the next few weeks. I'll probably go out there sometime soon to see whats going on.
Thats the story. Hope everyone's well.
Take Care,
Ned.
p.s. this picture just makes me laugh. And that's Ahti, by the way.
It's basically a 45m long structure comprised of bamboo arches that support shade cloth, which is perforated plastic sheeting. We got a lot of work done in one day, as evidenced by the series of pictures below. It was a very good time, and It was interesting to build something, because it is so easy to see the change you have wrought. This is in contrast to the shop, which is a more complicated and nuanced process, which makes it harder to immediately see the progress made.
Here is the field where we started. This is basically where the shade house will start, and It ends at the small tree near where the people are grouped. At this time we were laying out surveying lines to keep all the ribs in line with one another.
Then we had to dig all the holes for the bamboo ribs. The TC guys could do this outrageously fast.
Around this time (post hole digging, pre-lashing joist and vertical posts) we had lunch. This picture was taken just before that. We woke up at 6:00 to get out there, and my breakfast consisted of a coffee and single piece of biscotti. By the early afternoon, I was pretty ready for some food. That's why I'm looking so sullen in this picture.
We then planted all the ribs and began lashing the vertical posts and the horizontal joisty-thing (I dont know what to properly call it.)
This guy was a master of lashing pieces of bamboo together. I surmised that he was a fisherman. Also, as a side note, nothing makes one feel weak like working with people who survive on hard labor. This guy's forearms looked like bionic steel cords or something. Ridiculous.
Barn Raising! At least thats sort of what it felt like. Also, the arched structure reminded me of a cathedral, so I named it the "Tramoung Chrum Cathedral of Organic Agriculture."
Then some TC guys lashed the ribs to the horizontal joist. Thats leb ke on the left.
This was the end result. Pretty cool. Once we demonstrated the basic operation, The TC guys ran with it. They are going to complete the shade house in the next few weeks. I'll probably go out there sometime soon to see whats going on.
Thats the story. Hope everyone's well.
Take Care,
Ned.
p.s. this picture just makes me laugh. And that's Ahti, by the way.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Lesson Learned
So I bought some more tools today, and found out the people who I had been buying from were charging me elevated prices. Not massively, but at least 50 cents per tool, which was enough to upset me. Considering the prices of the tools I bought ranged from $2.50 to $4.50, 50 cents per tool is a noticeable percentage of the cost.
I made a bit of a fuss and they refunded me $1.50. I felt like an idiot, arguing over the price of a coffee. I guess it's the principle of the thing. They don't seem to be hurting for cash, and I was mostly annoyed because If I'm going to be a repeat customer, as I have been, I would hope for some recognition of that by giving me good prices. I felt taken advantage of, as silly as that may seem. Also, I was somewhat suspicious that they were charging elevated prices last time, but didn't think it was too big a deal. For some reason actually confirming it right after buying tools from them was infuriating.
Also, I explored the vast maze of parts in the Russian Market (there are pictures in some of the earliest posts of this area) and bought a throttle cable for the Chaly, which cost $1.25. It was fun to go into that part of the market, because people really do not expect westerners there, and many fewer vendors speak english. I feel like an explorer there, and really wish things like this existed in the US. Pick and Pull junkyards are the closest thing we have, but those are dwindling due to litigation, the scourge of so many fun and interesting things.
Also, the reason I wasn't able to load that darn video is that It was too big a file. So i need to find some program to trim it down a bit.
Ned.
I made a bit of a fuss and they refunded me $1.50. I felt like an idiot, arguing over the price of a coffee. I guess it's the principle of the thing. They don't seem to be hurting for cash, and I was mostly annoyed because If I'm going to be a repeat customer, as I have been, I would hope for some recognition of that by giving me good prices. I felt taken advantage of, as silly as that may seem. Also, I was somewhat suspicious that they were charging elevated prices last time, but didn't think it was too big a deal. For some reason actually confirming it right after buying tools from them was infuriating.
Also, I explored the vast maze of parts in the Russian Market (there are pictures in some of the earliest posts of this area) and bought a throttle cable for the Chaly, which cost $1.25. It was fun to go into that part of the market, because people really do not expect westerners there, and many fewer vendors speak english. I feel like an explorer there, and really wish things like this existed in the US. Pick and Pull junkyards are the closest thing we have, but those are dwindling due to litigation, the scourge of so many fun and interesting things.
Also, the reason I wasn't able to load that darn video is that It was too big a file. So i need to find some program to trim it down a bit.
Ned.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving and Working in The Shop
Hi.
So First, I want to share some pictures from the very fun thanksgiving party that I attended and made some pies for. As you can see, there were quite a few people (I believe the official count was 29) and there was a lot of wonderful food.
People made legitimate stuffing, 2 large and delicous turkeys were roasted, mashed potatoes of many varieties, real gravy, etc. My contribution was pies, I made 3 apple and 2 pumpkin, but gave one of the apples to the owner of the oven I used, who also helped me bake for about 4 hours. This picture was taken en route to the party, the pies were still cooling as we rode.
Finding pie plates and some of the ingredients was a trial, but quite successful in the end. Everything was from scratch, from Cook's illustrated recipes. There were some goofs, like I forgot to add half the necessary butter into the apple pie crust dough, so had to add it after mixing it together. It ended up being pretty tough and not flaky, but was still not too bad. The pumpkin had a bunch of complicated steps that we skipped, and was still really good. So overall the pies were a great success, as was the party in general.
So moving onto the shop progress, here is a picture of me with a bunch of TC guys, and my translator who is cut off at the left side of the frame. Also, one of the TC guys was to Sai Ha (translator's) right, and is not in the photo. All the way to the right is Leb Krem, who randomly stopped in to say hi. He is kind of the leader of TC. Hopefully he enjoyed seeing the shop. The other important person in this picture is Lee Him, who is the farthest person to the left who can completely be seen. He will become the general manager of the shop, and is really into it. He pays very close attention, which is more than can be said for some of these younger guys. They are generally only really interested when we start using our hands. I think the launguage barrier makes it hard for them to focus.
Here we are tearing the Chaly down. We stripped it completely, except for the wiring harness, and took the head off the engine. This made it much easier to explain the valve train, and do my best to explain timing. We then put the engine back together and it started, which was exciting.
Here is a picture of the white board. The drawings on the right are trying to explain what the valve train does/how it works. The bottom left is how a carb works, I said it was like a straw pulling gas into the air. It worked as an analogy, which was cool. On the top, I was trying to explain valve clearances, which was somewhat less successful.
So I have a video of the guys drawing the 4 strokes of an engine on the whiteboard, and spent 2 hours trying to load it onto the blog. It was like waiting for water to boil, except it never actually happened, and I couldn't be sure it would, when at least water boiling is almost certain to happen. Frustrating. I'll try to get it on next weekend.
As a final note, I found out that the two guys I'm sending to school will be done in four to six weeks, which is good. When they come to the shop we'll start taking in clients moto's I think, which will be terrifying/exciting/etc.
Hope everyone's well, and that you had good thanksgivings.
Ned.
So First, I want to share some pictures from the very fun thanksgiving party that I attended and made some pies for. As you can see, there were quite a few people (I believe the official count was 29) and there was a lot of wonderful food.
People made legitimate stuffing, 2 large and delicous turkeys were roasted, mashed potatoes of many varieties, real gravy, etc. My contribution was pies, I made 3 apple and 2 pumpkin, but gave one of the apples to the owner of the oven I used, who also helped me bake for about 4 hours. This picture was taken en route to the party, the pies were still cooling as we rode.
Finding pie plates and some of the ingredients was a trial, but quite successful in the end. Everything was from scratch, from Cook's illustrated recipes. There were some goofs, like I forgot to add half the necessary butter into the apple pie crust dough, so had to add it after mixing it together. It ended up being pretty tough and not flaky, but was still not too bad. The pumpkin had a bunch of complicated steps that we skipped, and was still really good. So overall the pies were a great success, as was the party in general.
So moving onto the shop progress, here is a picture of me with a bunch of TC guys, and my translator who is cut off at the left side of the frame. Also, one of the TC guys was to Sai Ha (translator's) right, and is not in the photo. All the way to the right is Leb Krem, who randomly stopped in to say hi. He is kind of the leader of TC. Hopefully he enjoyed seeing the shop. The other important person in this picture is Lee Him, who is the farthest person to the left who can completely be seen. He will become the general manager of the shop, and is really into it. He pays very close attention, which is more than can be said for some of these younger guys. They are generally only really interested when we start using our hands. I think the launguage barrier makes it hard for them to focus.
Here we are tearing the Chaly down. We stripped it completely, except for the wiring harness, and took the head off the engine. This made it much easier to explain the valve train, and do my best to explain timing. We then put the engine back together and it started, which was exciting.
Here is a picture of the white board. The drawings on the right are trying to explain what the valve train does/how it works. The bottom left is how a carb works, I said it was like a straw pulling gas into the air. It worked as an analogy, which was cool. On the top, I was trying to explain valve clearances, which was somewhat less successful.
So I have a video of the guys drawing the 4 strokes of an engine on the whiteboard, and spent 2 hours trying to load it onto the blog. It was like waiting for water to boil, except it never actually happened, and I couldn't be sure it would, when at least water boiling is almost certain to happen. Frustrating. I'll try to get it on next weekend.
Hope everyone's well, and that you had good thanksgivings.
Ned.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Something to Work On.
So the TC moto shop is now the proprietor of a motorbike. Hooray!
Our fine purchase, got at the high price of $70, is a Honda Chaly of approximately 1997 vintage in fairly miserable, though mysteriously running, condition. This is how we found her, at Leb Ke's families house. Upon firing her up (I was totally astonished that it ran. These honda's are ridiculously dependable) and driving around a bit, a mouse that had previously made its home in the Chaly sprinted away, to find a new place of rest.
This next picture is of the throttle cable, where it meets the carburetor. As you can sort of see, it is shredding into bits. I think there were about 3 wires left intact upon riding back to the shop. The reason it has taken such a beating is that the throttle assembly on the handlebar no longer functions correctly, so the only way to control the speed of the bike is to reach down (the carburetor is located between the drivers legs, by the knees) and pull the cable directly.
To put it mildly, this makes it difficult to ride. Turning is highly dangerous.
However, we made it to the shop, and it is now resting for the coming teardown. I'm not really sure what the goal is yet. Ideally we would restore/hot rod it, but I'm not sure If we can get it registered. So we'll explore our ability to legally drive it while stripping and cleaning it, and try to deduce the financial investment required to return it to somewhat safe status.
If actually driving it is not in the cards, it will just be a lesson in what not to do. For example, the rear sprocket is pictured below, in all it's shocking glory. Normally sprockets have teeth similar to dog canines, i.e. large and pointy. This one looks more like dull shark teeth, all curved backwards. Because the teeth dont stick into the chain, when you are driving and let off the gas, the chain 'coasts' over the teeth and makes a terible racket. I think the only reason it works at all is because the chain has zero slack. It's pretty nutty.
So thats the moto story. Also, we now have a whiteboard, to facilitate teaching.
On monday, people from Tramoung Chrum are coming to the shop. I will attempt to teach them how engines work, and if that fails we'll just take the moto apart.
So that's whats up!
Ned.
Our fine purchase, got at the high price of $70, is a Honda Chaly of approximately 1997 vintage in fairly miserable, though mysteriously running, condition. This is how we found her, at Leb Ke's families house. Upon firing her up (I was totally astonished that it ran. These honda's are ridiculously dependable) and driving around a bit, a mouse that had previously made its home in the Chaly sprinted away, to find a new place of rest.
This next picture is of the throttle cable, where it meets the carburetor. As you can sort of see, it is shredding into bits. I think there were about 3 wires left intact upon riding back to the shop. The reason it has taken such a beating is that the throttle assembly on the handlebar no longer functions correctly, so the only way to control the speed of the bike is to reach down (the carburetor is located between the drivers legs, by the knees) and pull the cable directly.To put it mildly, this makes it difficult to ride. Turning is highly dangerous.
However, we made it to the shop, and it is now resting for the coming teardown. I'm not really sure what the goal is yet. Ideally we would restore/hot rod it, but I'm not sure If we can get it registered. So we'll explore our ability to legally drive it while stripping and cleaning it, and try to deduce the financial investment required to return it to somewhat safe status.
If actually driving it is not in the cards, it will just be a lesson in what not to do. For example, the rear sprocket is pictured below, in all it's shocking glory. Normally sprockets have teeth similar to dog canines, i.e. large and pointy. This one looks more like dull shark teeth, all curved backwards. Because the teeth dont stick into the chain, when you are driving and let off the gas, the chain 'coasts' over the teeth and makes a terible racket. I think the only reason it works at all is because the chain has zero slack. It's pretty nutty.
So thats the moto story. Also, we now have a whiteboard, to facilitate teaching.
On monday, people from Tramoung Chrum are coming to the shop. I will attempt to teach them how engines work, and if that fails we'll just take the moto apart.
So that's whats up!
Ned.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hi everyone.
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been up to much. Buying the tools led to a stall, since i had nothing to use them on and didn't know what direction to go in, other than needing to buy an old motorbike to use them on.
So tomorrow (hopefully, I still need to confirm with Leb Ke) I'm going to meet Leb Ke's brother, who has a beat up moto i can buy. Next week people from TC will actually be involved in the project, which will be a big step. A guy named Lee Him is going to move into the shop, and becomes it's general manager. I will then be responsible for the training of 4 young guys from TC. How that's going to work out is anybody's guess.
So I will try and teach these young guys basics, like how engines work and stuff, while also trying to work on the old moto, kind of like a balancing theory and practical work approach. I have no idea when we will open for business, but i would say it's months off still.
Anyway, Here are some pictures of two cool events. The first was a well getting drilled at the house Im staying in by a seriously jalopy-type vehicle. It was homemade, with a 22 HP single cylinder diesel engine with an enormous flywheel. It looked like an old steam engine. The drill was also a fabulous concoction of cobbled together parts.
The next cool thing was checking out TC's organic agrictulture project, which is moving along nicely. They have a bunch of watermelon plants, morning glory, and other stuff. A friend of mine is working with them to build a shade house, which will allow for growing of tomatoes and green peppers, which don't do well in direct cambodian sun apparently, and are mostly imported from Vietnam or Thailand.
I included some pictures that are more 'arty' than useful, but i thought they looked cool and included them anyway.
hope everyone's well, expect an update when the moto is bought and/or people from TC come.
Ned.
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been up to much. Buying the tools led to a stall, since i had nothing to use them on and didn't know what direction to go in, other than needing to buy an old motorbike to use them on.
So tomorrow (hopefully, I still need to confirm with Leb Ke) I'm going to meet Leb Ke's brother, who has a beat up moto i can buy. Next week people from TC will actually be involved in the project, which will be a big step. A guy named Lee Him is going to move into the shop, and becomes it's general manager. I will then be responsible for the training of 4 young guys from TC. How that's going to work out is anybody's guess.
So I will try and teach these young guys basics, like how engines work and stuff, while also trying to work on the old moto, kind of like a balancing theory and practical work approach. I have no idea when we will open for business, but i would say it's months off still.
Anyway, Here are some pictures of two cool events. The first was a well getting drilled at the house Im staying in by a seriously jalopy-type vehicle. It was homemade, with a 22 HP single cylinder diesel engine with an enormous flywheel. It looked like an old steam engine. The drill was also a fabulous concoction of cobbled together parts.
The next cool thing was checking out TC's organic agrictulture project, which is moving along nicely. They have a bunch of watermelon plants, morning glory, and other stuff. A friend of mine is working with them to build a shade house, which will allow for growing of tomatoes and green peppers, which don't do well in direct cambodian sun apparently, and are mostly imported from Vietnam or Thailand.
I included some pictures that are more 'arty' than useful, but i thought they looked cool and included them anyway.
hope everyone's well, expect an update when the moto is bought and/or people from TC come.
Ned.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ta-Da
Hello Everyone,
So I finally persuaded myself that buying tools will not immediately precede the end of the world, wandered down to the russian market, and began the process. You can see pictures of the russian market in one of my earlier posts. Also, for those who have interest, I wrote a list of what I bought, most of which you can see in the picture below, hanging from a sheet of plywood attached to the masonry wall of the shop.
I decided to use 51 screws to attach that plywood. Drilling that many holes in a brick/masonry wall is miserable and tough on the ears. Despite that annoyance, we could probably attach a moto to this sheet of plywood without it coming off the wall. So that's good. Also, you can see the workbench we commissioned, which is quite sturdy, although the top is kind of thin. I may add another sheet of plywood, so it bounces less if you hammer things on it.
Right - here's the list:
1. short #2 screwdriver - $1
2. Screwdriver set, #0 - #3, long - $5
3. combination wrenches 8mm -24mm (2 sets) - $28
4. Mechanical Impact Driver - $10
5. Diagonal Pliers (cutters) - $1.50
6. Rubber Mallet - $3
7. Allen Wrench set, .5mm - 10mm - $6
8. 1/4" socket wrench set w/ 4 -12mm sockets and some other bits and bobs - $17
9. 1/2"socket wrench set w/ 12-24mm sockets - $16.50
10. Circlip pliers - $2.50
So this is a reasonable start to the collection, and was about 90 dollars. These are the prices they quoted me. I don't really like bargaining, And found it hard to believe that they were charging inflated prices. A rubber mallet for three dollars is pretty cheap. Maybe I paid 50 cents to a dollar too much. Say overall I could have argued ten or so dollars off the price. I just found it hard to justify arguing with them about it. I made a half hearted attempt by saying "these are barang prices, give me Khmer prices." They assured me they were Khmer prices, and that was pretty much that. Hopefully they will provide me good prices in the future, and be willing to change out a tool if we break one of the ones that says it has a guarantee.
Still though, mabye I'll get a Khmer guy to price check for me this coming weekend, to dispell my admittedly fairly small fears of being ripped off.
So now I'm not sure what to do with/in the shop. I'm meeting with Leb Ke this coming monday or tuesday, and may see what he thinks. His brother has a super beat up moto sitting around that I may purchase to try and re-hab, or at least have something tangible to teach with. Hopefully that will happen soon.
Anyway, take care.
Ned.
So I finally persuaded myself that buying tools will not immediately precede the end of the world, wandered down to the russian market, and began the process. You can see pictures of the russian market in one of my earlier posts. Also, for those who have interest, I wrote a list of what I bought, most of which you can see in the picture below, hanging from a sheet of plywood attached to the masonry wall of the shop.
I decided to use 51 screws to attach that plywood. Drilling that many holes in a brick/masonry wall is miserable and tough on the ears. Despite that annoyance, we could probably attach a moto to this sheet of plywood without it coming off the wall. So that's good. Also, you can see the workbench we commissioned, which is quite sturdy, although the top is kind of thin. I may add another sheet of plywood, so it bounces less if you hammer things on it.
Right - here's the list:
1. short #2 screwdriver - $1
2. Screwdriver set, #0 - #3, long - $5
3. combination wrenches 8mm -24mm (2 sets) - $28
4. Mechanical Impact Driver - $10
5. Diagonal Pliers (cutters) - $1.50
6. Rubber Mallet - $3
7. Allen Wrench set, .5mm - 10mm - $6
8. 1/4" socket wrench set w/ 4 -12mm sockets and some other bits and bobs - $17
9. 1/2"socket wrench set w/ 12-24mm sockets - $16.50
10. Circlip pliers - $2.50
So this is a reasonable start to the collection, and was about 90 dollars. These are the prices they quoted me. I don't really like bargaining, And found it hard to believe that they were charging inflated prices. A rubber mallet for three dollars is pretty cheap. Maybe I paid 50 cents to a dollar too much. Say overall I could have argued ten or so dollars off the price. I just found it hard to justify arguing with them about it. I made a half hearted attempt by saying "these are barang prices, give me Khmer prices." They assured me they were Khmer prices, and that was pretty much that. Hopefully they will provide me good prices in the future, and be willing to change out a tool if we break one of the ones that says it has a guarantee.
Still though, mabye I'll get a Khmer guy to price check for me this coming weekend, to dispell my admittedly fairly small fears of being ripped off.
So now I'm not sure what to do with/in the shop. I'm meeting with Leb Ke this coming monday or tuesday, and may see what he thinks. His brother has a super beat up moto sitting around that I may purchase to try and re-hab, or at least have something tangible to teach with. Hopefully that will happen soon.
Anyway, take care.
Ned.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
What I've been up to
I came into Phnom Penh to buy tools, but haven't. I'm afraid to, because then i have to learn where/how to buy parts, start fixing things, etc. It's also a big financial step.
Also, There's a national holiday called the water fesitval where 1-2 million people descend on Phnom Penh, so it's crazy here.
Also Also, my birthday and thoughts on life writing has preoccupied me.
So Now the shop is all ready for tools, and the next step, and I haven't done it yet. I'm doing my best to recognize that I will be able to do it soon, like next weekend. But this coming week might be a very slow one for project developments.
I forgot to take pictures i have been promising, of the guys who are going to moto-repair school, and the most recent shop scene. They'll be up sometime soon.
Hope everyone's well.
Ned.
Also, There's a national holiday called the water fesitval where 1-2 million people descend on Phnom Penh, so it's crazy here.
Also Also, my birthday and thoughts on life writing has preoccupied me.
So Now the shop is all ready for tools, and the next step, and I haven't done it yet. I'm doing my best to recognize that I will be able to do it soon, like next weekend. But this coming week might be a very slow one for project developments.
I forgot to take pictures i have been promising, of the guys who are going to moto-repair school, and the most recent shop scene. They'll be up sometime soon.
Hope everyone's well.
Ned.
Thoughts on Life
Cliffnotes to this whole thing:
A. Trying to write these thoughts is kind of embarrassing. I think it come from a fear of people thinking I’m being dumb and/or silly.
B. Life is confusing. I don’t really have any answers.
C. It’s easy to over think things, but acting without thinking seems like a poor solution.
D. I don’t know what I want to do with my life, but when I get back I plan to travel the US for a while.
E. I could probably add lots of letters to this cliff notes list. Five seems appropriate though, so I’ll stop.
While in the midst of writing this, I read a piece called “Against Meat” by Jonathan Safran Foer, in which he wrote about being a sophomore in college and starting to study philosophy. He described that as the beginning of his “seriously pretentious thinking”. I constantly feel like that’s what my writing is, because it seems like I’m indulging my own thoughts without getting anywhere. I ask lots of rhetorical questions without really answering anything, and tend towards the melodramatic. Still, there may be a grain of worthwhile-ness in these ruminations. I hope they at least inspire thought. So here we go.
I am now 23, which makes me feel old. I know this is preposterous. My grandfather is 60 years older than I am which is beyond my scope of understanding, mostly because I cannot imagine what the world was like to him when he grew up, and therefore cannot imagine the world of my twilight years. This is a concept that kind of stops me in my tracks. Where is the world going? How am I going to participate in this brave new world? The art of divining the future would be a welcome addition to my skill set, but I don’t see it deciding to join me any time soon. So I will just have to live life.
This living of life brings the question of how best to do so. Is deep, gritty, hands-on participation required for the fulfillment of my potential? Or are the observation of life and the gaining of broad knowledge the keys?
I’m not sure of the answer to these questions, unsurprisingly, but I kind of live them out in my daily life. On the side of the former, I do work on the shop when I could pay others to do so, and on the latter I consume vast quantities of information that have nothing to do with the actual purpose of me being here. I don’t know which is better, or if either is ‘good’.
This highlights another question; what is the purpose for me being here? (in Cambodia, although certainly the larger question of existence is also interesting) Ostensibly it’s to start a motorbike repair shop, live the social entrepreneurship dream, etc. I just don’t know if that’s really what it’s all about, and I feel like I’m not devoted enough to the project because of my confusion. I’m constantly searching, trying to answer these questions.
My search for answers leads me to read a lot, and I’ve begun to move away from novels. While I dearly love them, and they can contain the essence of human experience, the answers are a little too unclear. I want some straight shooting.
This has led me to books like Irrational Man, which is William Barrett’s explanation of existentialism. While I haven’t finished it, parts of it really strike me, as when the author speaks about the problem of "the divorce of mind from life." This expresses something I have felt, because it seems like so much of modern life is not really deeply thought about, just done. There is certainly something to be said for living in the present, but I think what makes the present 'good' or 'bad' is whether it is mindful. Unfortunately, this path leads to the problem evidenced in the above paragraphs. I’ve started asking too many questions, which rapidly can become a detriment to actually doing things.
But they are important questions, and to try and come up with answers, even if imperfect, seems at least as significant as tangible productions.
So here are some thoughts.
About mindfulness in life, what I mean is that something drives people through the present, generally speaking. They have memories, and hopes for the future, which affect their behavior at every moment. What I have trouble understanding is what drives people (including myself) to do things, and if they think about what drives them.
It’s easy to say people are driven by ‘a desire to help people’, or the pursuit of other stuff, but how does this make them capable of such astonishing feats? I’m thinking of Greg Mortenson and Paul Farmer, who built schools in Afghanistan and Health Clinics all over the world, respectively. Drive doesn’t always lead to good things though. Like Bernie Madoff was probably a pretty driven guy, but he didn’t really help people out very much.
Also, life seems quite fleeting and truth is illusive. I think one reason I read so much random stuff is that I feel like I have a very short time to learn everything I want to. But maybe my quest to learn a lot is a waste of time, because living life in the pursuit of something, whether it is money or knowledge, is a dangerous path. I don’t think people who pursue something specific will ever be totally satisfied. This may be an influence from what I’ve learned of Buddhism, which says that the cause of all human suffering is desire.
To that end, I think the vast amount of time I spend taking in information distracts me from my life. To phrase it more impressively, my personal divorce of mind from life actually comes through the almost continual intake of external information. Ironically, I am using my mind to avoid my life. I’ve begun questioning why and what better use I could put my limited amount of time to.
But what would be a life without desire? Is my want for answers really foolish? Why do I feel like I have to use my time for a specific goal when just being alive is a pretty great thing? I think the Buddhist answer is that the purpose of life is to try and enlighten oneself, where enlightenment does not come from read knowledge but from direct experience of life in its immediate form.
Bleh. I don’t know what to think. The purpose of life, both all of it and mine specifically, evades me. Apparently some people think searching for that purpose is what leads one astray. Others would adamantly state that life is about achieving, and shooting for the stars, etc. Generally though, it seems to me that when people have answers, they are based in dogma, and their specific view of the world. Who is to say what view of the world is correct? Does our personal sense of morality really allow us to tell other people what is good and what is bad? Is collective thought of moral principal (which I guess manifests itself in laws, written and not) the real guiding force in life?
I think when I get back I’m going to road trip around the country for an indeterminate time, visiting people, looking at places I’m interested in working, and experiencing parts of the US that I haven’t. I don’t really want to do anything traditionally considered ‘productive’. Just travel, and learn, in my home country. Re-connect with friends, and see if a cool job that won’t stifle me exists.
Thanks for reading.
Ned.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Shop Progress, Blacksmithing awesomeness, and Reading
Hi everyone.
The first thing I would like to cover is what progress has been made in the shop. First, Electricity has been installed, which is great. You can see in the pictures, we have two long fluorescent lights on opposite walls and a box with three sockets. This allows for the playing of music in the shop, which has been nice. Also, we can use power tools, although I haven't bought any yet. By the way, the kid on the right is Sai Ha, my translator.
Also, I purchased a stainless steel sink in Phnom Penh and brought it back to SLP, and got a stand built for it. Thanks to this, I can now wash my hands without having to crouch outside using rainwater. Life feels more civilized. Plumbing the sink in was kind of a debacle, because I had never run PVC plumbing before. It's really easy, but I didn't use enough glue the first time around so we had to cut out some sections that were leaking and re-do them, but it's now watertight. Also, the sink drains to the sewer, so I don't have to wash stuff into the road anymore. I have included this picture of the sink because I rode back to SLP with this on my back. It was ridiculous, and the sink acted as a sail. As Tony said, "you actually have everything including the kitchen sink on your back."
The first thing I would like to cover is what progress has been made in the shop. First, Electricity has been installed, which is great. You can see in the pictures, we have two long fluorescent lights on opposite walls and a box with three sockets. This allows for the playing of music in the shop, which has been nice. Also, we can use power tools, although I haven't bought any yet. By the way, the kid on the right is Sai Ha, my translator.
Also, I purchased a stainless steel sink in Phnom Penh and brought it back to SLP, and got a stand built for it. Thanks to this, I can now wash my hands without having to crouch outside using rainwater. Life feels more civilized. Plumbing the sink in was kind of a debacle, because I had never run PVC plumbing before. It's really easy, but I didn't use enough glue the first time around so we had to cut out some sections that were leaking and re-do them, but it's now watertight. Also, the sink drains to the sewer, so I don't have to wash stuff into the road anymore. I have included this picture of the sink because I rode back to SLP with this on my back. It was ridiculous, and the sink acted as a sail. As Tony said, "you actually have everything including the kitchen sink on your back."
The most recent progress in the shop was the commisioning of a work bench, which will be made out of steel and have a plywood top. It should be done already, I just need to get back, pay for it, and bring it to the shop. On the wall behind the shelf I'm going to install a sheet of plywood to hang hand tools from. And I may have another bench made for the opposite side of the room. Now I need to start doing harder stuff, like coming up with a list of tools to buy and getting that done. And, much more frighteningly, buying parts and actually fixing things. I don't really know how I'm going to accomplsh that. Baby steps.
Okay, so moving on from the Shop, I wanted to include some pictures from an awesome discovery. After commisioning the workbenches, Sai Ha and I rode our bikes past a place with a bunch of scrap metal and about 10 massive acetylene bottles. I was curious, and stopped to check out what was going on. Turns out they were forging axe heads here, which I was really excited about. I think Sai Ha was confused by my exuberance. So here is a picture of the most important part of the operation. That woman is standing near the forge, which is half a 50 gallon drum with an air blower keeping charcoal very hot. She is currently heat treating some axe heads. The massive machine on the left, which is cast iron and taller than me, is a hydraulic hammer or press. I was so blown away by this being here. It's a pretty serious piece of equipment. In the final picture you can see the result of her work, a large collection of axe heads, but if you look carefully in the back left corner of the picture, you will see what looks like a massive bullet standing up straight. I'm farily certain this is the business end of a massive shell, like what would be fired out of a large cannon-y type thing, and it's being used as an anvil. So cool.
So thats whats been going on, and I wanted to write something about books I've been reading and what they've made me think about. So since I've been here, I've finished these books.
This House of Sky, by Ivan Doig
When Broken Glass Floats, by Chanrithy Him
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, by Alan Sillitoe
Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham
Freddy and Frederika, by Mark Helprin
Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
Books I have started but not finished are:
On Aggression, by Konrad Lorenz
Irrational Man, by William Barret
The Illusion of Technique, by William Barret
The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen
After London, by Richard Jeffries
So the books i have finished have tended to be novels, and the ones I'm still working on are more philosophically biased. It's been interesting to learn about this stuff, and I'm kind of frustrated by not finishing these books, but I need to re-learn how to read difficult stuff. When i read novels, I read them very quickly and don't have to think about it. But reading some of this other stuff I find myself reading the words but thinking about something else, because I have to read a couple sentences, and stop and think about what they mean. It's a pretty different ball game.
So this train of thought led to a lot of writing. It will be in another post, entitled "thoughts on life."
UPDATE - since i first wrote this, we have recieved our first workbench, and put up a sheet of plywood to hang tools from above the bench. Also, we bought our first power tool, an impact drill. More on this, and hopefully pictures, in the next post. Last but not least, I bought a radio which allows us to listen to BBC worldwide, which is great.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The adventure gets real
Hello dear readers.
So, I have moved to the boonies, relative to the cosmopolitan Phnom Penh. This is the house I am staying in. I live with/above a family who are super nice, although none of the people who permanently live there speak English, which makes for somewhat awkward interaction. Someone who I believe is the owners daughter in law is staying for a while, and she speaks English which helped ease the initial transition. Still, I haven't lived with total strangers for a long time, and it takes some re-getting used to. Things that I find awkward include not knowing if I'm supposed to eat dinner with them or not, sharing one bathroom that is not sound insulated in any way, and perpetually feeling rude for no legitimate reason. Also, there are several teenage girls who want me to speak with them in English, to improve their pronunciation. So far we have had one lesson which involved lots of giggling on their part, but towards the end it got more productive. They can read quite well, but have difficulty understanding my accent. So we'll see how that goes.
This is my room, which is pretty nice actually. I have electricity, which is a fantastic thing. Most importantly, this allows me to use a fan, which is crucial to sleeping. Also, having the ability to listen to music is wonderful. It's simple, but it definitely supports the theory that it's the little things that count. I enjoy it. The most frustrating thing about living here is the bathroom situation. The only one in the house is downstairs, and I always feel like an intruder when going down there, especially at night. Bathing is accomplished by dipping a ladle-ish thing into a very large (big trash can sized) bucket of water and dousing oneself, then lathering and repeating the dousing. It is sort of entertaining and refreshing, but upon returning to Phnom Penh and taking a shower, the SLP style of bathing quickly seemed less novel an idea.
I have only lived in SLP for about 5 days. I decided to venture back to Phnom Penh for the weekend, mostly to remind myself that I am not stuck in SLP, but also because I want to do some work for the shop. Below is a picture of the shop in a fairly current state. Frustratingly my camera cannot capture the entirety of the room (similar to the picture of my bedroom). The reason the wall is painted like this is to echo the wall opposite, which is concrete covered brick, like stucco, and varies in height. I'll take another picture at some point to hopefully further illustrate why the paint scheme is so odd. Other factors contributing to the odd looks are that the boards are junky and termite eaten, and we are painting oil paint with 2.5" wide brushes. I was originally planning on painting the walls in a checkered flag scheme, like white with black squares, but think it's a bit much, and it would be a nuisance.
Anyway, after we finish painting we are going to hook up water pipes to the bathroom, and I am going to install a sink, which is fairly rare in SLP, but extremely useful for washing hands, moto-parts, etc. I'm not sure how to deal with environmental aspects of the shop though. For example, when cleaning up the brushes we use, we've washed them with solvent (gasoline) and then washed that into the road, which my translator has assured me is common practice in Cambodia, but he also recognized that is was bad for the environment. (Having re-read this post, I realized that I have not introduced my translator. His name is Sai Ha, he is 18, and pretty hilarious. I'll try and get a picture of him and I on the blog) When we have a sink, we will probably wash some nasty stuff into it, which is not ideal. I don't really know what else to do, but I'm thinking of asking other shops what they do with old oil and solvents. So that will probably help. Also, in thinking about it further, I have washed many brushes into sinks at home. I guess it's just harder when you see the paint and gas wash into a puddle in the road, and stay there for hours, mocking your desire to be "environmentally conscious".
After the water pipes are installed, the next step will be shelving/work benches, then electrical stuff. Tony, the guy I bought my dirt bike from, has some great work benches in his shop that were made here, so I am going to measure them, take pictures, and draw up a design I can give to a shop to weld them up. I'll probably also draw up his bike stands and lift for posterity.
Once the shelves and electricity are in, I'll start buying tools in earnest, and someone will move into the shop full time. Then the transition to working on stuff will somehow take place. I'm thinking of buying some decrepit bikes, and trying to get them in working order while people from TC help. Hopefully this will help us learn where to buy parts, I can teach some useful things, and other unforeseeable good things will happen.
I have two more pictures in the post. The first is the view along the market from the front of the shop, while it's raining. The second is me trying to illustrate how intense the rain gets. That is water running from our gutter, and it filled all those buckets in maybe two minutes.
So that's my life as of late. Also, I've been reading quite a bit, as not much happens in SLP after dark. I would like to write a post about what I'm reading and thinking about, although it seems rather presumptuous to publicly write what one is privately thinking about with the idea that it is interesting. But i guess that's what this blogging thing is all about, and in the end it is unlikely to do harm or cause offense.
As a final note, I am listening to Mendelssohn's Octet in E something or other, which is a fabulous piece of music. I first heard it at one of Union's classical concerts in Memorial Chapel. When the shop is set up I am hoping to get some speakers and blast music like this, and play videos such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVkY8oA3RlE to get people interested in the shop, and because it will be awesome.
Hope everyone is well.
Ned.
So, I have moved to the boonies, relative to the cosmopolitan Phnom Penh. This is the house I am staying in. I live with/above a family who are super nice, although none of the people who permanently live there speak English, which makes for somewhat awkward interaction. Someone who I believe is the owners daughter in law is staying for a while, and she speaks English which helped ease the initial transition. Still, I haven't lived with total strangers for a long time, and it takes some re-getting used to. Things that I find awkward include not knowing if I'm supposed to eat dinner with them or not, sharing one bathroom that is not sound insulated in any way, and perpetually feeling rude for no legitimate reason. Also, there are several teenage girls who want me to speak with them in English, to improve their pronunciation. So far we have had one lesson which involved lots of giggling on their part, but towards the end it got more productive. They can read quite well, but have difficulty understanding my accent. So we'll see how that goes.
This is my room, which is pretty nice actually. I have electricity, which is a fantastic thing. Most importantly, this allows me to use a fan, which is crucial to sleeping. Also, having the ability to listen to music is wonderful. It's simple, but it definitely supports the theory that it's the little things that count. I enjoy it. The most frustrating thing about living here is the bathroom situation. The only one in the house is downstairs, and I always feel like an intruder when going down there, especially at night. Bathing is accomplished by dipping a ladle-ish thing into a very large (big trash can sized) bucket of water and dousing oneself, then lathering and repeating the dousing. It is sort of entertaining and refreshing, but upon returning to Phnom Penh and taking a shower, the SLP style of bathing quickly seemed less novel an idea.
I have only lived in SLP for about 5 days. I decided to venture back to Phnom Penh for the weekend, mostly to remind myself that I am not stuck in SLP, but also because I want to do some work for the shop. Below is a picture of the shop in a fairly current state. Frustratingly my camera cannot capture the entirety of the room (similar to the picture of my bedroom). The reason the wall is painted like this is to echo the wall opposite, which is concrete covered brick, like stucco, and varies in height. I'll take another picture at some point to hopefully further illustrate why the paint scheme is so odd. Other factors contributing to the odd looks are that the boards are junky and termite eaten, and we are painting oil paint with 2.5" wide brushes. I was originally planning on painting the walls in a checkered flag scheme, like white with black squares, but think it's a bit much, and it would be a nuisance.
Anyway, after we finish painting we are going to hook up water pipes to the bathroom, and I am going to install a sink, which is fairly rare in SLP, but extremely useful for washing hands, moto-parts, etc. I'm not sure how to deal with environmental aspects of the shop though. For example, when cleaning up the brushes we use, we've washed them with solvent (gasoline) and then washed that into the road, which my translator has assured me is common practice in Cambodia, but he also recognized that is was bad for the environment. (Having re-read this post, I realized that I have not introduced my translator. His name is Sai Ha, he is 18, and pretty hilarious. I'll try and get a picture of him and I on the blog) When we have a sink, we will probably wash some nasty stuff into it, which is not ideal. I don't really know what else to do, but I'm thinking of asking other shops what they do with old oil and solvents. So that will probably help. Also, in thinking about it further, I have washed many brushes into sinks at home. I guess it's just harder when you see the paint and gas wash into a puddle in the road, and stay there for hours, mocking your desire to be "environmentally conscious".After the water pipes are installed, the next step will be shelving/work benches, then electrical stuff. Tony, the guy I bought my dirt bike from, has some great work benches in his shop that were made here, so I am going to measure them, take pictures, and draw up a design I can give to a shop to weld them up. I'll probably also draw up his bike stands and lift for posterity.
Once the shelves and electricity are in, I'll start buying tools in earnest, and someone will move into the shop full time. Then the transition to working on stuff will somehow take place. I'm thinking of buying some decrepit bikes, and trying to get them in working order while people from TC help. Hopefully this will help us learn where to buy parts, I can teach some useful things, and other unforeseeable good things will happen.
I have two more pictures in the post. The first is the view along the market from the front of the shop, while it's raining. The second is me trying to illustrate how intense the rain gets. That is water running from our gutter, and it filled all those buckets in maybe two minutes.
So that's my life as of late. Also, I've been reading quite a bit, as not much happens in SLP after dark. I would like to write a post about what I'm reading and thinking about, although it seems rather presumptuous to publicly write what one is privately thinking about with the idea that it is interesting. But i guess that's what this blogging thing is all about, and in the end it is unlikely to do harm or cause offense.
As a final note, I am listening to Mendelssohn's Octet in E something or other, which is a fabulous piece of music. I first heard it at one of Union's classical concerts in Memorial Chapel. When the shop is set up I am hoping to get some speakers and blast music like this, and play videos such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVkY8oA3RlE to get people interested in the shop, and because it will be awesome.
Hope everyone is well.
Ned.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Long Time No Post
Hello.
So it's been quite a while since I posted last. Some exciting stuff has happened. I'll list it, going approximately from most important to least.
1. Two guys from Tramung Chrum are now going to the moto-repair school that I was going to in Phnom Penh. I'm going to try and post a picture of me with them sometime soon.
2. I stopped going to school. The second stage was irritating and felt like a waste of time. I brought a translator who did a good job, but the stuff covered was fairly basic. So I moved on.
3. Water and Electricity have been hooked up to the shop, although not distributed, i.e. there is no plumbing or wiring per se.
4. I am moving out of Phnom Penh this Sunday, and moving in with Leb Ke's aunt for an indeterminate amount of time until I find a place to rent in Sala Lekh Prahm.
5. My dirt bike now functions without sounding like it's in its death throes. Hopefully this will continue to be true for some time. Also, I got my registration card, meaning it will be less reasonable for police to harass me.
6. I shaved with a straight razor, which in the US probably would have earned me nicknames such as "patches" and "slicey". I reccommend everyone who feels impatient and/or lacking a good attention-span should try shaving with a straight razor. You will very quickly develop laser-like focus, because otherwise you too will earn silly nicknames thanks to your sliced up and oddly patched face. I was pretty cavalier about it at first, and gave myself a reasonable flapper, like a cut that produced a flap of skin.
No good pictures to accompany this post, and while I could describe some of these happenings in more detail, I'm not feeling particularly verbose right now. Perhaps in the future.
Okie Dokie.
My next post will be post Phnom Penh. Get excited hahaha.....
Ned.
So it's been quite a while since I posted last. Some exciting stuff has happened. I'll list it, going approximately from most important to least.
1. Two guys from Tramung Chrum are now going to the moto-repair school that I was going to in Phnom Penh. I'm going to try and post a picture of me with them sometime soon.
2. I stopped going to school. The second stage was irritating and felt like a waste of time. I brought a translator who did a good job, but the stuff covered was fairly basic. So I moved on.
3. Water and Electricity have been hooked up to the shop, although not distributed, i.e. there is no plumbing or wiring per se.
4. I am moving out of Phnom Penh this Sunday, and moving in with Leb Ke's aunt for an indeterminate amount of time until I find a place to rent in Sala Lekh Prahm.
5. My dirt bike now functions without sounding like it's in its death throes. Hopefully this will continue to be true for some time. Also, I got my registration card, meaning it will be less reasonable for police to harass me.
6. I shaved with a straight razor, which in the US probably would have earned me nicknames such as "patches" and "slicey". I reccommend everyone who feels impatient and/or lacking a good attention-span should try shaving with a straight razor. You will very quickly develop laser-like focus, because otherwise you too will earn silly nicknames thanks to your sliced up and oddly patched face. I was pretty cavalier about it at first, and gave myself a reasonable flapper, like a cut that produced a flap of skin.
No good pictures to accompany this post, and while I could describe some of these happenings in more detail, I'm not feeling particularly verbose right now. Perhaps in the future.
Okie Dokie.
My next post will be post Phnom Penh. Get excited hahaha.....
Ned.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Shop, Getting Lost, and Making Lists.
This past Thursday I went up to SLP and TC, and some great things happened. First and foremost, Leb Ke and I signed a contract for renting a shop space! It is the one pictured in a previous post, near the SLP market. While it is fairly small, I think we will be able to make the most of the space. It is 3.8 meters by 8 meters, and the rent is $50 a month through 2009, and then it will be $60. We signed a contract to rent for one year, and will begin utilizing the space in October.
I was planning on getting to SLP at about 8:30, but ended up not getting there until 10:00 because I had to get the rear tire of my dirt bike replaced. The one that was on the bike had plenty of tread left, but one of the lugs had somehow been sliced down to the tire carcass, and was threatening to peel off the tire. This could easily have caused a blowout, which I was determined to prevent. So I got a new tire, which was only $35, and headed out. I had to go more slowly than expected, traffic was insane because everyone is celebrating Pchoom Benh. I don't know how to properly spell that, but it's a holiday where everyone in the city goes to their families villages, so leaving the city was kind of a nightmare.
Yousos had been expecting me to be there an hour and a half before I actually made it, and left SLP before I got there. This was very unfortunate, but I actually made it worse, as you will see. After Leb Ke and I finished the negotiations for the shop space, Leb Ke was going to stay in SLP and asked me If I would be okay driving to TC by myself. I said yes, even though i had only been once. Leb Ke hand drew me a map (see picture below) and I was on my way.
I thought that i should turn left at the first fork, and right at the second fork, and all would be well. That first fork wasn't actually a fork though, so i went straight past it. After travelling for about 45 minutes, down roads like the one pictured below the map, I realized that my 20 minute old suspicion that i was going the wrong way should be ignored no longer. Miraculously, my phone had service so I called Leb Ke. I explained that i was lost, and found someone who could explain to him where i was. After a fairly lengthy conversation between Leb Ke and a random person, I got back on the phone, and Leb Ke laughed.
"Oh, Ned, you are very far away. Turn around, and when you see a Wat on your left, turn right."
These instructions were fairly simple, and So I turned right at the first Wat on my left, onto this road:
In the back of my mind, I realized that this road looked sort of rough, and may not be the one Leb Ke was talking about. But I went down it anyway. It quickly degenerated into a swampy mess which appeared to mostly be used to herd cows. I had never ridden a dirt bike in mud, or through water, and had a brand new, road biased tire on the back, inflated to 30 psi, which is way too much for riding in soft conditions. So the bike was extremely skittish, and I felt very lucky to not drop it. This picture illustrates the general condition of this road. Keep in mind i had no idea how deep these ponds were when i approached them, or how goopy the mud was. I don't really know how the bike never got stuck. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the cows I also had to navigate around.
My voyage on this road came to an end when I got to a place where the road was water as far as I could see, between two bamboo fences outlining rice paddies. I didn't take a picture here, but it was clear that I was not going to make it much further. So I turned around and started going back down the main road, when I re-approached the train tracks. After consulting my map, I decided they were the same as the ones Leb Ke had drawn, and that if i followed them, I would get to TC. So I went for it.
This was a good time, until I came to a bridge over a small river that was obviously not made for foot traffic, and would have been extremely difficult to cross on my bike. I considered it, but decided that if i fell off, the dirt bike would probably pin me in the water, and I would drown. So I turned around again. On my way back, I called Leb Ke and he consulted with a cow herder. Having concluded that I was out of my mind, he told me to go back to the main road, and just wait where the railroad tracks crossed the main road.
I was concerned about running out of gas, and decided he was correct. While waiting for him to arrive, this rolled up. It was a gas powered platform that followed the tracks, which I had assumed were defunct. Good thing I was not on the tracks when it was running, though. Anyway some people thought it was hilarious I was there, and said Hi. One old man was super pumped, he grabbed my hand and was smiling fit to burst. It was pretty cool.
So Leb Ke came and rescued me from my own foolishness, and we proceeded to TC. I arrived so late that almost all the men who were interested in working in the shop had left. I felt really awful about this. It was such an incredible experience to have been voyaging around the middle of nowhere in Cambodia, but I was brought back to earth by the feeling of having failed at my responsibility to the people of TC.
Fortunately, we made good progress despite my errors. Leb Ke, Yousos, and the leaders of TC were able to come up with a list of who wanted to be in the program, and we came up with two people who were responsible and mature enough to go to moto-repair school in Phnom Penh.
Leb Ke, Yousos and I also came up with a more concrete plan on how the shop operation will run. Basically, while the two people are going to school, I will set-up the shop. From the beginning, there will be a designated shop keeper who will live in the building to prevent theft, and I will try and train that person to run the business, like the administrative side of things. This will include managing the flow of money into and out of the business. Hopefully the other people will therefore be able to better focus on repair and teaching when they return from PP.
Also, I'll try and teach some people as much as I can while the two guys are in PP.
So thanks to Leb Ke, Yousos, and the villager leaders of TC, the day was a success. I think I'm more of a catalyst than anything else. I see my job as primarily being the means to an end, and recognize that I wouldn't really be able to do much without Leb Ke and Yousos. They also assuaged my guilt, and assured me that it was okay that i had been so late.
That's the story, hope you enjoyed it. On another note, my dirt bike started making noise again. We'll see what happens with that. In the meantime, I bought a bicycle to get around the city. It has some hilarious stickers that you can see below, which include the words 'Lover Boy' in blue writing, and a stern portrait of a wolf. It also has a basket on the front, which is infinitely useful.
Okie Doke. Hope everyone's well. Take Care.
Ned.
I was planning on getting to SLP at about 8:30, but ended up not getting there until 10:00 because I had to get the rear tire of my dirt bike replaced. The one that was on the bike had plenty of tread left, but one of the lugs had somehow been sliced down to the tire carcass, and was threatening to peel off the tire. This could easily have caused a blowout, which I was determined to prevent. So I got a new tire, which was only $35, and headed out. I had to go more slowly than expected, traffic was insane because everyone is celebrating Pchoom Benh. I don't know how to properly spell that, but it's a holiday where everyone in the city goes to their families villages, so leaving the city was kind of a nightmare.
Yousos had been expecting me to be there an hour and a half before I actually made it, and left SLP before I got there. This was very unfortunate, but I actually made it worse, as you will see. After Leb Ke and I finished the negotiations for the shop space, Leb Ke was going to stay in SLP and asked me If I would be okay driving to TC by myself. I said yes, even though i had only been once. Leb Ke hand drew me a map (see picture below) and I was on my way.
I thought that i should turn left at the first fork, and right at the second fork, and all would be well. That first fork wasn't actually a fork though, so i went straight past it. After travelling for about 45 minutes, down roads like the one pictured below the map, I realized that my 20 minute old suspicion that i was going the wrong way should be ignored no longer. Miraculously, my phone had service so I called Leb Ke. I explained that i was lost, and found someone who could explain to him where i was. After a fairly lengthy conversation between Leb Ke and a random person, I got back on the phone, and Leb Ke laughed.
"Oh, Ned, you are very far away. Turn around, and when you see a Wat on your left, turn right."
These instructions were fairly simple, and So I turned right at the first Wat on my left, onto this road:
In the back of my mind, I realized that this road looked sort of rough, and may not be the one Leb Ke was talking about. But I went down it anyway. It quickly degenerated into a swampy mess which appeared to mostly be used to herd cows. I had never ridden a dirt bike in mud, or through water, and had a brand new, road biased tire on the back, inflated to 30 psi, which is way too much for riding in soft conditions. So the bike was extremely skittish, and I felt very lucky to not drop it. This picture illustrates the general condition of this road. Keep in mind i had no idea how deep these ponds were when i approached them, or how goopy the mud was. I don't really know how the bike never got stuck. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the cows I also had to navigate around.
My voyage on this road came to an end when I got to a place where the road was water as far as I could see, between two bamboo fences outlining rice paddies. I didn't take a picture here, but it was clear that I was not going to make it much further. So I turned around and started going back down the main road, when I re-approached the train tracks. After consulting my map, I decided they were the same as the ones Leb Ke had drawn, and that if i followed them, I would get to TC. So I went for it.
This was a good time, until I came to a bridge over a small river that was obviously not made for foot traffic, and would have been extremely difficult to cross on my bike. I considered it, but decided that if i fell off, the dirt bike would probably pin me in the water, and I would drown. So I turned around again. On my way back, I called Leb Ke and he consulted with a cow herder. Having concluded that I was out of my mind, he told me to go back to the main road, and just wait where the railroad tracks crossed the main road.
I was concerned about running out of gas, and decided he was correct. While waiting for him to arrive, this rolled up. It was a gas powered platform that followed the tracks, which I had assumed were defunct. Good thing I was not on the tracks when it was running, though. Anyway some people thought it was hilarious I was there, and said Hi. One old man was super pumped, he grabbed my hand and was smiling fit to burst. It was pretty cool.
So Leb Ke came and rescued me from my own foolishness, and we proceeded to TC. I arrived so late that almost all the men who were interested in working in the shop had left. I felt really awful about this. It was such an incredible experience to have been voyaging around the middle of nowhere in Cambodia, but I was brought back to earth by the feeling of having failed at my responsibility to the people of TC.
Fortunately, we made good progress despite my errors. Leb Ke, Yousos, and the leaders of TC were able to come up with a list of who wanted to be in the program, and we came up with two people who were responsible and mature enough to go to moto-repair school in Phnom Penh.
Leb Ke, Yousos and I also came up with a more concrete plan on how the shop operation will run. Basically, while the two people are going to school, I will set-up the shop. From the beginning, there will be a designated shop keeper who will live in the building to prevent theft, and I will try and train that person to run the business, like the administrative side of things. This will include managing the flow of money into and out of the business. Hopefully the other people will therefore be able to better focus on repair and teaching when they return from PP.
Also, I'll try and teach some people as much as I can while the two guys are in PP.
So thanks to Leb Ke, Yousos, and the villager leaders of TC, the day was a success. I think I'm more of a catalyst than anything else. I see my job as primarily being the means to an end, and recognize that I wouldn't really be able to do much without Leb Ke and Yousos. They also assuaged my guilt, and assured me that it was okay that i had been so late.
That's the story, hope you enjoyed it. On another note, my dirt bike started making noise again. We'll see what happens with that. In the meantime, I bought a bicycle to get around the city. It has some hilarious stickers that you can see below, which include the words 'Lover Boy' in blue writing, and a stern portrait of a wolf. It also has a basket on the front, which is infinitely useful.
Okie Doke. Hope everyone's well. Take Care.Ned.
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