It was also a quiet night but then the phone rang. By the time I'd sorted myself out it had stopped ringing. I saw it was 5.35am. It really messes up my morning when my sleep is broken. I finally got out of bed at 7am instead of 6.30, but I'm learning not to take these kinds of events too seriously. I checked to see who it was and it's someone on Facebook, whom I don't know. Facebook can often be a pain in the neck.
While I did my exercises I listened to a BBC report on the perils of gift giving at Christmas. They also discussed the popular idea of "Secret Santa". One man said, "At the age of 50 I have no idea what to buy myself, never mind anyone else." I'm stressed out when I have to be involved in Secret Santa. There's usually the money limit, which is a good idea, but I have no idea what makes a perfect gift for someone you may not even know that well. I've also played a game that was called "Chinese Christmas"; don't ask me why. This involved buying a funny gift and wrapping it in plain paper with no names mentioned. We then chose a number. Number 1 had the choice of picking a gift and keeping it or choosing another package. I'd picked the final number so there was no choice for me other than the single gift left in the middle of the room. I wasn't impressed when I opened the package and discovered a pair of lady's black stockings.
The two young men came over for their English lesson. They've had no formal education with regard to learning English so they don't have the basics, although they do speak some simple English. Today we did past tense of verbs and what a struggle it was. In Europe, no matter what language we are speaking, the sounds are very similar. Coming to Cambodia I've realised that in English we make sounds that are almost impossible for Khmer people to pronounce, and it works the other way too. How do I teach how to say the ending of a verb when it's "ed" - is it a 't' sound, a 'd' sound or pronounced as 'ed'. For example 'watched', 'rinsed' and 'painted'. When the lads try to say 'the' I want to reach forward and grab their tongue because it just won't come out. We have a great time.
I ventured into YouTube this afternoon and discovered a film about the life of Margaret Rutherford. I loved watching her in the old days; she was priceless. What a sad life she had; her father killed his father and her mother committed suicide.
This evening I picked up my one-year visa, and my return ticket to Canada and back, which means I won't have a problem at the Canadian airports when I try to return here. Often, when I had a one-way ticket, I had to battle to get on the plane. This makes me wonder why they sell one-way tickets to places like Cambodia. One year I was refused permission to board a Chinese flight from Vancouver to Phnom Penh. What made our discussion more frustrating was the fact that the staff of the airline were Chinese Canadian and yet they refused to speak English in front of me. I asked them what I had to do and they said, "Find an internet place and book a flight from Phnom Penh." When I asked for a suggestion the lady said, "Go anywhere!" I replied that I didn't know where "anywhere" was. Finally, they got permission for me to board after speaking to the airline manager at the airport. Naturally, I've avoided that airline since then.
It's now time for my final act before bed - checking on the news. Canada's in a pickle at the moment, with the Huawei lady. Why should someone have seven passports? The USA is in a pickle too, with the Russian lawyer due to testify and General Kelly being shown the door. One of these days the story will reach a climax.
