I'm sharing an excerpt from my memoir of my life in Southeast Asia, then Cambodia.

The first chapter explains who I was, as a young person. How I struggled with loss and a really difficult young adulthood.

You won't read about Cambodia in this excerpt, but I like to think I have some friends in here. I'm grateful of any of you who will read this. There's a "clap" function on the left and at the bottom. I guess you can give up to 50.

This is about half the first chapter. It won an award in Oregon (an excerpt, that is). I hope you like reading it!

I'm putting it in "The Rest of the World" so as not to interfere with all the Cambodia business.

Hi Debra,

I gave no "claps" which in no way signifies disapproval. Applause seems an inappropriate response here much as it would after a prayer service. I find such truthful sadness, devoid of self pity, a human understanding of the highest degree. You have the eyes, mind and unchained memory of one who moves forward while paying homage to the past. I offer praise and best wishes for continued success.

I also wish you as much happiness as a fufilled human heart can hold.

taabarang wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:19 am Hi Debra,

I gave no "claps" which in no way signifies disapproval. Applause seems an inappropriate response here much as it would after a prayer service. I find such truthful sadness, devoid of self pity, a human understanding of the highest degree. You have the eyes, mind and unchained memory of one who moves forward while paying homage to the past. I offer praise and best wishes for continued success.

I also wish you as much happiness as a fufilled human heart can hold.

I look forward to the day when I can give you your own copy of my book. It will be a happy day, indeed. I'm so fortunate to have you in my corner.

thanks for the excerpt.
i tired to read it, but it just never pulled me in, so started skipping around, than gave up.

I'm no critic, but i do read an awful lot

sorry

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:47 am thanks for the excerpt.
i tired to read it, but it just never pulled me in, so started skipping around, than gave up.

I'm no critic, but i do read an awful lot

sorry

Here's a little snippet from the Cambodia section to cheer you up, Phuket, just for you! Enjoy

This excerpt is from our "school days," running the Sihanoukville Brance of ACE.

We taught all of 1995 and most of 1996 in Sihanoukville, getting to know every expat in the community—there were perhaps ten. We made friends with Tim, a U.S. ex-military man of perhaps thirty, and his Vietnamese wife Toy. He’d met her at Colaap I, a local nightclub filled with perhaps a hundred Vietnamese and Khmer girls there every night, to be specific, taxi girls (prostitutes). I think the second place we went to was Whiskey-a-Go-Go, a smaller place with good dancing music and more taxi girls.
Toy was beautiful, and Tim said she was the girl he’d always dreamed of. The other expat men in the community raised eyebrows. They’d seen her around long before Tim met her. Tim pampered her, handing over large sums of money and encouraging her to treat herself at the beauty parlor and market.
Finally, crisis hit. Toy was in Vietnam visiting her family. When she returned, she examined the sheets of their conjugal bed. A black pubic hair was detected. Tim’s hair was light brown. With the certainty of a forensic detective, Toy presented the hair to Tim. Things got messy fast, and her crying and yelling played out in public. Tim appeared around town with swollen eyes. Toy might leave him.
In time, Toy made Tim move, purchase a new bed, and get counseling. Tim had to swear an oath to never cheat again. Ken and I found a lot of humor in this, and talked about it with our other western friends. We decided that Tim had either cheated, or he was just confessing to salvage their marriage. Later on, Toy moved her seven-year-old son from Vietnam (from another relationship). He was the only student I saw spit on other kids, and I called him out fast. Toy came to pick him up from school that day, and listened to his story, which the boy whispered in her ear. Next, she marched to one of the Khmer boys, an eight-year-old, and started shaking him and screaming. When I intervened, she said, “He kick my son in the balls! Can cause big problem!”
“No, that wasn’t it,” I said. “Your boy was spitting on other kids. He got in trouble for it.” Later, she and Tim came to the school and we had a sit-down conference mediated by Ken, who was the branch manager. It was all very parent-teacher conference style, per Tim’s request. Eventually, the family left town. Ken and I were relieved, as the dramas at school were uncomfortable.

Don't want to be rude but that's all very ho hum. I could write a pretty exciting book but too many people are still alive. Richard could write an even better one.
I read voraciously, average a book every couple of days or more.

Thanks for contributing CC.

But considering the majority make-up of CEO's membership. This forum might not be the place to post your prose. The audience is all wrong, for the most part.

Just my opinion.

The adage, "Don't cast pearls before swine." comes to mind.

taabarang excluded of course.

Brody wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:58 am Thanks for contributing CC.

But considering the majority make-up of CEO's membership. This forum might not be the place to post your prose. The audience is all wrong, for the most part.

Just my opinion.

The adage, "Don't cast pearls before swine." comes to mind.

Quite true Brody. Inaction in most posters here or lack of time in country makes them crave false drama which not infrequently permeates this forum.

I always enjoy reading expat stories about their time in the KoW, be they nail biters or simple prose. A lot of bullshit in most of them...I expect yours will contain none.

Look forward to reading more, thanks for sharing, CC.