When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

That’s one of my favorite quotes from Hunter S. Thompson, and it sums up a wild first day. We began our breakneck pace at 9am. First, breakfast in the restaurant quarter and a game plan. We decided to do the following:

1. Check on the status of PCs at Khnar Tmei
2. Check on the PC at Sok’s House (the one that was solar before utility power came)
3. Determine how we would setup a PC at a local Primary School
4. Do some shopping for odds and ends like whiteboard markers and other supplies

We knew it was going to be busy, but felt that was necessary given my short time in town. Here’s what we ended up doing:

1. Went to Khnar Tmei and found out that one PC may be down. We’ll look into it tomorrow
2. Went to Sok’s house. He said there was a virus on the PC because he lost some files. Turns out he saved them to a different folder or had a different problem. Also found out he needs a new surge protector and wants to learn Photoshop (which is not installed).
3. Had “lunch” of Iced Tea at the Express Mart. That’s a gas station with a small restaurant in it. They make great drinks, and we weren’t hungry at the time.
4. Went to the Primary School and determined that they could use a PC and training
5. After shopping about 5 times in 7 or more stores:
a. the software I needed for a “substantially lower than retail price”… if you know what I mean
b. whiteboard markers
c. snacks for our rooms
d. surge protectors
e. flash drive and electrical adapter for Deanna
f. complete Dell PC setup with UPS and flash drive
6. Dinner at Molly Malone’s (I had fish and chips with Crème Brule). Yes, it was excellent!

On item # 4 above, that’s going to be a rather substantial project. The Primary School serves about 1,500 kids from grades 1 to 6. They currently do everything on paper. Yes, I mean everything, including rosters, classes, grades, and reports that need to go to the Cambodian Ministry of Education on a regular basis. Now I have to try to sketch out both a lesson plan and cover topics like templates, backing up files, who can access documents, and more.

Can you imagine handling that without technology? I couldn’t believe it until I saw it. I’ll get pictures on Monday, when I start basic PC training for the teachers and administrators, two classes a day. They were on the edge of tears when they realized that they could at least avoid having documents rejected by the Ministry because of errors and typos, and could reuse document templates. That’s hours a day that they need back!

Tomorrow will be busy again. There’s a lot to do, and not a lot of time.