Back in Cambodia, one more time...

It took a couple of years to get back here. I love this country. It is magical, not only because of Angkor, but because of the Cambodian people. This country is still very very scarred because of the Khmer Rouge period. You can see it in the political culture, in society and in the way people hold themselves. But it is beautiful.

We are setting up the third meeting of our initiative, and we are going to be almost 100 people. I am excited. Some of the participants started to arrive today, mostly from Africa. And they are ready to continue enjoying the World Cup over here, every evening, over beers. NN, for instance, even brought his VUVUZELA!!! (read http://www.theonion.com/articles/south-african-vuvuzela-philharmonic-angered-by-soc,17625/ for a good laugh)

No doubt, this will be a BIG BIG FEST!

Bafana Bafana!

And it happened! After many many years, South Africans finally celebrated again! According to my first hand reports from Cape Town, the party was similar to the 1994 elections! Go Bafana Bafana!

time goes by...

far to fast! I am on my way back home, waiting to get on the next plane. The only thing that has been on the TV during my time in NY and DC is the oil spill in the Gulf. Words come and go, but not much seems to happen. The spill continuous, relentlessly, and while governments complain, and BP dodges the bullets, a friend told me that it is a fact that, BY AUGUST, the spill will have been stopped.

Nice hallmark of greed, don't you think?

Will BP be hold to account for this? Will the government? What happens with the rig inspectors that had orgies on meth, instead of doing their work?

I don't really think we deserve the world we are living on.

I am in a New York state of mind...

...as Billy Joel would say. We spent sunday and monday in the Big Apple, and it was, as it always is, mind-blowing. There are few cities which have what it takes to fascinate all kinds of people across the board. New York is definitely one of them.

We arrived on sunday and decided to take a pleasant stroll up on Broadway, on what turned out to be a beautiful day. The street market was on, which means an eclectic combination of food, gadgets, clothes, posters, photographs, vinyl records and memorabilia, sprinkled with the iPad, Victoria Secret and more... We made a stop at Zabar's, the quintessential definition of a NY deli and grocery store, where we went A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y crazy buying from among hundreds of cheeses, olives in all sizes and colors, the most amazing variety of bread and irresistible dessert. Contradiction has it, however, that we were not able to get wine. We then went to have a picnic in the Riverside Park, sitting on the lawn, under the shade of big trees and a blue sky.

Our little group of six decided that another overload of green was needed, heading towards Central Park. And there, from among all people in the world, we ran into Jim, who we had not seen in at least one year, but whom we had been remembering a couple of hours before. This city is amazing! The cherry on top is that we ran into yet another friend later on, at Washington Square,ending up as a big happy party in the Village. C-R-A-Z-Y! But that is exactly what New York is.

More tomorrow.