Modes of house hunting transport

So far we have both ridden on my bike to find houses for rent.
Today after a medical appointment toddler and i tuk tuked around looking for places.
We have the use of a car while friends are overseas for Christmas and all 3 of us and a friend drove around in that a few times.
Some other friends have also gone overseas for christmas and today we went to pick up their moto and then did some house hunting on that. First time for the toddler to go on a moto out in the traffic. Traffic feels not so bad here compared to phnom penh.

Moving

So last week all our stuff was put on an open truck  and spent the day getting jolted around and getting dusty. We arrived safely but tired. Relatives and Soeun stayed two nights to recover , then the toddler and I were left on our own. soeun went back to clean and finish up. While he was gone it was partly a fun holiday for me , exploring our new town and going to

church weekend away

A church we visited in Kampot, it is opposite 2  mosques, an interesting thing to see in a Buddhist country.

feedback please- our newsletters

So its the end of the year.. we started 2014 with an ABC newsletter (email) eg. A is for.. B is for...
We went right through the alphabet and recently finished with Z is for zip and zoom.

However, it seems lots of the emails are going to spam (recently?). Please let me know by email or facebook if you get our newsletters in your spam or inbox. I'd like to get an idea of who is getting what and work out what to do next year, thanks

endings...

Soeun had a drastic haircut, his first since the toddler was born. Our poor son didn't know what to make of this strange looking man. He preached his last sermon in PP.

We've been to our last proper playgroup, were prayed for at the end by a friend while the toddler was SCREAMING cos he was so tired.

My Bible study group which i just rejoined 2 years finally got to the final chapter of Romans, I have one last meeting with them for Christmas brunch.

The other week I bought some packing boxes, slowly putting them together and thinking about filling them. SOme books are already in tubs, and baby stuff we have finished with for now is boxed.

Signs December is on the way...

...my Aussie facebook friends (In Australia) keep mentioning hot weather, as does the newspaper

...my Canadian and Swiss friends  (who live in Cambodia) are discussing how glad they are to be missing the cold grey blizzardy weather

...my Khmer neighbours are dressing their kids in their warmest clothes, its getting cold here, I think it got down to 26 deg

...meanwhile I'm feeling relief that its the one time of year when its not too hot

Rubbish

Often rubbish is just put out on the side of the road in plastic bags or piles. People and animals can be seen poking through it. In the past I've heard of people buying a rubbish bin to put their rubbish in, only to have it taken away as the collectors assume its part of the rubbish.

Its been nice these past 2 years to live in an area where a lot of people put their rubbish in a basket or bucket. The rubbish truck comes and the collectors empty the rubbish into the truck and leave the basket/bucket on the side of the road!

Still the dogs get into the bins and spread rubbish around occasionally. It can be pretty gross to come home and have to step over the dirty nappies to get inside!

And then last week our basket disappeared...I think the collectors dropped it in the wrong place, I walked around and saw some that may have been ours but not sure. So we have a new one now, but there were a few days when we just piled our rubbish up at our gate.

An old list

This is from around 2012, it was on the bottom of the blog but I'm getting rid of it now as its out of date....

# of pieces of furniture we own: 0 (apart from the beanbag and hammock we were given)

# of suitcases we have: 5 (plus a 70 litre backpack)

#of places that are currently home: 4 and 2 halves

#of languages my husband is familiar with: 4 dead, 5 living

#of places our siblings currently live: 6 different towns

#of addresses I’ve had in last 13 years: about 9? Depends how you count

Young peoples group take a trip

When friends came for dinner on Wednesday Soeun was not home but there were about 5 extra motorbikes at our house.

He had left that morning at 5am with a bunch of young people from church.  They had all stayed over the night before so they could leave on the bus, needing an early start as they were headed for a far away province.

My friends asked me what they would be doing on the trip.
 "Nothing." I said.
I was jokingly corrected, "Oh thats called a 'retreat'. If you call it a retreat it sounds more spiritual."

Well, they finally got back on Saturday night, one day late as they were having so much fun. I've been looking through the photos on our camera to see what this nothing/retreat was about.

It was a very photographed trip, as everyone had a camera on their phone. While they were away I saw some selfies pop up on facebook, and then on our camera there are photos of the selfies being taken....


Some of the activities  included....

....fellowship with the youth at the local church

....killing chickens at 9pm at night in order to pack lunch for the next day, I think they had to leave at 5am for a day trip

....visiting ancient temples (spot the random French person!)

....swimming under a waterfall

 ....taking photos

Unable receive the GPS information

....and taking photos of people taking photos

It was amusing to me to hear that there were 22 phones being charged plus 2 other devices. Amused partly because the house isn't connected to mains power, and partly because there were less than 22 people. NB, there was only one toilet- 22 phones and 1 toilet, doesn't add up for me.


Recently solar panels have started getting cheap enough to buy. I don't know what all the city youth would have done without it.  I'm not sure how many power boards and extension cords were used! A tangled web on a wooden floor.

They arrived home tired and happy on Saturday afternoon. Soeun then had to get ready to preach the next morning,

Royalty, rowers and revelry

Savour every last moment or start detaching?

Recently an American family left Cambodia for good. The mother described their plans for their last week and it was interesting to see 2 of her children's were doing opposite things. Their school had an overnight trip and one child decided to go and the other decided not to go.

We're leaving Phnom Penh soon and I find myself swinging between the 2 of these. On one hand I feel like I should spend as much time as I can outside with the people on our street as there is not much time left. On the other, I feel like what is the point of putting more effort into these relationship when we will have to say goodbye soon.

Province/city culture difference

Earlier I was just blogging about how my city friends have warned me life will be hard if we move to the province, and I was thinking about how there will be many lifestyle changes to try to adjust too. (See "3 warnings").  There is already, just living in Phnom Penh, but outside the major towns its even more different.

An example of this came up this afternoon. There are a group of young people (Khmer) from the city who have gone to spend a few days in the province. They planned to have a program with the youth at the local church at 4pm..... but no one turned up until 6pm.....2 hours late......

Even Khmer people have these annoying culture difference events, so imagine the foreigner!

How to host the perfect Water Festival dinner party

(or a description of what happened tonight)

0. Wait until your husband is away.

1. Have a Khmer friend over in the afternoon to put the rice on, she and her kids all wearing red tops.

2. Have one family bring over the curry, Water Festival snack for dessert, drink etc, whole family wearing pink/orangey/yellow type colour tops

3. Have another family bring watermelon cut to look like Christmas trees or fish. This family all wearing green tops.

4. Arrange the tables in front of the TV (to watch the coverage of the Water Festival, boats races, floating lights, marks when the river runs backwards- strange but true)

6. Have the token Cambodian prepare ombok (rice flakes eaten at Water Festival) with banana and coconut in a way that you haven't eaten before even though you have been in Cambodia for about 5 proper Water Festivals.

7. Get one of the guests to sweep and mop the floor after dinner.

8. Store left over watermelon and freshly got coconut juice in the fridge ready for playgroup tomorrow

9. Have a guest take cute photo of all the one year olds sitting on the stairs.

From the newspaper, Festival kindles painful memories (of 2010 stampede)
and

Return of the pageantry

Wed, 5 November 2014

Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Shane Worrell

Today, Cambodia welcomes back its Water Festival.

Four years removed from the tragedy of Koh Pich, and following the cancellation of three festivals since, the colour and energy of a much-loved national event returns to the streets and riverbanks of Phnom Penh.

And so do the crowds.

“We’re predicting about two million people will come,” said Chhin Ketana, secretary-general of the National Committee for Organizing National and International Festivals.

The event marks the end of the rainy season, when the flow of the Tonle Sap river changes direction near where it meets the Mekong.

The festival’s return will bring much joy but, for some, it will evoke the painful memories of the Koh Pich bridge stampede, which killed 353 people in 2010. click to read in full

Away and racing

3 warnings

"Your skin will go black if you live in the province, " she warned me.

Last week I made my  neighbours laugh by having the same conversation I've been having with Asians friends for the last 10 years. I still remember when I discovered that Asians generally prefer white skin, over the tanned look that is often considered beautiful in my own culture.

“Teacher, your face is white.”
In my first few months in China I felt kind of offended to hear this. Was she saying I looked sick? Or like a ghost?

(Skin colour is more beautiful on the other side of the fence) 2003

My friend across the road here in Phnom Penh knows we are thinking of living in a remote province one day, she doesn't think its a good idea. She gave me the warning about my skin turning black as if it was something really bad.

 It just sounded funny to me I almost laughed. And she and her "younger sister" did laugh when I told them some people in Aus who have white skin try to make it darker.

First 3 weeks I mostly saw Soeun holding the baby, so in contrast the baby looked white, but then my Aussie friend with beautiful skin arrived and suddenly my baby was brown!

The other 2 warnings:

Another neighbour used to work in the province in question (development/aid kind of work), he also warned me:

"It was hard for me to find food and live there, and I'm a local, so it will be harder for you."

And my closest Christian Khmer girl friend also knows it will be hard.

"Life is easier in Phnom Penh and there are more schools for your kids."

Soon we will be moving out of the capital city, but to live near the remote (altho fast changing) province, not actually living away from doctors, mains power etc just yet.

If we do live out in a  village there will be lots of lifestyle changes for me to get used to, I think it will be pretty hard. But at this point in time the thing that sounds hardest to me is being away from medical care, just being in PP is already a bit scary for an Aus (I went all the way to Thailand to give birth), so being outside the big town is another step.

Also it will mean homeschooling, which previously I only had heard negative things about, but since joining playgroups I've met a few homeschooling mums (or "moms" I should say) so now feeling a bit more open to that idea.

There is no need to learn the phrase "Where is the toilet?" It can be anywhere. So much freedom in Cambodia

Watery week

Its pretty much the end of rainy season here, in fact i thought it was over but this morning there was a storm and the city became very watery!

Later this week is a holiday, Water Festival we call it in English. It hasn't been held properly since the stampede in 2010. Its a huge national boat race week to mark when the river runs backwards, usually many ppl from all over the country come to PP, so its really crowded. Perhaps like Tamworth during January but more extreme as Cambodians generally more packed in than AUssies anyway.

October photos

Afternoon fun- I often see motos or bikes around with a string of roller blading kids attached to the back!

When we left Cambodia a few years ago they were just starting to fill in a lake in the middle of Phnom Penh. Its been very weird coming back and finding this vast space in the middle of the city. If I want to get into town I can ride my bike through it. Such a different view of the city to before, the mosque i used to live near by I can now see at the same time as the big government buildings on one of the main roads. They used to feel so far apart. And now there a few sky scrapers as well, which is another different thing.

Here is one of the roads in the filled in lake- or the refilled lake?

Neighbours

Our neighbourhood had a paved area, in the late afternoon many kids come out to play. We often share balls and trikes. Today there were some people playing a game where you had to jump over an elastic. There are a few hundred houses who share this space so we haven't gotten to know everyone, there are often people we play with who we haven't seen before. But there are also some families who we see many times each week, including a family opposite us who have a 3 yo and a girl the same age as our toddler.

It s so nice to have this space, in Phnom Penh its hard to find a place to hang out out side as most of the surfaces are covered in either buildings, ppl selling things or rubbish. Also its mostly too hot. Our neighbours mostly bring their kids out around 5-6pm. Most of the day this area is deserted but around that time its a colourful chaos of prams, roller blades, scooters, balls, pet dogs and even a monkey!

There are also a group of older women who do laps, walking around the outside doing exercise. I only recently realised our toddler put his hands together in a formal Khmer greeting (prayer hands) when he sees the "grandmas". They have been greeting him almost his whole life, and they all know his name.

oops i guess we had a communication breakdown

When I invite other English speaking expats and their kids over to play in our wading pool, I know how to say it, they know what I mean. Recently I tried to invite some neighbours over, I thought they got what I meant, and the kids and been over to swim before so I didn't think it would be that complicated. But when they turned up, they didn't get in the pool with our toddler. I found out later they had just had a bath and were not allowed to get wet! Last time they swam at our place it was a holiday, and it was with their mum, but this time their mum was at work.

I used to laugh...

Yesterday I got a lift home from playgroup in a friends car. She is also white, and also has a toddler. We both sat in the front with our toddlers on our laps. ( It was a really short distance.) I'm used to seeing Khmer families with lots of kids in the front, including on the drivers lap, I found it amusing that there were 2 of us , both white, doing it.

Rain
When I first came to Cambodia I was told that people don't go out to things if its raining. I thought that was kind of funny. I still turned up to teach my English class when it rained, but found no students there!

And the other week it rained in the morning. It was a Sunday, the time we were normally getting ready to go to church. We decided not to go as it was raining. When you are on a moto or even a tuk tuk a lightening storm with strong wind is scary! Also the roads around church flood, and its just so much work to drive through them, esp as you can't see the potholes under the water. I've come off my bike 2 times while riding over flooded pothole streets so I'm afraid of them now.

Some people in this part of the world stick a white menthol patch to their head when they have a headache. Looks really weird and funny to me. Last week I had a headache and neck ache. I got Soeun to stick some band aid looking things on my neck, it make it feel nice! Was able to get to sleep.

Sometimes the question doesn't mean the same thing to the askee/questioned as it does to the asker/questioner.

"What's your mum and dad doing for Pchum Ben?" I almost laughed when I heard my mother in law asked this.

In Cambodia its one of the major holidays, the religious stuff goes for about 2 weeks and the last 3 days are public holidays, many people travel to see relatives. So around this time everyone in Cambodia asks each other what they are doing for the holiday. Its totally relevant to ask within Cambodia but totally irrelevant to ask of people who live in Australia and are not Cambodia.

It reminded me of 2 other questions:

What are you doing for Christmas? (when I'm asked by a fellow Aussie, or other white person)
What are you doing for the summer? (when I'm asked by a fellow expat white person , usually from North American)

yays and yucks of my week as an aussie expat

Yays
*I saw some Australian friends!

*I found out Canadians say the final letter of the alphabet "correctly"

Yucks
* Knowing that today my government is planning on signing the refugee deal with Cambodia, happening now
 http://cambopedia.com/2014/09/26/stories-tweets-cambodia-refugee-deal-with-australia-auskhrefugee/

* Knowing the budget cuts kick in and this is the last week of the Aussie channel, hardly compares to the yuckiness of the refugee deal, or the other budget cuts but it has been nice to watch Aussie TV, the baby watches Playschool and Giggle and Hoot, I watch Sunday night dramas and the news. If I want to hear and Aussie accent from nextweek I'll have to turn on the radio or internet.

Discovery- 3 things I only just found I can get at the local market

I usually get some food etc at the local market and some at the supermarket. For example most of our meat, veg, fruit etc we can get at the market but if I want to buy foreign things like oats or wholegrain pasta I need to go to a shop.

I recently saw this cinnamon packet in a shop and asked Soeun about the khmer name for cinnamon. I hadn't heard of it used in Khmer cooking so I was surprised to see this was made in Cambodia. Soeun said when he was little he heard people talking about "sweet wood" used in medicine. THen i remebered when i was in CHina i used to buy cinnamon from the chemist.

For some reason I alwyas thought I had to buy cooking foil at the market, I guess I haven't seen khmer use it much, but recently I got some at the market after ages trying to explain what it was- like paper but made of metal.. "oh you want to cook fish"" no i ddon't want to cook fish but i said yes anyway and the seller handed me the foil!

And the other thing is cheese cloth, well thats what I call it. PPl use it cover dishes and food, and wipe dishes and maybe strain food too.

hey, don't push in! and why are you standing so close to me?

Choosing foreign food from the shelves as I walked up and down the straight aisles. The smooth floor, air con, fixed prices, food in packets, the lack of chaos and heat and noise lulled me into a false sense of security. I was surprised to find myself getting annoyed when I went to pay.

The process of choosing what I want to buy had been so much like it would be in Aust and in the big supermarkets like Thai Hout and Lucky, I had unconsciously expected that when I went to pay I would be part of a line of people. However it turned out to be claustrophobic huddle like at the market.

I don't think it bothers me at the market, I know its going to be like that, having that expectation  is the difference between just going with the flow or getting irritable.

Visiting...

Recently spent a few days visiting and learning about another town in Cambodia. This involved:

- eating a hamburger with a Khmer couple,
-some Cambodian curry with a Dutch/Aussie  family,
-cottage pie with a UK/Aussie (Chinese Malaysian) family
-as well as lots of coffee and bread with the Danish couple we stayed with. That was great for me but poor Soeun was starving so they brought in some white rice for him (they don't have any in their house).

Also had a visit from some of the extended family. As an Aussie I find the relationship titles on the Khmer side so amusing. For example with met a 3 year old boy who is our baby's "nephew" and our "grandchild".

Our baby enjoyed the company/ entertainment of the 4 half Aussie kids we spent time with, as well as his Cambodian nephew.

Our trip there was an adventure, one good thing was the TV was broken.

 When we got there we found that all the expats pretty much only go on the expensive safe bus which costs almost 3 times as much. I didn't realise there was such a difference, but we were happy to go back on a bus with brakes that worked, had 2 drivers on board, had leg room (no need to squash in sideways), suspension (bumps become kind of fun rather than painful), and it was really clean and they gave a water and a snack!! And the places they stopped had toilets with hand washing facilities and toilet paper which was a nice surprise, although the food was more expensive, some meals were $4.

A funeral

We were having breakfast just over a week ago and Soeun told me that one of our neighbours had either just died or was about too. He knew because he could hear the monks beginning to chant. He didn't know who or why but the whole neighbourhood knows when there is a death.

I find it weird that even though we may not know the family we know straight away that this is happening. Whereas Soeun finds it weird that we know nothing else about people who live less than 100 metres from us.

Later that day a huge tent was set up in the street with tables, and another tent outside our house for the kitchen. The noise of music, monks and cooking continued for a few days, often starting around 4 or 5am.

Soeun heard that it was a grandma who had died, and he heard the announcment about when they were taking the body to the place where they burn them. It just sounded like noise to me, constant clanging and babbling. Soeun spent his pre-school years with his grandpa who was a religious leader, he often went to death beds to chant, and Soeun went with him.

It was a relief to me when I saw a vehicle like this the one in the photo coming down our street. It was to take the body away and the 2 tents packed up on the same day. No more noise!

Photo thanks

Well.... no more noise until they set it all up again for the 7 day ceremony. The kitchen was right under our window, so we had fishy smells in our room, as well as early more putting-up- and - taking- down tent noise.

Similar things happen for weddings and one year old parties around here.

Phew!

I breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday.

7 of the previous 11 days we had workmen in our house, plus Soeun had been sick. It meant that some days we had to stay home when we had planned to go out, and some days go out when we had planned to stay home.  Most of our regular weekly activities went out the window, along with some one-off special things we were looking forward.

Some days we had to stay home and let in the workmen, who sometimes turned up on the day they said they would. Some days we had to go out as there was no where safe for the baby to play or because we felt it was wise to go to the doctor, with Soeun's headache getting worse each day. And mostly we didn't know ahead of time- the workmen would come unexpectedly or not turn up when we thought they would, and with Soeun health we kept thinking he might be getting better so no need to go to the doctor.


They fixed heaps of stuff that we had been waiting for ages to fix eg plumbing issues we noticed 6 months ago that would have been there the whole time. We are the first people to live in the house, its new, so its not like these leaks happened with the wear and tear of time, the shower drains were just never hooked together and sealed, so the shower water was seeping into walls and ceilings. Fixing that only took a day, but then they had to deal with the 18 months of water damage that had caused - sanding and painting.

Also the upstairs electricity has always had issues. It keeps turning itself off , I think thats a safety feature. We have had people into look at it before but the issues are ongoing, and these guys also couldn't find anything wrong with it. But then, because they were here for so long they got to see what happens when its on (I think one of them got an electric shock).

They also fixed a leaky toilet, that only took a few minutes, but the leaky roof ended up taking a few days.

"Why are you wearing socks?"
"Its hot"

Its been so hot and sticky lately, well I  guess it mostly is that way here. I pretty much wear the same all year round:  t-shirts and open shoes (usually thongs, or flip flops as most English speakers call them, or slippers if you are from Singapore etc). So different to when I was growing up, winter clothes, summer clothes etc.

unexpected eventful day

I thought I was going to be home with just the baby today. Saturdays and Thursdays are days of the week I can be home all day and no else comes over. On Saturdays Soeun is often out all day until after dark. But today.....

...his headache got heaps stronger, he's had it since Thursday. And last night he had some funny episode where he suddenly felt really weird, a bit like after he got bitten by a scorpion. So this morning when his pain was increasing, it scared us and reminded us of the 2 years we were in Aust recently. We actually talked about going to see the doctor, and Soeun is really sick of going to hospitals, so must be pretty serious  He had been taking parra, but then this morning I went and got something stronger and that seemed to help for today. Still pain, but not so intense.

So because of that we asked 2 younger sisters/aunties to come over to help out. They had breakfast at our place, they arrived while I was out going from chemist to chemist looking for painkillers.

And then 3 tradesman turned up. They came last Saturday, and then for 10 hours last Sunday and a few hours on Monday. I had thought it was all done so we were surprised to see them. I thought they were just checking their work. But they ended up staying all day, needed to do more stuff on the roof and also sanding and painting inside. So it was noisy and dusty! (still need to come back again)

Quite a contrast to how I thought the day would go.

Endless summer.....

So it feels a bit like its almost summer now (May) as the Americans around me, (esp ones with school kids, or who work at schools ) are getting ready for the long school holidays ("The Summer" as they seem to call it), many of them going  to visit  Nth America for June/July where it is actually summer.

And the last few months (March- April) are the hottest in Cambodia, and where I come from we call the hottest time of year summer.

And before that was Feb, and I went to visit my parents and siblings, which is something I would usually only ever do in summer.

And before that was Dec/Jan when it is summer in Aust, and while not very hot here, still warm. Also, that's when Christmas is so that made it feel summery.

Which goes with which?

1. gecko poo, cockroach, pumpkin

2. alcohol, building materials, hygiene products

3. Khmer, Nth American, Korean

4. roof, plumbing, electricity

a) common things advertised on TV
b) things that need to be fixed in our house
c) things the baby has eaten recently
d) people we see in a normal month

Triple surprise!

This afternoon our friends (an expat mum and baby) from down the road walked through our gate, when Baby saw them he made a noise and face like he was happily surprised. He seemed like he recognised them! The other baby did similar.
I was so surprised, I have never seen/heard him do that before, and I didn't know he would recognise them.
Just then Soeun noticed some orange flowers near our gate. He was surprised to see the blooms as there was no soil in the pot He had chucked a whole heap of bulbs in there ages ago after digging them up to use the soil for herbs.

bus trip

We took a bus trip to the province a week before Khmer new year and the bus was this crowded! Wholesale boxes of cigarettes down the aisle plus huge bags of stuff, no room under the bus to put our stuff. And seems the tickets and seats didn't match up, i got baby and me settled in what we thought was our seat but then was told to move. Two girls thought it was their seat as their seat numbers were above it, but our seat numbers were too. When others got on they told me i was sitting in their seat....

Diarrhea, dizziness and lots of fruit! SOme of the things we brought back from out New Year visit to the family in the village. This week is actually new year, but we went early to avoid overpricing and overcrowding (Baby's first bus trip!) It always takes awhile to recover so this week is staycation. Nice to be at home with no one visiting, we think the baby is more healthy, not sure.

Surviving hot season

- Rise before the sun
-Lots of cold showers/ bath/ hose downs (if your tap water isn't stored up in the sun!)
-Embrace the mango
-Don't be 30-something weeks pregnant
-Lots of cold showers/ bath/ hose downs
- Get fly screens on the windows so you can get some air flow at night without too many mossies.
- Keep fans, lights, devices charged
-Lots of cold showers/ bath/ hose downs
-Don't be a mad dog or English man

Returning to Cambodia in HOT season

... so far hasn't been too bad. Last hot season was really hard but so far (just a few days) its a it easier.  One good thing is we have power all day and night! another is I'm not pregnant so don't feel so hot! and we got a pool. It says to set it up in a sunny place, but as you can see we put it in the only bit of outside shade we have.

As always there are lots of changes we see when we get back. SO far I've noticed there is a new school next to the baby shop on the corner, the moto park near the market moved location and got a roof! shade!! and the place i eat near the market doesn't do dishes for lunch and dinner anymore. They still do pork and rice for breakfast but when I went to get dinner last night they only had fried rice or noodles. 

Its interesting that many people say Baby's skin is blacker now than when we left a  month ago. I think they are surprised as they would think of Aussies as having white skin, so why would a half AUssie baby get blacker when they went to Aus? I told them we don't have tuk tuks or motos so we tend to walk places. (Khmer friends often will go by moto even if its just a short distance). Also, as its cooler and there are footpaths and parks its nice to walk around just for fun, that part is harder to explain though. 

Trip to Australia

Well, back in Cambodia after a month of visiting family in Aus! So great to take Baby to see Aussie side of family. Also made quick social visit to one supporting church as well as visiting 2 of my sisters (including a new baby and new house) and Soeun preached a couple time at a khmer church. We also did a first aid course, drank lots of yummy milk and enjoyed my parents backyard. The Baby got to sit on grass, Soeun got to eat fresh veg and herbs and I got to use a Hills Hoist.

New things! New year, new market, new teeth, new friends

Even though there are a lot less Chinese people here than in China, Chinese New Year is still celebrated by many. In the lead up the market was extra busy and full of shiny red and gold, then yesterday arvo quiet. A few fire crackers around, and some people decorating their houses and putting out fruit etc.

 Well I was going to write that we are all healthy now- after a month of passing back and forth colds between the 3 of us.. Baby's first time to be sick.. but now Soeun is a bit unwell. We've been having lots of limes, ginger and other fruit and veg. It didn't help that we slept badly last night, partly to do with the mossies. It was really weird- suddenly at 6pm we had HEAPS in the house. I've never seen such a sudden cloud of them like that. We zapped heaps with the racket, then sprayed our room. The floor is still littered with dead mossies.

 The near by market keeps growing and changing each month, there are some photo over here on overflow blog.

I recently met another white person who lives near us! very exciting, she invited me to a play group in the area as well as church. I didn't know there were other expats that met here, its great to get to know some Nth Americans.

Meat arriving at the market

Beautiful Aerial Footage of Cambodia Shot With a Drone

Last few days on the streets

Some of the main events of the last few days include the shooting on Friday morning, where around 4 people died and more injured, then yesterday morning Freedom Park was cleared. It has been the place where the protesters have been hanging out and having rallies over the last few months. The PPP clip has some more details also this blog is a helpful summary:
http://hkorm.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/849/

Democracy unraveling

Christmas, protests, cold weather, power cuts, plumbing problems etc etc

We've just had a time of busy-ness and sickness, hopefully things will be a bit calmer in the next little while. Christmas is always a busy time for Khmer Christians, our church had Christmas on 22nd, then the youth had Christmas on 28th, then a big overnight thing on NYE. All these events take up a lot of Soeun's energy and time. To make it worse I asked him to take Dec 25th as a holiday and we were going to have Christmas lunch with some Aussies.... but then I got sick on Christmas eve and he spent the rest of the week bringing me fluids and looking after the baby!

When the main roads are blocked due to protests this is another direct road into town.

Countdown NYE food at church! Are the chicken using their feet to countdown?!

So after the NYE thing he came home exhausted and a bit unwell.

Yesterday I took a friend and her kids to an indoor play area in town. We were going to stay there all day to make the most of the one hour tuk tuk ride. But the daily protests  turned violent and people advised us to go home, as they were worried the streets would become more chaotic. A few people were killed, that was what everyone was talking about.

We had a power cut for about 10 hours, so I didn't have much internet access, and I discovered Baby does not like the dark. I was very glad when the lights came back on around 7.30pm!

Baby is enjoying sitting and eating with a spoon. Doesn't seem to matter what s on the spoon , he just likes eating from it.