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.