Christmas on Christmas day

I thought I knew that

Recently I was surprised by my own surprise. 

Our washing machine broke 5.5 weeks ago. We had especially bought it brand new from a good shop so we wouldn't have to deal with it breaking a lot. 

But after 2 years it broke. Boo.

The first thing out of my mouth was "Well, I guess I'll take the washing to a laundry shop or see if I can use a friend's machine." Soeun laughed at me- "No, we'll just wash our clothes." 

To him hand washing clothes is the normal, easy and logical thing to do, my suggestions sounded ridiculous to him. Likewise his suggestion of hand washing all the clothes and sheets and towels that the 4 of us use just sounds really hard, it didn't even consider it.

Our broken washing machine strapped onto a moto about to ride over bumpy dusty roads to the fix it shop.

I already know Soeun grew up without a washing machine, and that most people in Cambodia don't even have mains power , let alone a washing machine. And it's not like we just have one by default. When we were thinking about getting married we considered how we were going to live as a Khmer/Australia family in Cambodia and whether or not a washing machine would be part of that.  Yet I was still really surprised by Soeun's reaction to our broken washing machine.

Its not the first time I've been surprised by my own surprise. There was also the time I went to teach English in my first year and no students turned up. I had been told that often people don't go out in the rain, but it wasn't until I saw it that I really got it. 

Christmas in a tropical tourist temple town

After most of my adult life in Asian cities where Christmas is not/was not  really noticeable, I'm now living in a small town that seems to mostly run on tourism.

 

I'm partly amused, and partly annoyed and partly enjoying the fact that Siem Reap has a Christmassy feel. Hotels have light displays, bookshops sell tinsel and Santa Clause clothes for all sizes and the expat community is discussing which places have the best Christmas dinner. 

Even our fried rice shop has put up tinsel and Coke cans!

Bookshops around town are selling gift wrapping, decorations and Santa outfits for kids. This shop has a mannequin dressed in a red dressing and white beard. 

Phew! time to take a breath

It feels like the busyness and stress of the last couple of month is easing!

 Since I got married things usually get more busy around this time of year as Khmer churches put on huge Christmas celebrations so Soeun is usually extra busy this month. And while there is lots of Christmas busyness happening at church how its worked out with Soeun's subjects and other things means things feel less deadline-ish and intense for us this week.

So now we are catching up on all those odd jobs (Soeun just got the data off my broken laptop and fixed the kitchen leak) and thinking about how we are going to celebrate our wedding anniversary!

We actually have 3 days in a row free so we could have gone somewhere but decided staying home will be more restful. Its such nice weather at this time of year, and there are so many touristy cafes to visit and Christmas lights to see. Siem Reap feel like the perfect holiday destination for us right now!