here it is folks...lacking wit..but at least its done.
so i promised to write more.
another thing that has been taking place since i last wrote is that our connection with Any has gotten a lot stronger. she has been spending a few mornings a week with us and then heading off to the guest house at 11am. last week she told us that she wants to find another job so that she can take more english lessons. her dream is to be a tour guide but to do that her english has to improve...and at the moment she only has time to have her lessons between 5 and 6am. we were so pleased to ask her to come and work for us instead. it means she wont have to rush off everyday so early and we can spend a lot more time with her without the guest house constantly waiting. i would really love for 'here and there' to be run by Any as much as possible. to really widen her skills so that she is a lot more employable down the track. would be great to see her self confidence build by having a bit of ownership. the cool thing though is that just the other day i was chatting to an aussie lady that has just opened a winebar in town with her brother. he takes people on tours...its all very new..but she was really keen to have Any come along and be introduced to the whole tour guide thing. i havent even had a chance to tell Any the good news yet since she has been working nonstop at the guest house because its a national holiday week.
the other thing that has come out of our friendship with Any is that her younger sister Srei-tut came over the day before the wedding. she is 13 but the same size as neshica. once she realised that we were happy for her to be here she brought along her friend Srei-net. which then had this chain reaction and the whole week weve had so many kids playing at our house. i get out of bed and there are kids playing blocks and drawing in the living room. and then when i get downstairs there are kids using the skipping rope and playing elastics. its just been so great to have so many kids around. levi and neshica have loved it as well since up til now theyve only had a homeschool family as friends and they are super super busy with their days. not only have we had preteens hanging around...but the little kids have multiplied as well as weve had so many of them running around non stop. i eventually had to make upstairs a no go zone and bring all the crafty things and blocks down stairs so we could control the mayhem somewhat.
this past week has been a lot of fun because of the national holiday and ive tried to make more of a point being around the neighbours and just hanging out with them (possibly to get away from all the kids). after sitting with them in their garden that is connected to ours..i went inside and made a bowl of popcorn for everyone to share. and sure enough...NONE of them had ever had any!! it was so fascinating to watch grownups being introduced to popcorn. taking each one in their hand and studying it carefully and using their facial expressions to ask what it is. i brought some uncooked kernels out for them to see and got the dictionary to i could say corn. once we were on our third bowl i invited them inside and showed them how i make it. even lifting the lid off for full effect. they loooooooooooooved it. the funny thing is that our neighbours are really well educated young people. the three older kids are all at uni and the youngest is finishing highschool this year and hoping to study medicine. but even for them in their early twenties popcorn is a whole new phenomenon. after that ive been making pop corn for all the kids and they are gobbling it down. many of them are so malnourished that part of me worries that im screwing up their systems by filling them with corn. but as someone pointed out to me this week...at least im not handing out sweets. (so many of the kids have rotten teeth here).
because of the holiday i was asked to come along to a ladies only day out to rabbit island. thankfully i learned a couple of years ago that 'ladies only' isnt actually as bad as it sounds and i figured it might be a good chance to redeem the place in my mind since last time i was there the experience was somewhat tricky. (chicken pox etc) it turned out to be ten of us that went along. mainly owners of guest houses and a few volunteers. the day was absolutely glorious with the ocean perfectly still. i spent a lot of time just soaking up the salt water and sunshine...(good for the soul). in fact..it was so good that some of us decided to spend the night. a quick phonecall to steve to confirm that yes...he is a very flexible husband....and then it was off to hire a bungalow for the night. everyone was in a really good mood and we stayed up late under the full moon. it was only as i woke up the next morning that i realised that i had in fact been offered to smoke a joint the night before. i dont know how i made it to 35 years without being offered one before...but sure enough...the moment we all get warned about happened.
on the way back from the island we stopped at a bakery run by a german lady. we have met her once before and had a good chat to her. she has a 10 year old daughter who is homeschooled...and just so happens to be a coeliac as well. imagine that...being coeliac and having to live upstairs to a bakery. doing all your school work sitting in front of a cake display. but as her very german mother said with her very german accent: "vhy zould i stop eating zometing juzt because zee cant? zould i cut my leg off juzt because zee only has one??"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
okay so....i had good intentions to send this off asap. its now like two or three weeks later!!
so im sending this off tonight no matter what. im painfully aware that its not the most interesting update.
but let me end with these nutshells:
favorite female: definately the noodle lady. she makes noodle soup every morning for this area of uterus road. her name is 'srei'...which i just found out because to us she is always 'noodle lady'. she is really keen to learn english...so keen in fact that the other morning she wrote a new word in a notebook...i had a look and it was her english book from 1989. impressive!
favorite guy: would have to be roger up at the guest house in phnom penh. i love sitting down at his table at seven in the morning when he has already had two bottles of beer. he is full of interesting stories from his time as a homeless man living in hawaii. and last time i saw him he even sang some hawaiian love songs in a brooklyn accent! peyfect!
most frequent meal: fresh rice noodles with pork seems to be a winner around here..as well as daily fish and rice for lunch....steve cooks most of the time and is well and truly giving me 'looks' when i do things the 'wrong' way in the kitchen.
lesson learned the hard way: acrylic underwear and bike riding are not a good mix in tropical climates.
favorite visitor for Time's birthday: an elephant that was hanging around the markets eating discarded coconut shells just so happened to walk past our house a bit later in the morning. TIme and ocea ran down the road to greet him but very quickly ran back when they realised how big he was.
person i dont need to meet again: the director of the school i rode half an hour to early in the morning to do a craft session with the kids. i was the first visitor there at 7:30am. the one thing that she had translated for me was not: "thanks for coming along" or "where are you from" or any of the other gazillion things that would have been appropiate. instead she got the translator to say "she thinks you are very big". thanks bitch.
yummiest drink: freshly made sugar cane juice with lime. bliss!
situation most in need of a personality infusion: opening of a yoga retreat. (less yoga more wit i say.)
reason its hard to get through our front door: piles of fabric as well as local kids sprawled on the floor playing with blocks or lego or drawing.
what you hear when someone realises something is broken or destroyed: OOCCEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
on that note i will end this overdue update. im in the process of making a blog to keep people up to date with whats happening with my little (umm...not so little anymore) project.www.hereandtherecambodia.blogspot.com (dont get your hopes up yet)
so i promised to write more.
another thing that has been taking place since i last wrote is that our connection with Any has gotten a lot stronger. she has been spending a few mornings a week with us and then heading off to the guest house at 11am. last week she told us that she wants to find another job so that she can take more english lessons. her dream is to be a tour guide but to do that her english has to improve...and at the moment she only has time to have her lessons between 5 and 6am. we were so pleased to ask her to come and work for us instead. it means she wont have to rush off everyday so early and we can spend a lot more time with her without the guest house constantly waiting. i would really love for 'here and there' to be run by Any as much as possible. to really widen her skills so that she is a lot more employable down the track. would be great to see her self confidence build by having a bit of ownership. the cool thing though is that just the other day i was chatting to an aussie lady that has just opened a winebar in town with her brother. he takes people on tours...its all very new..but she was really keen to have Any come along and be introduced to the whole tour guide thing. i havent even had a chance to tell Any the good news yet since she has been working nonstop at the guest house because its a national holiday week.
the other thing that has come out of our friendship with Any is that her younger sister Srei-tut came over the day before the wedding. she is 13 but the same size as neshica. once she realised that we were happy for her to be here she brought along her friend Srei-net. which then had this chain reaction and the whole week weve had so many kids playing at our house. i get out of bed and there are kids playing blocks and drawing in the living room. and then when i get downstairs there are kids using the skipping rope and playing elastics. its just been so great to have so many kids around. levi and neshica have loved it as well since up til now theyve only had a homeschool family as friends and they are super super busy with their days. not only have we had preteens hanging around...but the little kids have multiplied as well as weve had so many of them running around non stop. i eventually had to make upstairs a no go zone and bring all the crafty things and blocks down stairs so we could control the mayhem somewhat.
this past week has been a lot of fun because of the national holiday and ive tried to make more of a point being around the neighbours and just hanging out with them (possibly to get away from all the kids). after sitting with them in their garden that is connected to ours..i went inside and made a bowl of popcorn for everyone to share. and sure enough...NONE of them had ever had any!! it was so fascinating to watch grownups being introduced to popcorn. taking each one in their hand and studying it carefully and using their facial expressions to ask what it is. i brought some uncooked kernels out for them to see and got the dictionary to i could say corn. once we were on our third bowl i invited them inside and showed them how i make it. even lifting the lid off for full effect. they loooooooooooooved it. the funny thing is that our neighbours are really well educated young people. the three older kids are all at uni and the youngest is finishing highschool this year and hoping to study medicine. but even for them in their early twenties popcorn is a whole new phenomenon. after that ive been making pop corn for all the kids and they are gobbling it down. many of them are so malnourished that part of me worries that im screwing up their systems by filling them with corn. but as someone pointed out to me this week...at least im not handing out sweets. (so many of the kids have rotten teeth here).
because of the holiday i was asked to come along to a ladies only day out to rabbit island. thankfully i learned a couple of years ago that 'ladies only' isnt actually as bad as it sounds and i figured it might be a good chance to redeem the place in my mind since last time i was there the experience was somewhat tricky. (chicken pox etc) it turned out to be ten of us that went along. mainly owners of guest houses and a few volunteers. the day was absolutely glorious with the ocean perfectly still. i spent a lot of time just soaking up the salt water and sunshine...(good for the soul). in fact..it was so good that some of us decided to spend the night. a quick phonecall to steve to confirm that yes...he is a very flexible husband....and then it was off to hire a bungalow for the night. everyone was in a really good mood and we stayed up late under the full moon. it was only as i woke up the next morning that i realised that i had in fact been offered to smoke a joint the night before. i dont know how i made it to 35 years without being offered one before...but sure enough...the moment we all get warned about happened.
on the way back from the island we stopped at a bakery run by a german lady. we have met her once before and had a good chat to her. she has a 10 year old daughter who is homeschooled...and just so happens to be a coeliac as well. imagine that...being coeliac and having to live upstairs to a bakery. doing all your school work sitting in front of a cake display. but as her very german mother said with her very german accent: "vhy zould i stop eating zometing juzt because zee cant? zould i cut my leg off juzt because zee only has one??"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
okay so....i had good intentions to send this off asap. its now like two or three weeks later!!
so im sending this off tonight no matter what. im painfully aware that its not the most interesting update.
but let me end with these nutshells:
favorite female: definately the noodle lady. she makes noodle soup every morning for this area of uterus road. her name is 'srei'...which i just found out because to us she is always 'noodle lady'. she is really keen to learn english...so keen in fact that the other morning she wrote a new word in a notebook...i had a look and it was her english book from 1989. impressive!
favorite guy: would have to be roger up at the guest house in phnom penh. i love sitting down at his table at seven in the morning when he has already had two bottles of beer. he is full of interesting stories from his time as a homeless man living in hawaii. and last time i saw him he even sang some hawaiian love songs in a brooklyn accent! peyfect!
most frequent meal: fresh rice noodles with pork seems to be a winner around here..as well as daily fish and rice for lunch....steve cooks most of the time and is well and truly giving me 'looks' when i do things the 'wrong' way in the kitchen.
lesson learned the hard way: acrylic underwear and bike riding are not a good mix in tropical climates.
favorite visitor for Time's birthday: an elephant that was hanging around the markets eating discarded coconut shells just so happened to walk past our house a bit later in the morning. TIme and ocea ran down the road to greet him but very quickly ran back when they realised how big he was.
person i dont need to meet again: the director of the school i rode half an hour to early in the morning to do a craft session with the kids. i was the first visitor there at 7:30am. the one thing that she had translated for me was not: "thanks for coming along" or "where are you from" or any of the other gazillion things that would have been appropiate. instead she got the translator to say "she thinks you are very big". thanks bitch.
yummiest drink: freshly made sugar cane juice with lime. bliss!
situation most in need of a personality infusion: opening of a yoga retreat. (less yoga more wit i say.)
reason its hard to get through our front door: piles of fabric as well as local kids sprawled on the floor playing with blocks or lego or drawing.
what you hear when someone realises something is broken or destroyed: OOCCEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
on that note i will end this overdue update. im in the process of making a blog to keep people up to date with whats happening with my little (umm...not so little anymore) project.www.hereandtherecambodia.blogspot.com (dont get your hopes up yet)
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