so weve been back to kampot for a week now. we arrived thinking that we could move straight into the house..but as it turned out the landlady was busy getting the house ready for us. the whole place felt like a construction zone with new security bars being put on the windows downstairs, a kitchen counter being built...and a toilet being put in!! pretty impressive considering in australia it took months to get anything fixed by our landlord.
we ended up staying at the guest house from the monday til the thursday. it was nice to be back with some familiar faces and they all seemed pretty happy to have us there.
a volunteer that we had met in phnompenh had taken up our invite to come down for a visit for the weekend. of course we had expected to be in the house on the monday. but we figured that she would be able to handle the craziness. then the night before we moved in i got asked if we could have two more people staying...of course i jumped at the chance since i can think of nothing better than house guests...especially spontaneous ones. so yeah...the landlady finished cleaning the house at midday, and we picked up our first house guest at one o clock. not bad really.
we managed to buy the extra mattresses before it was evening....but the only sheets available were acrylic. a quick bike ride to the guest house fixed that with me 'borrowing' some for the weekend.
the weekend was a national holiday. cambodians honour their dead family members during '_________(oh to have a good memory)_____' by praying to them and bringing food to the pagodas that the monks eat. ive been thinking about it a little bit and realised that cambodians have such a strong connection to their dead family members. its not like other countries where each family have grandparents who passed away and the occasional younger family member. millions of cambodians were killed or died from starvation and disease around the time i was born. entire families gone. so when a cambodian goes to pray to their dead this weekend i am sure that along with the tradition and the lighting of incense there are also horrific memories that flood black from the time when the khmer rouge ruled this country. ive had my head immersed in another book about a young girl's story from back then and its absolutely heartbreaking. if you are not familiar with the history of cambodia i would really recommend the books 'first they killed my father'(oh to remember the authors name) or 'when broken glass floats' by chanrity him.
the weekend was fun with a combination of moving into our home and entertaining three visitors. we still hadnt really stocked up on any food and wondered what we would do for breakfast. but sure enough the landlady brought around breakfast two mornings in a row. sticky rice filled with either bananas or pork and red lentils, then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on the fire. we were also given a beautiful coconut curry. we were also given some banana rolls by Any. the lovely girl from the guest house that we have gotten to know.
speaking of which. weve asked Any if she would like to come to our home in the mornings for three hours. two of those hours would involve her helping us with things like going to the market or general house work. the other hour steve is going to give her english and computer lessons. Any is thrilled since she is so keen to learn. she realises that the only way for her to get a better job is to study yet with working at the guest house she doesnt have time to study formally. i cant remember if i already mentioned that Any works from midday to 10pm, six days a week...and gets $20 a month. and at the moment she is the only person in her family earning money. mind boggling!
its going to take her a while to understand that we dont see her as a servant but as a friend.
its pretty crazy how quickly things are unfolding here. not only are we trying to settle into 'white elephant palace' but at the same time mastering bike riding while dodging pot holes and cows. steve also forced me to try to ride a motorbike. since my only experience of riding one was when i was 17, and i managed to end up in the only mailbox on a forest trail in oregon i wasnt too keen. however...i gave it a go. thankfully the waterbuffalo was nowhere to be seen as i tried to stay on the dirt road between the two very wet rice paddies. i was seriously nervous and couldnt believe how much tension i had in my hands and arms...but i didnt get wet and managed to stay on the motorbike. and hey...steve even said i did a good job! so hopefully it wont be very long before i can take three of the kids on the back of the motorbike like steve is doing these days.
weve been told that there are just over a hundred english speakers living in kampot. so far we have met about 10 of them. most of our connections come from the little playgroup that was established about two months ago. 'peppercorns' meet twice a week at a little cafe in town. everyone brings along some toys to share which seems to work alright.
steve has also met a few of the aussies living here that he had connections with from his melbourne days. they are christians who seem to think that jesus cared more about social justice than getting rich. who knows what inspired them to reach that conclusion? maybe the 'blab it and grab it' and 'name it and claim it' belief doesnt go down that well in the cambodian slums. or maybe they just read their bibles in context. who knows. either way ive met one of them so far and she seems like the sort of person i wouldnt mind hanging out with. it didnt take long before we were discussing the lack of maternity care...with one in ten babies dying in their first week of life. as well as important topics like 'mastering yogurt'. i of course feel like a pro after my first week of yogurt production has already produced many litres of great tasting yogurt. (who would have thought a humble combination of milk powder and sunshine could taste so good?)
weve practically given up on tuktuk rides along uterus road since they have to go so slowly and if its muddy we have to get out and push. this means that if we want to go somewhere steve hops on the moto (motorbike) and takes three of the kids with him...and then me and on of the big kids hop on our own bikes. it works well. im trying to get used to the traffic. the funny thing is that you couldnt find easier traffic to handle...BUT..its still different to what im used to and it will take me a while to know how to deal with cars & trucks coming towards me in my own lane. i am very aware though that since i was ten i have always wanted to live in a place where i can safely ride my bike around. kampot might just be that place.
i had my first khmer lesson yesterday afternoon. steve and levi have theirs at 7am. neshi and i have ours at 4pm. my teacher 'sam po' (i have to think of shampoo) is a lovely lady who doesnt speak one word of english. when i couldnt make one of the many hard sounds she would just say it louder...and louder. and then she tried to be helpful by writing the sound in khmer and kept pointing at it hoping that if she pointed enough times at the squiggle i would somehow be able to make the correct sound. as lovely as she is i dont think that its going to work out.
the latest update in the health department is that so far we have no more cases of chicken pox. ocea ended up with a high fever..but then so did Time and Levi...and now steve seems to have it as well...along with a stubborn cough. in terms of injuries we have had two with ocea. one of her falling off a low table and cutting her head...and one of her falling out of a hammock while entertaining the neighbours. (i heard the ocea siren loud and clear). Levi also had an injury. yesterday he was outside playing a game with steve when he stubbed his toe on a rock. steve went over to have a look...levi managed to say "this is why people wear shoes" before he let out a snore and then collapsed in a heap. steve managed to catch him before he crashed into the ground. and carried a very heavy load of jelly into the house...with a very bloody toe. Levi woke up in the shower thinking it had all been a dream but then very quickly realised that it was all very real and his toe was extremely painful. thankfully some painkillers, a couple of mentos and a very big bandage sorted it all out. weve been told to avoid the local hospital at all costs so thankfully we were able to sort it out ourselves. (having said that i did wonder this morning when i changed the bandage if it needs a stitch or two...) the plan is that if we get really sick it needs to coincide with a visit to phnom penh...and we are only allowed to get really injured if we are in bangkok.
so thats whats happening in our life in a nutshell so far. obviously im leaving out thousands of little encounters that are stories in themselves and not in anyway doing justice to what we are experiencing. its just too hard to get it all down in writing. if you want more details its probably best to hop on a plane and come over and see for yourself whats happening in the White Elephant Palace on Uterus road.
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