Our House
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 22/May/2011 12:22, 34 days ago
Our House.I have finally found a house to live in here in Sisophon. After one and a half years living in one small room in a guesthouse, it now feels like I’m in a mansion. It’s what’s known in Asia as a shop-house, our front door is a folding gate, which Cambodians open back in the morning to reveal the family business located in the front room. A gate instead of a door is no problem in a country where the temperature rarely drops below 20 degrees. Another benefit of the gate is that creatures crawling in can easily crawl back out! I have lots of company, apart from my house mate Vicky, (A new Education Volunteer) we have many welcoming neighbours, including my V.A. and his mother Dah. We were a novelty for the first few days, everyone stopped and looked in as they passed, including the hoards of children who enjoyed using their only English word‘Hello’. There’s always something going on in the street, children playing, vendors passing up and down calling out their wares, people preparing their market stalls, the sign painter‘Golden Horse’ in his Vietnamese hat, painting his huge signs in the shade, numerous ladies and a few men at their machines, sewing from dawn to dusk, an engagement party,men sharing a bottle of rice wine on a Saturday night. In face, never a dull moment.Rain brings great excitement. No gentle Irish mists here, after ten minutes rain, our road becomes a river, lots of free water which the whole street takes advantage of. Women wash their hair by letting the water running off the roof flow over them. Children run riot, splashing and throwing water at each other until the parents are ready to give them a serious wash. Rubbish floats away and the street gets cleaned. We enjoy the freshness and cool breeze that comes with the rain, and of course watching the activity outside our door.After so long I'm really enjoying living in a community and having people to talk to, even if I only understand a little of the conversation.