friends, floods, and fiddle-dee-sticks

Time to connect before too much more happens and I either get long-winded or avoid blogging at all.  I love the feedback from all of you and need to say that I am so fortunate to have so many lovely friends.  You are such a wonderful group of people.  What a privilege it is to know so many awesome folks!!! (Okay, it may sound a bit schmaltzy but I can't help it! Being alone in a developing country does that :-)

Angkor Wat in the background

Yippee!!! I had my first visitors from Canada a few weeks ago.  I can't express how awesome it was to have guests, great company, and see Angkor Wat with them.  Lauren, Curtis's cousin (a former student of mine) and Jennifer, young friends from Toronto,  stopped by on their SE Asia travels.  I so missed their company when they left and the one week they were here came and went way too quickly.  They arrived by bus, for an overnight stay before we headed to Siem Reap and one of the wonders of the world, Angkor Wat.  We cycled 36 k that day, not to mention going up and down the steep steps of the temples.  Exercise, hum, I have been lacking it big time in the heat of Cambodia.  I must say Jennifer with her Asian background caused quite a stir.  Apparently many of the Cambodians (especially the younger males) consider Jennifer to be one of the most beautiful women they have ever set eyes upon.  And, no one hesitated to mention it.  Males and females would look at her and openly express that she was soooo beautiful.  Jennifer commented that this is the first time she had experienced anything like it.  Both Jennifer and Lauren are beauties inside and out but I may be biased.  You be the judge:-)

preparing to venture out in the deluge of rain for our 20 minute walk home

Below are shots of Angkor Wat through the lens of Jennifer's camera.  Enjoy.

And now from the lens of my camera.

Then back on the home front, FLOODING!! The thunderstorms are amazing with horrendous crashes and booms and flashes of lightning everywhere.  They happen almost daily.  This particular day, the rain flooded the streets within seconds.  The water began coming into my house so I got bucket and mop trying to stay ahead of it all until it was actually flowing in.  All I could do was go upstairs and be grateful I had an upstairs. Others aren't as lucky.

Sorry about the blur...this is my living room! 

My courtyard

A scorpion that came in with the floods

The trick is to wait until the water subsides, let all the muck dry, then sweep it out.  Fortunately, the landlord was here the next morning and created a place for the water to drain out of the courtyard.  However, the floods have brought some frightening creatures into the house.  Moving my shoes irritated a centipede which not only startled me but got my bare feet a hopping trying to get out of the way of its poisonous bite.  They are fast!!! All's well that ends well as I took out my fear on the creepy crawly smashing it into pulp once I caught up with it, shoe in hand.  (A hammer would have worked but the shoe had a bigger smashing surface Anna W.)

Lauren and Jennifer did get to see a Cambodia that tourists don't usually see.  They participated in an enrolment campaign.  The event takes place two weeks before school starts to encourage the community to enrol all the school-aged children.  Here are a few pictures of the event.

Waiting out the downpour

This kid is like about 7 years old and no one bats an eye! 

More waiting

May as well shop while waiting

Ah yes, the "fiddle-dee-stick

Time to get started rain or not

And the band plays on

And then they left...so sad!!!!   Sob, sob.  The thing I miss most are the hugs from home!

Off to visit Vomith's English class.

A different day...school is now in session in spite of the flooding.  So a few glimpses of what I ride my moto through or wade through to get to my schools.  This is nothing!

Sharing a small bag of white rice for breakfast

There is a beauty to the flooding don't you think?

I'm off to Vietnam for a holiday in 5 days and am excited about a break and new adventure.  I'm sure you will hear all about it in the next blog.  Stay well, enjoy the lovely fall colours, Thanksgiving dinners, and the fresh dusting of snow.

Much love and thoughts from afar!