Home Sweet Home

Consider this blog post your formal tour of our new place.  We will start from the top...Our bathroom is bright orange, we can't decide if this is a upgrade or downgrade from our previous bubblegum pink bathroom we moved out of.  However, unlike many, we do have hot water heaters for the shower, so we are very thankful, though we rarely use them because it is just too hot.  On to our bedroom, one great thing about Cambodia is that the beds are huge.  We have a "queen" bed, but really it is closer to a king size.  We wake up to the sound of roosters, Khmer music, or the numerous houses that are below us (more like a combo of all three), but it is quieter than our previous bedroom so we are very thankful. 

Moving on to the dining room and kitchen.  Like most other families our shoe rack and washing machine sit next to our dinner table just in case you need to run out the door, or have some pants you are waiting to put in the wash.  The kitchen is more of a nook, but works for us as we are starting to make more and more western dishes over the weekends.  During the weekday we enjoy Khmer delicacies from our cook Ohm.  We continue into our living room, complete with our ratan sofa (mentioned here).  We decided to paint a wall and hang photos we have taken of different cities or towns in Colorado.  It reminds us of home, and we love seeing them as we walk in the door.  Hanging these photos did come at a cost though, it took six (yes six) trips to the frame shop to get all eight frames right, and 4 trips to the "hardware store" to get the 10 necessary drill bits.  Walls in Cambodia are all concrete so it is not as simple as just hammering in a few nails, it involves drilling through cement, anchors, and then screws.  Needless to say the walls are not forgiving, but I think we did a good job. 

Next we will visit our back porch off our bedroom.  Every morning (so far) it brings in a wonderful breeze to cool things off, but with that it also brings in a not-so-wonderful stench from the trash/sewage water below.  Despite that, we love this part of our house, because we can sit and watch the many Cambodians below us lighting their fires to cook meals, while listening to their music, while the continue on in their day to day lives.  Truly a treat to have off the back of your home. 

Our final stop is the guest bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment.  This room also comes with a bright orange bathroom, but more importantly has a beautiful illustration of a boy and his sheep painted on the tile.  We have saved this delight just for all the many people we hope to have as visitors.  Now that you have seen the place we look forward to hosting you!  We are just around the corner...right?  Like we have said before, we love our home and are grateful for this place; a home we can come back to and feel comfortable and relax in.