Welcome to Our Home - Part One

We've been wanting to give you a tour of our home for a while, but were waiting until we were able to "rip-jahm" (organize) a bit more. But if we were to wait until everything was where we want it and neatly arranged, you'd probably never get to see it! So, just like I would say if you were here to take a tour in person, "Please excuse the mess!" and enjoy photos from House 0A, Street Tapun, Phnom Penh, Cambodia...

This is our first-floor living room, facing out to the street.

Here are Juliana and Kai playing in the living room (looking in from the front doors, with the dining room in the background)

A family meal around the dining room table

Our wonderful housekeeper, Ming (younger aunt) Nyaw, cooks a meal in the "outside kitchen" (which isn't really outside, but in a tiny room at the back of the house). It's separated from the "main" kitchen by a door (photo on right taken from that doorway facing in toward the front of the house.)

(Side note: the clear, glass cupboard on the right is where we keep our pantry/dry good items, and we call it the "ant cupboard." We don't keep ants in it - the name comes from the fact that this type of cupboard stands in "ant cups" which are filled with water or talc powder - which ants won't cross - to keep ants from getting into one's food supply. The ants here are a very determined bunch, and will get everywhere and anywhere if you're not careful!)

This shot is taken from the back of the "gonline da lan" (place to put a car), standing right outside the screen door from the main kitchen. It's big enough for 3 cars, we're told, but we mostly use it to park the EMM van; keep the trash and recycleables until they're thrown to the street for the trash men or given away to the recycle collectors, respectively; and to have visitors park their motorbikes inside.

Well, that's enough of a tour for this week, since we really do need to clean up a bit in some of the rooms. Also, the kids are napping in two of them! : )

But I thought I'd leave you with a photo from a recent outing to a Bubble Tea restaurant. Bubble teas are pretty popular in Asia, and usually consist of a milk-based, flavored tea with large, black, tapioca pearls in the bottom of the glass. I've never been one for things floating (or sinking!) in my beverages, but these are really tasty drinks. They're served with enormous straws through which one sucks the tea and tapioca pearls. Juliana especially likes these teas, and we've been to three different BT resaurants already! (The ones you see in the photo below are (L to R) honeydew, coffee, and almond.)

- Bethany