Indeed. It's getting rather warm here in Cambodia, and as the heat increases, so does the frequency of power outages. We've been blessed where we live to not experience as many and as lengthy blackouts as some other parts of the city (not sure exactly why), but it's still a bummer. Just when you really want to be able to count on consistent airflow from your nearest fan, you may instead be sitting in your sweat, praying for the power to come back on... : )
The change of temperature has also marked another change in the Umble home. We began a new schedule of language study last week - Ryan and I are studying together for the first time! We are taking the Institute of Foreign Language's Level II Khmer, and it's going really well. As you may recall, Ryan studied Level I there, but I spent the last 6 months with a private tutor. I was curious how it would be to jump in at the second level, not having taken IFL's first course, but so far, so good. We were also a bit concerned about the childcare situation, but needn't have worried. Nyaw, our house helper, agreed to lengthen her work day by an hour and a half to enable us to take the class together. (She hadn't really watched the kids before - we took turns studying and tending them ourselves.) Juliana and Kai are usually both napping when we leave for class at 3:30 pm, and then they play with "Om" (older aunt) until we return by 6:15 pm. We're thinking it will also be a boost for them to learn Khmer, as they play and communicate more directly with her. (No parents around for Juliana to request an English translation!)
Lokru (teacher) Phara, our professor at IFL is a jovial and knowledgeable instructor
"Om Nyaw" and her rambunctious charges
Next week is Khmer New Year, the biggest holiday of the year. It's actually three days long, but most of the city empties out for the entire week as people travel to their hometowns to celebrate with family. We'll be joining Nyaw and some of her children for a five-day visit to their relatives in Kompong Thom. We're looking forward to a lot of new cultural learning experiences, but we hear that it might be a week lacking in sleep due to the noisy, late-night festivities that accompany the celebration. We'll let you know all about it in a couple weeks! : )
- Bethany
1 comment:
Awww man. A week of no sleep, how GLORIOUS for you guys! :) Best of luck with that. I am still looking for the warm weather to hit this side of the Earth...I am still waiting. I can't remember what it even feels like to sweat, just shiver. :) Love you. Mis.
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