…and the next chapter starts…

Driving here is a little bit crazy…you don’t use car seats…you see mopeds with 6…YES SIX…people on them…they don’t obey traffic lights…signs…if the cops see people without their helmets, they stand in the street and pull them off their bikes…there are not really “sides” to drive on…everyone just drives and weaves in and out of where they are going.

Here are a few photos of our ride into town.

 

Our first morning we decided to take a walk to Jim’s work…and this was on the stroller:

…and this was Zach after he saw it!

Our first TukTuk ride:

Napping at my new favorite coffee shop…I’ll be there lots –

Cafe Fresca

Going to the sports club

Bathrooms are co-ed…

My babies are celebrities here…SERIOUSLY…EVERYONE wants to see them, touch them, hold them, take a picture…everywhere we go!!  I think they are pretty special too!

…and elephant at the park…he’s there everyday.

What’s this?  Gecko Poo…yep, Miss Becky Holmes, you could NEVER live here…we have SEVERAL geckos in the house…they are just there.  I’ve heard the plus is that you don’t have bugs if you have geckos.  I’m OK with them right now…but if one runs across me in the middle of the night…WATCH THE EFF OUT!!!

One little bonus…some things are really cheap…I got two of these and a stand with baskets for my bathroom for $90.  Can’t do THAT back in the states.

Now….I know you ALL want to see pics of the house.  The house is NOT pic ready.  If I posted pictures you would all feel sorry for me and I’m doing enough of that on my own.  I will say, it is BIG…Probably about 3500 sq ft.  It has VERY tall ceilings…probably about 16’ and crown moulding in every room.  For now…those are the positive’s I’m choosing to acknowledge.

I will say this…with 3 babies…this is going to take some adjusting.

Here is my dryer:

Here is my hot water:

 

Here is my laundry room/maids bathroom:

Here are my “drawers”:

Here are my “shelves”:

   

Now don’t get me wrong…by Cambodian standards…we are living the dream.  Jim worked very hard to get a comfortable, large, beautiful home…these are just modern conveniences that you don’t get here…

1. None of the faucets have hot water.  They have one knob and cool water comes out.
2. The showers all have “water heaters” “on demand”…and they don’t have walls.  You just take a shower and the entire bathroom is your shower…you can literally sit on the pot and shower at the same time.
3. Kitchens are typically outside…so the fact that we have one IN OUR HOUSE…is a big deal…this is what I hear.
4. Dryers are pretty much a luxury.
5. You can get about 200 pieces of clothes washed AND pressed for $25.  I know this because I didn’t know how to use the washing machine and took all of our clothes there.  One day and $25 later, bam…everything was washed and pressed…down to my undies.  Pressed undies.  My booty feels better already!
6. Zach is running around playing with a toilet bowl brush.  Yes.  Tis true.  The first day I got here, we had NOTHING in the house but beds.  No pillows, towels, sheets…so after 36 hours of travel, I got in the car with Jim & Zach and we went “shopping”.  (another story, another day)…so Zach had his little basket and was “buying” things too…the toilet brush is lime green with pink eyes and a smiley face and just HAD to have it….and hey, who’s going to deny a little guy who’s been travelling for 36 hours a simple pleasure of owning his own toilet brush?  Soooo Zach takes it around the house hitting balls with the brush and carrying cars in the "bucket” (brush holder).
7. For $100 a month I have a TukTuk driver every day to take me wherever I want to go.  He helps me with my bags, watches my stuff while I shop and brings it all into my house.  Vichet…a pretty cool guy with 2 little girls.

So this is it for today.  I don’t have any of my help yet…so I have too much to do.  I WILL have a room available for whoever wants to visit after Friday…we say bye-bye to my parents…THAT is going to be one tough day.