Home Sweet Home

I'm sitting here at Pizza Company with a full belly and free wifi. Mission work is so hard. ;o) Today was our first full day in our new flat. Although excited, I was a little nervous about leaving our temporary home in the hotel. We're working on setting everything up right now, but let me take a few steps back to explain how to we got to pizza, coke, and wifi.

The first Saturday we were in town Thida wanted to take us to look at several homes, apartments, and flats in her area. We all went, J&M with the intent to find a place, and Bradley and I simply looking to appease the group. In all honesty, we didn't think we'd find anything we liked enough on the first try, but hoped this outing would give us a better idea of pricing and availability. Finding a home never crossed my "stress" radar, as it is, in my mind, one of those things God would undoubtedly take care of since He brought us this far. Off to Thida's we headed for some house hunting, lunch, and of course play time.

One of the many faces of Eve...

Tuk tuk babes.

Tuk tuk goofballs.

The monks depend on the Buddhists for

their necessities, and the monks bless the

homes which give them their provisions.

Back alley/neighborhood street to Thida's home.

Tired baby. Tough mommy.

Here's a glimpse of the turquoise door on the house I heart.

Check out Evie's face. She's a poster child for everything.

The new baby in the house, Bebe. Isn't he precious!?!

Thida sharing Dragon fruit and mangosteens with the kids.

Evie calls them "Dragon apples", and Gabe remembers the

name only because they have the word Dragon in them.

See-nin, the mommy of Tina and Bebe.

Juice. It does a body good.

Jonathan sneaking in some tickle time.

Tina pulled a sneak attack bear hug on Bradley.

Brass monkey. That funky monkey.

Old school yo.

Tina and Serah - cutie pies!

I love how children have their own language they all understand: fun.

Lunchtime, Cambodia style.

Now, onto our flat. Thida had taken us to several flats and homes for rent, but they were all so big.  A typical home here is 2 or 3 flights high, since families usually live together, even after marriage. Every time we'd walk into a place, all I could think of what am I going to do with all this space, and goodness gracious! Who wants to clean all of this? See, here in Cambodia, there's this thing called dirt, and well, there's a lot of it that gets blown around, constantly. And this dirt, you understand, is looking for a home. Any home will suffice, as long as it has corners, crooks, and crannies, and windowsills. Let's not forget the windowsills. One might even suggest that dirt has an affection for windowsills. And in a city where every window has a metal grate on the inside of each window, one would believe that dirt was not only welcomed, but encouraged to nest in that warm little cove between glass and iron. The bigger the house, the bigger the opportunities for this union.

So, after our third or forth location, I finally told Thida, "this is too much!" Very clearly, I described the studio or 1 bedroom apartment my heart desired. Thida put her thumb nail to her mouth as she stared at the floor, thinking. Quickly, she whipped out her phone, made a call, and we were off to the next location. As we turned the corner, onto a new street, Thida pointed to a peachy-orange, 5 story home, and said, "that's it. There your new home!" Ummmm, what? Before I could say much of anything, we were greeted by one of the owners and her son. He was going to take us upstairs to look at the 2 available apartments. Aww. The tension in my jaw lessened, and we started up the stairs. The first apartment was 2 stories with  2 or 3 bedrooms and baths - I don't remember because 2 stories was enough to turn me off. So we headed for the final apartment, on the 5th floor. The door opened, and almost immediately I felt like I'd come home. In a foreign country. For 2 years. But still, I finally had the sense of I can do this, and we were ready to talk contracts. We assessed there was work to be done, but with only 4 rooms (living room; bedroom; bathroom; kitchen), it was doable. Our landlord is a blessing, as she is a smart, but kind business woman, and her husband speaks fluent English, as he lives in the states 6 months out of the year. We made sure we would be allowed to decorate and remodel how we wanted, and after a slight negotiation on the price, the deal was done. So, now I can say, "Welcome to our new home!" Let me give you a "before" tour of our flat, as we've already made some changes since these pics were taken.

The stair case down to our gated "garage" where we keep

our bike and moto. It's roughly 4 1/2 feet wide, by 15 feet long,

and we now share that space with our downstairs neighbors. It gets

a little crowded sometimes, but we make it work. We're extremely

grateful that not only is our landlord kind, but our neighbors

are very friendly as well. Once we learn the language,

I'm hopeful we'll be able to truly befriend them all.

If you're wondering the width of these steps, I'll measure Bradley's shoulder span and get back to you. Yeah, he has to turn just slightly, while ducking his head, to make it through without getting stuck.

Our living, dining, office room.

Front of the home, but our back door.

Hammock stand to the left - the reason Bradley wanted the house. ;o)

Ceiling in the living room.

View of the living space, standing with my back

to the back door. That's an indoor window into

our bedroom. Yeah, another window. ;o)

Hallway leading past the bedroom to the entrance.

Not the best pic, but this is the "back" patio, outside of the living space.

Entrance.

Bedroom - taking measurements already.

Standing with my back against the wall with the window.

You can see how the bathroom is elevated since it's a wet room.

Other side of the bedroom.

Bathroom.

Everything you need in less than 17 square feet.

IKEA don't got nothin' on Cambodia.

You could essentially shower and brush your teeth

while using the toilet. No, I do not plan on doing that,

but I could, if I wanted to. Which I don't.

Full view of the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, standing near the toilet, but

not touching it. Although this was one of the cleanest

flats we saw, it still needed some TLC before any

kind of surface touching would happen.

We plan to move the sink out, and use the cove area in

our bedroom to install a vanity sink. this will allow more

room in the shower, as well as relieve my fear of needing

to wash my hands when Bradley's using the facilities.

The kitchen was built outside, after the fact, and we're trying

to figure out just how to use the space during the rainy season.

It's enclosed, but the one big rain we've had so far flooded the

room. There's a tin roof on it now, but like I said, we're

brainstorming for ideas of how to make it work for us.

Gas stovetop. Yay!

This was the only argument we had with the landlord, or rather, the landlord's mother. Apparently in either Buddhist or Cambodian beliefs, an unoccupied beehive is good luck. So, they were wanting us to leave the beehive in our kitchen. Bradley demonstrated in the above picture that he couldn't even walk into the space without ducking. After a back and forth discussion, they finally agreed to let us carefully cut it down for them to keep. Bradley cracked me up when he said, "we don't want it. I will cut it down very carefully, and bring it to you. I don't want the luck. You can have it. Thank you."

Kitchen shelving and counter.

Looking into the entrance/hallway from the front porch.

Our front patio. Looking forward to having some

plants and peaceful mornings out here.

More of the patio.

The top of our stair case.

Our view.

Our landlord, and our view.

Okay, so I apparently like the view. Actually, what

I love is the breeze. We have a wonderful cross breeze,

and every time I feel it whip around my face, I think

thank you God for kissing my cheeks with a tiny

bit of coolness in this hot land.

House hunting is hard work for a baby.

Yet again, God has provided for us, and my gratitude is well, inexpressible. Our internet access has been limited, as we're no longer in the hotel, but hopefully I will have the "after" photos of our new homestead within the next few posts. Many "luxuries" are not available with this new home, but we have the blessing of running water and electricity. There are those who don't. If you have running water and electricity, please count your blessings, and be thankful for the intelligence provided by the Creator which enabled men to create these luxuries. Regardless of your situation though, if you've been given a safe place to call your own, whether temporary or permanent, let yourself smile inside and out knowing that you have a home sweet home.