thin house

Can’t belive I haven’t posted since November!!! In November we moved house and moved away from the internet connection we had, we were so busy working, moving and sourcing things for the house that we did not have much time for downloading photos and writing on blogs! So sorry 🙂
Here is our new house. We call it a “town house” because it is more urban than where we were. It is very tall and thin like town houses in England. Here they are called “thin houses” or a “pataya when”. “Pataya” is house and “when” is you’ve guessed it, the word for thin. Most of the houses round here are like this and will often house several members of one family plus some kind of business, like a shop or hairdresser.
We are enjoying the space inside (there are five bedrooms and six toilet/shower rooms) since we have no garden. The garden is on the roof…more pictures to come later.
We have started to make aquaintences with our neighbours and are practising our little bit of Khmer language!

I finally got “wheels” at the beginning of the year which has been amazing! So much more freedom to come and go from school rather than being tied to a set time to go home or negotiating the fare home every day with a different driver. The traffic is “interesting”. Someone descibed it as slow italian driving. something could be coming at you from any direction. The rules are….drive slowish…be prepared for anything…..pull out don’t wait for anyone to stop because they won’t stop until you pull out!…..beep your horn at anything in your way except something which is bigger than you!
Colin wants to get some more practise before he goes on the main roads as it is very scary and hairy!! I had already learnt to ride a motobike when I lived in Thailand so it was not too hard for me to pick it up. Colin has never ridden one before coming to Cambodia.
Ewan likes to clean the “moto” for me! Lucia and myself were off to one of Lucia’s friends birthday parties. I am having to get used to riding with a child on the front…..I think I will draw the line at only two children on the moto with me!! It is not uncommon to see up to four adults on one bike!