Water Festival 2017: The White Elephant

Water Festival is a big deal in Cambodia. The kids and Ben got a whole week off of school for it. We wanted to go somewhere with more nature than we have normally, but not drive for hours trying to get there.

Ben decided to take us to the White Elephant hotel on the edge of town. It’s about 15 minutes driving if you have traffic and has plants everywhere. It feels like you’re in a garden.

The kids loved the river-shaped pool best of all, especially since in had a bridge going over the middle. Elias got on the bridge and we threw the ball back and forth over it while he tried to catch it. Since there weren’t many people, it was a good game.

I enjoyed trying new Asian foods. The cashew chicken was amazing and is now my new favorite dish!

The kids liked exploring the garden and finding statues. There were huge statues of a camel, dolphin, dragon and this horse. The White Elephant is definitely a place I would recommend, especially for families.

Pchum Ben 2017

I’m so thankful that I was able to fly to the States for Pchum Ben this year. Ever since Zoe was born in Cambodia we’ve been trying to figure out a good time to introduce her to family in the States. We wanted to do that while she was still a baby... and she’s growing so fast it felt like time was running out. She is more social than some babies I’ve introduced (cough*Elias*cough) to family. Look how she’s studying Papa!

It was so nice to be in Texas again.

Of course, it’s easier to just sleep than be social.

How much loving is too much?

She sure has a lot of people who love her.

So now she’s met her Mississippi family and Texas family, all before she’s quite walking. That counts, right?

We are so blessed to have most of our great grandparents for our children still alive.

We even got to attend a cousin’s wedding and see more grandparents and relatives there.

Besides the people, it was nice to see green grass!

Zoe loved exploring this new green stuff.

But coming home to the loves we couldn’t afford to fly with us was special too. Now the balance is between appreciating the opportunity to go home and battling the homesickness that surges afterwards. I actually got published on this topic on a website dedicated to helping expat Christian women. I don't share this to say I am anything, but maybe my hard-to-learn-lesson about homesickness will help you too: https://velvetashes.com/homesickness-feels-uncannily-like-grief/

Mondulkiri, Cambodia: Part 2.5 The Coffee Plantation and Pizza

While we were in Mondulkiri, Cambodia at Nature Lodge, we went exploring nearby places. One that wasn't a waterfall was this coffee plantation (video here.) We didn't even find it on purpose, but Ezra had to stop to use the restroom and Elias was carsick so I took them both with me and we went exploring (as the bathroom was hidden down a windy trail around beautiful trees.

Some of the large plants had green berries on them that I thought might be coffee...

Down one trail, hidden in the trees, we came across a two story water slide. We didn't know what it was until we got to the top and saw...

that the slide went all the way down to the lake!

 There were also banana trees:

And what I think is jackfruit now, but I called durian, trees:

Elias thought their horizontal branches that went all the way to the top looked like a great bench!

The lake didn't look very big, but it had been channeled under the road, and into sluices to irrigate the coffee plantation.

This tree with the red leaves was one the boys found interesting, but I don't know what it is called:

And this hosta-looking plant that got super tall was cool:

It was nice to be surrounded by nature and hiking through trees rather than concrete buildings and whirring traffic.

We even found a cabin on our hike back up to the van.

The day after this we met our new friends and had more fun playing around Nature Lodge than going on more explorations. However, we did find an awesome pizza place out on a dirt road called Mondulkiri Pizza. The guy who owned it had previously worked in Phnom Penh making pizza. The restaurant went under new management and they changed all of the recipes to inferior ones in his opinion. He moved up to Mondulkiri and opened his own restaurant, got married and started his family there. He liked the more natural environment and pace of the place. We didn't blame him, and his pizza was incredible. I highly recommend you check out Mondulkiri Pizza if you ever go that way.

The pizza place had a spacious lawn and a lazy river flowing through the back yard. After lunch the kids went exploring the grounds and the owner mixed a little flour and water to make a simple dough bait and made a bamboo fishing rod from scratch. The kids loved it!

Traveling and Friendship; Mondulkiri Part 3

(Yes, I'm skipping part 2 until next time. ;) ) When our friends had talked about visiting Nature Lodge in Mondulkiri, Cambodia, they mentioned it having kids most of the time. Reviews online mirrored these sentiments. This was no deterrent, rather, we preferred our children to not be the only ones and liked that they might make friends.

Friendship is different when used in a nomadic sense: you make friends quicker, get right down to what matters, and keep in contact if able. This type of friendship puts emphasis on creating as much positive change as possible while in a place, as time limits drive out room for introversion or small talk. At least, this is how I've seen it. Of course, this means one is open to more heartache: the more you love, the harder it is to leave; but at the same time it gives one a capacity for sensing what is needed in a situation and connecting quickly.

At first we didn't see any children at Nature Lodge. It wasn't until the last three days that we met some... And they, being nomadic children too, made immediate friends with our children. The kids were very excited, and the boys, who were a bit intimidated by the cows and horses around the lodge, lost their timidity in favor of playing with their new friends!

We were all sad to leave Mondulkiri, but convinced them to visit us in Phnom Penh. The kids were thrilled! We checked out several play places in the city (as there aren't parks near us), baked goodies and learned new games and ways to pronounce words with an Australian accent... (Now my son says "nin-jer" instead of ninja.)

Of course we all missed them when they left for adventures in Viet Nam... but we know how adventures work and we're  glad we made the most of the time we had. It's good to have friends around the world who broaden our perspectives of it  and who we can plan our own adventures to visit some day!

Texans in Cabo

My mom and my sister were able to visit us over Christmas break for three and a half days.

We took them to church with us, introduced them to a great taco place, visited the municipal market, taught a cinnamon roll class and went to the beach! I think we crammed a lot for so little time. My mom took this photo of us at the beach (and has the other photos.)

We hope they can come back soon!

Winter Break 2013: Distance Heightens Appreciation of Family

Ben's teaching position get's three breaks: summer, spring and winter. For the summer break, since we hadn't been in Abu Dhabi very long, we just took a short trip up to Spain and Portugal. We planned to spend winter in Abu Dhabi, enjoying the 70 degree temperatures and then visit the States in the summer.

If you know anything about plans, then you know that it is best to hold them loosely and be willing to adapt to new circumstances. A phone call from home about a serious family illness changed our plans and had us on a 29 hour traveling spree to the U.S. When it comes to priorities and plans, family is more important. It's nice to be able to make that decision at the last minute and manage to visit so far away. I recognize how much of a blessing that is this time- if it had happened at another time we might not have been able to come. Really, though the sickess is not the best reason to come, it provided an opportunity to show our family how much we love and value them. They are worth a trip home at the last minute if needed.

 While we are here we are soaking up the cold, rainy temperatures to bring back and remember in the desert. Otherwise annoying, drizzly drives are appreciated and filed away for searing, humid days and family is cherished. Homecooking and REAL hugs are savored. Would we appreciate family and drizzly days as much if we didn't live so far away? I wish I could say we would be as grateful, but it's invariable that human nature would have us taking things for granted in the way our tendency for survival drums down the high emotions with mundane normalcy... So perhaps living so far away is helping us to appreciate them more. Right now, we are thankful.