NEW HOUSE...Photo Blog

We were really excited to move into our new place this week. It has been an adventure so far, but we love the place (not all aspects of the adventure can be described as "fun"). On Thursday we packed all our stuff into a tuk tuk and headed to the new house. Upon arrival we found a broken pipe and a flooded downstairs. Day 2 included a leaking kitchen sink, and day 3 (today) included the people above us having a broken pipe resulting in some of their flood coming down into our home. In Cambodia things are often made to look pretty, but are not always made well. Hopefully we've got most of the kinks worked out now.

We are really excited about the area we live in as we seem to be the only foreigners. We can't wait to get to know all our neighbors more! We have already started talking to people that live around us. Often our conversations start by us speaking a little Khmer to people in the neighborhood. They get really excited that we know khmer, but when they realize we understand their first couple of sentences, they start talking away telling us all kinds of things in Khmer that we don't understand.

It is also a huge blessing that Melissa's best Khmer friend lives across the street and can come to translate if we really need it. She works at the safe house with Melissa, is fluent in English, and has been such an encouragement to Melissa since coming to Cambodia.

 

Tuk tuk packed and ready to go to our new home!

 Living room/dining room

 

Living room/dinning room from the other side.

Window on the top is our bedroom and window on the bottom is the guest bedroom. 

This is a common way to set up homes in the city. It is called a "pataya lueng". The walls on the side are shared with other homes. We also have people that live above and below us.

 

Our Bedroom

Our bathroom. It comes with a unique feature and that is being able to look in the mirror, shower, and brush your teeth at the same time! This kind of bathroom without a separated shower is common in Cambodia. Our toilet is in a nook to the right.

Many houses in the city have tile walls that go 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the wall. Westerners often take advantage of this feature by writing reminders on the wall with dry-erase markers.

 

Our stairs are a little narrow for the American big foot. ;)

Our kitchen. That's the washing machine and fridge on the left. We hope to get a gas stove top soon. Here people often just have the stove top burners and you hook them up to a tank of gas. 

This is soon to be parking behind our complex. Some places here only have parking for one motorcycle so we are especially excited about this. Now we can have friends over and they can have peace of mind about parking their motos in a secure location.

 I can't wait to put up some pictures of all our friends and family from back home....that is what's really going to make this feel like a home for me!

Blessings! 

-Melissa