Gamma's Visit

My my, it has been ever so long since I wrote properly here. And now I’m not even writing “here” but over in Word since the marvellous internet connection we have is not currently working. But I am here. Ben is not. Kids in bed – just. And nothing else to do but a pile of dishes in the sink. Oh, and going to sleep. But they can wait. We have been busy.

Ben’s mum (or rather mom) just left us after a wonderful too short two week visit. Primary purpose was accomplished of playing with the grandkids. Jarrah learned to say “Gamma” after only a few days and was constantly using the word. Amelie would be chasing her and she would say “Gamma, help me, Gamma, help me.” Her words have been just exploding lately and she is picking up all sorts of phrases. She was riding home with Ben in the pick-up the other day and I passed them on the motorbike – she says to Ben “catch up.” She is trying really hard to put words together and to be understood. She had wet her dress washing dishes the other day and I had taken it off to dry – left it hanging on the swing we have in the house. She picked it up much later in the day and was so excited.. saying “Eye, yeah! Eye, yeah!!” Had her repeat it a number of times and finally apologised to her that I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Then after she had turned, I realised, she was saying “dry,” the dress was dry. She was so happy that I had finally worked out what she had been saying. Poor little thing has to deal with such a slow mother.
Amelie on the other hand is becoming a little teacher. Making her own lapbooks (like little project folders on various topics) for Jarrah to do. Today’s was about dinosaurs and trying to teach Jarrah about Sauischians (or however that is spelt).
Back to Gamma’s visit – two weeks doesn’t fit too much in. Did the quickie version of the Russian Market. Amelie was able to finally buy her much wanted bikini (after wearing out the home made cut out one by Grandmama). Took her to the “must eat at” ChiCha where the $2 set menus with all you can eat chapati’s are now $3.50. Brought her home to see what developments we have. Day one of her visit we re-roofed the house. The tin had been rusting and probably wouldn’t have held up for another wet season so took the plunge and decided to roof. It was a very quick job with Ung and two other helpers helping Ben – oh, three, I forgot the peacock. Lolly, the peacock was very busy inspecting all the work and maybe even handing Ben the nails (couldn’t exactly see what he was doing up there). So Day 1 of Grandma’s visit was very messy.

The rest of the week was fun. She baked bread for us. Rode with Amelie and I to school. Got her hair done at the $1 hair wash place. Went to see Jombok Haos. Went to the market to see where all our fresh veges come from (and meat if you choose). I don’t think she was too impressed. Umm, what else… well, I guess there isn’t too much else to do here. We did go to the river to go swimming but then a leech was found and everyone except Amelie jumped out of the water so that wasn’t much of a fun activity. Week two was even more exciting. We drove to Phnom Dyke in our car. Parked the car. Caught the 8:30 am bus to Phnom Penh. Jarrah is excited. “Nice. Bus.” She has this way of pausing between words. She likes buses. At 3:00 pm we arrive in Phnom Penh. We hop on a tuk tuk and go around the corner to another bus station where there are buses that go to Kompong Som – the beach. Hop on that bus. It is a full bus. Kids on our laps – Ben scores a spare seat. Drive around to another bus stop to pick up more passengers. Stop a little further on. Wait for 20 minutes for a late passenger (these buses are very accommodating – it could have been 30 minutes – a long time in any case). At 6 pm stop at Pic Nell for everyone to eat. At 7:30 pm Jarrah looks very thoughtfully at me and carefully says “Ate. Bus.” What Jarrah? “Ate. Bus.” Ahh. Finally after not sure how many repeats I realise she is saying “Hate. Bus.” But I thought you liked buses? “No. Hate. Bus.” I didn’t teach her that word! Amelie tells me she taught it to her. Was hoping for a bit longer without mean words. She was using the word appropriately and it wasn’t hurting anyone’s feelings. I had the same sentiments myself. At 8:30 pm we finally get off the hated bus. Hop on a tuk tuk and go to a guest house on the beach. The kids did amazingly well. It was a 12 hour trip after all. They usually do pretty good on long trips... luckily for us.
Next morning we head for breakfast on the beach. A massage for some...

A manicure – for some.

And a play in the sand for others.

At midday, we board the boat and head for Lazy Beach. The mainland is too, too crowded nowadays so the remote island is necessary. I got sick on the boat. I never get sick on boats. It wasn’t even rocky. But still I got sick. Not fun. (No, I'm not pregnant).

But the island was worth it. You can see the pictures. For 2 full days we didn’t do much except eat, sleep, read, swim, hike a little (very little, still didn’t make it to the lighthouse) and play in the sand. Snorkelling was tried but a bit murky. Fun. Lazy. And all too soon we had to head back over the rocky seas (I only felt queasy this time – had only tea, and ginger tea for breakfast too!). Back to the mainland and straight to the massage lounges on the beach where we ordered lunch and a massage. Had to squeeze a last massage in. Rented the back seat of a Camry to head back to Phnom Penh in – much much faster – 3.5 hours verses 5.5 hours! Went out to dinner at “The Shop” after tanking Ben up on Ann’s leftovers. This is a lovely café type restaurant with a lawn to play on near ADRA which has small quantities. Ate vege burgers and potato pie and after sadly bid a goodbye to Gamma. All too short!
I shall end here and post this without photos. My connection is back but it is slow. Photos up uploading at about 6% after 30 minutes. So goodnight for now.