Well the rain that started on Monday night continued and Tuesday was the coldest Cambodian December day I can ever remember. Everytime I looked at the thermometer it said 20 degrees but I think maybe it is broken. We woke up and it was absolutely freezing. I dug out all our warm clothes and found some fleecy lined pants and a warm coat to wear which I didn’t take off all day long. Amelie shivered through her school work and Jarrah was lucky enough to be able to curl up on the bed under blankets with some audio stories. They were happy because in digging out the warm clothes, they found their monkey and unicorn costumes which don’t really work well here most of the year because it is too hot to wear them. So they enjoyed wearing those all day long.
After a lunch of lentil and pasta stew, we noticed some heavy walking on the roof – heavier than the normal squirrel steps. Looking through the skylight we could see monkey feet on the roof. It was stumpy – the one without the tail who had got loose. Luckily she is the nicest of all our monkeys. A call to Ung, our guard and he came back early from lunch. Although she wouldn’t let herself get caught. We eventually gave up and as it was so cold, I suggested that we snuggle up with a movie. So we spent the afternoon watching Free Willy 3 which I have never seen, and I quite enjoyed it. The monkey got herself tangled in a branch at about 5pm and we were able to relax a little.
After and dinner of leftovers we were lucky to have a hot shower (thanks Jo and Angus!). We loaded up my bed with all our blankets. Jarrah had put herself to sleep already so Amelie and I were able to read. Jarrah complains when we try to read with lights on after she is trying to get to sleep. It was freezing. It was nice having Jarrah in my bed because she is a little hot water bottle. As it was I had to find some thick socks to wear. Amelie read most of Doctor Dolittle (again) and I was reading a book by Joni Eareakson Tada (sp??) and Ken Tada (the quadriplegic lady and her husband). Amelie finished up Doctor Dolittle today. She is becoming quite a reader – getting that can’t-put-down-a-book problem. Jarrah is also enjoying her letter learning. She has a few on her belt and is pretty motivated at the moment. I’m trying to slow her down!
This morning, it must have warmed up. I was actually able to get out of bed without too much effort. Left the kids in bed reading and went for a 30 minute jog. It takes me 30 minutes (actually 32 min, 25 sec) to run about 4.3 km. That is a terrible time. But I figure it is better than not doing anything. Came home, made breakfast of fried rice and cocoa for everyone. Amelie did her chores and we started school at 8.30 am. We have been trialling this new schedule with conditions. She has to stay at the dining table and we work solidly till 11.30 – 12.00 and we are done except for the fun school which we can do in the afternoon. So mornings we open with Bible from 8am to 8.30. Then maths for an hour. English for 1.5 hours and review stuff till 11.30 or so. Afternoons we can do History, Science, Art, Music whatever. This has been working pretty well. Except Amelie freaked today about the solid page of maths problems she had to work through. Once that was finished, we were happy again. Not allowing her to go to the bed to work on schoolwork seems to have helped get things done faster. She gets so distracted – anywhere actually, but I can keep better tabs on her at the dining table.
This afternoon, I had to run into town so left them home with Pu Ung. They were hard at teaching Jarrah how to ride her bike. And by the time I got back from the market, we had a little bike rider. The ball field is a great place to learn and she can now ride all over the place. She is so proud of herself. She only just started riding her bike. We had put Amelie’s little bike away and never got it out till just at the end of November, when our friends with little kids came to visit and wanted to ride bikes. So we fixed the tyres and pedals but didn’t put the training wheels on. She learned in three weeks – not bad. Oh, and while at the market, I got my hair washed. It was getting a bit grungy after not washing it – it has been so cold at night time, I haven’t had the will power to wash it. So paid someone 75c to wash it for me. Nice.
And that has been our Tuesday and Wednesday for this week.
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