House Hunting

One of my favorite ways to pass the time these days is to look at houses for rent in Siem Reap. There's a website with descriptions, prices, and some photos, and I pore over it like I used to pore over the Lillian Vernon catalog when I was a kid. (Interestingly, I googled Lillian Vernon and the top two results were LillianVernon.com and MilesKimball.com. Miles Kimball was the other catalog I spent many happy hours perusing and fantasizing about when I was young. Now having found both those sites, I must go and kill a half hour or so browsing their webpages...)

I've never had to look at apartments or houses for sale. My parents did all the work when I was a kid, then I turned 18 and hightailed it out of there to live with the man who would become my husband for a few years. I lucked into every living situation after that, from an apartment owned by my aunt and uncle to this very house where we live now. I heard about the house from a friend, whose sister lived on the same road. I called the owner, looked at it, and applied for a subsidized mortgage with FmHA. That was 21 years ago.

Now that I'm finally having the opportunity to choose where to live among many available options, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's not even time to choose yet, and I'm already enjoying the anticipation of it. Of course, I suppose most people are never in this situation: upon arriving in Siem Reap, we can rent a house for what seems like a pittance to us. And if one's sense of how well one is living is relative to that which surrounds you, we will be living larger than we could have ever imagined. It won't be "luxurious" by Western standards, but it will be luxuriously cheap.

And then there's the other interesting exercise - getting rid of most things (either temporarily or permanently) and figuring out what is so important that we need to bring it with us? With two suitcases apiece, what exactly is worth schlepping halfway around the world? Clothes, of course; but how many of which item? Electronics - that's easy: laptops, iPods, cameras, associated chargers and cords, etc. Do we bring our Christmas stockings so we can have a little taste of an old familiar holiday in December? Do we bring books? How about my travel mug? (I'm bringing it.) Steve's cast iron skillet is too heavy, but what about his favorite chef's knife and his risotto spoon?

Medical supplies are on my list, based on the expectation that I might be volunteering as a nurse at New Hope Cambodia. Stethoscope, Otoscope, BP cuff, oximeter, chewable vitamins, dressing materials, Bandaids, reference materials. The weight and bulk add up quickly.

Is it frivolous to bring two dozen of my favorite fine-point pens? They make me so happy...