Everyday things

     After 20 years of my amateur haircuts at home, Steve went to the barber down the street and had the full treatment: haircut, shave, shoulder massage. A much better deal, as I never gave him the shave or massage.

You gotta trust your barber if he's holding a straight razor that close to your jugular.

I bet this barber chair is older than I am...

Haircut, shave, massage: $3.

     We bought bikes on Monday. So many choices! Well, actually, not so many: there are the $38 bikes (one speed), the $50 bikes (one speed, heavier frame) and one special $45 bike (three speeds and a belt rather than a chain.)  Steve went for silver, I liked the special blue one. They forgot to install locks before we rode home, so they came to the guest house in the evening to install them later. Unfortunately, mine had a blow-out yesterday morning about 100 yards into our first ride. The tire came off the rim, then the tube had an anuerysm and popped with a sound like a gunshot, which greatly amused some construction workers nearby. I guess the bike shop will come back yet again and fix it. Biking here is an adventure all its own, but absolutely the best way to get around town once you've got the hang of it.

My new bike - no chain, but belt-driven!
(The other bikes are those that belong to the guest house.)

     We enjoy some time with the kids every day. They are impressed by Steve's Lego-building skills, they enjoy a good book, and they wait patiently for a turn with my computer. I'm happy that our new home will be less than five minutes away by bike, because I would miss them if I couldn't continue to see them often.

     Jaz has a Khmer lesson every evening from her friend Yeum. He was Venerable Yeum when I met him in March, but after six years as a monk he has become a laymen, or just a regular guy. I didn't recognize him with hair and without his orange robes. He's a wonderful young man, and when I'm feeling a little more settled I will begin my own Khmer study. Having sat in on Jaz's lesson today, I suspect it will take me about three years to catch up to where Jaz is now. Yeum can dictate sentences and Jaz can write them in Khmer, which has one of the most challenging alphabets you can imagine - it has 70-odd characters, with things I don't understand at all like dependent and independent vowels. Wish me luck; I'll certainly need it.

Jaz and Venerable Yeum in March

Yeum and Jaz this week

     We spent some time yesterday riding around town, figuring out where we'll buy things like sheets and towels and pots and pans. We spend all kinds of time pondering questions like, "Will we want a toaster oven?" and "What will Steve cook first?" We drooled over the produce in the market as we always do, but were thrilled that we'll soon be able to shop there and bring home lots of fresh food.

Obligatory market produce photo

     Oddly, I dream of (former) co-workers almost every night lately. The dreams are vivid and complex, sometimes full of obvious themes or meaning, and at other times mysteriously weird.  It's odd to dream of people I worked with for so long when I've never dreamed of them before. It contributes to the time and space warp that seems to have happened - events in early August already feel like they happened many months ago, and full-time employment really seems like very ancient history. It's impossible to beloieve we were still in Portland a week ago.

     More house info coming soon, I promise. We went back to visit the house again yesterday and found the landlord working on some improvements we asked for (and even some we didn't.) Here's a peek at the front of the house - the landlord and his family live downstairs and we're renting the upper floor, which all by itself is larger than our house in Jericho:

Our new home. Address: 627 Banteay Chas, Slorkram Commune; Siem Reap, Cambodia