Anticipation building

We are into our final days out in the village.  Construction of House No. 4 for Van and her family is almost complete and anticipation of the blessing ceremony is building.

The property was a buzz of activity on Tuesday morning with Van’s daughter preparing the curry, the children unwrapping art supplies, Ruon setting up the sound system for the celebration and crews working on the latrine and installation of the door and windows.  

It was a rare cloudy morning, which kept the intensity of the heat down.  I felt the need to go for a walk, so I set out to go to the village market.  We had previously taken all manner of conveyance to have our lunch.  It was nice just to stroll, take pictures and enjoy the quiet.  

When I returned, I discovered that Rob had done something similar.  The only difference is that he got commandeered by Si, a local senior who had been working on a fence adjacent to Van’s property almost the whole time we we there.  He want to show Rob his home and his rice processing facility.  Rob was so impressed that he took me there for a tour a couple of hours later.

After lunch we took Heng’s trailer and went on a driving tour of Houses No.s 1 and 2 and an inspection of both Poy Toe’s and Chat Tom’s houses (built in (2017).  I was so happy to see Sreyan and her brothers again.  They are slowly growing up.  I painted an elephant with them on our first trip to Cambodia. Sreyan ducked into the house just before we left and presented me with a beautiful drawing.  

Rob and I are not shoppers, but we took on the challenge of getting the starter pack items at the big market, with the essential help of Geo, our driver.  Rob offered to pay for these purchases as his contribution to the effort.  

Tired and ready to sit and relax, the last place we wanted to be was the big market.  However, having Geo lead the charge made things bearable.

  

I said to Kent after that the stress that comes with this activity is, for me, rooted in just not knowing.  One thing we had going for us was that the market was quiet, compared to the last time that Heather and I did this activity.  It was insanely busy that day.  I think I still have some lingering trauma over that visit.

I am keeping this post rather short as we need to pack up early and get out to the site to set up for the blessing day.  I had hoped to do some writing last night, but fatigue got the best of me.  Rob and I will have one day off tomorrow, before he heads to Bangkok and I head home.