House tour

This Sunday has been much better. It's been the first day since I arrived where we've had absolutely nothing planned. I woke up at a usual time but didn't get up until 8.45 ish, and then washed and listened to a sermon.

After that we had lunch (including bacon!), and then I rested this afternoon, sewed some holes in some trousers and read a bit. I'll probably listen to a other sermon in a bit but probably we'll have dinner soon. So since its been such a quiet day, I figured I'd do a house tour of my host home in pictures. They aren't all very good (it was very bright then), but you'll hopefully get the idea.

The house

Just as a reminder, this is what it looks like from the drive up. 

Surrounding features

 This is the 'garden'. They have tomatoes and herbs and aloe vera. Though really it's just a very small part of the land that the house is on. They have banana, coconut, mango and jackfruit trees, and some other fruit trees that I don't recognise.

There are three of these huge water jars. Used to washing clothes, washing the children and water the plants. We get clean drinking water from a shop.

This is a picture of some of the farm. I think they use the grass to feed the cattle. There are about 5 cows but they don't always live here. The cows kind of roam the whole community as they please. So do the chickens, but they stay a bit more local to their owners. This picture looks down the 'drive' to the lane, which leads to the main road.

The downstairs

This is the house from the side where we park our bikes. The open shutters in the top of the photo are Channa and my bedroom.

Same with this photo, but this is from by the cooking hut and the bathroom.

This is just to show you the cracks in the floor boards. You can just about make out Channa's mattress in this photo...

... and in this one you can make out the pattern of my suitcase. These gaps are kind of handy because sometimes you can see what's going on with the family just by looking over the side of the bed, but also kind of a nuisance as there's not really much separation from everything else going on around the house. 

That's Channa's bike just in the bottom left. This is where pretty much everything happens. Channa and the host mum are finishing in the centre. The baby is in the hammock in front of the mum -  she spends a lot of time in it. The big metal dishes where we wash our clothes are on the table to the right. The host Dad is in a hammock with Sa to the left, behind the swinging chair. You can also see the stairs in the back.

Different perspective of the same. Cooking shed in the back.

From the bottom of the stairs. Through the stairs you can see the family's space. They have their beds in there, and a TV that they watch Khmer soaps on. We don't go in there. 

The cooking house

 There's Channa getting started on the washing up. In the window you can see the top of the stove.

 This is the washing up sink. I think they set up a lot of their own electric and water stuff, so it's an interesting looking tap and basin.

 Here's the stove. They cook using coal in the stove, with pots on top.

And here's where they keep the spices, and they cook some of the other dishes on the gas canister in the front.

The bathroom

The family have their own. It's pretty basic!

The hooks where I hang my clothes and towel etc.

This is the tank of water we use to wash with. It's pretty deep. When I first saw it I wondered if I was supposed to get in! But the green bucket on the side is for splashing yourself with water, and can serve as a small sink for hand washing.

Theres a small hole here where the water drains. It looks dirty but it's mostly algae type stuff. And Channa and I wash twice a day so it gets a lot of soap. 

The toilet! 

Upstairs

 This is the stairs themselves from the top - pretty steep, especially in the dark! And Predo the dog at the bottom.

This is a rather bad panorama of the upstairs space. The light at the left edge is the stairs. The blue door in the middle is pur bedroom. The rest is just unused open space. Maybe storage space. They also have a couple of shrines...

... which you can see more here. There's also pictures of past pairs of volunteers on the wall here.

Our bedroom

 This is the view from by the door in.

 This is our beds. The nearer one is Channa's. And our mosquitos hang above the beds. We have ceiling fan. But its actually too cold if we have it on all night!

This is my stuff. After I washed my clothes I laid it all out so that I don't have to dig through my suitcase all the time.

This is the view from the window above my case.

And this is the room from the other direction, featuring some more slightly dodgy electrical set up.

And that about sums it up.

Pretty long and not particularly interesting, but it gives you a better idea of my living situation. 

Tomorrow is day one of our work, and we're beginning to meet with the Youth Groups we're going to work with.