Family dinner and playing with the kids of Cambodia! - Siem Reap

What a gift I was given tonight. It was our first day in Cambodia and we had arrangements with a local family for dinner. But, not only did we get a tour around their countryside village, we got to play with the kids!!! This is one of my favorite ways to immerse in a culture. I loved every second. This week is the Thai New Year and luckily Cambodia also celebrates. It is tradition to pour water on each others heads (as mentioned in the previous posts) as well as rub white powder on one another as a sign of good luck. Well, tonight we had quiet the baby powder fight!! It was SO much fun!! There were about 15 kids or so, ages from 5-11. We had a blast. There was powder everywhere. Face, body, hair, clothes, and before you knew it you couldn’t see the person in front of you because the powder dispersed throughout the air. Kids were giggling, adults were laughing. Big smiles all around. What a fun experience to partake in! Can you tell I was happy!?

Our table :) And they even prepared a vegetarian meal just for me. How kind!


A boy named Sitla who liked to pose for a photo. The kids LOVED my iphone and swarmed me to see what I was doing with it. I felt so special having this gadget that they wanted to play with. My friend took some great shots of me with the kids playing with the camera. Pics are in the album below.



This is a typical home among the locals. House/hut on stilts to keep the house from flooding during the wet season. Very very simple.

Inside the home houses multiple beds for the entire family. It is common to house the grandparents, parents and children all in one room of the house. Zero privacy. Please take a moment to be grateful for your own room. Gosh we are fortunate.



Town convenient store. There is always beer available in these villages. Most of the men are drunk throughout the days while the women are cooking, taking care of the kids, etc. This is a generalization but this is very common to find.




Playing volleyball with the kids!




My friends I made. To my left are two 10 year old kids and to my right is a 20 year old woman. All of whom approached me right away to chat with me and practice there english by asking me simple questions like "what is your name?", "how old are you?", "what is your favorite sport?"  Such friendly people! I asked the 20 year old if she was married and when I found out she wasn't I asked if she gets to chose her husband. She told me that her parents will choose her husband. I told her I wished for her a good looking man and we giggled together like school girls. She has a special heart. It was really nice spending the evening with her.




Another beautiful picture to add to my Children of SE Asia album. Just darling. Happy as can be. She knows no different that she lives in the dirt, no air conditioning, no proper toilet. What does she care? She still has a smile on her face and a love for life.




And then there began the powder fight!!! Happy as can be! I didn't want to wash up I wanted to savor this feeling.  We played games all night long with the kids. I had the best night yet!!

At the end of the evening someone had to clean the dishes. Shame and no dishwasher of course. The things we take for granted.

 

Click on the picture below for more pictures of the best evening I have had yet!! In this picture I am showing my phone to the kids. So cute!