I did have a good sleep but it was punctuated by a huge rainstorm with lots of thunder that caused walls and ceiling to vibrate. I finally decided to get up but I had no idea what time it was. There's no internet connection at the moment and my iPad and phone are telling different times. The wall clock has gone. Eventually, I found out it was after 9am.
I don't have much food in the fridge and, with my toaster out on loan, I ended up with slices of bread with honey, marmalade and peanut butter. I took breakfast onto my balcony and watched the world go by. I've decided that surroundings for a meal are as important, or even more important, than what I eat. Relaxing on the balcony, in shorts and shirtless, with greenery wafting around beside me, it was the perfect setting and, even though I only had bread and jam, it was lovely.
I did bits of final unpacking and tried to get my life back in order again. Later this afternoon, when it's cooler, I'll go to the shop and stock up on things. I presume Samnang will come over after school and we'll have our usual argument about what I should be eating for dinner. At the moment, it's after lunch, and I couldn't care less about food.
I took the 12 health trackers over to Cina and staff and we soon realised there were going to be complications. They are all for elderly relatives of the staff and all but one of them use old fashioned phones. That means the app has to be on the young people's phones. They'll also have to use their children to charge the gadgets. I'm going to have to teach one person how to use it and then that person can teach everyone else.
In the afternoon Vuth phoned to say I had two choices for dinner; I could go with him and friends (whom I know) or I could go with Thornin and friends. I said I couldn't make the choice as Thornin had said we would go out together. Vuth came up with a solution; we'd all eat together. Then I learned that Thornin and friends were still at the old house, clearing everything out as the owners want to move in tomorrow. I presume they don't believe in giving notice. They don't even hand over the money until 5pm tomorrow. I've allowed the young folk to take what they want and the rest will be given away. We have piles of dishes and lots of cutlery so I told Thornin to take them to his village and give them to the monks at the pagoda.
14 year old Samnang came over to see what was happening. We decided to go shopping so I could stock up on supplies. He enjoys pushing the cart around and helping me choose things. On the way home he was delighted he was too late for Chinese class but I reminded him there was still 20 minutes to go. He said we should have shopped for longer. I don't need much in the fridge as I'm leaving on Friday, with 17 others, for Seoul and HCM City for a few days.
We ended up at Sabora, which is a buffet that allows the patrons to cook food in broth or on a grill. I told my friends that I had eaten more meat at that one meal as I'd eat in a couple of weeks in Canada. Ratha bbq'd the different kinds of meat; some of them had cheese added and then the meat was folded over. There were baby lobsters which aren't my favourite food as they are so messy to deal with. The broth had all sorts of vegetables, shrimps, mushrooms etc. Waiters came around filling our glasses with either Coca Cola or green tea. All three young men at the table own their own businesses - one is a notary, another buys land for development and the third is with his wife in a travel agency; last month they did US$645,000 of business, which is a record for them. I think Vuth is the oldest at 41.
When there are more than two Khmer together the conversation is always in Khmer so I relaxed, ate and kept my mouth closed. If I felt like saying anything I'd butt in and say my piece. Ratha kept picking up the book with all the dishes we could order - each dish contained a particular meat, fish or vegetable. In the end we paid around $13 each which was a good price although I never eat that amount of food; on the other hand I'm contributing to the rest of the ground as they ate an enormous amount.
We came home in pouring rain and it was still raining when I was ready for bed.
