I've just been over the road to pick up Ponleu (10) he said he was yelling at me from their balcony across the street but I didn't hear anything - not that I really wanted to. It's 7.45pm and my adult evening has now ended. With Ponleu it means finding a kids' movie on YouTube. He's watched most of them on a DVD and so he is an expert on every kids' movie on YouTube. We'll be watching something and then he shuts it down and looks for another; it skipped. He can't stand a YouTube movie if it skips. I've no clue whether it's skipping or not so I will be frazzled before the night's out.
Now here's one of those disclaimers they post on the TV. The bit about, "This piece has contents you might find objectionable. If so please fast forward past the next paragraph."
Yesterday evening, after helping Cina eat her two enormous birthday cakes, I came home and cooked a stir fry. Earlier, I'd cut up veg and put them in the freezer as I was going to be away for two weeks with the dentists. Last night I took them out and did a stir fry. Part way through the night the Niagara Falls started. I lost count of how many times I sat on the loo in a state of meditation while Niagara did its thing. I was so exhausted when the alarm went off at 6.45am I decided to rebel and stay in bed. That's dangerous for me as I just flop and don't really sleep and I allow my mind to wander in all directions. I finally got up at 10.00am. Now that really mucks up my morning walking and other bits of exercise.
I went over the road to return things to Cina at the travel office and to ask her to book me a hotel for my holiday in March - I'm taking Boroith, Thornin and their families to the seaside to thank them for their help with the dentists. It's a national holiday long weekend so all the coastline places were booked solid. Most likely with Chinese! I wish they'd find somewhere else to go. Samnang (14) reminded me I had to take him for a haircut after lunch. I hate searching the web for anything and so, when I looked at Kep on Agoda I chose the first place I saw. It looks lovely with what they called Bali style bungalows, gardens and swimming pool so maybe we don't have to battle the Chinese. I'm not telling the folks where they are going so that it's a surprise.
In the afternoon I walked Samnang (14) to a barber's shop I'd seen. Normally, he and his two brothers, plus their dad, have their hair cut by a man who sets up a chair and a mirror on the pavement every day. They get a good haircut for $1 but this time Samnang wanted a 'shaved' style. He has a huge mop of thick black hair so it was interesting seeing it all going. He was very pleased with himself and it only cost $1.50. I phoned his mother and told her she had to say 'Wow!". Sometimes parents take kids for granted; they don't do it deliberately but it does happen. Cina works 7 days a week in her travel office and often until 2am so she's often distracted by work. It's a good job she and Vuth, and their four kids, live with her parents as they are quite a handful.
I'm used to having my body parts criticised; I mentioned earlier that the latest was my nose when an old lady grabbed it when I was at the wedding. One friend said she hoped her son would be born with my nose; I had to speak to God about that one to put a stop to it. This time Samnang told me I needed to grow a beard; I can't think of anything more awful. He said I've got too much forehead and not enough chin so a beard would do wonders. Maybe I need a makeover!
We were in the riverside area and so, on our way home, I asked him if he wanted a drink. He never says no, so off we went to find a restaurant near the promenade. We ordered our drinks and then he started to look through the menu. Samnang sees himself as a budding Jamie Oliver and knows all there is to know about food. He was super impressed with the 500 item menu - I'm just glad I wasn't ordering anything as I get panicky when there's two things on the menu. "Fancy a pizza?" I told him I'd only had breakfast four hours ago. Anyway, he talked me into an 8 slice pizza - mushroom, anchovy and black olives. With the drinks it came to $15 which he thought was quite good - I found it a bit ironic seeing as I was paying.
I'm interested in the Nigerian elections seeing as it was my home in the 80s for nearly four years. I was flabbergasted that before long its population will overtake that of the USA. If Nigerians could get their heads in order they could be leaders in Africa. Even in the 80s one person in five in Africa was a Nigerian so heaven only knows what it is now. I'm continuing to re-type my Nigerian diary and I often shake my head at what I was involved in. I typed this today:
Hamisu drove his VW Beetle backwards without looking in that direction and smashed into a tree. My backside left the seat and I hit the roof and went down again. We stopped in the field to check the damage and found everything pushed in at the back with part of a tree shoved up the exhaust pipe. The boys just stood there and said, "Sorry". We removed the tree and drove back to school. I was so stiff the next day I could hardly get out of bed without rolling onto my side. I was told it happened that way with pregnant women! Hamisu took the car in for repair. The workers were surprised to see him as he was there only a few days ago because of having hit a goat.
Ponleu's quiet - that's worrying. I see my phone has disappeared. Shower time and then a movie; wish me luck.
