I'm going to have to alter my alarm. Today I finished my exercise time and my other daily jobs - washing the floor and having a shower, and then the power went off for the morning. So that meant no hot cup of tea for breakfast and no toast. I had a sandwich instead but the word "sandwich" at 8am does not have the same emotional baggage as "toast".
My sofa has decided to fall apart - one arm of it anyway. I mentioned it to grandpa across the road so he came with his plastic bag of tools. Earlier, I'd been playing my weekly game of Skip-Bo with Srun instead of our regular English class. I get fed up teaching and I'm sure they get fed up with learning. We always have a good time but once a week we play cards and chat. I'm always fascinated by the attitude of people in this part of the world to things breaking down. In the West we generally think, "Now where's the phone book so I can call someone to fix it." Here, the people get out whatever tools they have and attack the problem.
Grandpa brought an enormous Bosch drill with a jar of bits, a few screws, a screwdriver and a hammer. The hammer is definitely basic - it's a chunk of metal fixed to a piece of wood. A discussion took place between grandpa and Srun and then the drilling started. The wood is so hard they managed to break three bits. I was fretting about my lovely, perfect sofa but then I decided to heck with it - the sofa's not mine anyway and, as I've been told many times, "Only God is Perfect." I decided to relax and watch the fun. It took them nearly an hour to drill a hole about 6 cms deep and another 15 minutes to put in the screw. Then they applied a gooey, sticky type of glue to the hole and lo and behold I have a sofa arm that will stay put for the rest of my life time.
I went to the pharmacy to get something for jet lag - I thought I'd buy it here rather than in Canada. The tablets would have been on prescription in Canada but here it's over the counter. I told the lady I'd take the whole box and I paid $4.50. Back home I saw I had 100 tablets so that should do me for the rest of my travelling days. I bought some vegetables so that Samnang could do some cooking tomorrow evening but then I realised the power would be off. Such is life.
I decided to buy a pair of trousers for travelling. The lady measured me and announced "36". I've never been 36 in my life so I insisted on 34". When I bought them she said, "How much?" I said, "You tell me!" They were $13. I was very proud of my ability to purchase on my own but then, when I got home, I discovered I was going to have a challenge buttoning them up. I think there's a different way of measuring here. I remembered she'd measured my hips when she said 36" so maybe that's how trousers are labelled here, rather than the measurement being for the waist. In fact, the younger generation wear pants that start at the hip. I think I'm going to have to move the button!
It was Oudom's birthday today; he's 13. The family had purchased a very nice chocolate and cream cake and it was shared with all the family and also the staff. Oudom gave me the first slice and it was enormous so I didn't feel like having any dinner when I got back home.
I've almost finished packing. I am travelling premium economy from Taipei to Vancouver so I'm entitled to two bags. I came with two because one of them contained 20+kg of Lego. I've got all the clothing I need here, plus toiletries and other sundry items so I could really travel with an empty bag. Fortunately, the smaller case will fit into the big one.
