hey to everyone who is actually reading this, if you are, we love you, if you're nopt, well i guess you wont know that we dont want to be your friend anymore.
so we're now in cambodia, stop number one, and it's amazing, if a little hot. and by a little i mean 35 degrees, 60-70% humidity, and no fans. because electricity is only from 5-6am and then from 6-8:30 pm, which takes a little getting used to, but is nowhere near as bad as one might think... there's also no running water, much less hot water, so showers are cold and from a little bucket. amazingly, this seems to be a good thing. big changes are much easier to get used to than little ones, making a 5am start manageable.
everything is ridiculously cheap, from $1 taxis to $1.20 vodka cruisers, to buying 2 cokes, a bottle of water and various snacks for about 75 cents. so far, our budget is going well.
we had giant icecream sundaes this morning, an early birthday celebration (we're in Phnom Penh atm, not at NHCC - the orphanage), and they were so good after craving icecream for a week.
xx vivienne
hello friends and family
i thought i would just add a few little things to vivienne's very comprehensive blog above...
so just to be clear, we are in Phnom Penh the Cambodian capital for a weekend of 24-hour electricity, running water and sleep ins as an early ce3lebration of v's impending 18th birthday, but we've spent the past week at New Hope for Cambodian Children (NHCC) orphanage which is about an hour south of Phnom Penh (a city which so far wins the title of the hardest place to spell, however i have no doubt we will find an even trickier place name somewhere further along the track).
the orphanage is an amazing place- there are about 160 kids aged from around 2 to about 16, all of whom have HIV. it's kind of strange to be seeing how HIV/AIDS has affected people first-hand, as opposed to hearing about it on TV or in the papers, as most of these kids are also orphans of HIV.
not that you would know that theý have had humble beginnings, as they are now some of the happiest children you would ever meet! we do the morning nursery and the afternoon pre-school and are getting to know some of the kids quite well, which is really nice.
so we feel already like we've made a great decision to come here, and we'll keep you posted on our exciting adventures around cambodia, which will carry on for about a month yet.
anyway we'll try to upload some photos, but let's be honest and say that vivienne and my computer skills combined are still pretty bad, so good luck us.
much love xoxox iona
