The [other] one who has my heart

Nate and I went to a pretty trendy pub on Friday evening with our good friends Lenoard, Libby and Luke (there are a lot of L's going on there). It's no Little Creatures or Whose Your Momma? - but its nice going on KL standards. The attaction: it serves Little Creates - Pale and Bright ale! Whopa.

Our buddy Leonard

Luke and Libby have made the cutest creation. Ethan is his name and he has stolen my heart. I love kids, but at this point in my life, I don't really think about wanting one around... until this little guy appears.

He is the most chilled out, happy little chap. Always smiling, not one bit needy, happy to go to anyone, sleeps where ever. I really like how Luke and Libby take him out with them, he is a social little thing for sure.

We met Luke and Libby at CHCKL, our church. Leonard is our connect group leader. He has been an important part in us settling at that particular church. Is is the most connected person I know - he literally knows everyone in this town! Which is awesome for us.

I took a few snaps of the place, but the light was awful and I am yet to figure out our camera.

I want one!

Phnom Penh

It is not hard to imagine Phnom Penh in its heyday, with wide, shady boulevards and beautiful French buildings. They are still there of course, but are in a derelict, dust-blown decaying state. It all leaves you wondering how a city like this works. But it does.

After taking tuk-tuk ride from the airport, we arrived at Le Marais Boutique Hotel around 9am - settled into our very lovely room and had a snooze. The 3.30am start and the trauma of the LCCT left us a little sleepy! After about 45 mins we decided to go in search of coffee. It seems that before we go anywhere, Nate and I look up coffee places. We do love our quality coffee and Phnom Penh had a few goodies.

Phnom Penh is a city of contrasts: East and West, poor and rich, serenity and chaos. In the space of 1km you see Monk's saffron robes lending a splash of colour to the streets to soldiers with AK47's to amputees on street corners - a constant reminder of Cambodia's tragic story. Years of war have taken a heavy toll on the city's infrastructure and economy, as well as its people. I don't normally like to know what goes on in these places that we are visiting - the reason's for why they are in the state they are in, is something I would rather not know about. I am on holiday, and not wanting to be confronted by the horrors.

You do not have this luxury in Phnom Penh. Their brutal history is something unavoidable and I cant think why it is. Maybe it's because it only happened 30 years ago and I think, where the heck was the world for this to go unnoticed or maybe its because I know child prostitution and slavery is alive and well there or maybe it is because if you an Expat in PP, then you are part of an NGO... it's an intriguing place and you cannot put your head in the sand and pretend all is well and good! At the same time, it is peaceful, simple and rather breath taking. A weird mix.

Nate went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (Museum of Genocide) whilst I did my assignment. Which I am glad I missed. The photos and stories he brought back were heart breaking. The classrooms of Tuol Svay Prey High School became the Khmer Rouge main torture and interrogation centre (known as S-21). More than 20,000 people were taken to for execution at another camp called Choeung Ek. Countless others died under torture and were thrown into mass graves in the school grounds.

These holes in the ground were mass graves - Nate said that some, when uncovered, were filled with hundred of beheaded women and young children. 

I think I will leave it at that! And move onto some better tales: we were there for Nate's footy game - they got totally thrashed by the Cambodian Eagles! That poor old hubby of mine, I mean, he is not a fan of anything that has the name Eagle(s) in it and certainly does not like been beaten by anything that has the word Eagles in it. Thank goodness Freo beat Geelong, otherwise it would have been a loooong two days.

Nate has decided to keep his stats (I dont even know what that means)! But after each quarter he would sneak onto his phone and record his touches, kicks, marks and I dont know what else! I told you in this post, its all very very serious out there! To be fair, the Malaysia Warriors did not have their full strength side, and a few key members were injured. Freak, I sound like my husband when he makes excuses for the Dockers!

I had a wonderful time, I got to hang out with a very old family friend, Danielle Van Rooyen. I went to primary school with her brother, and then in the same high school as her. Her and her family lived in the same little country town, Richmond, as my family. So we really do go waaay back. It was so awesome to hang out and catch up with where she is at. I found it refreshing and inspiring, hearing how her and her family moved to Cambodia and how awesome God's hand has been in their lives every step of the way.

We are definitely going back there. It is the most beautiful place, and it was so good to be out of the Muslim dominated culture for a weekend! It was a weekend of mixed emotions for sure. The people of this area are happy despite their terrible history. I get the feeling, as a nation, they are looking forward and striving to be better. It was a very humbling weekend and I highly recommend it for a stop over.

USQ - Week 4

Looking in the rear view mirror at the highlights of Week 4 (according to the USQ timetable!)

Monday
Sleep in
Lilebeth cleaned the house
My Uni books arrived. Finally.

Tuesday
Found out my smallest brother was going to visit
Knocked off a huge chunk of one of my assignments
Had my first stare off with a student
Found out my smallest brother was not going to visit

Wednesday
Found out my smallest brother was going to visit. again.
Knocked off another huge chunk of a different assignment
Got chucked in the deep end and told I needed to teacher my first lesson for a teacher who had gone off ill. 5 mins before it started. eeek.
Stayed up till 1am building ikea furniture.

Thursday
Finished off building ikea furniture
Fetched my smallest brother from the airport
Hang times with the smallest brother

Friday
Brekky with the smallest brother
Submitted Assignment 1
Mitch and Bree arrive.

Its going to be a packed weekend of showing our most beloved friends and my brother KL. Mitch and Nate are off to the F1 while Bree shops up a storm and Steve and I cruise around.

Its been fun watching Steve cope with Asia. I love the dude, dont get me wrong. But this is his first time in Asia. He is used to Europe, its clean streets and its hygienic resurants and manicured parks. Watching him and his facial expressions is a hoot. Asia is chaos and filled with the most amazing culture groups, sights, smells {not the good ones!] and sounds.

When I think back to when I first arrived, I did turn my nose up at street food, I would not show my legs (?), would not shop at the markets, would only go to the tried and tested "whitey" places for meals, would not eat any meat, anywhere. Being the minority group was hectic and something I was not used to!

Now I will happily go to our local hawker joint, sit on metal chairs, eat off plastic plates with their cutlery, casually order chicken off the bone and not bat an eye lid at a cockroach running around. I am pretty proud of how Nate and I have embraced this place! I was reading an article in the Association of British Woman's monthly mag, and it was 10 ways expats can settle in. We have nailed all 10! Nate has lead the way, if he was not here I would back in Perth pronto! We have totally immersed ourselves in the Malaysian way of life. I think its the only way to do it.

Having Steve here has reminded me of my journey over the last few months. Its hard to gauge whether he is loving it, or kinda yet to make up his mind about this place! Nothing beats having family here though and I am so so glad he is here! Love you bro :-)

Around the World

I am getting pretty excited :-) We have so much travel in store, and we are only 2 full months into the year! 

A wedding in the UK - June 2012 {cousin Blake and Juliet}

A potential jaunt to the Olympics - August 2012 {praying for you Stepha}

A wedding in South Africa - August 2012 {cousin Lauren and Garett}

A white Christmas in Norway - December 2012/2013 {best mate Tom Roach here we come!}

Another wedding in South Africa - April 2013 {best friend Sarah and Jonty}

What's even more exciting is peppered around those trips are weekend's away to places near by, like Cambodia for example, in 3 weekends time! 

AND just as I thought it couldn't get any better, we have visitors! Mitch and Bree (soon!!), Timo and Steph {Easter}, The Crouch's {TBC}, The Sale Buma's {TBC}, the Geraldton Buma's {September/October}, Number 5 {July}... *sigh* 

I sit back in my chair and give thanks to my God for his abundant blessings.  I am totally overwhelmed by His provision in our lives. He is so good. 

Warriors

It seems as though my our lazy Saturday mornings have been highjacked by footy fixtures! Nate has joined a footy team - The Malaysian Warriors. He has only made two practises so far, both I think were on about 4 hours sleep, but he seems to be in the starting line up and plays for most of the game!

On Saturday we headed down to Nexus International School where The Warriors took on the Irish in some WEIRDO version of AFL. There were soccer nets and round balls being used - wow, they sure do know how to ruin a game (in my opinion). It was a family affair for sure, loads of kids and even some dedicated wives behind the barbie cooking a few snags for the spectators.

It's very very serious business this footy thing - each quarter there is a pep talk and the boys really do get nice and pumped up. I had a great time watching my love in action. Need to work on kicking those points though, hey honey? :-) He is working on a blogpost so I wont say much more.

Pep talk

Run, honey, run!

Life saving fans

What's a day in KL without a bit of rain? 

And thats a wrap

Sunday Morning

they are my favourite mornings of the week after Saturday mornings. We normally head to church, but this morning, at 11am, we have Mollie (4) and Annabelle's (2) joint ballon birthday party.


I love the weekends. Mostly because Nate and I get to lazy in bed till 8.30/9.00 and there is no rush, which is a nice change to the weekdays where he is out the bed at 5.30am. It's my bliss. On Saturdays we usually head out for a brunch to Antipod Cafe, where their all day brekky and creamy coffees never disappoint.

When it comes to food, I am not one for trying anything new, once we have found a winner, why move? When Zach was here he mentioned we should try Plan B for brekky. I was hesitant, it belongs to a chain of other eateries - - - not really something I usually go for. But I got a rather nice surprise. They do poached eggs - winning. And their coffee is actually good.

Here we are at Plan B this morning enjoying a delicious coffee waiting for our poached eggs to arrive.

I love weekends with my husbo :-)