Sweet Relief!

Last Saturday there was a special Saturday opening of a cake shop and training centre called Bloom run by one of the parents at school. She has trained some Khmer ladies to an international level in hospitality, cake making and decorating. Me and Phoebe decided  it was time for a mother and daughter treat...where else but a cake shop.
Bloom is like no other cake shop cafe, the cakes are a work of art!!!! But that is not all, Ruth who runs it, is not just doing this to create a buisness but to help young women who have been rescued by International Justice Mission from a life of slavery in brothels, to rebuild their lives,to give them confidence and a trade and a livelyhood. Her aim is to train them up and make it a Khmer run buisness. Read about it here it is an amazing story...she even met Princess Norodom of Cambodia this week who wanted to take her cupcakes to the King of Cambodia!
It is so nice to know that as a teacher in HOPE school, I am allowing parents the time to invest in people here in Cambodia, to make a difference in peoples lives who would never hear about Jesus and the value he puts on them as people. By being our supporteds and partners you are helping maany, many projects like this impact people here in Cambodia. Thank you so much for all your support!
 

Which cake shall we have? (Phoebe with her friends Zoe and Karla)

After cake we NEED to swap and check our sticker collection.....dont you love the decor??? This is a me shop!! And did I say.... the coffee is the BEST in Phnom Penh... I had a *flat white* coffee with steamed milk no froth...mmmmm....with three of my lovely friends...introducing....

Camera  shy April..(Zoe's mum)

Not so camera shy Katy (Karla's mum and Lucia's fantastic pre-school teacher)

The gorgeous Kate (Jamie's wonderful teacher....she is awesome)

What I didn't tell you was preceeding this fantastic little coffee morning was quite a bit of stress for myself and Kate. I had worked out my route and planned it ou t so I could pick up my camera lens. This took me to a very busy part of town one which I avoid. On my way down I wwent down a street following other traffic when suddenly a policeman steps in front of me and takes the keys out of my bike! Apparently it was a one way street....not sure where the sign was but I didnt see it. Anyway I was told my bike had to go to the police station for 2 days or I had to pay a ten dollar fine. One thing I was sure of me and the moto were not parting company... I also had Phoebe and her friend on the back! After awhile he said I had to go somewhere ans pay a fine $10 so I said in Khmer it was too much....so he said $5....still too much I said.....no then you have to go to police station.....by this time I am getting a little worried so I phoned a friend who talked to the police man and said just pay the $5 and get out quickly! The trouble was I only had a $10 bill and some change. If you give them the $10 you never see the change so I went up and said I'm sorry I can only give you $3 which was all my change. Just to put it in context the charge is actually $1.25 for a traffic offence. Kate on the other hand was much quicker off the mark when she was pulled over and said here is a $1 go and buy yourself a coke!
By the time we got to Bloom we were in desparate need of a coffee and cake to restore our stress levels! :)

Ewan

New Hairstyle....

 

Ok so I can't remember the last time I had a fringe....it looked much nicer in the salon but I walked out and realised I was on my moto so had to stick a helmet on it and drive through PP. Doh!! Now the humidity is playing havack with it! Still they did cut it well and I will get used to it.

We decided to go out and have some family time today so we went to relax at a place which is great for little kids. It is called Le Jardin and is a small garden restaurant with sandpit and wooden playhouse. It is all shady which is nice and around the garden are large daybeds covered in cushions which is lovely for the adults to relax in.

 

Phoebe was enjoying relaxing but couldn't decide if she wanted to join in with the others or read her book.

The other nice thing about this place is their ice-cream. We had black chocolate, afterdinner mint, white chocolate and caramel...yum just what you want on a hot day. The only slight problem today was the property next door was renovating and drilling very loudly! :( So relaxing it was not! But the kids enjoyed themsleves and we had nice ice-cream.

The most interesting part of the afternoon was observing a different group of people....ex-pats who do lunch (the ones with small kids) They come ( think around the school run there is a school down the road) and meet other people they knew often bringing their nanny to look after the children while they chatted. Very interesting! It struck me that some people who come to Camboodia spend all their time trying to survive...the heat, noise and culture by retreatuing into what is familiar. What is harder but I think more rewarding in the long term is if you adapt....chose parts of the culture and way of life you can blend in with. This is what we are trying to do not to just survive but adapt and enjoy the interesting and different things we encounter on our journey and pray that as a family and individuals we are richer for it. 

Little details from our life.....

I thought on this post I would show some of the things we do in our everyday life. Just the little details of our life which to us have become normal and everyday but which some of you might find interesting. This is Phoebe in our local supermarket. This one is called Lucky Supermarket and is part of a chain of supermarkets in Phnom Penh. It is great bc you can get most things here including western and fresh food. (market is cheaper for fresh food) What is nice is it is air-conditioned, bright and clean, and has fixed prices! So if we are not in the mood for the hot, smelly, noisy market its off to Lucky!

When mum is not looking a favourite game is to play on my moto! The children are always begging to get a lift to school and as I am becoming more confident it is easier. This week I drove all the way through the centre of town to the river front to get my haircut, navgating some very BIG roundabouts and duel carrigeways and lots of Lexus 4x4 cars!!! Colin is practising on quiet roads first!!

Ewan and Lucia being the most mischeivious pair love this game of creating a slide on the roof!! It involves lots of buckets of water been thrown on the roof and then run and slide!!! Great fun on a hot day. We are fortunate to have a shady roof space which does not get much hot midday sun.

Phoebe with one of her friends on "twin day".....she is enjoying having sleepovers and swapping stickers (the lastest girly thing at school)

 

Ewan with one of his friends on his swing on the roof garden (Grandad made it for him for Christmas and he loves it) It is nice having a bit space the children can invite friends round and we don't really notice they are there!