Time flies

What happened to June? We're now heading full speed into July and i'm not sure where time has gone. It's crazy, they say when you get older time passes more quickly, i think maybe they're right! I'm still happy in Wig and Annette's house, work is busy and i think coming together at last, and i've had plenty going on these past few weeks to keep me entertained.

I've spent the last week or so with Silke and her brother, they arrived on Wednesday and stayed with me until this morning when they left to start the journey back to Europe. We've had a really good few days, showing Martijn Phnom Penh, making a trip south of Phnom Penh to a few temples and visiting the markets and restaurants.

One of the main reasons that Silke came back to Cambodia was to take the children from the orphanage to the Phnom Tamao zoo. We were due to go there on Sunday but unfortunately there was a bit of confusion at the orphanage and it was no longer possible. Both of us were really disappointed and slightly annoyed but we have done a lot of talking to the mama at the orphanage and we've worked it all out.

I think it really highlights the cultural differences that sometimes you can easily forget about when you're living somewhere long term. A few days ago the orphanage received a large donation from some foreigners and at the same time this group suggested taking the kids to the water park on the same day as the zoo trip had been planned. Understandably the orphanage wanted to show their gratitude and they didn't want to mention anything about the zoo trip. If they had i'm sure these people would have understood but they didn't feel they could. So after a long discussion on Sunday morning we've worked it all out and i will take the kids on the trip another weekend. Silke had also raised some funds from friends and family, we spent a while working out with the mama what the most important thing was that she needed it for. It came down to covering the basic running costs of the orphanage - electricity bills, water bills and food.

When we got to the end of this conversation Pan (mama) told Silke and i that she would be honoured if she could "adopt" us - she has four sons and said she'd love to have two strong daughters. She said she was very happy and thanked us for our support. It was actually all pretty emotional and a nice way to leave things for Silke.