Catherine can now eat a full bowl of Kuy Teav by herself

Two years ago I gave you an introduction to គុយទាវ, or Kuy Teav, the iconic Khmer rice noodle soup. It’s a traditional soup known throughout the region by various names including Hủ Tiếu in Viet Nam, Kway Teow in Malaysia, and Kuai Tiao in Thailand. I’m writing today to give you a quick but very…

Catherine in Study Group

Catherine has been attending school online for most of this year but today she was able to meet with her class in a study group at another student’s house. You might remember that study groups were phase 2 of the Ministry of Education’s plan to reopen schools last August. It’s taken seven months to get…

A Simian Visitor

One morning this week Charlotte and Catherine were downstairs on the second floor playing when an unexpected visitor appeared on our balcony. It was a rather large monkey which knocked over our mango picker and then fled the scene of the crime. While monkeys are certainly common in Cambodia it’s rare to see them wandering…

Two Year Anniversary

August 10th marked our two year anniversary in Cambodia. I got my dates mixed up and so we celebrated today. Just like last year, we splurged on lactose free ice cream in the mid-afternoon. In 2020, Crystal started us on a daily routine of writing a gratitude for the day on a notecard (you can…

Online School is back in session

Last week, Charlotte started second grade… It’s hard to believe that’s true but it is. My little baby is growing up so fast. …and, yesterday, Catherine started Pre-Kindergarten. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, both girls are currently studying online and it will probably be months in the best case scenario before they’re able to study…

Heart of Crown & the COVID game

I think it’s probably clear by now that we love playing games as a family. During our staycation, we got into a card game called Heart of Crown that I had brought with us when we moved here in 2019. It is very similar to Dominion, for those who have played that, but with the…

Catherine wins Catan

Catherine is starting to legitimately win when playing board games. And she loves it. (So do I.) The first game that she surprised us by winning without any outside aid or anyone holding back was Ticket to Ride First Journey. But she’s now graduated to winning Settlers of Catan. On a sidenote: we’ve been thinking…

Catherine’s 4th Birthday

It’s strange to look at photos from when we moved here in 2019 and realize how small Catherine was! She’s so big and strong now. She’s also four as of Saturday! I can hardly believe how fast my girls are growing up. After school on Thursday, Charlotte and I made a chocolate cake for Catherine’s…

The Year in Board Games

Our family loves playing board games! We especially enjoy cooperative ones like Pandemic or The Fairy Game, though this year we didn’t play any pandemic. We had enough pandemic in real life. As we looked back over our photos from the last year I thought that I’d share some of the board games we’ve played….

Online Schooling Again

This is our fourth COVID-19 lockdown and I’ve think we’re finally getting this online schooling thing down. Charlotte is doing well on the individual attention but Catherine really misses her friends. They do, for the most part, get along really well. I don’t think I was this sweet to my siblings when I was their…