this is the great adventure: it's more than a feeling

Hello, readers!

Here's a quick update about what's been going on in the far east (or, depending on where you are, near west):

We made shape monsters and had so much fun. It was a pretty fun week. We also made 3D shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks. Yay Math!

School got cancelled one day and we jumped for joy : ) Pretty sure that was the most excited any of us had been in a long time. It's the equivalent of a bad weather day back home.

When it rains, it floods. When it floods, I can't see the potholes when I'm biking. When I can't see the potholes, my bike sometimes takes an unexpected dip into a pothole. I then find myself here, getting my tire fixed.

And now for some vacation pictures! We had a week off of school so we headed to Sihanoukville, a beach town about 4 hours away. As we were locking up our house, we see all this happening in the street. To you, it looks like a truck with a bunch of chairs in it. To us, it says a wedding is about to be set up right next to your house. The timing of our trip couldn't have been more perfect. This guy was happy to smile for my picture, and we were happy to be getting out of town.

Happy wedding, neighbors! Bye.

This cow strolled up and down the street on a regular basis. This was a breakfast our first day.

And now for the story of how we were robbed sort of.

It was our first full day there, so we decided to explore the local shops and then walk down to the beach. Well, my purchase was a new swimsuit. It will be important to remember this.

We were walking down a hilly road to get to the nice beach, and I had my bag looped around my wrist. I was also holding onto the bag. My subconscious didn't want to be robbed, either. Anyway, a moto came up from and I was their target. They went for the bag, I jerked my arm back, they kept going. I've told y'all for years that I have excellent reflexes*.

Kim was walking in front of me, and she turned and saw what happened. She then poised herself to execute an attack on the moto. The moto was all wibbly wobbly (timey wimey) and was kind of going straight towards her. She pushed them away and was pulled down to the road somehow. The moto thieves regained balance and sped off.

This all happened in about 3 seconds.

We washed off Kim's battle wounds and headed back to the hotel on the first tuk tuk that came by. We had to laugh, because if the guy had gotten away with my bag, he would have discovered it contained a black bikini.

I kind of wish he had gotten away with it.

*Spidey Sense

Of course we took a picture right after it happened. I document everything awesome. Upon returning to our hotel, we noticed this sign on the door.

The trip was totally redeemed later that week when we spend a glorious day on Independence Beach. We had it all to ourselves for most of the day, and it was just perfect.

I loved the Little Mermaidish water.

Every adjective that describes perfection.

"I like my ice manually crushed." -Kim

Kim and Becca had a great time snorkeling. I was busy trying not to die from nausea. Remind me of this next time I think getting on a small boat is a good idea.

All good things come to an end, and before we knew it, we were back at school. That week was crazy because the roads around our school were flooded for the whole week. It was nice taking a tuk tuk every day, though. Not gonna complain about that. Some photos from our journey: