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Travel Blog: Our Journeys Within

A different kind of Valentine's

Posted by Andrea on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

People often seem to think that I am making up some of the stories I tell about Brandon. I am always talking about how he started the non profit and how he is now teaching at the local university and how we have more staff than we know what to do with because he likes hiring people. When you meet Brandon it is actually pretty easy to miss his sensitive side. He makes fun of people, he is highly opinionated and as we all agree, just a bit weird. I thought Brandon’s Valentine’s Day present to me shows the kind of person he is beneath the grumpy guy who hates being woken up and whose favorite hobby is getting kicked in the head. This is what Brandon values:

Hello my little valentines,

So what do you get the girl that has it… Read more »

Gavin, the rockstar.

Posted by April on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

It’s 3:00 in the morning, we’ve just finished the last leg of our 18 hour journey, we’ve landed in a foreign country, our minds are as disheveled as our bed head and Jet-lag has become a new four letter word. The thought of smiling was as foreign as the country we were now in – but that was all about to change. Waiting for our bags at the Bangkok Airport my soon to be 2 year old son Gavin had decided that the middle of the walkway was as good as a place to take a nap as any. While I was mortified and trying to maintain some sort of composure, an unusual thing happened. The local staff began surrounding us and smiling saying hello and asking “Can I take a picture?” . “Huh?” I asked. A sweet girl then said – “Of the … Read more »

Geckohhhhh

Posted by Andrea on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

It’s all fun and games until the gecko eats the baby!

Living in Cambodia you get to love geckos: they eat mosquitoes, they are pretty cute and they make a cool sound that reminds you that your life is different. In fact, in our bedroom we have an accidental terrarium that I love. When they house was built at the top of each wall they built vents, areas for air to move in and out. When we took over the house we glassed these in so we could use the AC. The glass still lets out the light so at night bugs gather here and so do the geckos. It’s essentially an all you can eat buffet for geckos and we get some large gatherings sometimes. There are love affairs, fights, naps, in fact I often find myself ignoring the TV and instead watching… Read more »

Crafty

Posted by Andrea on  |  Leave a comment

I have always wished that I could have a job that involved shopping. I have taken it as far as applying to be one of those mystery shoppers, I know nothing about it, but it sounds so cool and you get to shop, but not lose money! This week my dream came to reality, no, I didn’t get to go to Target and buy detergent, I didn’t even have to keep the fact I was a buyer a secret! Nikaya, our new craft project sent me on a shopping spree! Alex, our Nikaya director, had made contact with a variety of different fair trade companies in Phnom Penh and I flew down Wednesday morning to start shopping. We went to many different stores seeing all the different things being made here in Cambodia. There is so much and a lot of it is incredibly beautiful.… Read more »

The Circus Comes to Town

Posted by Andrea on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

Last weekend (sorry, I wrote this awhile ago and have had trouble with uploading, it is more like last month…) we visited Koh Ker, a rural area about 3 hours from Siem Reap were we proudly own 22 hectares of farmland. Brandon wanted to go out to check on his land so I thought he would enjoy having the kids and I tag along and have an adventure. My cousin Tom and his cousin Iona were also visiting so we all loaded up and headed out. Koh Ker is starting to become a tourist attraction because of the pre-Angkorian temples there. I love visiting these temples because they are always empty of tourists and because my magic man is there. The magic man is a legend in Cambodia. Covered in tattoos the story is that he has been blessed… Read more »