Meet My: Host Family

This post is a long time coming. I know, I'm so bad that as we're getting ready to say goodbye to them, I'm just introducing you to them. Of course I've posted about all of them before in little stories of our adventures over the past here, but here is your opportunity to see them.

First we have our Host Dad (X-Ray):
X-Ray, is the radiologist at our local hospital. When Hal broke his elbow we went there and he took some X-Rays of his arm. He learned English when he used to work in a border town with Thailand, but he gets very nervous when we speak English to him. Apparently his English is very good when he's drunk.

And then our Host Mom (Bookie):

We call her bookie because when we first moved in our host dad told us she just worked from home. Little did we know, those number's she's shouting on the phone every month, they're for the town lottery which she runs. Oh, and did I mention she's a loan shark? Pretty baller, eh? 

Our host mom is part of the reason why we love site. She just loves to hang out with us and be involved in anything we're doing. She has the most genuinely funny laugh I've ever heard in Cambodia. Here she is using her mortar and pestle to grind some pepper we brought back from Kampot. She makes a mean pumpkin curry, and likes pizza.

Next is our younger Host Sister (Moto Accident):

You can probably guess why we call her moto accident. Right after we moved to site she got in a moto accident out on the main road. Luckily X-Ray could come home and patch her up. She wouldn't eat anything all day except for what we gave her. We made cookies and gave her some of our favorite treats.

This is also a sweet introduction to how most Cambodians take pictures with awkwardly straight faces. Oh, and she's pretty awesome at doing nails. Here she had just done her nails, painted them red, put sparkles in the corners and then added princess stickers. The most beautiful Khmer nails ever. She graduates this year and wants to go to school to be a beautician.

And lastly we have our little Host Brother (Silenceor):
One guess as to why we call him the Silenceor...he kind of just doesn't talk. Especially to us, and especially when we first came to site. We would ask him direct questions and he would just stand there or slowly walk away. He just never really talked much in general, but this week I heard him playing with a baby. Holy moly, it was the loudest I've ever heard him be. Apparently Bookie needs to have another baby.

He may not say much, but he will try just about any western food we make, and really loves anything sweet we give him from America. He's always happy to help us bake something in our oven and enjoys the fruits of his labors.

So glad that you could meet my host family. They're really great people and we have enjoyed living with them the last year. Bookie's family lives here in town and they're all very nice to us when they see us riding around town. X-Ray's family lives up north and have a farm where they make red rice, which truly is more delicious than normal white rice. They are truly very giving people and after a year of hinting, Bookie finally bought me some matching Khmer pjs; so overall we're pretty lucky around here.