As we cease being strangers we are becoming less wary and begin exhibiting our true selves. This familiarity has led to increased comfort and some testing behaviors to my somewhat idiosyncratic, and at times situational boundaries. Some days I am exuberantly happy to have children hang on me, strolling togrther, singing and enjoying each other. Some days, not so much. When it is 105 degrees F. and I have had a bad meal and feel compelled to have a privy nearby, I can become cranky, and so can the children.
We continue having drawing studio two hours daily on weekdays and it continues to be quite popular. I also have learned to play several hand games and I becoming adept at rock jacks. In rock jacks one uses pebbles for both the jacks and the ball, similar to no bounce jacks, a game I couldn’t manage as a youngster. As the rocks are variable sizes and all different shapes, my only advantage is my larger hands, but certainly not my eye-hand coordination. They are beating the snot out of me even when they are giving me advantage to keep me playing. 
I continue to have challenges learning Khmer, though I can now say no, stop, rice, 2:00 and thank-you. I was demotivated in terms of learning the alphabet when I learned it took children over three years to learn it and with over 30 letters and 40 vowels and my aging brain, not a chance for me. I have decided to use a transliterated/aural approach from now on.
The home runs on a shoestring and there have been some emergencies with the children recently which point out the challenges. One of the teens was having breathing problems and was hospitalized. She was soon diagnosed with TB and later with HIV (both of her parents died of this scourge). I don’t know whether TB is considered an opportunistic infection in this country and therefore I am unsure whether she would be considered to have an AIDS diagnosis.
Later last week a boy fell out of a tree while gathering fruit and lost consciousness for a little while. (While climbing trees is not allowed, the kids are hungry and don’t get much fruit or other sweets, making climbing an attractive nuisance.) Nonetheless, he fell on Friday afternoon, was put to bed and started vomiting (a sign of a concussion). He was not taken to the clinic until the vomiting became uncontrollable. The home just does not have ready petty cash and needs permission from the executive director to spend unbudgeted funds. He was unavailable. It was not until the general manager agreed to pay for the treatment that the child was seen the next day. The clinic recommended he stay for overnight observation, but there was no budget for that, so the child was returned to the home. I hope he is all right and I have not heard anything more about the situation.
As I compose this blog, children are banging on the library’s steel doors pleading for art studio to start. When they have been quiet for ten minutes, I think I will open it, but if not, they will have to wait until 2, or… ayh muon bpi, som.
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