Two weeks ago was like a breath of fresh air! I really needed a day off. I feel like I’ve had so much that could or should be done recently that I just haven’t had time to rest well. Between teaching the kids, doing computer work for Dad, and doing other jobs around the house, I feel like I just haven’t had time to rest well.

So when Dad suggested that the boys go to Phnom Penh, to pick up Friedreich’s and Lanita and renew their license. I jumped at the chance to take a day off of teaching and go road tripping!

After hours of driving, we finally made it to the mall. A couple days before, we saw on the news that in Phnom Penh now, you need to have proof of vaccination to be allowed into the malls. The mall is the only place that you can renew licenses. So we just hoped and prayed it would work out!

We walked into the mall entrance, and there was a checkpoint by the door. “Can I see you proof of vaccination?” the security asked. “Uhhh, we don’t have the vaccine.” Dallas replied. “You don’t have the vaccine?!?” He asked, astonished. “I’m sorry, you can’t come in then.” Dallas explained to him that all we needed to do is just renew they’re license, that was all. “Ok, Well, let me ask the boss first,” he relented. A couple minutes later he waved us through and told us only this once!

After renewing the license and picking up some goods for mom, we were famished! We decided just to get KFC. After looking over the menu, we decided on a box meal. The meal consisted of fried chicken, fries, sandwich and ice cream with caramel sauce. Our food came out, and we sat down to eat. We were so disappointed! Our “ice cream” was actually mashed potatoes and gravy! It looked exactly like a sundae with caramel sauce on the menu! After getting over the surprise, it tickled us, but was still very disappointing! Then I bit into my chicken, and I hit something very hard. Upon inspection, I realized it wasn’t a drumstick, but rather the chicken’s ribs. Dallas’ seemed to be mostly bone too. I guess they just chop the whole chicken into chunks Khmer style.

After finishing our lunch, we were on our way to do some quick fabric shopping, when Renita messaged and said they were finally released from quarantine. I quickly scanned over the rows and rows of fabric and bought what I wanted. Then we headed over to the hotel.

Once again, they made a big fuss about us not having the shot! I was worried that they actually weren’t going to let us in, reluctantly the guard let us through. Once inside, they got all our full names and our license plate number since we weren’t vaccinated. All that hassle just to drive in, load up everything and leave!

It was so good to have them back! We talked a good amount of the five hours home. I almost forget what it’s like to have people like that around.

That pretty much sums up our day off, it was a good break from the daily routine. It was a long, but quite interesting day!

Now Lanita is getting back into the daily grind of things and Friedrich’s are staying with a Khmer family in Prelingeang, they wanted to get a real Khmer experience and get to know people out there before doing much else. It sounds like they’re enjoying themselves, and learning Khmer really fast!

Heather for the Helmuths