In a previous blog I wrote that the king had died. He has been lying in state since October 17. Monday February 4 he will be cremated. As part of this mourning process clemency will be granted to more than 500 prisoners. Four hundred and twelve prisoners including two Thai prisoners sentenced for espionage will be released. Eighty-nine prisoners will have their sentences reduced. King Sihamoni, the son of King Sihanouk, and his mother Queen Mother will present the released prisoners with gifts. ( I wonder if this will be a start up kit of a set of clothes, some money and hygiene supplies or perhaps something less practical like a gold Buddha.)
Each night around eight o'clock there is a fireworks display in remembrance of the king. Friday night we watched this display from the roof of our apartment.
Pictured here is the burial site of Father King Norodom Sihanouk
Photo taken from Face book entry of one of our PEF participants.
This structure was built between October 2012 and January 2013.
Friday before the parade began helicopters circled over head to survey the massive crowd of mourners on the ground.( Notice there is not a cloud in the sky. It was extremely hot. Bottled water and hand fans were given out to the crowds for free.)
Official flags fly at half mast along all the streets. Flags also fly from buildings.
People gathered at Independence Monument. This is about a 10 minute walk from where we live. It is quite a distance from where the king is to be buried. This site was as close as this group of people could get. The area going toward the river was literally a sea of people. We had planned to walk to the river. There were too many people to do this.
These monks are grouped together across the street from Independence Monument.
More people gathering.
Grassy area leading to Independence Monument.
Friday night from the 14th floor of our apartment. Independence Monument is seen in the left hand side of this photo.
We did a few other things this week. We put off house inspections until this week. It wasn't the best week to inspect our assigned missionaries home but it had to be done. It is always an adventure to inspect homes.
We have been assigned House 4 ever since we arrived to Phnom Penh. The red metal door protects the house from trespassers and thieves. Notice also the coiled barbed wire. The missionaries live in the building to the right. They live on the level you can see directly above the gray doors.
This is the Assistant to the President's home and the Office Elders home. This month they have not been home much. They apologized that their place was not as clean as it would've been had they been home more. We also showed up at 7:30 in the morning. They were eating breakfast and there were cereal bowls at various desks where each was eating. The most interesting thing to report this month was the refrigerator door heist.
Elder Rucker said that when they went into their kitchen they discovered that the doors to their refrigerator were missing. They had no idea when they went missing. No food was taken but the lack of doors did cause things to spoil. They have a refrigerator in another room so they transferred what they could salvage to it. There is a Khmer that does repairs and some cleaning of the apartments. The Elders figure that he took the doors. I understand why he would not worry about the food. Our first refrigerator had a disgusting smell which we complained about. While we were at work the smelly refrigerator was replaced with a new one. The workers put all our food into the new refrigerator, but neglected to plug it in and turn it on. I guess they think refrigerators are just a nice shelf to put food on.
It's not every day we get to report refrigerator doors mysteriously vanishing. This was one magic trick that went wrong.
Friday in addition to joining the crowds at Independence Monument we also walked away from the crowds. We were happy that there were shops still open. We were able to refill my prescriptions for the remainder of our mission. It is not necessary to present a doctors' written prescription to purchase medications in Cambodia. My doctor in the states would only allow me to have a year supply of medicine. He refused to allow me another prescription without having the yearly physical. No way do I want a physical here. I figure that I will be OK for 6 months using my current dosages. When I return to the states I will get the proper physical and at that time changes can take place if needed. Under my circumstances I am glad Cambodia is lenient, however, I am leery because my one medicine comes from Korea. I hope there are no impurities in it. Dale was able to get his medicines for considerably less money than in the states. He stocked up and will possibly purchase more before we leave.
Besides drugs we picked up a few food items and went to Lucky Burger for lunch. We got home early enough that I did our laundry in the daylight. Two out of five washing machines sort of work now. The laundry took a good portion of the afternoon and early evening. I also mopped the floors. I have been finding ants scurrying along one of our shelves. By slowly picking through our shelf I found that ants had discovered our Vitamin C candy drops. I had to throw them all away. Hopefully getting the source tossed will solve the ant problem. Only time will tell!
Saturday morning began early. We taught institute at 6:30. We had a good turn out of students considering the events of this week. After class we did a few things at the office. We were home by 9:00. We pretty much just hung out at home. After being on the roof the night before and seeing our pool Dale just had to take a dip. This was his second time swimming on our mission.
Cambodians covet white skin. Cambodian women eat your heart out. This man is mine!
There is a blower that churns the water. Dale said it felt really good on his back.
About the time three little girls showed up Dale was ready to get out. The girls liked the churning water too.
While Dale was swimming I decided to take a photo of one of the neighboring pools. I was a bit shocked when I looked at this picture later. The young boy on the pool edge was lying down when I snapped the photo- not hovering over the edge. Some things I just don't care to see. When Dale was reviewing the pictures he said, "Hey what's this?" When I saw it I said, "Whoa that isn't what I thought I took a picture of."
If I were to hire someone to do our laundry this is where it would end up before being returned to us.
The thirteenth floor is mostly open air space. There are rows of laundry drying.
Time to go down to the second floor where we live. This is looking down from the 14th floor. The building shown is The Hampton's. It is where many people who work for the various embassies live. To think that all these high rise buildings are pretty much stacked bricks. I do not believe there are any steel beams. I pray there is never an earthquake in Phnom Penh. It would be one huge, horrific disastrous event.
Overall we have had a pretty good week. We went to Tuol Tom Pong again. We like to go there on Fast Sunday because that is the branch we chose to pay our fast offering to. Before the opening hymn and prayer the Branch President read a letter in Khmer. It apparently had something to do with the king of Cambodia because directly after the reading we had a moment of silence for King Siahnouk. The meeting then proceeded as usual.
We are not planning on going into work tomorrow. I'm not sure what we will do. Whatever it is I hope it has nothing to do with washing clothes or exterminating ants. It should be a good day if we can avoid those two activities.
Hope you have a well balanced week. We love you.
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