My adoptive family

For the past week I was staying at one of the students and teacher's family house. Vanne was the teacher whose wedding we attended and her sister Dimang was the girl I danced with. She was not my student so our relationship was much more of a friendship and she invited me to stay at her parents' house for a few days.

They are 3 boys and 3 girls in the family and are like the Khmer version of the Brady Bunch....really Carolyn, Christine and I kept saying they must all do drugs when we leave their house because no family is this functional!

However, after spending almost one week there, I can say no drugs, tehy really arethis functional. So obviously it's very different from a westner house in the sense that everyone shares a room (all the siblings are between 15 and 22)and no one seems to mind. They have regular family meetings where everyone talks about their day or week and how they're feeling. Three children are still in school, 2 are working and in school and Vanne, the eldest is the only one who only works and now lives with her husband but they still come to dinner every night.

It's really different, the children don't go out much and are very traditional when it comes to family and dating. Although traditional they understand how the world outside of Cambodia works and are not judgmental about it.

They truly welcomed me into their home like I was family, they made me feel loved and were genuinely sad to see me leave. Dimang's mother doesn't speak english but somehow through body language and gestures I could understand everything she said. She said I must have been her daughter in another life.