👨🏫 Swamp Football Rescue 101 With Monkey-B ⚽ & We Got Running Water Again 🚰
Today was full of adventure, from fishing footballs out of the swamp to water deliveries, sheep visits, frisbee tasting, and more!
A Day Of Surprises & Goofs
Today started off with a surprised (temporary) end to our water crisis. A state-owned water truck arrived to fill the water tank behind our apartment, I assume because the water pressure won't be returning any time soon.
Our tank is kind of small for a house divided into 3 apartments, a total of 8 people living in this building. It likely won't even last a week, but it's nice to have water at the tap after several months of constant water problems.
Time For A Lunchbreak
The least worst looking vegetable at the market today was some wilted morning glory, so I did my best to turn it into an edible fried rice along with the help of some coconut meat and mustard seeds. Can you guess which family member likes my cooking the most?
Post-Lunch Animal Entertainment
After lunch I sat on the porch to digest and also watch the sheep grazing. The landlord's dog came and decided it was a good idea to lay some diarrhea right in the middle of the sheep's grazing area. Satisfied with her work, Blakka (the dog's name) then walked over to the sand and watched the sheep intently, perhaps fulfilling some kind of voyeuristic fecal fantasy.
Lifestyle-wise, my family and I pretty much live a Cambodian lifestyle, so we do many things on the floor, especially eating. For this reason, we've never permitted animals in our living space before, but Harry the sheep has been given carte blanche to come and go as he pleases. There is something special about this creature, and my whole family can sense it.
Family Playtime
I honestly felt like just having fun with the family and not posting today, but that is something I really can't afford to do. However, sometimes if you just snap pictures, the story will follow. With phone in hand, I did my best to kick the ball around with Srey-Yuu while trying to get a few decent pics here and there.
Monkey-B doesn't like to left out of any action, and when she noticed Srey-Yuu and I kicking the ball around, she grabbed her shoes and hit the field.
A Gross Ball Rescue
Kicking the football around always ends with a ball in the swamp or canal that nobody wants to retrieve. A proper tool is needed to retrieve a stuck ball, and Monkey-B found the right stick for unsticking.
When the ball is retrieved, it's wet and picks up sand easily, so this usually marks the end of football and the beginning of "magic flying ring" time.
Stepping in to replace the football was the magic flying ring, which Monkey-B almost always catches with her face. Luckily it's got an inch of rubber between the hard inner ring and the outer rim, so it comically bounces off her face without injury, cheap and free laughs for all.
A Perfect Visual Metaphor For Our Life In Suriname
Pov and Monkey-B abandoned Srey-Yuu and I to do insect photography on the unmowed side of the graywater canal, but it requires a long walk to the front of the property and back to cross over. Once they were finished, Pov asked me to make a bridge with something. The best thing I could find was a wooden plank a foot short.
In case you're not getting the metaphor, the canal is bureaucracy and borders, and the planks represents our close-but-no-cigar failed efforts to remain together and defeat outdated immigration policies.
Pre-Teens Are Too Cool For Parents
In order for me to get a picture with Srey-Yuu, I have to give Pov a silent cue then snatch Srey-Yuu as she flops like a fish to get away. I always thought I'd be the cool Dad, but apparently I am a dork in my daughter's eyes.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN HIVE AND START EARNING CRYPTO LIKE US
 |  | 🙏 GIVE THANKS 🙏 |  |  |
|---|
Hi hi Justin... Such a cute post.. saving the football.. the first thing I noticed... When I was about to read this post. Finally there is water.. the water is usually brought here by the water supply truck? Is there any running water that goes through pipes? 😊😊😊
We are connected to city water, so when things work correctly, the tank is filled via the pressured city water lines. However, I the economic crisis and corruption has caused the government to cut services, and I sense now the city is not pressuring the water lines like before. We are now too far away from the street to ever get water.
The water truck might only be a one-time luxury, so we are trying to be conservative with it because we know the landlord doesn't like to spend his money.
That is really hard.. I do hope that you and your family are gonna be able to go back to Cambodia... In the next few months. I am pretty sure the world is slowly opening up. Malaysia plans to open borders in December.
So each water truck that comes is paid by the landlord? But it's good that you are positively handling every obstacle that comes. Hardships make life better once we get back to greener pastures.
I'm not sure who's paying for the water delivery, but it looked like to me a private truck hired by the state, because there 2 government workers along for the ride with the privately owned truck. I assume this delivery was free because the state has failed to provide so many people with water not living next to the road.
Luckily for the government people far from the road are usually poor, Guyanese, Cuban, or Haitian, and are not of great importance politically. I am hoping 2022 is a year of opening borders, and it would be really cool to spend New Year's together as a family somewhere in SE Asia, but I sense it will take a little longer than that.
Quite a fun time with family - its good to see them enjoying outdoors.
Sometimes I feel we've all been in front of our screens too long, and an outdoor urge presents itself. Luckily we can document it and earn a little crypto. Thanks for stopping by my friend.
You know one day you gonna look back and think on these memories as good times.
There will definitely be good memories of our time here, but I hate to say none of these memories will be because we were here. We miss Cambodia so much we can almost taste it. We've already decided we're gonna spend a year on the roads camping and roaming around in our tuk-tuk, making up for lost adventures from our time here in Suriname.
Well I got the perfect soundtrack for those adventures. In search of Lost time by Protoje. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkqz3S84Tw-TZWGMPoyIwoTRVs3sJfXny
So I can just imagine the content when you guys get back. Unu mek something out of nothing daily.
Family is first. Nice adventurous time with family.
Yes, they bring me so much joy, I am very lucky husband and dad.
How old are your kids ?
12 and 7, and already Hive-blogging 😃.
Woow, a good way to start
Does it rain much where you are? Are you able to collect rainwater and use a filter plus purifying tablets (and boiling of course) to make it safe to drink?
It does rain here, with some times of the year rainier than others. Unfortunately rain has never coincided with a lack of city water, and we have limited means other than a few buckets to store water. In Cambodia, most rental rooms and homes have a large concrete basin in the bathroom for water storage during times like these.
My only concern with rainwater here is that Paramaribo has one of the highest concentrations of airborne mercury in the world, a result of the massive gold mining industry here.
I hope the water crisis there will be resolved quickly.
Unfortunately things probably won't be changing soon, but at least we temporarily have a full water tank.
is there no private well there?
I think because we are so close to the sea here that it would likely be a salty well. I have seen wells in some parts of the city, but I think for the most part people in the city limits rely on exclusively city water lines.
but it's not necessarily like that, because I live near the beach and even the sea in front of my house, but the water is not salty, instead the water is like normal water, my advice is to try making stews because we don't know if we haven't tried it.😊
Well, we have fresh water in the tank now, so no worries. Even if there was a well nearby, we'd never know because Surinamers haven't been very social with us. We've only made one friend that we see occasionally in the three years we've been stranded here. Our best choice for water is filling 20 liter buckets from the landlord's house.
very happy family.
I am very happy to see a family like yours.
We always have a good time together.
Yeah, that's pretty awesome.
Really lovely photos Justin of real family life, everyone smiling happily even Srey-Yuu LOL
Sending !PIZZA + !LUV
<><
@justinparke, you've been given LUV from @andy-jahm.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (1/5)
Srey-Yuu is okay with distant shots as long as you don't tell her, but the moment we mention taking pictures, she gets instantly stubborn. I used to be the same way, so I can't blame her.
My Grand-Daughter is exactly the same LOL
Teens get embarrassed so easily LOL (they all do!) especially Girls ! but they !LUV you really...
<><
@justinparke, you've been given LUV from @andy-jahm.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (4/5)
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@andy-jahm(6/10) tipped @justinparke (x1)
Learn more at https://hive.pizza.
Congratulations on getting water. Hopefully it will last for while. I think your wilted morning glory fried rice sounds super delicious. You can turn anything into a tasty dish.
It's always nice to see your family have fun and make the best out of your situation. There are people here that are so spoiled that they would positively lose their minds if they had to be in your shoes. All will be well redeemed for sure.
Glad you stole a pic of Srey-yuu haha. It's true about preteens though. I was the same with my dad.😊
I wish I could share more recipes, but the lack of a good space for photography and pretty kitchen accessories often leave me uninspired, and of course not to mention the lack of quality produce. But we do what we can given the circumstances.
We may or may not have lost our minds already, I don't think the 4 of us are qualified to judge ourselves, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes when we begin having social relationships once we're out of here.
Srey-Yuu is a tough cookie, but I want memories, so every now and then I have to take incognito and/or forced pics. Parents just don't understand.
Thanks God full water tank now. Hopefully it will lasts.
I think Monkey B likes the most of the food. 😊
You had a fun day today with your family. 😊😊
Our tank has water for now, a major relief, but I don't think the state will be coming very often to fill it. Shame there is a lot of mercury in the air from the gold processing, otherwise we'd collect rainwater. Monkey-B likes my cooking the most, and her older sisters likes Mom's cooking the most.
Thanks for stopping by my friend.
Hopefully you're not run out of water.
The kids has their own favorites. 😊
Hahaha! Beautiful pictures and plenty of love and humor to be picked up on :<)
Thanks, sometimes the best content comes from having no content at all to share. I love it when a photo op presents itself to me and I almost don't recognize the gold in front of my face.