Stories from Cambodia: "Our house, is a very, very, very fine house..."

"...with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy, because of you." (Our House, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young)

While our house sadly does not include a yard, it does have two cats and it is very, very, very fine - at least we think so. And I don't know how hard things used to be, but we love living in this house and sharing it with our two lovely roommates, who are both colleagues of mine.

our house from the front

This house is a perfect example of a typical Cambodian city house, commonly referred to as a flat. They are between two and 5 stories high and as wide as a single room, but as long as two rooms, with a staircase running up the center of the flat. What that means, is that in the picture you see above, our house is only the left half of the building, not the whole thing.

In this picture you can see that the flat is several times longer than it is wide and has a nice open roof, which we're planning on making into an outdoor living room with plants, hammocks, and lounge chairs - and a grill. What you can also see is the professional wiring that you see everywhere in the country, which looks terrifying, but seems to work well. Why fix it if it ain't broke? One last comment before we go inside: the gates, fences, and bars on the windows are standard for this country, especially the city. Phnom Penh isn't a dangerous city, but there is a lot of petty crime. So, it's important to make sure that your house doesn't become a target for burglars looking to grab your laptop or wallet through an open window or wheel your moto out from an unprotected driveway.

welcome to our humble abode

At the moment, Philipp and I are still getting used to traffic in Phnom Penh by weaving around on bikes and taking motos and tuk-tuks (a full post on this topic is coming up next week) for longer distances, so our driveway is still pretty empty.

living + dining room

We spend a lot of time in this large room, mostly because it stays the coolest due to it being on the ground floor and its size making it nice and airy. Since it never gets cold in Cambodia, the houses aren't built to keep out icy winds, so you can be sitting in the living room with all the windows and doors closed and it will literally still sound like you're sitting outside on the street. Most of the time it's a nice way to stay connected with your neighborhood, but sometimes it can get a little annoying, like when all the dogs in a one mile radius start barking at 3:30 am.

our kitchen on crab cake night with friends

The kitchen is behind the living room and pretty simple. A refrigerator + freezer to keep food from rotting overnight and two gas-powered burners for cooking are our only appliances. But, really, with the temperatures getting as high as they do here, who wants to turn on an oven? And since eating out is really inexpensive here (for good food - junk food is expensive) and shopping takes a lot more effort than in Germany, we honestly don't really do a whole lot of cooking.

Philipp's study

Up one flight of stairs are two rooms: Philipp's study faces the front of the house, with one of the windows actually opening into the living room (this is once again common in Cambodian city houses). It's still a little sparse, but we're planning on adding a sofa or comfortable chairs at some point in the near future. Facing towards the back is our bedroom that is smaller, darker, and quieter than the study, which works perfectly for sleeping.

empty bedroom on the top floor

spot the kitty

standard bathroom

The four bedrooms in the flat all look pretty much the same and all have the same furnishings (we neither had time, nor energy, nor money to be all that creative in the first two weeks here), so I thought I would just share pictures of the bedroom that's still empty. All bedrooms, and the study, have their own bathroom with a shower head attached to one of the walls, which is nice when you're four adults sharing a house and are all over the whole college lets-all-share-one-bathroom thing.

There's also a whole other living room on the third floor, which is still 100% empty, but we'll probably be using it as an extra work space for interns this summer, since we'll have two research projects going on at the same time and the office really isn't all that big.

living room II

notice the detail of the tile border: charming cupids with diamond (engagement??) rings

stairs of death to the roof

The stairs in Cambodian houses tend to be really, really steep with very narrow steps, making every trip up and down them about as relaxing as bungee jumping. So, take it slow, hold on to the railing, and keep an eye out for the cats that are always weaving between your legs as they follow you up to the spot in the house they are absolutely obsessed with: the roof.