At the risk of being redundant... what fun Saturday and Sunday nights too! Saturday was Madelyn's (MaMa's) 15th birthday party out Ming/my house, and Sunday was a village presentation of the Christmas story.
I helped the women make curry Saturday afternoon - even pressing through getting squirted by chicken juices and my legs falling asleep from sitting indian-style for so long, but it was a bonding experience!! They gave me the jobs of making the cucumber salad and cutting up green beans (string beans here are almost 2' long!), while they mashed and diced and boiled all sorts of other things. 35 of us hung out and talked while kids and kid-like grownups played with balloons in the yard til way after dark.
Sunday evening the children put on a short play at Ming Sarom's house, and there were sandwiches and cokes for all. Most of the crowd that gathered stayed in the back, and many left during or immediately after the play. It maybe have been the most authentic presentation I've ever seen... even if one angel did fall off the back of the stage will bringing good news to the wise men (she was OK, just embarrassed). And as with all Cambodian parties, we danced for the rest of the night.