"Sua Sdey Chhnam Thmey" -- Happy [Khmer] New Year

Tomorrow is the official first day of Khmer New Year (Chhnam Thmey), but today we saw the holiday affect in the office. We thought there were not many there yesterday, but half of those who were there yesterday were gone as well. Needless to say, the office was very quiet.

We received a notice under our apartment door on Saturday letting us know that the housekeeping staff would be given 4 days off (April 13th - 16th) so they might go visit their home province. The letter included a little about this holiday.

"This year is the year of Monkey 2560 BE (Buddhist Era) which will be started from April 13th, 2016. Please welcome Khmer New Year; angle is Mondea Tevy. She wears a Champa flower hairpin. Her weapons are a needle on right hand, and a cane on left. She drinks milk and rides a donkey. She comes down to the earth on Wednesday 13th April, 2016. Angles are changed one in every year to protect, bless and lead everybody to success until the New Year comes."

We hope all of you have a wonderful "Chhnam Thmey"! We mentioned yesterday we have never celebrated so many New Years in so few months. This is the 5th celebration of New Year we have experienced in the 14 months we have been in Cambodia. We expect the next will be just days before we finish our mission and return home.

The weather has turned hot and humid, so we were crazy to venture to Central Market this afternoon as we looked for a gift. 40* C (103* F) outside feels like 112* F with the humidity. Central Market is not equipped with air conditioning, and the fans have a hard time getting enough air moved in such close quarters we were quite melted in the half hour we spent there. We succeeded in finding a gift!