A few weeks ago we were playing outside, so I offered to buy them ice cream. It was cheap and they enjoyed it, and really I bought it because I wanted ice cream. Last week, I was in my room reading, while Maac was outside, and the three children were in the living room. I could hear the children playing around and I kept hearing the words the word "eat" followed by a word I didn't know. A few minutes later, they burst into my room, and kept repeating this phrase. I told them I didn't understand. So they told me, "Go outside! Go down[stairs]!" I surrendered, grabbed 2 dollars out of my purse just in case, and allowed them to drag me down the stairs, thinking that we were going to sit with Maac. The two older ones took me hands, and the younger one held her sister's other hand, and they marched me out past where Maac was sitting, and down the street. At that point I realized what they were doing. They were taking me to the only store on the street that has ice cream. I was being forced to buy them ice cream. The ice cream was super cheap so I bought it for them ($0.25 per prepackaged cone), and chatted with the shopkeepers while they started eating. When we got back to the house, Maac had come inside and I'm pretty sure the first thing they said to her was "Look, Hannah bought us ice cream!"
The other night I was again in my room reading. Maac was out and my host sisters were in the living room playing. I'd go out and join them periodically, but not as much as they wanted. Suddenly, I heard the younger one scream. Not a play scream either but a scream that said something was terribly wrong. I hadn't heard a crash or bang or anything like that so my actual first thought was that they had set something on fire, since the 7 year old is allowed to use the lighter. I jumped out of my bed and ran into the living room. The two girls were laying on the floor, they took one look at me burst into giggles. I tried to impart to them that doing that kind of thing was bad, and returned to my room. Upon my return, the youngest started screaming again. I mumbled about the boy who cried wolf to myself while I settled onto my bed.
I'm so glad to have these children in my life. They love to mess around, and have now gotten into the habit of begging me to buy them ice cream ("Me, me, me, ice cream?!"), and I can't imagine doing this host family thing without them. They love to practice speaking English with me and are delighted when I speak to them in Khmer.
Goal for the coming week: to get them to stop asking me what I'm doing when I'm in the bathroom.
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