Checking out and checking in

No, unfortunately I still haven´t found a place of my own. At least I haven´t signed a contract yet. There are very few apartements and houses on the market for the moment, and the prices are sky rocketing here in Phnom Penh, which makes it difficult to find a place that suits both my wallet and my requirements. But as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have looked at a traditional khmer wooden house which would suit me perfectly. The owner has promised to keep the house for me until the tenants are moving out around the 20:th of June, and we´ve agreed on some - if not all - details of the contract. I do hope that the landlord, who is a really nice elderly Cambodian man, will keep his promise to me. If everything will work out as planned, my employer will do a security check of the house tomorrow, and at the same time we´ll start to settle on the details of the contract with the landlord. And if we agree on everything, the landlord has promised me that I can move in there around the 25:th of June. I´m a bit supersticious when it comes to talking too much about a deal that is not settled yet, so I don´t actually dare to give you more details of the house for the moment. But as soon as - or if- the contract is signed, I promise to get back to you all with the details, and of course photos too.

Well, although I haven´t found a place of my own yet, I´ve at least checked out from the hotel where I´ve been staying since I arrived on the 1:st of May. Two days ago, I moved in at my friends Mimmi´s and Albin´s house.

So now I´m staying here..!

My dear friends have left for a five weeks summer holiday in Sweden, and needed someone to look after their lovely cat, "Skruttis" when they are away. So; ta-daa! Now I´m staying in the biggest house I´ve ever stayed in my whole life - 10 rooms and 6 bathrooms - and even better: I´m staying there with a wonderful cat!! It feels so good to have a cat again - you all know how much I miss my pets at home. Skruttis is the loveliest cat in Cambodia; social, talkative and she loves to cuddle. She follows me everywhere I go in this giant house, and I´m trying to convince her to sleep beside me at night. I´ve bought ham for her at the supermarket, which she loves, so now she wakes me up like four times at night, meowing really loud, and I could swear that she says "ham, give me ham..!"

Skruttis

Last week, it was time for Skruttis´ yearly visit to the veterinarian. After the appointment, her master Albin called me to inform me about what he had seen at the vet; a six week old kitten, abandoned and in need of a new home... The tiny, tiny kitten now lived in a cage at the reception desk, and it was so small that there was not a single sound when it tried to meow... The veterinarian had asked Albin to ask everyone he knows if someone could take care of this little kitten, and as Albin knows how much I adore Skruttis, he of course called me... I really, really had to challenge myself to say "No. I would love to, but no". As much as I love cats, and as much as there´s nothing I would want more than to take care of this little kitten, I just can´t. I actually made a decision before I left from Sweden that I won´t get any pets here in Cambodia, for the simple reason that it would kill me to leave them behind the day I´m leaving Phnom Penh. So, it was with tears in my eyes that I had to say no to giving that little kitten a new home...

But anyway; I am very happy to have the privilige of taking care of Skruttis for five weeks, and I hope that I there will be more "cat sitting" for me in the future as well. If I move to a place of my own before my friends return from Sweden, Skruttis will of course come with me to my place and stay there until her family is back in Cambodia. I hope she´ll like it there. I guess I can always bribe her with some ham...!

Beautiful Skruttis - my new house mate!