My host family’s 20-year-old live-in maid left for good last week.  She had to go back to her village because her mother is in bad health and they need help harvesting their rice field.

For the past few months she’s the only person I’ve eaten with at home.  I had learned she liked to read, so I’d been bringing her books from Siem Reap.  She had to drop school in Seventh Grade because her family was too poor.  Her aunts came to take her home two weeks ago, but my host father said she couldn’t leave because my family hadn’t hired a new maid.   So, she stayed for another week.

We still don’t have a new live-in maid.  So, my host mother is doing extra work—hand-washing dishes, doing the family’s laundry by hand, sweeping all three floors of the house, cooking, feeding my five-year-old host brother, etc.  That’s on top of caring for the crocodiles and selling pork in the market. I’ve tried to help, but my host mother doesn’t like that.

My host father is searching for new help.  He rides his motorcycle into rural villages looking for families who are poor and would be willing to send their daughters to live in our house.  But, my host family says most people looking for this kind of opportunity are sending their daughters to Thailand–the pay is higher there.

The past few days I’ve been eating alone.  It feels strange.  And, I’m out of the loop on family gossip.  She used to give me the scoop.

Also, a side note, my host father bought this brand new Toyota Camry recently.