Sunday evening, I returned home from a weekend Peace Corps meeting in Phnom Penh to find my house transformed into a tent city.

This Tuesday at 5:00am traditional music will blast from our front yard for all of Puok to hear.  That’s when my host sister’s two-day wedding will get underway.  I’m taking both days off school (my school director will be at the wedding too.  He’s good friends with my host father).

This is the view from my back patio on the third floor.

Behind the house:

More than 1,000 people will be coming through our house Tuesday and Wednesday.

My host family somehow negotiated to get our old live-in maid back, but only for three weeks (to help with the wedding).  It’d been about two months since she left to aid her sick mother and help her family harvest rice in her small home village north of Puok.  She’s lost a lot of weight, telling me that her family can only afford rice.

Starting Monday I’ll also be giving up my bedroom, and instead sleeping on the back patio under a mosquito net.  Five family members from across the country will be staying in my room.  The other rooms in the house will be as full or more so.

Another big change coming to my life is that my host sister’s new husband will be moving into our house after the wedding.  This will bring our immediate host family count to nine people in the house (including me and a live-in maid).  My host sister’s future-husband is cool.  And, he works at Siem Reap International Airport, so I’ll get to nerd out asking him airport questions.  This will be a good addition.

(FYI- I’ll be a regular guest at this wedding, not a groom’s man.)