#the neighbors had chickens who came into our yard everyday

[crowcryptid]

I wish I remembered the address to this house that I toured a few years ago because it was a weird ass house and I think the liminal space enjoyers would get a kick outta it

Basically what we were told was that the house was custom built for this guy (he was either an artist or architect, I don’t remember which) and wanted the pool to be accessible from everywhere in the house??

So there was a pool in the middle.. and everything was built around it. Also the house was very dark. Not painted dark, but the main source of light was windows. I remember there being no lights on at all but i don’t remember if it had no lights or if they just weren’t turned on. Idk if I’m remembering this part correctly but I believe the pool room had a gap between the roof and wall due to damage so it was hot in there too. And everything had that pool water scent. But from the outside it just looked like a regular house.

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

Favorite Human

BTS

Jeon Jungkook/Reader [F]

Genre: Hybrid AU, Childhood Friends,  Fluff

Words: 3.1k

sum. Jungkook was the adopted hybrid pup of the new family who had just moved into the second unit of the duplex your family lived in. The moment they brought him home as a kid, he was attached to you and you to him.  Growing up, you thought he’d change, but even as highschoolers, he’s still as attached as ever. 

a/n: Really, just a blurb that got way longer than I indented it to (this was supposed to be a drabble mmk) of Dog Hyrbid Kook being adorable bc @kpopgirlbtssvt​ forced my hand (this isn’t proofread, oops)

“Y/n! come out here and meet the new neighbors!” You perked your head up from your small, plastic desk that you sat out, a plethora of crayons littered across it with scribbles of colors that absolutely didn’t stay in the lines of the coloring book picture you were busy filling in. Your hair pulled back- courtesy of your father and his love of hairdressing- as you sat in your favorite, yellow t-shirt and blue overalls.  

Hopping up, you ran outside to your mother.  The springtime was the perfect time to keep the front door open and open the window of the storm door, and that’s exactly what your mother did was she was out satisfying her green thumb for gardening. Pushing open the storm door latch that you could just barely reach, you pushed the door open and ran to your mother down the few steps of your porch. 

Your family lived in one half of the two-unit duplex in the middle of the city. 

You had often complained that you had no kids to play within the neighborhood unless you went to the park- which was too far to go to daily.  You were a bit of a tomboy, always climbing trees, getting down in the dirt and even fascinated with bugs of some kind. It was hard to connect with other little girls sometimes and the boys would tease you, so you often pouted as you scribbled at your desk or was out in the garden with your mother. 

Finally, at your mother’s side, you clung to her long skirt she wore, burying your face into it with a giggle before you looked around her leg when she pets your head.  You looked at the middle-aged couple in front of you.  Two women stood there as they interlocked their fingers, and smiled down at the adorable 5-year-old that was you, decked out in yellow and denim. 

“Y/n, this is Sheryl and Lidia. They’re going to be our new neighbors starting today.” Your mother told you as she pats your back, encouraging you to let go and face them properly.  “What do you say to them?” 

You shyly opened your mouth, hands still clutched in your mother’s skirt fabric. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” you all but whispered as the three women all giggled at your wavering, shy voice. 

One woman came and knelt close to you as you tried your best to make eye contact with her.  She was very pretty- not as pretty as your mom, but a close second you decided.  Tanned skin and big brown eyes with hair more frizzier than yours when you roughly towel-dried it. 

“My name is Sheryl, it’s nice to meet you Y/n.” You only nodded back before she was looking over her shoulder to the moving van in the driveway.  “Jungkook! Come over here and say hello!” She called.  

You watched as the van door slid open and a little boy jumped out.  Placing his sneaker covered feet on the pavement, he kicked forward until he ran face-first into Sheryl’s back. Pushing his face into her back and giggling lightly- he seemed no older than you.  Just a small little kid.  

“Jungkook,” Sheryl called, making the young boy pop his head up and peek around his first mother’s shoulder. You lightly gasped in a fit of silent awe when you saw the small, triangular dog ears perked upon his head. You had hybrid kids at your school, but they were all kept in separate classes from you and your peers, something you whined about but you wanted a hybrid friend really bad.

His face dusted in rose as he saw a little girl staring at him.  

“This is Y/n, she’s going to be living next to us, so you’ve got to be nice and friendly to her.  Okay?”  Jungkook nodded as he looked at you.  He was always shy around girls, not comfortable around them enough.  When he was adopted by his mothers’, it took him over a week to open start acting like their son.  They treated him like any other son- hybrid or not.  

Eventually, the women migrated inside so your mother could introduce the two ladies to your father.  You were awkwardly stood in the front yard with Jungkook as he looked at his toes and kicked at nothing, fiddling with his thumbs. You watched his small, black tall sway slightly back and forth as his ears dropped to a curl.  

“Sooo,” you started, startling the poor pup as he jumped.  “What kind of dog are you?” You asked, trying to remember what your mother taught you about being polite and asking things delicately. 

“I-I’m a Kelpie,” he mumbled.  Your eyes lit up, delighted he even replied to you. 

“What do you do for fun? Do you like playing outside?” You asked carefully.  If he didn’t, you wouldn’t push the issue.  You really wanted to play though and what better play partner than your new little boy neighbor? 

“Yeah,” he whispered, “I like to play tag a lot.”  

“Then, lets play!” Your voice spiked to a shout.  You quickly covered your mouth with your palm when you watched Jungkook jump and back away from you slightly.  “Sorry,” you apologized.  “We don’t have to.” Your voice lowered in dejections, figuring you came on too strong like you normally did.  You watched as Jungkook slowly came closer to you and grabbed a hold of your overalls at the side.  

He was looking at his feet, face red as his ears folded in anxiety and his tail swished. 

“You’re it,” he told you before you laughed and the chase was on. 

“Y/n! Can you do me a favor!” You heard your mother call from the bottom floor of the duplex you’ve lived in your entire 18-year life.  Pushing up from your desk and gleefully abandoning the physics textbook you had been studying before, you called back. 

“Coming!” Running down the stairs, staring at your feet the whole way to avoid any chance of falling down them, you rounded the corning and waltzed into the kitchen.  Passing your father in the living room on the way.  Your mother was busy cooking away at dinner, a pot a pasta boiling and chicken baking in the oven to crumb covered perfection. “What’s up?” 

“I think I forgot something over at Lidia’s the other day.  Some seasoning when we were making that new chicken parmesan dish; I cannot find it for the life of me.  Would you run over and see if she’s got it?” You nodded. 

“Sure thing. I’ll be like 5 minutes,” you told her.  Heading to the front door, you slipped on a pair of slippers with dog ears on them before you left.  Walking down and around the yard to the unit front door directly next to yours.  

Knocking, the door opened to show Lidia herself.  More aged than all those years ago, but still rocking for her age.  You lightly waved to her. 

“Hello, Y/n.  What can I do for you?” She asked. 

“Mom said she may have left some seasoning her the other day.  She asked me to see if you still had it.  She’s cooking up a storm and you know how picky she is when it comes to seasoning,” you chuckled.  

“Oh, darling I know.  Sheryl and I never get tired of teasing her.  Come on in, I’ll go check my cabinets.” She invited you in as you stepped through the door and inside.  “Jungkook is up in his room if you want to say hello,” she offered.  

You didn’t say no.  Jungkook was your longest-standing friend- dare you say your best friend.  Although you’ve both grown up and are in your last year of high school, some things haven’t changed.  You still had a problem with connecting to some people, but the opposite was in his case.  He couldn’t be more of a people magnet if he tried.  Ever the smooth talker and with his charisma and unfair good looks, his popularity skyrocketed after middle school. 

Bounding up the stairs, you weren’t even able to knock on his door when it swung open revealing the bubbly boy himself.  

“Y/n!” He sang as he flung into your chest, koala latching himself onto you.  That was also something that hadn’t changed.  When he would get comfortable with someone, all personal space boundaries vanished.  He literally didn’t understand personal space- but you didn’t particularly mind.  

He always smelt so nice and he was warm when he hugged you. Not to mention, he was just the best damn hugger. The small crush you had on him definitely didn’t help matters.  Though, you never let it get to your head.  He was cuddly by nature, being spoiled by his mothers and his K9 instincts telling him that people weren’t the enemy unless they did something just plain awful. 

He pushed his nose into your neck before he pulled away from you, smiling as he held one of your hands. 

“What’re you doing here?” He asked. 

“Mom forgot something here the other day, so I’m picking it up.  I figured I should say hi while I’m here since someone doesn’t have time to visit me anymore.” You teased. He’s been wrapped up in the choir club recently.  They have a competition coming up soon and he’s been practicing for it nearly every day with his instructor. He pouted. “I’m joking!” You laughed. 

“You know I miss you.  I tell you every day,” he told you with a pout.  It was true.  He’d literally facetime you everyday whining that he was too busy to see you.  It was a sentiment you appreciated and you assumed he did with all his close friends.  His best friend in the art club always whined that Jungkook called you more than him, a complaint you didn’t really believe. 

“Y/n!” You heard Lidia call.  “I found that seasoning dear!” 

“Alright, I’m coming!” You called back before looking at the now pathetic looking Jungkook who stood in a slouched pout.  You reached up and scratched at his ears that he had grown into so well.  His tail swishing behind him. “Don’t pout.  You’ll see me tomorrow at school.” 

“But you take the bus to school! I get there so early in comparison.” 

“That’s a you problem,” you laughed as you pulled your hand away from him and started back down the stairs, waving him off.  Taking the seasoning and thanking the woman, you returned home.  

The next morning you sat at the bus stop, headphones plugged into your ears as you waited.  Someone plopped down beside you- nothing unusual- before they yanked one of your earbuds out.  Ready to bit the head off of whoever dared, you stopped yourself before you started. Beside you sat Jungkook- the same Jungkook who absolutely hated the bus. 

“Good morning!” He sang. “I wanted to go to school with you today.” He chirped as he yawned and put his head on your shoulder.  You just rolled your eyes as you continued scrolling on your phone.  

When the bus came and you loaded onto it, Jungkook plopped himself down next to you and replaced his head back on your shoulder, even slinging his arm over your lap to keep you closer to him as the bus jostled you both around. Dozing off and on, he watched as you read something other another on your phone screen. 

“Hey,” he whispered lightly you barely heard it.  You hummed at him. “You’re going to come to the competition this weekend, right? For choir?” 

“Well, that depends,” you put your phone down, patting at the hand that sat in your lap.  “Do you want me to, Pup?” He giggled lightly, the older than thou nickname of his youth only you were allowed to call him making him giddy. He nodded against your shoulder, snuggling into it more- not giving two flying acorns at who may be scoffing at his display of public affection for his favorite human. 

“Yeah, I do.” 

“Then, I’ll be there.” 

The school day went as it always did as you hung around Jungkook and his group of 6 other guy pals. All strange, all different and all equally as crazy as him.  The most ‘normal’ boy being a self-proclaimed genius who couldn’t spell out the word ‘necessary’ without having an aneurysm because of the unnecessarily large number of s’s needed. 

They were good guys at least.  You were happy Jungkook had people to really connect to and he always made sure you were always included- so you never felt left out. You currently sat on a bench in the halls during lunch as Hoseok, one of his friends, sat on the floor with a thermos of water at his side.  Talking about how the dance recital he had coming up in a month was wearing him out. 

You let out a small ‘oof’ when Jungkook had appeared from seemingly nowhere and threw himself across your lap and the bench.  His back on your legs as he stared up at you as you popped a piece of the sandwich you ate into your mouth. 

“Can you get off me?” You asked. 

“Jungkook, you know you’re not a lap dog, right?” Hoseok asked from the floor with a hint of amusement in his voice. Jungkook just looked offended at Hoseok as he curled into you, wrapping his arms around your midsection. 

“Jungkook!” You whined as he held you with an iron grip.  Working out being his second favorite hobby besides singing.  “Go cling to Hoseok instead!” 

“He won’t cuddle us,” Hoseok told you.  You stopped your micro-shoves on his shoulders as you started talking to the dancer again.  Jungkook cuddling deeper into your stomach. “Well, I guess I could say he does, but he certainly does whine a lot.  No one quite satisfies the affection-craving dog like you do, girly.” He broke out into a fit of laughs before speaking again. “One time, he kept whining because he wanted to cuddle you, but you were in gym, so Jimin tried to help but Jungkook just growled at him.” 

“Jungkook!” You scolded as he just whined. 

“I don’t wanna hug anyone else anymore!” He complained. “Only you,” he solidified. You just sighed, letting him once again get away with his childish needs as he practically napped on your lap the entire lunchtime. 

It was then like that day after day.  Even when he was at his competition, dressed in his black slacks and white dress shirt, his hair neatly parted and brushed, he hugged you.  He’d lean on your back as he hugged your waist or push his cheek on your shoulder when he had a chance to sit down beside you. 

As you sat among the audience of the people listening to the choir, you had to keep your heart from beating out of your chest because you swore he stared at you the entire time. 

The evening after the competition, he practically begged you to stay over at his house. You gave in pretty quickly and Jungkook worshiped your mom for letting you. Normally, you’d just put down a sleeping bag on the floor, but tonight Jungkook was adamant you sleep beside him. 

“I- I don’t think we have to,” you weakly battled.  

“No.  You smell nice, you’re warm and you’re my favorite so you need to sleep next to me so I can sleep well.” 

You flailed around, unable to take all the heart papulations he probably wasn’t aware he was causing.  In the end- as per usual- he got his way as he clung to you at midnight when you both settled down for bed. 

Laying behind you, he held you around your waist and pushed his face into your hair.  Slipping his leg between yours and pulling you as close to his chest as possible. He cracked his closed eyes open not long after the two of you had gotten comfortable. 

“You don't mind me holding you, do you?” 

“Now you’re worried about your clinginess?” You chuckled. 

“Well, it’s just-” he cut himself off with a whine as he pushed his nose down into your neck.  “It’s complicated,” he told you. 

“Complicated how? Not like you haven’t hugged me before.” 

“It’s just different now.” 

“No?” You questioned.  You tapped at his arms, telling him to loosen them as you twisted around to face him.  His face was lowered as he looked a tad sad. “Hey,” you whispered, caressing his cheek, “what’s wrong, Pup?” 

“You’re my favorite human,” he told you.  You’d heard him tell you that before. You nodded at him.  

“I know,” you told him softly. 

“No, I mean-” he shut his eyes as he pushed his face into his pillow. He groaned into it.  “Y/n?” He asked when he lifted his face back up. “S-someone told me that you liked, Hoseok.  Is that... true?” 

You pulled away from him, shock painted on your face. 

“Who told you that?!” 

“W-well, you’ve been spending a lot of time with him recently!” Jungkook seemed panicked like he was trying to cover something up. 

“He’s been asking advice on how to ask out this girl in my Korean class who happens to be my deskmate,” you told him with a light laugh. “I, in no way, like Hoseok like that.  He’s a swell guy, but I’d probably never date him.” Jungkook relaxed as he smiled. 

“So, you don’t like him?” 

“No,” you answered with a smile. “What a silly thing to be anxious about.” You pet at his head as he shut his eyes.  

“It’s not silly,” he told you. “Not when I thought I’d have to compete with my friend for you. I was stressed, okay?” 

“Huh?” Your brain seemed to have shut off.  “What does Hoseok have to do with me? And compete?” 

“You’re my favorite human,” he told you again. “The one human I wanna hug and hold and I wanna kiss you too.  I wanna hold your hand and walk around in public.  I want to talk about the future with your mom and win over your dad.  I want you to stay my favorite human forever, and I want you to think of me as your favorite hybrid.” He snuggled into your chest, hiding his burning face.  “I really like you, Y/n.” 

You froze for a moment, making the dog’s stomach turn.  He eased in instant relaxation when you pet at the back of his head and scratched his ears. He took in your scent he loved so much as you just pet him. 

“You were right, it wasn’t silly. Sorry for calling it that,” you told him as he just shook his head. “I really like you too, Jungkook. Honestly, I’m shocked Jimin didn’t spill his gut when I told him about my crush on you.” You laughed lightly, making the dog-boy hold you closer.  “Let’s just sleep for now, and we can talk about all this in the morning.” He nodded silently.  

Before falling asleep, he smiled when he felt you kiss the top of his head, his tail wagging across the mattress. 

[stardust-static]

Puppy update 🥰

So if you didn't know I got to bring this guy home early which was about two and a half weeks ago now. We weren't supposed to get him till 8 weeks which was the 16th of December, but we got a call when he was six weeks saying that he's eating solid food and no longer needs his mama. Bailey and I did research and found that puppies usually still need a mama dog to learn mannerisms from and usually they're still nursing at that age. However since he was eating solids and I have three mature age dogs to teach him, & I'm an experienced dog owner who will pretty much be home with him all the time. I thought that it should be fine. Also he was sleeping outside in a pen.. these dogs are typically farm dogs and sleep outside with the farm animals to protect them at night. I was worried he might get too used to that and not want to sleep in the house.. some people get GP'S that are a little older and they usually won't sleep indoors as they want to patrol at night. We want our guy to be inside at night. These are typically working dogs that want a job, but mostly we wanted him to be a pet and his "job" is to protect my other dogs incase of coyotes and us incase of intruders. So it wasnt such a bad deal to get him when he was still so young and impressionable. We agree to come get him. Took a spur of the moment two hour drive. Got out to the farm in the middle of no where. He handed me the other boy. I knew he wasn't mine because I had been staring at this picture of my puppy for weeks. I set it as my wallpaper.

As you can see my guy had speckled nose (its fading now :( ) so he brings me my baby who was just sleeping and he's holding him up to me by his neck fat and he's crying and I grabbed him and he nuzzled his little face into my neck and that was it. We got in the car and I held him close to me and he shook and shivered half of the way and I just kept comforting him. He flinched everytime I touched him clearly not having much human contact. Half the way home he started warming up to me and was giving me kisses and wagging his tail. Bailey and I fell in love with him. We could not handle how adorable he was. Then we finally made it home. I set him in the garage and he was still so goofy and unsure of me. Then he came to me and let me pet him and love on him. Then one by one I let the other dogs in to meet him. They didn't really think much of him at first. Next we gave him a bath which he clearly never had. He smelled like urine and there was so much dirt in his fur. He was a little angel in the bath. The next day he became more confident and started to play with all his new toys and the eskies were pretty jealous. I've made sure to give them all equal amounts of love so no one feels neglected. Wally as always is a lot of work in that department. He's got his behavior problems which have heightened since the puppys arrival. We're working on that. Fast forward to today and Winston adores him. They play so cute together and Winston will actually let the baby cuddle him. Wally just.. I don't think he knows what a baby is. He's very rough and quick to anger. Bailey and I always say that he would have made a great only dog, but he's definitely not so all we can do is correct his behavior when he's mean to the puppy. The puppy cares very little about Wally's hissy fits though. I just don't want him to learn any bad behaviors from Wally. He hasn't yet. He's honestly just a big goofy teddy bear. Such a happy little guy. He's already doubled in size. Everyday I look at him and notice him getting bigger. Today I noticed that he's getting his long coat hairs coming through. He no longer fits in our kitchen sink that we washed him in the first night. Since we did get him so young he is very attached to me. I can not leave him alone. I've been sleeping on the couch with him when Bailey has to work in the morning and he's a sweetie. He snuggles up to my face and gives me kisses to wake me up when he has to potty. He's perfect. The only difficult thing is potty training. The worst part of raising a puppy for me. Especially now that we have carpet in every room. Luckily my mom gave us her commercial carpet cleaner. I put that baby to use last night. It's coming along though... Anytime now I'll have him potty trained. I had my mom babysit him today while I worked and she said he was an angel and didn't potty in her house once so thats good! I just watch him like a hawk and try to catch him before he goes. I'm always letting him outside and hopefully he'll learn how to use the dog door soon. We just got that set up for him, though we will need a bigger one eventually.

Now let me tell you about the stressful ass day I had yesterday and about how I just wanted to lock myself in my room and cry at the end of it all-- because of my pets.

First we wake up and I let the dogs out, and discover that Wally is leaving our yard. The gate on the back side of our property is a metal bar gate with chicken wire over it. Wally pushed the chicken wire out of the way and slipped his skinny little weasel body through the bars. So we went to buy a heavier duty wire fencing to put over the metal fence. Bailey said we should bring Toby cause we want to socialize him and also get him used to the car. So we bring him and on the way home Bailey says we should put him in the trunk of my suv so he could be more comfortable and because he was scratching Bailey up on the way to home depot with his little puppy claws. So we put him back there and we're on our way to get food and Toby is in the back screaming his head off. Then we go "whats that smell?" And I look in my rear view mirror and I see our puppy Toby with his feet hanging over the backseat, paws covered in shit and he's just jumping on everything back there that he can, just really smearing it everywhere. So I'm like WE NEED TO GO HOME NOW!!! just trying so hard not to puke. Bailey is laughing his ass off. Then Toby jumps over and into the back seat. I don't know with what strength suddenly. Winston and Wally have never managed to get out of the trunk space. So now he's making his way to me and I have to reach back and just hold him in place. Theres shit all over my back seat now. I'm crying. I keep gagging. Then Bailey starts to get queezy. We're both not keeping it together. So we eventually get home. Bailey cleans the car and I clean the puppy. Then I have to clean Winston because he ate my mascara while we were gone and got it all over himself. Then as I'm letting the dogs out my indoor cat bolts out of the house for the third time this week. I didn't even go after her. I just said "so be it!". I was having such an annoying day. Then Bailey goes to get us food and I put puppy in the kitchen because I need to vacuum and shampoo the carpets. Puppy screams his head off the entire time cause he hates being confined. The cat comes home an hour later. Bailey and I eat and get to work repairing the fence. Then puppy pees later on the newly shampood carpet. Then Bailey and I get dinner and put puppy in the kitchen again. We're just there at the dinner table eating our Chili's takeout, Bailey goes to get something out of the kitchen and I just hear him go "oh...no." I just looked at him and go "did the puppy shit in there?" and he goes "yup" I say "is it everywhere?" And he says "yuup..."

There was no peace to be had that day.

The dogs woke up and chose chaos.

So today Bailey went to work and so did I.

It was the first time since getting the fence put up that I let the dogs have free roam without me being there for hours. I've been really afraid to. It my number one fear right now, them getting out or stolen or somehow attacked by another animal, but I left the dog door open and just let them be for the day and took the puppy to my parents house. We're also letting the cat come and go as she wants now, because she has been so determined to leave the house. She's constantly bolting out the door and would even rather be in the garage most days. So we're letting her be and hopefully nothing happens to her. I took the bell off her collar so she can be extra stealthy. She did go into my neighbors yard and their 5 dogs chased her away and after that she's just been hanging out on our property laying in the dirt, soaking up the sun. Theres a little dog door built into the garage door that I'm now keeping open for her.

But yeah.. like I said my parents said that Toby is an angel and they'll watch him any time and I came home to the yard still intact and my dogs perfectly fine after being alone for six hours.

I enjoyed my much needed mini break from them and I'm going to go out tomorrow as well now that I feel confident that they'll be okay if I leave them sometimes.

I guess I'll end this massive post about my animals now.

✌💖

[purplesurveys]

831

When you were a kid...

Were you happy or sad when you found out your babysitter was coming? I didn’t have a babysitter. My grandparents took care of me and my siblings and cousins when we were growing up; and if they were both busy I was usually the one expected to care for everyone. Which was okay with me, since I was the most ~motherly~ one in our little group anyway.

Did you have a boyfriend in kindergarten? I studied in an all-girls school from kinder to high school. Outside of school, also no boyfriends. The boys at my neighborhood were super rowdy and hated girls, so I didn’t like hanging out with them.

Did you ever play hopscotch at school? For sure. I was a little mischievous - I would steal a bunch of chalk from the classroom so I can doodle a hopscotch court on school grounds for me and my friends to play on. I definitely wasn’t the most goody-two-shoes kid in the beginning, lol.

Did you refuse to eat your vegetables? Yeah, hated them. We have this local brand of instant noodles that have pieces of carrot in it, and I remember grouping all the tiny carrot bits at the edge of my plate. I didn’t learn to feed myself until I was around 8 or 9 though, so prior to that my elders would just include vegetables in all my meals and I’d have no choice.

What did you usually dress up as on Halloween? Some basic costume like a witch or pirate. My mom wasn’t super into Halloween and would just get us costume packs from the toy store. I wanna be the complete opposite for my kids.

What was your favorite television show? As a much younger kid I was into Hi-5. When I got a bit older I liked Pokemon, SpongeBob, The Fairly OddParents, My Life as a Teenage Robot, etc. Then when I got slightly older I started watching the real-life shows too, so like That’s So Raven, Suite Life, Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, Hannah Montana. Did you have D.E.A.R. time in school? (Drop Everything and Read) Yes, a few times each year. When I was still a bookworm it had been one of my favorite segments in school because I got to see other kids reading, which was my favorite hobby then. But by the time I was in high school and stopped reading, I remember always struggling to find a book to bring because I didn’t read anything anymore D: If I remember correctly, I think Athenna lent me most of the books I brought for DEAR time since at the time she was into John Green and YA in general. Did you ever read the 'Magic Treehouse' series? No. I googled it to see the cover, and I know as a kid it wouldn’t have interested me enough to pull it out of its shelf. How about the 'Bailey School Kids' series? Nope. Kids my age were into the Geronimo Stilton and Mr Men/Little Miss series. Do you remember the first movie you ever saw in theaters? Yes, it was a Stuart Little movie when I was maybe 3 or 4. I’m guessing it’s Stuart Little 2, because Google says it came out in 2002 and I was 4 years old then, so it checks out. Who was your best friend in elementary school? Angela was my best friend in some grades, but you know how kids are...once they vibe with someone else, they’ll hang out with them 24/7. Angela was a way more sociable kid so she got close with everyone, while I remained terrible at making friends. If she wasn’t my best friend at the time, I had no one. Did they continue to be your best friend in middle school? We don’t have middle school but I’ll guess that this is like Grade 6 and 7 for us? Anyway, no. ~Middle school~ was worse for me because this was when cliques started to form and material trends became the basis for being visible, e.g. owning a Blackberry, wearing Nike Roshes, getting side bangs lol, etc. I had none of those, so I was left behind both in terms of visibility and having friends. I only had a best friend again by the time I entered Grade 7, in which time I met Gabie and the ball started rolling from there. Did you ever watch 'The Land Before Time' movies? No, I didn’t. Did you ever watch the show 'Arthur'? I don’t think it aired here, so no. I did read Arthur books though; they were one of my favorites. Did the tooth fairy give you a lot of money? I honestly thought the tooth fairy was real. I never told my parents whenever a tooth would come out because I thought it was none of their business. That said, they just genuinely never knew to put money under my pillow because my dumbass never told them hahaha. I’ll never forget how crestfallen I was when I woke up to no money though. How often did you visit your nearest grandparents? I lived with them until I was 10. I only visited my other set of grandparents whenever my dad would come home from abroad, so I didn’t and haven’t ended up being close to them. Did you ever play with 'Little People' toys? Never heard of them but when I looked it up the toys looked familiar, so we probably did. How about Polly Pockets? Yes. Did you collect anything when you were a kid? Pokemon cards and pogs, heh. I also had my fair share of notebooks. Did you get an allowance? No, my parents didn’t teach me how money worked early on. I was a packed lunch kid until high school, and when I did ask for money I – and I’m not kidding – would only get a ₱20 bill, which was only enough to get me a tiny snack. What was your favorite sport to play? What is it now? Track, but then it shifted to table tennis when I joined the table tennis club initially out of peer pressure. What foods did you not like then that you do like now? Chicken curry, definitely. Were you into American Girl dolls? No. What was your first pet and what did you name it? It was a goldfish but I don’t remember whether I named it Goldie or Fishy, lol. Did you ever read the 'Junie B. Jones' books? No. What did you want to be when you were a kid? All the things I wante to be were astronaut, firefighter, veterinarian, and writer. What was your first word? Your first sentence? (If you remember) My parents didn’t keep track of either...I definitely would with my own kids. Have you moved into a new house since you were a kid? Yes, several times. When I was an infant we briefly lived with my dad’s parents in Manila. My mom couldn’t take the poverty and pollution there so we moved to a city in Rizal, where my mom’s parents + some extended family live in a duplex. At one point we switched houses in that duplex, and the unit that we switched to was where I lived for most of my childhood until we moved to our present house by the time I was 10. Were you friends with your neighbors? As a child, yeah. I was mostly friends with the girls though because like I said, the boys were super rowdy and sexist in that they never let us play basketball with them and stuff. Did you enjoy exploring your backyard? We didn’t have a backyard. Did you bake cookies with your grandparents? Sometimes! I would mix the dough and turn them into balls. :) What was your biggest fear when you were a kid? Flying cockroaches, because we had a lot of them in our old duplex unit. I also had an irrational fear of catching TV ads at night because I found them too loud and too vibrant. Who did you look up to most? My dad because I barely saw him as a kid. When he was lower down the ladder at his job he’d be gone six months and only stay with us for one. It wasn’t until I got to high school and he had a much higher position that he was away for only four months and home for one and a half.   Did you ever play the 'Reader Rabbit' computer games? I don’t think I’ve heard of that. Did you have a swing set in your backyard? No but we had a relative who had a playground at their place, and we’d go over there often. I spent a good amount of my childhood going as high as I can on their swings. How about a sandbox? Same relative had a sandbox too! It’s my favorite part of a playground and even during playtime in school I would usually be found alone in the sandbox. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? I’m 22 and still don’t know how... Did you ever spy on your neighbors through the window? Sometimes. Our houses were very close to each other and their open window is right across the part of our house that also has an open window, so sometimes we’ll fool around and peek. Were you a teacher's pet in kindergarten? No, but I gave my teachers a reason to remember me because I was the kid that peed their underwear everyday and had to go home in shorts. I’ve always been shy and even as a kid I was unable to ask permission to go to the washroom. Did you ever build a treehouse or a fort in your yard? No, ours was too small to build anything like that. Did you ever find anything interesting in your yard? No, just different types of bugs and caterpillars. Did you ever have 'themed birthdays'? Kinda? My 7th birthday party was mostly a plain, theme-less birthday party, but so much of the decorations and giveaways were Bratz-themed because I was into Bratz at the time. Did your parents let you drink soda? They would have let me but I personally never liked it. Did you ever watch 'The Powerpuff Girls' or 'Dexter's Laboratory'? I watched Powerpuff Girls but not Dexter’s Laboratory. Did you sleep with a blanket or stuffed animal? For the most part I preferred cuddling with a pillow. Did you ever have a night light? For some points in my childhood, yeah. Ultimately, I preferred lights out though. Did you watch 'Winnie the Pooh'? Nope, just read Winnie the Pooh books. Did you ever have an imaginary friend? What was their name? I named them Katrina but I wasn’t imaginative/creative enough, so when seven minutes passed after I created her and she still wasn’t talking back to me, I gave it up haha. What kinds of games did you play with your friends during Recess? Dodgeball was a favorite. We had a big field just right outside our classroom so we’d all go out, pick our teams, and play for the whole 30 minutes. We’d do it for lunch, too. Fortunately our teachers never barred us from playing, because I guess they knew it counts as exercise for us too. Did you dream of being a princess or did you not really care about that? Not really. I wanted to be an astronaut more haha. The only princess-y things I did were to wear my blanket around my neck like a cape, and to wear a tiara on my 7th birthday party. Did you have a special name for your pacifier? What was it? No. Did you watch 'Blues Clues'? Yesssssss. I grew up with Steve and Joe. It was such a fun show to watch. What kind of car did your parents have? I don’t remember the make anymore but we had a black sedan until I was around five. It was mostly broken-down and had no aircon, but it was my dad’s first car so it was his absolute baby and I never had the heart to complain about the car’s flaws to him. He eventually sold it and we had a blue Mitsubishi Lancer after. Did you ever flush anything down the toilet by mistake? I don’t remember ever doing that, thankfully lol. Were you afraid to sleep by yourself? No, I think I was excited to start doing it. Growing up in a cramped duplex, I shared one bedroom with my entire family until I was around 9; so when we moved to our own home, I was the first one to call dibs on a bedroom. What was your favorite subject in elementary school? Language, which is a class where we were just taught basic English grammar. I loved reading as a kid and got fluent in English early on, so I was always a top student in that subject. How often did you go to the park? We don’t have parks. What was your favorite kind of cake as a kid? Chocolate cake from Red Ribbon. Did you ever want to grow up? I never actively ‘wanted’ it because I was already kinda forced to grow up early, what with all the issues happening at home and me having to shield my siblings and cousins from whatever screaming match was happening inside.

[loveserve-blog]

Tani Village, Siem Reap Cambodia

I always try to do a bit of research to learn more about the country I am traveling to, but I find it hard to really learn simply by reading. I often feel like they are just facts and without context, but when I arrive and meet the people it helps everything have meaning. Cambodia is a country with a very recent gruesome war torn past. In the late 70’s over 3 million Cambodian's were murdered in genocide. Not to mention that there are 4-6 million landmines still active in Cambodia today from years of war. Staggering facts. But throughout all this the Cambodian people are among the most friendly, helpful, gracious and hospitable people I have ever met. When my team drove up to our rural worksite about 30 min outside of Siem Reap, we weren’t sure what to expect, this was my 8th build and every home is different, we stepped out of vans are were greeted by the entire community. We had been told we would building for a young family, father, mother and three daughters, that the dad worked very hard as a cassava harvester and that he had arranged to be with us this week, which is a very big deal, often times the fathers have to keep working. Also that this family was by Cambodian standards very poor. The entire community had come out to see what we were all about. I lead the team onto the worksite, and was greeted first by the elders of the community, then by the parents, then by tons and tons of children all clapping! It was a powerful and humbling experience. In Cambodia to show respect you fold your hands and bow, the higher your hands on your face the more respect, I bowed and bowed and bowed, overwhelmed by how many people were there to greet us. Throughout the week many people and lots of children were there with us, we go to know many of the children quite well by playing with them while we worked, lots and lots of high fives were given since we didn’t have any words to communicate. But I am always amazed at how so much is universal. Laughter, hugs, high fives and smiles. Each day people got closer and closer, trusting us more and more, opening up their hearts and homes to us. We walked down the road, past a cow, a few chickens and cut through a few yards to get to another home that had a toilet we could use. We were escorted to the outhouse by women, elders and children eager to show us the way. Smiles from neighbors and giggles from little ones. On our last days of building many of the children that had been there all week wanted to help, including the three daughters and the mother. We spent an entire day shoveling sand and dirt under the stilted home to even it out, all the little girls and mom helped carry buckets, the girls made a game of it and raced back and forth. The last day we had finished the home and began replacing a bamboo floor in their old home so that they could use it as a kitchen, and many of the children helped us hammer, they were actually way better at it than us, so we assisted them!   The last day is always emotional, in 5 short days you grow close to the family, building someone a home is intimate, you get to see their lives up close, and you share as much of yourself as you can with them. Since we had finished the home, we did a house dedication, which I have never done before, usually we begin homes. Again the whole community gathered it seemed like even more people came and we cheered the family on. I was humbled and honored by being asked to present the “key” to the home to the family. We gathered in a circle, passed the key around and each yelling “Jay O” which means prosperity for the family! Then everyone got a handful of lotus blossoms, often an offering at temples, I entered the center of the circle with the family and with one more big “jay o” gave them the “key” and was showered in lotus blossoms. I was overcome with what this meant for these little girls and family who would now have a safe home to grow up in. Safe from storms and rain, it gave them the freedom to focus on other important needs like food and give the possibility of school instead of work for the girls. As we said goodbye we laughed, cried and danced. I learned that the entire village who had been there to greet us, who showed up to celebrate with us, helped us all week and welcomed us into their homes had all pulled together for the week to provide food for the family, so that the family could focus on their home. The village knew what an opportunity this was for this family, one of their own, so they worked together to make sure they didn’t have to worry about anything and fed them. They knew that when one of them succeeds they all do, when one family is suffering they all do, they are bound together. We saw this over and over in Cambodia, a roadside moped accident had 25 or more people helping since there isn’t anyone else to help. Tuk Tuk drivers shuttle children home from school so that they are safe. If your land needs to be harvested everyone shows up to help. I wonder if sometimes we forget that we are bound to each other in this way. I am my siblings keeper. You are my responsibility. I saw that everyday in Cambodia in a powerful beautiful way. I felt what that meant for this family. It was powerful. What a privilege to experience community and love like that. I hope this story is a reminder that we belong to each other and that we are always better and stronger together. God calls us into family, community and weaves are lives together, let us not resist that but instead draw closer to one another.