It's been around 2 months since I've been able to make a blog post, and I neither saw it coming or knew how long it would last, or if it's over yet.
🐯 ChairWoman Meow Improved Her Hunting Skills 🦁
In the nearly two months since I've posted, a lot, and somehow also little, has changed. Several of you have inquired about me, and I thank you all for being more informed and caring about me than most of my off-Hive friends and family. Before my unplanned hiatus, my posting frequency and engagement were already at all-time lows, so I guess was headed in this direction long before I realized it.
Before I stopped posting, Chairwoman Meow was a little kitty that I was helping learn how to hunt for food because we are a vegan household void of catfood, fish heads, and all the other things a Cambodian should gravitate to. She's now the apex predator of our property, and needs little guidance in catching butterflies, crickets, lizards, geckos, mice and all other other unknown stuff finds on the walls, floors, ad grass outside our house.
🤔Tough Choices
A former Khmer language student of mine has been living with us on and off for around a half a year, a wealthy man who we helped to negotiate and buy property next to ours for nearly half-price. After he agreed to a price for his land, we talked the seller down another $6,000 USD and informed him of this, letting him know we are poor working people, not businessfolk, and we wouldn't be taking a commission from either the seller nor him.
In the end we were given a $300+ USD tip for our time, when it would've been legal and considered smart business practice to middle-man the transaction and take $6,000 USD profit for our own pocket. After this we realized he didn't value us, and he sealed the deal by offering us $250 per month for our cabin, something people pay $60 a night for because it's one of the top 10 views in all of Cambodia.
🐌 Snail Love 💞
In addition to this he's been giving us $100 USD per month for food, not even enough to cover the costs. Since he entered our lives I went making $400 to $800 USD per month from my blog plus ASEAN Hive's $300 USD (ASEAN Hive earnings have been reinvested in the community so far) per month, roughly $1,000 USD per month, to a mere $350 per month.
I had to give up my blog in order to basically be a private chef, translator, and helper for this guy, taking a 50% monthly downgrade in pay just because I have always been too nice to let rich people they've always undervalued me my whole entire life. I tried to encourage him to move to his land as quickly as possible after he purchased, he said wanted to take things nice and slow and live in our cabin much longer, fully taking advantage of my kindness.
🕵️♀️ The ChairWoman Investigates 🔎
I tried to find someone in our village to prepare two meals a day for him $100 a month, but even the locals saw no way to earn a profit by even making the simplest and cheapest of Khmer foods, let alone the Indian curries, rotis, parathas, and other things I was making that would often be in excess of $10 USD in the capital Phnom Penh, where he used to live, and where Indian food is cheap because ingredients are cheap and easily found within the city.
I recently and subtly kicked him off of our property by letting him know my Cambodian in-laws would soon return to start construction and need a place to sleep while working for several months. We offered to buy our renter another cabin and move him into it to free up space, but then reminded him he also had enough money to just buy one himself and stop renting from us. He eventually had a hut built for him in the village, but after wanting to keep eating for $100 USD per month, I basically cussed him out and let him know he overly abused our kindness for far too long.
I guess in addition to this I have been more or less taking on the role of a typical housewife while my oldest daughter and wife's blogs remained a bigger priority for them. Hive was/is my only source of income, so in many ways I have felt pushed out of my own job and forced to take on other roles. It still isn't clear whether or not I will be able to commit enough time and energy to Hive to provide for my family, but soon we start construction, so I hope my family can become more cohesive because I'm scared of going broke on an unfinished house.
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