Days 19 & 20: Fort Saskatchewan visit & West Edmonton Mall water park

2 hours ago

3 min read

We awoke at Valleyview Alliance Church, ready to take on the day. I was surprised at how energetic the kids were, as they definitely did not get as much sleep as usual due to staying up late. The church served us up a pancake breakfast, which was greatly appreciated. We then transported the sleeping mats to the outside, which many of the kids took as an excuse to play and goof off. We bid farewell to the volunteers, and made the drive to Fort Saskatchewan. We watched Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from the 1990s, which was just as bad as I remembered (not that the kids cared).

We ate our lunches on the bus, as the kids all said it was too cold for a picnic. When we arrived at Fort Saskatchewan Alliance Church, the kids were stir-crazy, so the men took them to play in a nearby park, while the women prepared a curry supper. The kids came back to the church with time to spare before supper, so they treated the basement like a playground. When our billets for the night arrived, we ate supper together, and then decided to do an impromptu mini-performance along with testimonies from Tra and Teevee.

The next day, the kids were in for a real treat: we took them to the West Edmonton Mall water park. It took a while to get organized and give instructions to the kids, but once we were inside, the kids' eyes lit up at the sight of the numerous slides. We had all of the kids wear life-jackets as a precaution, although the strongest swimmers were eventually allowed to take them off. The kids alternated between the wave pool and slides, with several memorable moments.

Heang proved to be the bravest child, as he went down several of the advanced slides, including Nessie's Revenge, a slide that even intimidates some adults.
My 67-year-old mother was treated like a jungle gym by Channy and Mastad while in the wave pool. That woman's durability is superhuman.
The kids all went down the Howler slide, which allows life-jackets but goes very fast and through dark tunnels. Sarah said the kids all looked shaken once finished, but they all wanted to do it again.
The three Cambodian men immediately ditched the rest of the group to go on all the advanced slides first. I was impressed by their stamina, as they made the trek up the labyrinth of stairs several times very quickly.
It was actually one of the Cambodian adults who had a scare: they went down the Tropical Typhoon slide, which acts a bowl that you slide around before it funnels and drops you out the bottom. When they were dropped into the water, they were dazed from the landing, leading to a life guard jumping in to pull them out. They laughed the experience off, and I'll leave it to you to guess their identity.

After the water park, we ate the left over curry from the day before. We did so at the house whose residents were billeting my mother. It was a bit chilly out, so several of us chose to eat in the garage, but the kids promptly went back out to play once finished. I was then surprised to see most of the Cambodians, kids and adults, watching the hockey game between the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens. I am very curious to know what they think of the game.

After watching some hockey, we all went to our separate billets. I received some photos after, which show that movies and snacks were provided to the kids.