Days 21 & 22: Performances at Viking and Lloydminster

Oct 3

3 min read

We woke up at our various billets' homes in Fort Saskatchewan and gathered together at the Alliance Church. We did not have anything to pack up from the church, but we did want to give a farewell to those who hosted us. Once we got on the bus, Shelly explained to the kids that the day was Truth and Reconciliation Day and why it was important. The kids seemed surprised at what they were told, as I don't think they thought it was possible for Canada to have a dark past. We then stopped by a Tim Horton's, where we got a box of orange donuts for all of us.

We arrived at Viking Alliance Church with time to spare (we ate our lunches on the bus), so after the kids did some practice, we let them play for a bit. Since there were no playgrounds directly outside, we brought out the board and card games. I always find it funny how into Uno the kids get. Tawin then provided us with a shrimp curry supper, and the kids got into their costumes and makeup for the night's performance.

The performance was another success, although the church layout did create a challenge in dealing with the kids' off-stage behavior. The church is mainly one large room that serves as auditorium, dining area, and a link to smaller rooms for Sunday school, meaning that all of our setup (performance area and marketplace) was in one room. Before the kids would go up to dance, they would be directly behind the audience, with no walls separating them. This meant that the kids had to stay quiet before and after their dances, which has always been a struggle for them, as they are all the world's worst whisperers. Thankfully the adults were able to shush them gently.

After a night of generous donations, marketplace purchases, and sleeping at billets' houses, we gathered back at the church the next morning to eat a church-provided breakfast and take down our equipment. Despite the relatively short amount of time to eat and pack up, the kids still found some time to play Foosball and play with the church's toys. Once we were ready to leave, we bid the church volunteers farewell with song, and headed on our way to Lloydminster (which my laptop continues to think is spelled incorrectly).

I slept through whatever movie was put on for the kids, awaking to find that we had arrived at Southridge Community Church in Lloydminster. We had lunch at the playground beside the church, where the kids played despite the chilly air. After eating, we realized we were still too early, so we decided to take the kids bowling. Everyone appeared to bowl much better than our last outing, with Heang and Vibol being the two best child bowlers (as in children who bowl, not bowlers who throw children).

When we got back to the church, we discovered it was still being used for some kids day camp activities, so we had the children play in the gym for a while. The kids showed that their fascination with hockey was not a one time occurrence, as a competitive game broke out. The adults who rested at the sides of the gym played a dangerous game, as the ball would routinely bounce unpredictably. After a brief dance practice, we had a delicious church-prepared spaghetti supper, and then it was time to perform.

While the stage at Southridge Community Church seemed decently large to me, the kids made it sound absolutely massive, which I think has more to do with the size of the previous locations we performed at. The audience gave us a memorable first, as they all began clapping at the start of the Lord's Prayer Dance when the girls came on stage, while every other performance has started in silence (clapping or silence are both fine). The performance also saw me get one of my sought-after bloopers: after I introduced the Coconut Dance once I finished my story, the girls were nowhere to be found, leaving the boys waiting on stage for them to arrive. Once the performance was over, we once again had a good turnout of marketplace customers and generous donors.

During our stays at Viking and Lloydminster, I received some photos from the team at their various billets. It makes me happy to see connections being made between the Cambodian team and the Canadians hosting them.