Into the trash she goes.
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For Sunday morning, the kids had to perform the 'Praying Mantis' dance at Medicine Hat Hillcrest Church. While this might sound too different, they had to do the performance three times for three different services! Needless to say, they did a great job each time. The church congregation were satisfied with each performance, as they eagerly applauded the kids for their acrobatics.
I got a little thrown off with in between performances due to the size of the church. The kids were off somewhere, Blaine and Shelly were talking with new sponsors, and I was sitting behind a donation desk hoping for people to stop by. Due to the sheer foot traffic, I felt like it was difficult to stand out. Thankfully, our numbers after showed that we had several new donors. I also got a chance to snap a picture with Trakuan, who I often don't have a chance to catch up with.
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The drive to Swift Current saw us watch Shrek 2, which seemed to go over most of the kids' heads. The same group of kids who played games with me before were eager to continue, this time with both twins joining us. There was minor conflict when determining who got the next turn, as one person watching was guaranteed to get skipped over. I had to step in every now and then to determine who went next.
The performance at Swift Current was...interesting. The performance itself was fine, with all of those in attendance speaking of how good it was. For the chaperones, it was an incredibly rough night, as the kids were extremely disobedient and rowdy. Things came to a head before the 'Stick Dance' where I had to step in between two of the boys whose play-fighting began to spiral into actual conflict. One of the boys clearly felt like I unjustly singled him out when separating them, as he gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. Several of the girls were very sweet after the performance, as they could tell I was bothered by the episode, resulting in several hugs and pleas to not be sad.
Apparently Sany gave the boys a lecture after the performance, telling them to get their act together. This appears to have helped, as the two boys have since acted more obedient and reserved. I was told later that a dressing down from a motherly figure goes a long way in Cambodian culture. I was happy to get a hug from the boy who was upset with me, which meant I could put the whole episode behind me. I'm relieved to know that no grudges were held and that the performance did not suffer.
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The next day saw us leave for Moose Jaw. We did not have a performance there, but we were planning to have some fun! We started by having lunch by the giant moose and jet statues. The kids enjoyed posing by them, leading to several pictures being taken by the chaperones. Don't be surprised if you see multiple images popping up during the next few days! We had lots of leftovers from our previous stops, so there was plenty of food to go around.
After our meal, we went to a five pin bowling alley. This would be the second time that the kids would bowl, with this time having no assistance from bumpers. We divided into teams of four, with some teams having a split between kids and adults. To my amazement, Sokthon turned out to be a rather talented bowler, as he finished both games with the top score. There were far less shenanigans than the last time we went bowling, although Yusvae did at one point lob a ball into the gutter of a different lane. The sound of the ball loudly landing in the other lane's gutter caused all of us to go into stunned silence, which made Yusvae (rightfully) embarrassed. Thankfully there was no damage.
We then took all of the team to Tim Horton's for a treat. A friend of Blaine's gifted each team member a 20$ gift card for Tim Horton's, so we decided now would be the time to use them...At least that was the initial plan before Blaine changed his mind and decided to pay for all of the team's orders with his own money. The kids would use their gift cards for another day. Fruit smoothies were ordered across the board, which the kids eagerly drank up.
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Once we wee finished at Moose Jaw, we rode on to Briarcrest Christian Academy in Caronport. The staff there had graciously let us use the empty student dorms to stay for the night. The kids found this very enjoyable, as they proceeded to run up and down the halls chasing each other and hiding in the various rooms. It sounded like a stampede outside and above my room! It did concern me at first that the kids could lock themselves in their rooms, but thankfully they knew not to abuse this granted liberty.
After goofing off around the dorms, we had a late supper of salmon and rice with a chili sauce made by Trakuan. We all ate cross-legged on the kitchen floor, resulting in a rather cramped setting that was still heartwarming. When we finished, it was time to celebrate another birthday, as Samuel was turning 11! Shelly brought a delicious cake which we had with ice cream. After we finished eating, a lot of us began to dance to Cambodian pop music. Thavin taught me some dance moves and laughed at my lack of coordination. It seems nobody told her that white folk can't dance.
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Lastly, two things.
For the blog post about when we were at Galaxy Land, I forgot to mention that Thavin was on the Havoc ride with Sarah, Neang, Yusvae and myself. She has voiced her displeasure with being left out. I apologize for leaving her out. Please know that she was on the ride and was very brave.
I forgot to mention on the blog post for the day after the Banff trip that I introduced the kids to Ernie, my parents' Boston Terrier. There was a mutual distrust between him and the kids, as neither party seemed sure what to make of the other.
God bless & Jesus saves.
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