Days 27 & 28: Performances at Banff and Revelstoke
It would be a fun day on October 6, as we left Calgary to go to Banff. We arrived at the Bor Falls, where the kids enjoyed taking pictures and posing by the water. Many complained about being cold, as the temperature was certainly much lower than what they are used to. We then went to the Banff Park Museum, only to discover that it was closed for the day. I was more bothered by this than the kids. We instead took a long walk around the park before settling down for lunch. After eating the food prepared for us by our various billets, we walked to a nearby ranch that told us we could pet one of their horses. After waiting around at the ranch and a nearby skatepark, the team got an opportunity to pet a horse that seemed indifferent to our prescence, which was probably for the best.
After our time at the ranch, we went to Banff Park Church to prepare for our performance that night. While we were preparing, we were shocked to hear the sounds of an indoor alarm; somebody had pulled a fire alarm. We quickly found out that it was Daro, but our anger subsided very quickly when we realized that nobody had ever explained what fire alarms are to the kids. Despite the pastor's best efforts to convince the fire department that everything was fine, a fire truck did arrive after we had told the kids about fire alarms. A very understanding and kind fireman spoke with Daro through a translator, where he told Daro that "he now knows what to do if there is an actual fire." We made sure that Daro knew we were not angry with him, and that he was not in trouble.
After that bit of drama, we had supper at the church, and were then ready to put on a performance. Because of the smaller stage, every dance was short two kids (one boy and one girl) as it would be too crowded if all kids were present. This was no issue to the kids, as they had gotten used to performing with fewer numbers, as the early tour sicknesses resulted in several performances missing dancers. One humorous moment that I missed but was pointed out to me later was that Channy lost her coconuts during the Coconut Dance, and had to do hand clapping instead of clonking coconuts together (pictured below in the gallery). Once the performance was over, most of the team spent the night at the church, while some others went to the pastor's house beside the church.
The next day saw us give the team another great memory, as we took them to the Banff gondola. Just like last year, the kids were not scared at all, greatly enjoying the chance to look over the beautiful scenery. When we reached the top, we went for a walk to the old cosmic ray research station, with several other tourists doing the same. When we got to the old station, which was the highest point of the hike, Heang told Sarah that he was angry with her. When Sarah asked why, Heang blamed her for the absence of snow, which the kids had been hoping to see. I'm not entirely sure how this was Sarah's fault, but Heang seems like a smart kid so I'm sure he's on to something.
After our time at Banff, we made the trek out to Revelstoke. The drive was longer than our most recent journeys, meaning we got two movies: The Bad Guys and Ratatouille, both of which the kids dozed off sporadically during. When we arrived at Revelstoke Alliance Church, the kids were a little groggy, but woke up enough to help set up. The church then had a potluck dinner, which I greatly enjoyed as it was a very western-centric meal (the lasagna was especially great).
The performance at Revelstoke contained my favorite performance moment so far: the boys collapsing in a heap during the Praying Mantis Dance (the video is in the gallery below). The looks of confusion on their faces was hilarious, as it seemed that none of them knew what to do. Thankfully, the boys succeeded on their second attempt. The other highlight of the performance was that Heang and Reaksa were asked to pray at the end of the performance, because both of them had told the audience that they wished to be pastors when they grew up. Once the performance was over and the last donations were made, the kids lounged in the sanctuary while a Khmer-dubbed animated film was projected for them. Two good days indeed.
The next blog post will cover our performance at Sicamous and Merritt. See you there!
God bless,
Adam Sylvester
Good job as always