Days 31-34: Camp days pt.2 & further into Alberta

Arghhhhh!!!

I slept in for the morning of Day 31, feeling exhausted from the lengthy journey. While I was sleeping, the kids were treated to two great camp Little Red activities: horseback riding and archery. From what I heard, archery proved to be rather difficult, as none of the Cambodians had ever touched a bow before. There is some footage of the horseback riding on the Rescue Cambodia Facebook page, so I suggest you check that out if you have not already.

When I finally did get out of bed, I walked into the dining hall to discover that the kids had been given inflatable sumo-suits and dinosaur suits. I was quite amused by the sight, especially from seeing little Moses' head popping out from a sumo-suit. I really hope the kids don't expect these to be added to Rescue Cambodia's inventory, as the orphanage does not need a bunch of dinosaurs running around.

After spending more time playing Little Red, we hopped on the bus to travel to Lacombe Evangelical Free Church. Lacombe served us a dinner of chicken fried rice, and was one of the few locations that saw the kids go back up for seconds. Before the dances began, I found the boys crowding around Trakuan's phone to watch Cambodian videos, which I found funny. The performance itself was another solid effort from the kids, who by this point seemed to be able to do the dances in their sleep.

The next day saw us have a day off, and the nature of the activities saw me so engaged that I didn't take a single photo or video the entire day. We went back to Dino's to try out their laser-tag course. I had a blast playing with the kids, who all seemed to have different strategies: Moses practically sprinted around the course, Dallin tried to hide around corners, and two of the boys (I couldn't tell who) worked together to hold down a single area. I thought I did quite well and thought I would come in first place with 15 thousand points, but Sarah outdid me with a whopping 23 thousand points. The kids enjoyed comparing their stats afterwards, with some of the boys being rather annoyed at being outpointed by the girls.

We then went to a leisure center in Lethbridge to try out their wave pool. Out of concern for their safety, we had the kids wear life jackets, as we did not know how severe the waves would be. Once we discovered they were quite tame, many of the kids discarded their life jackets. I was glad that the pool's lifeguards were not as strict as previous locations, as I was allowed to throw the kids. Theera was my favorite to throw, as he would routinely try to do a flip while in the air.

We then went back for our last night at Little Red, which Gordon made special by leading Christian campfire songs and games. Gordon did an excellent job at giving the kids a taste of the western summer camp experience and it is something for which we will always be thankful for. My only gripe is him teaching the kids the 'Sheep Song', which the kids routinely pester me with.

We went to the Khmer-Canadian Buddhist Cultural Society the next day, where we performed an abridged version of our program. I was surprised to find out that the building is home to two Buddhist monks who live off donations from the local Cambodian/Buddhist population in Calgary, which is not large. Seeing the two monks in their orange robes made me feel like I was back visiting Cambodia. The building was packed with eager Cambodians who wanted to see the children continue the tradition of Cambodian dance, leading to a bit of extra pressure on the kids. After the performance was done, the kids were each gifted money by the two monks, which is a profoundly important gesture as Theravada Buddhist culture dictates that monks are supposed to be the ones getting gifts from people, and not the other way around.

After our performance at the Cultural Society, we drove to Lethbridge, where we would be staying for that night and the next. We reconnected with Neige Heinrichs and her family, whom the children remembered from her time teaching English at Rescue 1. We had a large meal at the Warkentin family home, who billeted me, two boys, and two adults. My picky eating habits had returned by this point on the tour, so I regrettably found myself unable to enjoy Trakuan's meal that she worked very hard to make. I realized that I should be more tolerant of the kids picky habits with western food from now on, lest I be a hypocrite.

We began the next day by going to the Lethbridge Corn Maze, which also had a large petting zoo and several playgrounds. Unlike the debacle at the Kraay Family Farm corn maze, where the kids became very bored very quick, the kids were much more engaged and cooperative this time around. We all got out of the maze fine, although Soteaara gave us a brief scare by not being present for our initial headcount. The kids greatly enjoyed the jumping pillow and the petting zoo, with Moses being very happy that he got to feed a donkey a pumpkin. I, meanwhile, found an alpaca with a massive underbite to be my favorite feature of the location.

After our time at the corn maze, we went to College Drive Community Church in Lethbridge. The Cambodians at the cultural society gave us an abundance of food the day before, so we had plenty to eat for supper. I was able to enjoy some spicy noodles while the kids devoured the rest of the food. The performance itself had a rather humorous moment: during the 'Coconut Dance', Dallin accidentally threw her coconut while dancing. Both Sarah and I had to hold in our giggles. The rest of the performance went smoothly.

The next blog entry will cover our time in Calgary. There is a bit of a delay between the blog and the days covered, but rest assured that all days will be covered.

See you later!