Sep 192 min read

Day 7: Performance at Chilliwack

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I was feeling under the weather, so I got to sleep in while the team cleaned up at Heritage Alliance Church. Some of the boys had a humorous misunderstanding and thought that I was leaving the tour, so they gave me quite the enthusiastic welcome when I arrived. The new bus driven by Rob arrived to pick us up, offering us plenty of room and built in wi-fi!

I dozed off on the short trip to Chilliwack. Neang once again kept trying to pinch me. Such injustice. I also found out that some of the boys had a pool at their billets' home. Where was my pool?

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The show at Chilliwack was considerably earlier than usual, with a 3:00 PM start. This made our set-up much more rushed. I was impressed how quickly the team got prepared. I felt bad that I was struggling to keep up with my lack of energy. It was a humbling experience watching the kids lift and carry bags while I worked on checking the small amount of tech.

While we were setting up, we were made aware of a knitting club that was in the lounge close by. Members of the team insisted that Marie speak with them. It was a wholesome, impromptu moment. While Marie spoke with them, Sany had the kids practice on stage, hoping to stay away from the previous night's minor missteps.

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The performance was humorous for me, because Shelly and Sokthon were much more involved with the kids behind the scenes. Keeping them in line was a difficult task, as they routinely tried to goof off in between dances. Thankfully they did a good job, and the kids made it out for their dances on time for each dance.

After the performance, I had my first moment of genuine frustration with one of the kids, although I laughed it off shortly afterwards. I run the payment/donation table, and the kids usually come by to look at the cashbox. As I was speaking with a donor, Minea began to play with the Square reader, which is used for debit and credit purchases. He ended up resetting it before fleeing the scene, which resulted in the donation being unable to be processed. The donor laughed it off and paid by cheque instead. These kids, I tell ya.

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After the performance, the team met at the Gladman's acreage for a wiener-roast. There was plenty of room for the kids to run around and play with the Gladman kids. The kids seemed rather intrigued by the idea of a cooking wieners over a fire, and caught on quickly to not let them burn. A grill was also available, and the image of it being run by Samuel and Yusvae has to be one of my favorite photos taken.