Rochester days

Moses has always been at the front of the fashion scene.

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After waking in up in Fargo we made the trek to Minneapolis. The kids were noticeably more antsy, which made us suspect that they were beginning to feel the effects of so many days away from home. As strange as it may sound, this is what we want to happen, as we do not want the kids to resent going back to their home but to look forward to it.

Thankfully, the kids would be treated to a taste of home for the night's performance, as we were going to the Minneapolis Cambodian Church of the Nazarene. They became excited as soon as they saw the Khmer text outside the building, and were eager to get inside. After running around the church for a prolonged period of time, the kids were then greeted by the various members of the congregation who began to arrive early for a potluck supper.

The supper was fun to be a part of, as the kids got to talk to the various members of the church in their native tongue. The highlight was the arrival of Haley, a former English teacher at Rescue, who was greeted enthusiastically as soon as she entered the room. The kids were so excited that many of them forgot to finish their food!

The performance was the most unique yet, as only Blaine and Shelly's statements were in English, while the rest of the performance was entirely in Khmer. Sokthon, Thavin, Andet and Marie all spoke to the congregation in the language, and I could see that they were significantly more relaxed on stage than previous performances. It was also the performance with the most cameras, as several audience members wanted to capture the moments for themselves. When the performance was over, the children were doted on by several older Cambodians who clearly wanted to spoil them rotten.

This was all a fitting send-off, as this would mark the last full performance by the kids! Everything after this would be much smaller in scale.

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The entire rest of the tour would be spent in Rochester, Minnesota, where we would be interacting with Christ Community Church. We would do multiple performances over the next few day, first for a kids day, then on a night for donors, and then during church services. We were initially going to perform at another church, but a communication error resulted in us having a day off.

The time in Rochester saw me have very little time to access my laptop, making it difficult to blog or keep a record of the days. The performances all began to blur together in my head, and it likely did for the kids as well, seeing as they were performing the same two dances repeatedly. It began to feel like we were on a repetition loop, with the same locations being seen for each day!

Thankfully this did interfere with the kids' performances, as they continued to put on good dances. The absence of Kapriel meant that a girl would have to sit out each performance (so as not to have an odd number of performers on stage), so each dance saw a different girl stay off stage. Even with the hiccup of being down a person, the kids still did an excellent job.

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Speaking of Kapriel, it appears he has been having a great time in Saskatchewan with Sarah. Of all the kids who could have stayed behind, I am glad it was him, as he seems to have the best disposition for this kind of problem.

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A major highlight of our time at Rochester was visiting the Oxbow Park & Zollman Zoo, which has an impressive selection of wildlife from Minnesota. I think I may have enjoyed it more than the kids. The otters got the most attention from the kids, while I found myself most intrigued by the big cats (lynx, bobcat, and cougar). The kids really did not like the fox area due to its pungent odor, with several complaining of "poop smell".

I was able to capture the last half of the best moment of the visit on video. When we arrived at Oxbow, the pair of wolves were fast asleep. They woke up a half-hour later and immediately began howling, which caused the nearby coyotes to howl back. Soon everyone in the park stopped what they were doing to hear the very loud howls, with the kids practically sprinting from wherever they were to see it with their own eyes. I only wish I got my phone out quicker.

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A popular spot during our time in Rochester was Pho Chau, whose owner, Paulina, was Cambodian! The kids were always very eager to eat there and often surprised me with how much they ate. Moses had me in stitches at one point, as he claimed that he was going to grow taller so that he could take the waitress out on a date. This guy.

Paulina was so happy to see us that she welcomed us into her home for supper. She served us a great meal, which the kids chose to eat on the living room floor near the fireplace. The kids also liked playing with Paulina's two Bengal cats, who were very photogenic. Paulina gave the kids a speech after supper, which I could see they were listening to intently. They were clearly interested in what she had to say.

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Our time at Rochester saw us pay a visit to Schaeffer Academy, a Christian school. We set up in the gym to perform for the school kids, which meant that the kids would have an entire open gym floor to perform on; they would have to pick a specific spot on the gym floor and stay there. The boys and girls got changed in the restrooms, which led to a funny moment where Thavin had to enter the boys room to get them to hurry up.

The kids at Schaeffer were all very excited to see the three dances the kids did. When the kids first walked out, they kept walking across the gym until the adults waved for them to stop. They initially gave themselves too much room, meaning the dances saw the kids get closer together as the dances went on. The teenagers were especially impressed by the 'Praying Mantis dance', primarily the segment where the boys all form a giant chain.

After the performance, the kids broke into groups to answer some questions in different classrooms. Each group had a chaperone to translate, meaning that there would be no misunderstanding. Some of the teenagers were curious if they could do the chain maneuver from the 'Praying Mantis dance', which they could form but not move as a group.

We ended our time at Schaeffer by playing soccer with the kids during recess. This was such a big hit that we brought the kids back on Saturday to play with others. I ended up playing with the girls, which was...interesting. I cannot confirm or deny reports that I did an incredibly awkward backwards somersault when blocking a shot on net.

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The day when we were supposed to go to a church that cancelled saw us instead visit a small Cambodian community that Hayley told us about. We got together with them at a nearby playground where we played together for a significant amount of time. There were several funny moments during our time playing, with my favorite being the girls dogpiling on the swing.

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The next blog post will be the last for the tour. It will cover a birthday party, a visit to the Mall of America, and the final plane rides. I look forward to telling you about the end of this great journey.

God bless & Jesus saves.