I'm at the age where birthdays are more sad than fun. The kids made it fun.
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Before we left Rochester, we spent time at a hotel just so we could use their pool. After swimming and playing with the kids for what seemed like a long time, I found out that we still had two hours at the pool. Hoo boy. I think my body was starting to break apart at this point, as I felt exhausted after 45 minutes of swimming.
Once we were done swimming, we crammed into a hotel room to celebrate three birthdays: my own and the twins. Chanthy and Chantha though it was very funny to share their birthday celebration with me, especially when we all sat at the end of a bed for cake. It was a very claustrophobic celebration, as 19 of us were crammed into a hotel room. Thavin seemed to enjoy telling me that I'm old, which only slightly hurt my feelings. So rude.
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On the day before our departure, we treated the kids to a trip to the Mall of America. We tried their rides and I think the kids enjoyed it more than West Edmonton Mall (sorry Canada). Yusvae was the daredevil of the group, as he insisted on going on all of the most intense rides when the others backed away. Thavin, Hayley and myself were thankfully there to accompany him.
Unfortunately, I got so carried away with the theme park that I completely forgot to take photos. Oops. Here are my favorite memories of the visit:
Samuel was the only kid who did not want to go on the first roller-coaster, which was rather tame. Thavin convinced him to ride with her, and when the ride ended he said that he wanted to go again.
The kids had no idea how the bumper cars worked, meaning that there were lots of circles being spun. The kids were laughing the whole time.
A Spongebob mascot was available to take photos, which we had to shut down when some of the kids began to physically harass him.
The haunted house ride was the most boring and uninteresting ride for the adults, but the kids quickly lined up to go on a second time.
Chanthy seemed to enjoy rides in an interesting manner: she would contort her face as if she were actually crying in fear, only to revert to a huge smile as soon as the ride ended.
I did the log ride with Minea sitting behind me. He was constantly muttering my name, and he began to slap my shoulder enthusiastically after we dropped down. It was very endearing.
When we returned to the hotel, the kids were tasked with packing candy for the Cambodians back at Rescue. They approached the task with a surprising cold determination.
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We had an extremely early morning, as we had to be out of the hotel at 5:30 AM! We would be travelling from Minneapolis to Montreal and then to Vancouver. As we were checking out, the kids bid a fond farewell to Hayley. When we arrived at the Minneapolis airport, I ended up dozing off while everyone was checking their bags. I was told by Blaine that the kids thought my snoring was hilarious.
The flight to Montreal saw many of the team fall asleep. I rode beside Srey Neang, who I found out gets anxiety attacks during takeoff, but spends the rest of the flight completely calm. She slept on my arm briefly before sleeping in a curled up position. As there was no in-flight entertainment, I spent most of the flight asleep myself.
The layover at Montreal was five hours, which gave me plenty of time to finish up the last blog entry. The team quickly claimed a section of the gate, where everyone had various different ideas on how to stay occupied. Card games, tablets, and borrowed phones were all used, with a Thai restaurant directly across from the gate providing sustenance. I got stir crazy rather fast, so I did several laps around the airport. Towards the end of our layover, the gate became extremely crowded, making me thankful for our early claiming of our section.
The flight from Montreal to Vancouver was close to six hours, but there was interactive entertainment screens available for all seats. I could see the kids around me quickly start to play games that were available on the screen, while others were trying to find something to watch. I can only hope that none of them selected something above their age group, as none of the movie/show options were censored. I felt incredibly awkward when watching a comedy that was more raunchy than expected, as two of the kids behind me could likely see what I was watching.
When we landed in Vancouver, we had a reunion with Kapriel and Sarah. Kapriel was all smiles as he reunited with his friends, and the kids were very happy to see Sarah one last time. There was a brief scare as Cambodia has implemented a new travel requirement (e-arrival) that we did not prepare for. Andet's tech expertise helped as he was able to navigate the various online forms at a fast speed.
As the e-arrival situation was sorted out, Shelly and I got a large amount of food from Wendy's, setting up a large scale fast-food supper for the team when they were finished getting ready. They appreciated the meal, although several of the kids were rather sleepy as they ate. Once we were finished eating, it was time to say goodbye. No tears were shed during our farewells, as the Cambodians seemed very excited to get back to their home country. Blaine and Shelly received updates from Thavin, showing that they arrived in Taipei and then Cambodia safely.
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Writing this blog has been an interesting experience for me. It started off as a rather simplistic task, as I was finding it easy to write one entry daily. This fell apart when we began going to places with poor or no wi-fi, as I would have to have a one day delay on the post. This quickly compounded, resulting in the haphazard schedule you have seen these last few weeks.
There are many things that I have probably missed, and for that, I apologize. I encourage anybody who took photos/videos of our visits to post them on facebook and follow the Rescue Cambodia page, so that they may be seen by others.
A huge thank you to all of our billets/hosts!
A huge thank you to all who helped with the performances!
A huge thank you to anyone who provided good memories for the kids!
God bless & Jesus saves.