Santa Claus has came to Battambang ...

Day Two in Battambang. Our team had breakfast at a new restaurant in town. The restaurant served fried egg and toast, but this is not your normal scrambled egg breakfast platter. This is Cambodian spam, wrapped in an omlette, dressed with mayonaisse in a spider design, with yellow baguette bread. But it was edible, as more than half of our team ordered this item, and no one is sick.

So after breakfast, we arrived at New Life Church for the 8:40am worship service. We were greeted by 39 joyou kids, local residents in town, and the church staff. The church has been renovating its flooring, replacing the tile. Although in its current state, half the room is tiled, and half the room is gravel. Then came worship music, with various groups of kids (based on age), signing and dancing to songs. It was amazing to see kids sing recognizable songs in Khmer (local language) but then shout out the chorus in English. Very entertaining.

We then returned to the hotel to organize our crafts and activities for the next few days. Then was lunch at Green House Cafe, a new restaurant owned and operated by one of the members of the Church. After lunch, we finally arrived at our destination - the orphanage. A place that brings back unforgettable, touch and lovely memories for all who've been there before. The minute you get off the bus, you have a flock of kids grabbing your hands, wanting to carry your backpack for you, and just expressing their love and enthuasiam for your presence in their home.

Kira, one of our team members, had letters and pictures to deliver each kid from the July team. I had letters, pictures and gifts to deliver to the kids from the May Construction team. It defnitely made us feel like Santa Claus delivering letters and pictures, which may be the most precious items for these kids. After gifts, we did introductions, distributed balls (rubber balls, volleyballs, soccer balls, etc) for the kids to play with, and made tie dye T-shirts as our first arts & craft activity on our rest day. It's amazing to see how fast these kids operate. And for those who are curious, the most popular dye dye color was yellow.

The afternoon was very active. Not from a programming or planning standpoint, but from the exhaustion of chasing balls, singing and dancing to praise music, and hanging out with these kids, our excitement for the next 4 days is awesome. Ratha, the orphanage director, is planning for our team to have a huge feast Wednesday evening. For the first time, we will take the entire staff and all the kids to a restaurant for a meal. For all of these kids, this will be their first exposure to the inside of a restaurant. We are definitely blessed with the luxuries we have in our life, and the opportunity to be around these kids.

For previous May Construction team members, these kids are expecting a new fence and to see your face next April. Don't disappoint them. They've been asking about you and can't wait to see you again. Until tomorrow night ...