Cambodia Missions Trip

I'm not even sure where to start, so I will try at the beginning.  Last October, Andy and I decided that for financial and logistic reasons, I should take Grace and Emma on our church's family missions trip to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, instead of all of us going.  We have been hearing from friends about this trip for years, and we were eager to check it out.  It was also a great opportunity for some mother/daughter bonding with the older girls.

We arrived in Cambodia around 10:30am.  Then we had to go through Passport Control, which took 2 hours.  This is where we faced Cambodia's corruption for the first time.  We each had to pay for a tourist visa, but found that for all the children under 12, they had to get in a different line.  There was also a different fee...instead of $30, it was $10.  Then we waited for our passports to be done...we all crowded around a desk, waiting for them to call out our names. When we heard our name, we rushed to the front, paid our fee, and collected our passport.  This is a bit sketchy since they take our passports for awhile as they added the visa.  We also collected a receipt for the church.  When we went back to get a receipt for the kids, they told us that we didn't give them a picture.  When we had assured them we had, they smiled, chuckled and gave us back our money instead of giving us a receipt.  So, essentially tourist visas for children under 12 are free...unless you don't have a picture...but that info was never volunteered.

From there, we went directly to a restaurant that is run by a friend of our church. He came to Cambodia to serve those women who have been trafficked...teaching them skills in the restaurant business as well as giving them a job.  Sugar and Spice was a wonderful restaurant with great food!!!

Eating at Sugar and Spice

Then, we dropped our things off at the hotel we were staying, and boarded the bus to go to the Learning Village to learn about Cambodian culture.  We learned about dress, reading and writing, religion, time in the province (countryside), and words used to address others.  It was a great way to start out our trip and gave us a wonderful overview of Cambodian culture.

Finally, we had a chance to go back to the hotel to shower before going out to dinner at yet another restaurant that helps those who have come out of trafficking...another great meal.

Taking a Tuk Tuk to our restaurant

Having been to the Philippines on a few occasions, we had some realistic expectations of what this was going to look like/ smell like/ feel like.  But unlike the Philippines, where we did different things with one missions organization such as construction, feedings, and playing with kids in the orphanage, we spent most of our time with the same kids from the slums...three days at a center called Joy of Cambodia or JJ Center (Jehovah Jirah) and a day at Children At Risk.  Both these centers serve children who live in the slums and whose parents are often spending their days on the landfill looking for recyclables to resell.  At the JJ Center, we were broken up into our families, and then assigned several of the center's kids...creating our own family for the week.  And in line with "fruits of the Spirit," we were given fruit names...ours being Papaya:) This was our day on Tuesday.  We got there in the morning, did a program with the kids, ate lunch with them that was brought in, and then most of those kids went to school, while another group of kids who went to school in the am came to the center in the afternoon.  Then we did the same program for them. These children were amazing...they smiled and most of them were open to hugs and help coloring. One of the things that amazed me was how well behaved they were...as we were presenting, and even as they waited for their food.  Food was placed in front of them and they didn't touch it until everyone had some and we prayed.  These are children who haven't eaten.

This was a long day, and we sat on a hard floor most of the day.  We left around 4pm, went back to the  hotel to shower and change, then went to a close-by pizzeria that was better than any pizza in HK...delicious!!!

On Wednesday, we went back to the JJ Center and picked the kids up to take them to Kid City, an amazing indoor place for playing all kinds of things.  Most of the kids would have been satisfied with just the bus ride, having never done that before.  But we got there and had a BLAST...playing laser tag, climbing wall, go carts, and an indoor playground for the little kids.  Then we all ate Burger King together before our group left and they stayed to finish out the afternoon.

Our Papaya Family

That afternoon, our group was given the choice of a few "field trips" ... the Russian Market, S-21, which is a genocide prison from the days of the Khmer Rouge, or another memorial of the Killing Fields.  Grace went with some friends to the Russian Market while Emma and I went to the Killing Fields.  Both of us enjoy history, and we wanted to know more about Cambodia.  This was probably the most emotional and intense afternoon we had...learning about Cambodia's Holocaust.  It also explained a lot about the widespread government corruption and the mindsets that families have towards trafficking their own children.

The next day, we went to another children's center called Children at Risk, run by friends of our church.  We were able to run most of our program to these children, but in the afternoon, two of our couples led a bible study for the adults of the slum this center ministers to...and it was well attended.  One funny thing about this center is that we met a couple from Lancaster, PA who was there on their own simply serving.  At the end of this day, we went to a pretty famous restaurant and had the opportunity to hold and then eat a tarantula.  My girls were rock stars...doing both, much to my dismay.  Not to be outdone, I let Emma place the spider on my hand, then at a fried let, doused in sauce and atop a cucumber.  Check that on off my list...once and done.

Caroline from Lancaster, PA

Eating lunch with the kids at Children at Risk

Bible in Khmer language...official language of Cambodia

Emma holds the tarantula

Grace's turn to hold the tarantula

Eating a tarantula leg

Emma eating a tarantula

Grace eating tarantula

Finally, on Friday we went back to the JJ Center to have a big birthday with our family kids and to play games with them.  These kids stole our hearts, and the only thing that was hard for me about that day, besides leaving them, was that our sweet little girl was not there on Friday...we were told her family moved out to the province.  I hope that was true, because unfortunately there are many other possibilities. The kids had a wonderful time...but through out our experience, we were blessed more than they were.

Some of our sweet boys

Our Papaya Family

Playing dizzy bat with the kids

These girls did a "Welcome Dance" for us

Emma was "dizzy"

Our Papaya Family cake

We got home to Hong Kong that night after 10:30pm...Andy was waiting for us.  It was SO good to be home and hug him and the other three that I missed so much.  This post is the simple one to write...just telling about the logistics and recording the events.  I will write another one on some things I have processed and learned from our trip...but that will take days.  Until then, enjoy the pics...we treasure them:)

Josh's Birthday

Josh's 9th Birthday fell on a Sunday.  We had a full day of church and basketball games.  When we asked him what he wanted to do for dinner, he suggested Ruby Tuesdays, one of our favorite Western restaurants.  We were only able to get a 4:30 reservation, since they already had a party our size at 6:00pm. And, we had to promise to give up our table at 6...a common practice here.

We arrived around 4:45...and we were breaking our own rule.  This restaurant was located in the Shatin New Town Plaza Mall...one of the busiest malls in all of Hong Kong, perhaps Asia...especially on a weekend.  We try very hard to avoid this mall on weekends at all costs...but for Josh's special day it was worth it. As we got out of the car, we happened to hear an announcement asking people to keep an eye on their children and to watch the crowds.  We found this kind of strange, but figured in the end it was a normal announcement on a weekend.

As we walked up to the restaurant on the 5th floor, we definitely noticed the crowds, which justified our rule.  We actually got to the restaurant, sat right down, and were waited on immediately...it helps that they were motivated to get their table back.  Of course, as we were waiting, the kids had to use the restroom, which is located outside the restaurant and in the mall.  I took a couple of girls, and then Andy took Josh.  When Andy got back, he had a story to tell.  Apparently, the crowds had become organized and restless, waving flags and causing a police response.  If you haven't watched the news in the last six months, you might not know that there is a movement called Occupy Central that is bringing attention to democracy in HK and it has now moved into the New Territories. We were able to "give our table back"and check out the protests...as well as find a safe way out of there with all of our kiddos. As we were driving away, we must have counted 40 or more police vans.  The next day we heard that the protest got out of hand and the police started using pepper spray.  Needless to say, it was a very exciting birthday for Josh.

Our 24 Hours in HK

Because Andy and I both have pretty busy travel schedules this spring, we decided to take a stay cation and stay in the city for 24hrs without the kids.  We found a good hotel deal on Agoda, made a  reservation at a recommended restaurant, and made our list of errands we needed to hit (we did need to take advantage of being kid-free).

We started our Friday at the kids school for the annual Chinese New Year assembly.  Josh and Abby's classes were performing, and it was a great time to see their hard work pay off. They were very proud of themselves, and there is something about singing (or observing) hundreds of children singing praise songs in Mandarin.

Josh and Abby's CNY outfits

All four kindergarten P 1 classes

Abby's focused

Yes, he is a ham and looking at the camera:)

After the assembly, Andy and I took the train down to Wan Chai and went in search of Mr. Bing's Beijing Crepes.  Unfortunately, the street-side restaurant had been replaced by a realtor, so we had to settle for our favorite HK pizzeria, Paisanos.

We enjoyed our pizza, then walked to the hotel for early check-in.  Andy was exhausted from a late night call, so he took a nap while I checked email and read.  Then it was off to the U.S. Consulate to pick up Andy's passport.  He had gone earlier at a more convenient time, but was only allowed to pick it up before 3pm and 4pm, so he was turned away.  After going to the Consulate, we took our time going back to the hotel, stopped at a running store, checked out a fun Starbucks, and made it back to the hotel in time to change and make our way to the restaurant.  We had a lovely evening at Tamarind, enjoyed wonderful Indian, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, as well as enjoyed the view.  The weather was gorgeous and we just lingered over a glass of wine and good conversation.

We walked back to the hotel, slept in, enjoyed the free hotel breakfast, and took a taxi home, making it back by 11.  Over-all it was a wonderful 24hr date, the perfect opportunity to catch up, pray about the immediate and far future, and talk about the kids (just a little bit:)

Enjoyed gorgeous weather and blue skies!

Always a welcome site...our US Consulate

Beautiful Cathedral in the middle of the city...with the HSBC Building in the background

Famous Bank of China building

Some beautiful sites in the city

"No Paddling"

Saw our fair share of construction

HK style Starbucks

A beautiful night to eat outside and watch the light show

A Nail-biting Basketball Week

So in the last week, we have had some exciting basketball games that I wanted to document.  Grace and Emma are both playing basketball for the school, and they have had some exciting seasons.

Grace is in the U-14 division, and to be fair, most of her teammates are friends who also play soccer.  She has a very athletic team,  but not many of them have put a lot of time in their basketball skills outside of practice after school.  During their regular season, they were very competitive, losing three games in close fashion, and making it to the four team playoff.  They lost their three games to the other three teams in the playoff...Renaissance College, French International, and Kellett British School.  Last Tuesday, they played the French after the Renaissance College took care of Kellett.

We played FIS only two weeks ago.  Andy and I tried to get to the game at FIS, but never found the school (another post, perhaps?) They had one very good player who had definite basketball skill, and just happened to be the coaches daughter.  On a side note, I remembered their coach as soon as he walked into the gym...he was memorable because of his behavior :(

As the game started, it was clear our coach had a plan to double team their talented star.  Grace was part of that double team, and this turned out to be very effective becuase our team got out to a fast start 10-2.     Our girls didn't have much of a half court offense, but they are very fast and got a lot of their points from fast breaks.  Well, the other team finally settled in and started to close the gap.  We had a seven point lead at half, but having only made one basket in the third quarter, the lead was down to five.  We parents were on the edge of our seats.  Andy was able to make the end of the third quarter, just in time to see Grace make the only bucket in the third.

By the fourth quarter, we were left with fouling their best player who did not miss a free throw.  Then their team went with the popular strategy of fouling our girls in order to get the ball back.  This was quite comical since fouling is not an intuitive for girls. Their coach was finally yelling at them to hug our players, which I thought constituted a flagrant foul? but apparently they don't make that kind of call.   As FIS was creeping back, our high scorer fouled out...then, with only 10 seconds left, FIS tied up the game for the first time...and of course their bench erupted.  With momentum leaning heavily their way, and time about to run out, Grace was given the ball.  I was pretty certain she would be fouled since their best player was on her, but their coach shifted to "no foul!" once they tied it up.  So there my daughter is, on her favorite side (left), racing down the court.  And with 2.8 seconds left, she put in a left handed layup to win the game.  Andy and I were beside ourselves.

THEN...it was Emma's turn...
She was in the semifinals on Saturday against CAIS, a team they had beat handily at the beginning of the season.  But Coach Hardy told them they and gotten a lot better, so Emma was nervous and scared. Of course, I found out before the game that Coach Hardy may have been playing some mind games, since I asked him how that happened and he winked at me...Oops:)

Emma's game wasn't nearly as dramatic as Grace's semifinal.  After a 4-4 tie, Emma's team went on to control the game, giving their coach the opportunity to get everyone in the game.  It was still very exciting, and Emma scored a basket until she was subbed out.  She is not a big scorer (are you seeing a pattern:) but I lost count at how many steals she had...her defense was tough!!! Then they played the finals shortly after that game against Kellett.  They only beat Kellett by 2 points, so we knew they would be a tougher opponent...which they were.  Our girls played tough, playing them even through the first half.  But the second half was a different story, as the other team couldn't score on our defense. Emma's team ran away with it, winning with a more comfortable margin.

That brings us to today...the Championship game for Grace's u-14 team.  We were playing RCHK who were the heavy favorites. They had some athletic girls, as well, but they also had a few girls who had basketball skills.  We were pretty heavy underdogs, but we were still excited that we made it that far.  We also liked this opponent...they were not nearly as physical, and they had a player that played soccer with several of our team.

The game started out with us standing around and them getting some early easy buckets.  We finally started to play...but instead of getting easy buckets with fast breaks, we had to come up with some half court offense.  I'm not sure where it came from, but some of the girls made some jump shots and kept it close.  We were about five to seven points behind the whole game.  Going into the fourth quarter, we were down 5.  ICS did not give up!  They brought out their best playing...and I know Im biased, but Grace played the fourth quarter obsessed and with more energy than she had the whole game.  She shut down their best player, and then made some huge steals...missing a couple big shots that went in and out.  But our team played with a lot of heart and emotion.  They went after loose balls and rebounding...and with about 3 minutes to play, actually tied up the game.  Then they held on with their defense and got the ball back with about 25 seconds to play.  They brought the ball down, and  with seconds to go, our best scorer made a basked to win the game.  I was sitting next to her mother and the two of us nearly fell off the stands.  None of us could believe our girls pulled that win out.

It's surreal to be on the other side of games like this, after playing basketball for seven years...CYO, AAU and high school.  I am now the supportive parent watching them give their best.  And while I still enjoy playing the game, it is a different kind of joy to watch my daughters.  Now, I just need to teach them how to be a better shooter than their mom:)