This morning, we all actually woke up after a getting a full night of sleep. It seems that our bodies may be starting to acclimate to the time change. We boarded a tuk tuk about 8:00 am and headed for the Central Market area where we watched the vendors open up their shops and display their products. The kids each bought a souvenir before heading over to a stationery shop just a couple blocks away, where they found some pretty sweet art supplies. The prices were very reasonable and they have some cool stuff that's hard to find in the US. Love that my kids geek out about art supplies!
We had a great brunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Chinese Pulled Noodles, where they make their noodles, dumplings and buns to order. You can watch them make your food while you wait. So yummy!
I contacted the head of Asia's Hope in Cambodia this morning and he set us up to visit with the kids at Asia's Hope Christian School. We dropped in at about 2 pm not sure what we would be doing. The English teacher brought us into the kindergarten/1st grade English class, handed us a dry erase marker and said, you do whatever you want. Becky lead them in some spelling games and I did drawings on the board to see who could guess the English word the fastest. Caleb and Faith joined in as well. After English class, the PE2 kids took Caleb and Faith with them to their class for the last hour of school. Becky and I realized it was their first classroom experience ever...and it just happened to be in Cambodia. They really enjoyed it even though they didn't understand a word of it.
At 4:00 we walked home with the kids. As we walked along the dusty road, kids crowded around us and held our hands all the way back. It really hit me how much these kids feel like family to us. Narun said the same thing to Becky this evening at dinner; she couldn't hold back the tears. These kids are really something special.
When we retuned back to PE2 the real fun began. Faith brought her big bag of animal balloons (thanks Nana & Grandpa B!) that she got for Christmas to share with the kids and boy did they love them. It was a hot evening so many of the kids gathered in the house to play card games, draw with us and make balloon animals. Caleb and several of the boys played soccer in the courtyard for most of the evening. I've never seen Caleb so sweaty and dirty; he was having so much fun!
We wrapped up the evening sitting at the dinner table with Narun and Sopal. They are amazing people! To parent 27 kids is just mind-boggling to me, and they do it with the perfect balance of structure and fun. It has been really great spending time with them and getting to know them both better.