Sept 22

This is the first trip that I have sponsored to this orphanage. In order for the children to have a fun, memorable Chuseok, we went to the orphanage and had a BBQ for them. We met at the Mustang and left from there for the orphanage. It was a little difficult to get taxi's because of the Korean holiday and the fact that the taxi's didn't know where we wanted to go made it a little difficult; but luckily we made it there without incident. The children were still at church when we arrived so we sat in there 'living room' and ate songpyon (Korean half moon rice cakes which are a traditional food on Chuseok) while we waited for them to arrive. 3 other volunteers, Gabriel, Michael, Jen and I went outside to get the grill started so that we could have the food prepared by the time the children came back. After the first batch of hotdogs and hamburgers were done, Jen took them inside so that she and the owner could start making plates for the children. Gabriel actually did a great job of BBQ-ing until the last batch of food went on the grill.... All the grease from the burgers that had dripped onto the charcoal caught fire suddenly and burnt everything that was on the grill. After the children arrived, we handed out the food and ate lunch with them. Since this was my first time at this orphanage I didn't really know how the children behaved or would react to us but they were extremely well behaved^^ They loved the Capri-suns and the chips that we brought with us. We had a little left over but not much. I guess they had themas snacks for later. Or fed them to their dog. Afterwards, we took the children to the park for soccer. Gabriel had an SUV and when the children saw that they HAD to all squeeze in there and get a ride to the park. Once at the park, they found a salamander, ripped his poor tail off, ran around like crazy, and played soccer and basketball. We only stayed at the park for about an hour until they grew tired and sick of the heat. They got another ride back to the orphanage, which once again they LOVED. After that we sat inside for a few more minutes, had a group picture taken, and then left for base. I think that this trip went very well and everyone, including the children, had a great time.