Lots of Laughter

Teaching at Grace School was a success. The children loved seeing me dressed in Indian apparel: chudidaar, braded hair, bindi, ankle bracelets, toe ring, and jasmine in my hair. They told me I was beautiful. It’s fun to receive compliments from these children. They are so eager to please.

The highlight of my day was spending the afternoon with Jasmine, John and George at Assisi Illam. We played countless games of hide and seek, sung the same songs over and over, and just plain goofed around. I can’t get enough of their laughter, smiles, hugs and kisses. We recorded some videos that I wanted to send to my aunt Joelle (who’s volunteered with these children three times before). We had a heck of a time making these videos.

During the afternoon break Sheeba and I went to the tailor to get my measurements for my sari and chudidaar. She is sewing the blouse of the sari and two chudidaars for 480 rupees, which is about $10. Not a bad deal.

There was more order surrounding the computer lessons at SEAM. I brought along children’s books and had the kids retype the stories. The way back from SEAM was quite an adventure. It’s dark by the time we return and the traffic is hectic (even in our neighborhood), and although plenty of warning signs are given by honking, you almost grow numb to it. I almost got taken out by a truck today, which isn’t a big deal because there are a lot of close calls--no one seems to get hurt. In any case, I think I’ll opt to join the others in the van rather than walking home in the evenings.

I tried my hand in the kitchen by helping prepare the poori that was served with dinner. Poori is a deep fried dough, and as you can imagine, quite tasty. The team enjoyed dinner with long conversations that followed. We discussed what worked for us and what didn’t throughout the day and planned for the day ahead. I enjoy our dinners spent together. It makes me realize how much I miss my family dinners; it’s rare that I join someone for dinner at home.