Life without the kids... :(

September 22, 2009
After my busy experiences working in Africa the past two summers, I never imagined working in an orphanage would lead to slow days and lots of down time! However, the kids went on holiday this weekend, and have 2 weeks off of school. It’s a Hindu holiday, where families gather together and have a celebration. Since the kids go to a local school, they have off, and all of them except 2 went home to be with their families. Suddenly, the house became very quiet!

After listening to 20 children run around day in and day out, the stillness is almost unnerving! However, we play games with the girls still here (they are a big fan of any card games that involve slapping the deck or each other, whichever is easier at the moment), and walk to the market with them (about an hour and a half round trip), and do daily chores with them (wash the dishes, clothes, etc.).

In the mornings we can sleep in (usually till about 6:30) and then we get up and rinse off, read our Bibles, sing, etc. This morning, Joshua (Pastor Krishna’s 9 year old son) was doing his homework across from me at the table while I read, and it slowly evolved into him mimicking everything I did. It got to be very humorous as I would make faces and he was a near perfect mirror to me! This went on throughout him finishing his homework and my reading, until I brought out the guitar to play for awhile. Then, he broke mirroring with “Sister, WAIT!” And off he scampered... and he came galloping back with a ping pong paddle. Just one. And I looked at him like he was one brick short of a load and he smiled and sat down next to me and grabbed my song book. He turned to a song and said, “Let’s play!” So, I played guitar, he played the Ping Pong paddle until his fingers turned red from the dye on the sides, and he sang the words in English along with me. He did extremely well, as he could stay with the tune and sing the words clearly! Pretty impressive :).

I then went downstairs and Punam was helping Didi (the cook/cleaner/live in sister who helps with everything) fix breakfast. So, I went outside to find Benjamin, Krishna’s older son, kicking a soccer ball alone. We had filled the water canisters earlier in the morning (we don’t always have running water, so we have to have canisters as a back-up), so the courtyard area was soaked. So, he and I began “playing soccer,” in flip flops, on wet concrete... He was very kind and said “Sister, be careful! The ground is slippery!” Pretty much I just chased him while he kicked the ball at every stationary object yelling “GOAL!” at the top of his lungs.

We then had breakfast of rice and curry around 9, and since most of the children are gone, Chloe and I got to eat with the girls. My eating with my hands is improving, and I really like the curry now. I actually prefer it without meat, because often the meat kinds has intestines, stomach, etc that are hard for me to eat. A good start to the day :).