Yesterday was a pondering day as I marveled at the fact a cow was grazing outside our kitchen window.
As I sat on the porch young school kids were walking past our house waving and trying out their limited English and then rattling off some Kannada words followed by giggles as they covered their mouths. Who knows what they were saying, probably cheeky, but it made me smile.
I pondered on all the small things that made me smile here, the lizards, the squirrels, our kids playing in the trees and in the dirt. They all climb these massive trees called Bunion trees and they have large vines to swing on like Tarzan, talk about fun.
I thought back to when we first arrived, I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and feeling lousy. The 1500 meter walk to dinner at night felt like a marathon let alone getting everyone organised with plates to take. Once there the girls from the home were all over us with shouts and smiles and personal space invasion. I remember my head spinning and feeling dizzy and nauseated, the heat rushing to my head, my heart pounding and I kept telling myself, "this is what I came for" but my body was definitely not in agreement. I was exhausted and disappointed that my dream felt like such a huge effort. I actually struggled to see how I was going to bring any input or good to this place when all I wanted was for no one to disturb me and to just sleep.
Last night though as I walked to dinner I enjoyed the walk in the cool night, the stars, the frogs that leap past and over your feet and thanked God for the second trimester. It is so good to feel more energy and be able to appreciate things again.
I began teaching English to the 4 and 5 year olds at the beginning of this week. We have 5 new girls here now and one of them is in my class. She did not even know how to say hello but after the first lesson she was able to answer the simple question "What is your name?" She is picking things up so fast, it's very encouraging.
As with all children, the kids here need some basic training of the heart. There is punishment that happens but not teaching the heart why you should do the right thing. Lying, stealing, teasing are a few areas I see that we can have some input into. I want children to do the right thing because they want to honour God and not out of the fear of being caught and punished. The first step is some training for the staff here and we will be beginning that next week.
DC has been putting in some very hard long hours into cracking a computer idea that allows one computer to run four screen simultaneously and that each of those screens can be doing their own thing. This has been already set up here but is not working properly but it has sparked DC into trying to better it and make it optimal. It has caused frustration and many times hitting a brick wall but he has persevered and it looks like he has cracked it. Now it just needs some fine tuning and then take the idea to some other schools, Internet cafes and that sort of thing. The great thing is that it saves money on hardware and power. Who does not want to save some Rupees if they can? Hats off to DC, he's kept plodding on through the obstacles. I am very proud of him.
So there's a few catch ups on what we have been up to, I do love it here even though every now and then the waves of overwhelment (not really a word I think) come and I wonder how I will cope with another baby arriving soon. Deep down though, I know that this is where we should be, this is where I want to be and I love these kids. Sure a new born will change things for a while but things will still function and normality will return again, (that's if you can call what we are doing normal :)
As I sat on the porch young school kids were walking past our house waving and trying out their limited English and then rattling off some Kannada words followed by giggles as they covered their mouths. Who knows what they were saying, probably cheeky, but it made me smile.
I pondered on all the small things that made me smile here, the lizards, the squirrels, our kids playing in the trees and in the dirt. They all climb these massive trees called Bunion trees and they have large vines to swing on like Tarzan, talk about fun.
I thought back to when we first arrived, I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and feeling lousy. The 1500 meter walk to dinner at night felt like a marathon let alone getting everyone organised with plates to take. Once there the girls from the home were all over us with shouts and smiles and personal space invasion. I remember my head spinning and feeling dizzy and nauseated, the heat rushing to my head, my heart pounding and I kept telling myself, "this is what I came for" but my body was definitely not in agreement. I was exhausted and disappointed that my dream felt like such a huge effort. I actually struggled to see how I was going to bring any input or good to this place when all I wanted was for no one to disturb me and to just sleep.
Last night though as I walked to dinner I enjoyed the walk in the cool night, the stars, the frogs that leap past and over your feet and thanked God for the second trimester. It is so good to feel more energy and be able to appreciate things again.
I began teaching English to the 4 and 5 year olds at the beginning of this week. We have 5 new girls here now and one of them is in my class. She did not even know how to say hello but after the first lesson she was able to answer the simple question "What is your name?" She is picking things up so fast, it's very encouraging.
As with all children, the kids here need some basic training of the heart. There is punishment that happens but not teaching the heart why you should do the right thing. Lying, stealing, teasing are a few areas I see that we can have some input into. I want children to do the right thing because they want to honour God and not out of the fear of being caught and punished. The first step is some training for the staff here and we will be beginning that next week.
DC has been putting in some very hard long hours into cracking a computer idea that allows one computer to run four screen simultaneously and that each of those screens can be doing their own thing. This has been already set up here but is not working properly but it has sparked DC into trying to better it and make it optimal. It has caused frustration and many times hitting a brick wall but he has persevered and it looks like he has cracked it. Now it just needs some fine tuning and then take the idea to some other schools, Internet cafes and that sort of thing. The great thing is that it saves money on hardware and power. Who does not want to save some Rupees if they can? Hats off to DC, he's kept plodding on through the obstacles. I am very proud of him.
So there's a few catch ups on what we have been up to, I do love it here even though every now and then the waves of overwhelment (not really a word I think) come and I wonder how I will cope with another baby arriving soon. Deep down though, I know that this is where we should be, this is where I want to be and I love these kids. Sure a new born will change things for a while but things will still function and normality will return again, (that's if you can call what we are doing normal :)
Love it... yep you guys are cool = )
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