oh, Thich!

When Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks and nuns of Plum Village travel, they always hang a banner that reads, "I Have Arrived, I Am Home" when they get to their destination. That is how I am trying to view living in India. Instead of camparing everything to how things work back home, I am trying to see this as my home, and eccepting things as they are. Where I live, they don't use forks. Where I live, it is a bijillion degrees every day. Where I live, I share my bedroom with tiny lizard friends. Maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but thinking of this place as a true, if temporary, home, helps me really apprichiate being here even more.

I have settled into a basic schedule. I wake up, eat breakfast, and take a short bus ride to the senior school with some of the kids from the orphanage and nearby villages. I spend the morning at school doing different things. The principal may ask me to teach an english lesson on the fly or work with the Indian teachers. I feel a little bad because they heard I was a teacher and assumed that I would be able to teach chemistry and physics...not quite. After a couple of classes, I go back to the orphanage for lunch.

In the afternoons, I work at the lower school with the little ones. Since I am still new and strange, they all try very hard to get my attention. They are like little members of the papparizzi. They won't stop shouthing my name until I look at them and wave. I read to them and we play games until dinner. After dinner, I work with some of the older girls to help them pass a big test coming up that will determine if they can go on to higher education, like our SATs. They are also teaching me Tamil. It is a very difficuld language, but I am making some progress. It is apparently incredibly funny when I make a mistake! That is pretty much my typical day.

If you are in the mood to send me a letter (remember those?) you can send it to:
Cynthia Rogers/Volunteer
M.B.K.G. Pannai
Kasam-Kapadi
Vellore Dist. 632007
Tamil Nadu, SOUTH INDIA

...more later
-Cynthia