Eating under the stars

Today was one of my favorite days so far! But first, a few more things
about yesterday: there were monkeys everywhere, the bus' brakes
overheated on our way down the mountain and we sat on the side of the
road feeding the monkeys until we were sure the brakes were working
properly. It has been said that the driver, when we got safely back to
Carmel, had 3 shots of whiskey and passed out from the worry and
stress of the drive! Anyway, today, as usual, we were up before the
sun. The last three days, many of the children were off from school
for the Pongal holiday (like our Thanksgiving.) But school was back in
session today (they go to school six days a week, normally.) We went
in the morning to our last 4th standard class ("stnadard" is their
term for grade) to do a presentation on Hershey, PA, Milton Hershey
and the orphanage he founded. One of our team members lives in
Hershey. He put this lesson together and a few of us helped him with
it. (We did this lesson with the first 2, 4th standard classes on
Tuesday.) Others did crafts with the kids. Right before lunch, a
bunch of us went into the town of Dharmapuri to shop for Sarees, a
traditional outfit worn by the women here. It's a process, and I'm
glad Freena, who runs the orphanage and school, and one of older
students, Priya, went with us. Once you choose the material for the
outside wrap, you choose a long skirt to wear underneath and material
for a midriff shirt to be tailor-made for you. Freena has a tailor who
is making the shirts for us. We went back to the orphanage for lunch,
and in the afternoon went back to the school for a "Sports Program."
It started with some martial arts and formation exercises
demonstrations and then it was basically like field day - they had fun
little games prepared for our team like balance the lemon on the spoon
as you race across the field and musical chairs (which I came close to
winning!) Then we had our daily afternoon tea (one of the many
remaining influences from British rule) and headed back to the
orphanage. Later we ate dinner under the stars on mats on the ground
with the children. I wish we ate like that every night! There was a
fireworks display and ice cream. One of the many gifts of this place
and the children is that it helps bring out your inner child and the
simple joys of being one.

--
Sent from my mobile device