Finally at the Orphanage!

Hello Everyone!

I am finally at the orphanage! I arrived on Tuesday and I love it here.  I apologize for the very long delay between now and my last post but my computer crashed and I had to have it repaired!  Since I last posted I went to Delhi for New Years Eve and had an amazing time with another volunteer, Violet.  We walked around Connaught Place and took several hot showers at our hotel (we had to boil water at our home stay in order to take hot bucket showers, so a real shower with hot water was a treat!).  We spent the entire time just relaxing and had a quiet dinner  in the roof top restaurant at our hotel and fell asleep by 11:30pm.  If I could I would go back to that hotel every weekend.  They had an amazing breakfast that Violet and I devoured for 1 hour as the staff laughed at how much we could eat (sometimes you need a break from bread and rice and they had pancakes!).

After spending four weeks at the slum school I decided I was ready to move to the orphanage.  My last day at the school was sad and it was difficult to say goodbye to the children, but I was thrilled to be moving to the orphanage so I could be around the girls all day. Working at the school was rewarding but after school I had far too much free time.

At the orphanage I share a room with Violet and Dayana, another volunteer from Spain that has already been living here for 3 weeks.  There are 88 girls that live in the orphanage and they range from 3-25.  All the girls are wonderful and are so nice to me.  Most of the time they shoo me away when I try to help with chores and tell me: no didi (no older sister), but I try to help out as much as I can.

A typical day at the orphanage begins around 5am, sometimes 4am.  Girls wake up to bathe, clean, make breakfast and get ready to school.  I have been trying to wake up by 5am so I can help with breakfast (I failed this morning).  I get up and try to quietly get dressed in the dark so I don't wake my roommates and I head down stairs to help prepare breakfast.  I have to throw on a hat and gloves along with my jacket because it is about 40 degrees in the morning and the inner portion of the orphanage consist of a courtyard area and you have to walk outside to reach any other room in the orphanage and the cold air penetrates all the rooms (it is not bad as long as you wear a hat and gloves in the morning and at night and it is definitely not as cold as it was at the school in the morning).  Breakfast begins at 7am and prayer is in the dining area at 6:30am.  I love attending prayer before breakfast and dinner with the girls because the sound of them chanting in Hindi is beautiful.  After a breakfast of chapati and potatoes  I usually head back upstairs for a nap and wake up around 9:30 so I can play with the girls in the park (I learned how to play cricket!), we also read stories, and I teach an English class to about 8 girls (I think more will join).  I also help with the sweeping and preparing lunch and dinner if they let me.  The girls love cards and story books, especially fairy tales, and they come to our room at night and we play and read with them.  By the end of the day I am completely exhausted but I love it!

I also decided that I am going to take a week to travel during the middle or end of February.  I think I decided on traveling to Patna to see my Great Uncle Father Dan Rice's grave, then to Mumbai, and finally to Goa so I can sit on the beach for a couple of days.  I think I convince Dayana to go with me and maybe we can recruit a few more volunteers!

I love you all and miss you so much!

Allie