Hi pastor Mark and teacher Melinda!

So far everything has been going great. I’m adjusting to the routine and flow of things here. The girls have loved learning taekwondo and kickboxing. A few of them are super serious and focused and actually have a lot of TKD potential. The others just laugh the whole time and blush when I hold the shield for them to kick. I catch them practicing on each other during the day and have to warn them not to hurt each other, but just like in basketball and all their wild, rough games, the girls just laugh off any pain and don’t get angry with each other.  Amit [an orphan who is Pastor Ajay’s nephew] has been teaching what I’ve shown him to Jonathan [one of the school administrators and leaders] as well, so he is having fun with it too. I’ve also taught them kickball and a bunch of group games. In exchange, they’ve taught me cricket! I was horrible at first but I’m getting better. I think I actually prefer it to baseball :).  And they have taught me a bunch of other fun group games that I will have to teach the b4 square kiddos when I return.

I haven’t had any health issues other than being eaten alive by some mysterious bugs that I never actually see biting me. They aren’t mosquitoes. I think it is something in the sand. From my knees down, I look like I have the chicken pox. But the rest of me is fine. More importantly, my stomach has been fine with the food and water and I think I’m already adjusting to the heat. I actually caught myself saying brrr in the shower this morning.

So far I have taken over the responsibility of leading the morning exercises and devotions for the hostel girls and leading the morning devotions for the whole school on Fridays. I helped cover a few English and math classes for an absent teacher last week. I’m going to officially start teaching an English class next week. (They have exams this week). And Jonathan hinted that they might want me to teach some science since they found out I was a science major. But we haven’t officially discussed that.

Other than that I just get to play with the girls and help them during study times.
I haven’t watched all of the teachers, but I have watched a couple of classes. I sat in on one class with one of the new teachers who was teaching about the body and health. She did a great job. She was very interactive with the students and had them laughing and smiling. She had them take their pulse and then run outside and take it again to see who’s was fastest. I think this teacher is a great addition to the school.

The biggest need/concern I’ve noticed so far is that quite a few of the girls seem to be having minor skin condition issues, ranging from boils to rashes. I’m not sure if it’s from the quality of the well water or from insect bites or (since it seems to be worst on their hands between the thumb and first finger) if it might be from the soaps they use for washing dishes/clothes. Anyhow… it seems that they might benefit from having some kind of ointments or creams we could apply to boils/rashes. They use dettol to clean wounds, which is an iodine solution. I think having something like Neosporin might also be a good idea [we are asking Christine to send pictures and one of our nurses will take a look to see what she can recommend].

Overall, I’m having a great time. The girls are becoming less shy around me and there are fewer and fewer polite (but horribly awkward) silences between me and the rest of the staff during meal times. They treat me with extra respect and keep trying to serve me, (always serving my plate first and not letting me clear my dishes, stuff like that) which I am not accustomed to. I’m trying to just graciously accept it so far (I definitely do not want to offend them or seem ungrateful) and I’m hoping I can slowly show them that I am here to serve them, not be served. I’m being treated as a guest of honor right now but hopefully over time I will become less a guest and more like part of the staff.

The girls are also teaching me Hindi using the book they use for the nursery children (it has great pictures lol. Cha is for Channa.) So far I’ve learned the first 15 letters of a seemingly endless alphabet. I’m getting pretty good at drawing them but the girls still giggle when I try to pronounce them. It pretty much goes life this… I say “jha” And then they tell me “not jha… jha.” And I say “jha?” and they say “jha! … JHA!!” So I say “JHA!!” And they just giggle some more.

Anyway… that’s about all I have to report for now. Hope all is well back home :). Thanks for the prayers

–Christine

“I am loving it so far.”