1/21

Another day come and gone. This morning I slept until 7am, which is a first. It felt good, although I was late to speak with my parents. After saying a shortened but spirited good morning to home, I took a quick breakfast (yellow jam on toast and hot water) and began class. This morning class began with only 2 students. After the first half and hour another 2 showed up, totaling 4, which was pretty sad. But we had a great time anyway. Sometimes when class is smaller, the students are able to learn more. We learned and practiced words that can be used as nouns and verbs, then the students paired up and learned about their partner while speaking English. They presented to the class five similarities and five differences between themselves. We played a few of our games and laughed as always. Today we also planned our picnic, which will be on the 8th of February. We will leave at 1pm and have the picnic at the Bird Sanctuary (Raiganj Forest) down the road. I am still unclear as to who brings food, and what food we serve, but I know that we will take a rickshaw there, and we will speak English the entire time. The students were excited about the picnic, and so am I!
Each day I feel as though I have more of a place here. And I have come to discover that for me, having a place or fitting in, isn’t about clothes or even culture. It’s about people. Having steady conversation over meals, having people to visit around the office and say hello to, or just having people to pass the time with. That is how I fit in. I think that is how I find home too. So as each day passes, and I build friendships or acquaintance-ships, I know that I am one step closer to finding home in India. I remember in a homily before I left Seattle, the Father said that home is something that you carry with you. I took him very literally, and brought pictures of the people I love to India. That way I would bring my home to India. But I know now that those pictures represent the love of and from those people. And love is home is for me. I keep that love in my heart, which I do carry with me wherever I go.
After class I made the wonderful discovery that the wireless works! That is the good news, because it means my computer will be skype enabled. The bad news is that the wireless connection is spotty and goes in and out every 5 minutes. But the wireless works nevertheless, which is wonderful news. I attempted to speak to Ajla today via skype, but we didn’t get more than a few minutes of face time before everything froze up (repeatedly). I also showed Father Herman and Farther Markus skype, and they were both very interested to see how it works. I had some fun joking around with them while I was doing my work.
I was able to spend some time on my project, which is more difficult than expected, but I am up for it. I began doing some research and drafting my proposal letter. In total I will need a 3-4 page proposal letter, a budget (summary and specifics) and a logical framework analysis. Then I will begin searching for US funders. I also hope to interact more with the office staff as I continue my project, this will help me to engage more with the work and practices of SWI. I also helped a few of the Sisters out this afternoon with some more typing and computer work. Today was a bad day for power outages; I think I counted 15 outages. Hopefully tomorrow we will have more dependable lights!
SWI was very active today and while all of the above was happening there was a drawing contest in the courtyard area for local school children. They were all dressed in uniform and sitting on a large sheet drawing with crayons, watercolors or chalk. Some of them were very good. Susmita and I wandered around the competition for a few minutes and were very impressed with the kids’ abilities. Then we spent some time chatting, she told me about the caste system in India and the ways it effects marriage and societal relationships. It was really interesting and I was glad that I had a chance to speak with someone from India about it.
In the late afternoon I went to Ruchi and Trisha’s house. (Rubchicka is now Ruchi) We had tea and played with Trisha for a while and then went to the orphanage. Trisha was a lot of fun to play with; I enjoy her and Ruchi’s company more every time I visit them. We walked to the orphanage because it is near their house. But it was dark, and we though we had walked past it, so we turned around. Then on the walk back we realized that we had not walked past it and we had to turn around again! It was my first experience in India being lost, and we had a great time of it. When we finally arrived it was late and the Sisters were beginning their prayers and the children were eating. We spoke briefly with the Sisters and they told us a better time to come back tomorrow. W took a rickshaw home, and had some samosas with Jonathan while we all watched Friends in English! I never knew how comforting television could be, but hearing the Friends anthem and laughing at the familiar faces felt so much like being in the US.
Tomorrow there will be a strick in West Bengal, so no one will go to work because no transportation will not run and the shops will not open. I have no idea what the stike is about, or how everyone knows about it in advance, but it seems pretty legitimate and well organized. I am quite excited to see what empty streets in Raiganj look like, and for the peace and quiet!
I had dinner with Fr. Herman and we watched news coverage of the places worldwide where people watched the inauguration. It was surreal seeing that coverage and knowing that we were some of those people, watching the US president be inaugurated in Raiganj, India.
Good night for now, sweet dreams. Love you and miss you all! Sending my hugs and missing your hugs.