2/19

I got a good night’s sleep last night and woke up feeling refreshed. It really is amazing how much being well rested can change your outlook on the day. Everything seems a bit more positive after a peaceful rest, even if things aren’t actually better; it is easier to see the good. Both Hannah and Puthumai didn’t sleep well last night; I hope that tonight they are able to catch up on their sleep tonight.
After class (which went well) Puthumai called Hannah, two other staff members and me into the refectory. We all got out our laptops and crowded around a budget that consisted of papers taped together that was as long as our dining table (for those of you who don’t know how long our dining table is, I would say its about the 20 ft longs, but that could very well be a gross under or over estimation). The budget was for 11 different organizations and their Community Based Development Program (CBDP). The CBDP is funded from one large organization and each of the partner organizations works within the program and funding guidelines of that organization. The 5 of us were to look over the submitted budgets and make changes when necessary. It turned out that ‘when necessary’ meant ‘more often than not’. We sat around the table, each with different organizations to work on and we typed in proper numbers for the 108 columns in the excel spreadsheet. We began and 10:30am and worked until lunch at 12:30pm. After taking an hour for lunch, and the completion of other errands or meetings we gathered together and began typing again. It was a really community effort and felt good to participate in something so important for the 11 partner organizations. We took a tiffin and coffee break around 4 and worked until it was time for the staff to leave at 5pm. Then Puthumai and I took everyone’s finalized sheets and doubled checked them. Finally we began the process of combining all of the sheets into one final budget on Puthumai’s computer. We aren’t quite done, it is quite a daunting task and its important that there aren’t mistakes. And even after everything is entered correctly Puthumai has to compare the total grant requested to what was requested previously, and see if the numbers are close or not. Hopefully they are close, because it wouldn’t be good to present an inflated budget. Puthumai and I worked until dinner, when the three Fathers and I loaded into the Jeep and went to DDC for dinner.
I really enjoyed helping out today, and I think it has less to do with being helpful and productive (although those are both feel good activities). I think it is because I am knowledgeable about data entry in excel, and I enjoy doing things that I am knowledgeable about. It feels good to know how to do something, to be good at something. It is something that I definitely take for granted in the US, and being bad at everything in India has been extremely humbling. Today was quite the confidence booster ☺
Ok, now some news about dinner. I ate duck. This is my first time eating duck. DDC has all kinds of animals, and Hannah said that they killed two of their ducks today (she saw the heads). They were cooked in a sauce and served for dinner. It seemed as though everyone thought this was quite a treat. And there were many jokes that we were feasting before the beginning of Lent next week. When I was informed that the meat in the dish was duck, I was a little taken aback, but I haven’t yet refused to try anything in India that has been offered to me so I took four pieces and some sauce. Now for those of you who are familiar with my eating habits, you know that even in the US, my county of origin I am a particularly picky eater. I have often been known to pick certain ingredients out of my food and turn my nose up at many a dish. So my adventuresome food habits in India should come as quite a surprise to those of you at home. Now I am not saying that I am going to be able to keep up my food tasting, but so far I am very proud of this accomplishment. The duck meat was actually very good, it was darker and very tender (which Indian meat usually isn’t). There were a lot of bones, but they were easy enough to eat around (that is one benefit of eating with your fingers, you can eat around the bones, because there is no way you could do that with a fork). The only slightly unfortunate this was that one of my four pieces was a body part. Now I realize that everything that I ate was at one time a body part of the duck, but I mean this was in internal body part, a liver or kidney or something of that sort. I took a bite of it, and then set it down on my plate, not wanting to waste it, but not really wanted to finish it. Thank God for Hannah, who noticed and offered to finish it for me ☺. But I tried it, and for me, that is what counts.
I also spoke with Ajla for about 15 minutes today, which was so wonderful. It was just great to hear her voice. It will be strange if we don’t end up living together, but the longer I spend in India the more I learn that people come and go from you life. And that when someone leaves God is pretty mindful of making sure that someone enters. Also, just because someone leaves and things change, change isn’t inherently negative. It is important to be grateful for the time that people are present in our lives, and to cherish the time we have with those we are close to. My Grandma Hewitt, as my mother reminded me today, says that her life is a series of hellos and goodbyes. I think she is a pretty insightful woman, and that this comment pretty much sums it up. But I do think its important to remember that between each of those hellos and goodbyes there are some pretty damn good times.
Sending my love.