3/7

I found it again, the ability to occupy my time and find peace without business. I was worried that once Hannah left I would be anxious and always needing something or someone to occupy me. But luckily, that is not the case. Today began with sleeping in and then breakfast. For breakfast we had pur-ee, which is like a small tortilla that is fried. We had it with potato in a yellow sauce, that was really tasty. After breakfast and conversation with the Sisters I spent the morning typing my Darjeeling blog and reading. The hostel kids came back from school around 10am, and then spent the rest of the morning cleaning. I kept smiling at them from where I was sitting and they would giggle and smile back. For lunch we had rice, dal and vegetables. The Sisters are so sweet; they also made thin fried tortilla and gave me an egg. They are all concerned that I am not eating enough, but I promised them that if I were hungry I would eat more.
At lunch Sr. Anish also asked me if there were poor people in America, at first on my trip I was very defensive about this question, of course there are poor people in America, we are not all rich. But I am starting to have a better understand of the differences between the poverty. In America there are no areas without electricity, without plumbing, without clean water. There are no areas that are completely undeveloped. And poverty in America mixes with a lot of different factors, violence, drugs, homelessness, migration, mental illness, inner city areas, racial disadvantages, etc. So I am now better able to explain that yes, there are poor people, but the poverty is at a completely different level.
After lunch everyone took rest, and it was really quiet around here. I indulged and took a nap. After that I read some work that Father gave me on the front porch. The hostel girls were out and every time they would walk by me I would smile at them. At first they would just run past, but after a while they began to smile back, and eventually one of them got up the guts to ask me ‘kamon achen dede?” Luckily I knew how to answer “pallo achi, kamon acho?” The little girl smiled at me and ran off, saying over her shoulder ‘pallo!’ After that the girls (all between 5-12) were coming up an asking me the same thing. I must have answered 16 different girls. After a while a small crowd of girls with varying ages gathered near where I was sitting and they were trying their level best to talk to me. I told them I don’t speak Bengali or Hindi, and they were able to ask me in English what my name is. They were sweet and mostly we just smiled back and forth and laughed when we didn’t understand each other.
Then it was time for mass, the parish priest is out of town, so the assistant parish priest gave mass. I realized today that I didn’t describe how beautiful mass is. The church is a long rectangle, with the alter at the front. There are only two pews, one on each side in the far back. The children from the hostels sit on the floor and there must be 200 of them. They all sit with their legs crossed, girls on one side and boys on the other. I love to listen to them sing, all of their voices echoing together in a unknown language. The only lights on during mass are over the alter, which just makes the whole scene even more beautiful. I sat with the 3 Sisters in the back and we must have been some of the only adults in the room. When mass is in Bengali it is mostly just time for me to pray in my head and reflect on the day, because even though I know what order the mass parts are in, it is still to difficult to follow in Bengali. After mass we walked back and on the way Sr. Anisha, Sr. Lizzy and two of the teachers/workers (I’m not quite sure) wanted to ask me some questions. They asked me about my family, and about America. There are so many differences; they were surprised at most of what I had to say: (about the way children move out of their parents home after age 18, or how in a city all of the roads are paved so there is no dust, or that in America tan skin is beautiful) They asked about my acne, which is customary here, because acne is uncommon, so many people will approach me and ask what is wrong with my face. I am more or less used to it by now, but it has taken some getting used to. Afterwords we had dinner and now its time for rest.
Sending love.