At my mom's request, she has asked me to put up a blog entry similar to one that my friend Laura has posted on our group blog. It will just be a simple post, but it will walk you through what my day to day routine is like! Prepare yourself...
4:50am: Just barely after the sun comes up, I roll over in disbelief wondering how it could possibly already be time for my alarm to be going off. It takes a few mins for reality to hit that yet another day has just begun. I get out of bed, half sleep walking, and start to prepare myself for the day. The biggest thing to remember in the morning is to not brush your teeth with the tap water... or if you are doing your laundry... dont accidentally throw your last clean pair of underwear in the laundry bucket...(lets just say that leads to a very interesting day... or should i say morning..)
0520: We begin our 20 min walk to the Mother House as the streets of Calcutta are just waking up (and so are we) This is my favorite time of the day. It is the most peaceful time (well that I will be awake to experience) in the streets of Calcutta. As we make our morning journey, we tip-toe past hundreds of people (of all ages) sleeping everywhere: on top of taxis, rickshaws, on the sidewalks. We watch people brush their teeth and spit into the gutter, there are always lines of people at the public bath tub, and groups of goats standing on the meat market street that we always wonder whether or not they will be there on our journey home... The walk is always full of smells but luckily it is not too bad the heat has not had a chance to release the wonderful aromas that come form human feces, trash, meat, and dead animals.
0545: arrive at Motherhouse. Quietly walk in, and greet the sister sitting at the front door. We make our way up to the chapel, always remembering to take our shoes off before entering the chapel. The chapel slowly fills up with sisters, novices, volunteers, and locals. The the best part of the day begins. Mass.
0700: After mass the volunteers are herded to the volunteers room downstairs. This is the one place in the Mother house where we are allowed to talk... and let me tell you.. with anywhere between 30 - 80 volunteers everyday, we can end up being a very rowdy bunch. We eat breakfast with all of our fellow volunteer friends which consists of a very delicious glass of chai, a piece of white bread, and a mini banana. The banana is a bit longer and a bit thicker than a man's thumb (sometimes we are lucky and we get normal bananas!)
0730: pray and go with the Missionary's blessing to your respective destinations. Shishu Bhavan is only about 5 blocks from the Mother House, so unlike most of the volunteers who either have at least a 30 mins walk or very long bus rides and have to leave right away, I hang back and help the sisters clean up the volunteer room if they need it. Eventually our small group heads out to Shishu Bhavan to spend the morning with the kids we love and adore.
0800: Once at Shishu Bhavan, we go upstairs and wait outside the room until the sisters arrive. Once the sisters come, we pray with them again and then our day begins. As soon as we go in the room we put our belongings in the volunteers cabinet and then go put on our aprons (which is a must unless you want your clothes to be covered by every type of body fluid, food, or vomit). As soon as you walk in the room the kids faces light up and they are ready to play. For the ones who are not already awake, it is the cutest thing to be able to go pick them up and cuddle with them until they are.
8:15 After the sisters have gotten settled in for the day we line up all of the kiddos and we pray with them. One of the novices leads the prayer and all of the children echo after her (it is the cutest thing ever... i will be getting video of this on my last day).
8:20After prayer we bring the kids together and we have about 10 mins of meditation time. During this time the lights are turned out, clam music is played, and it is our job to make sure these little goobers sit quietly for 10 mins (and depending on which kiddo you have that day for meditation, this could be a huge challenge). After meditation time we say hello to all of the kids and sing this adorable song "(insert child's name here) is so wonderful, (insert child's name here) is so wonderful, (insert child's name here) is so wonderful, so wonderful la!" It is the cutest thing to watch each childs face just light up as the here you singing there name. Precious.
8:30 After mediation time we move all of the kids to the tile floor and we give them all of drink of water. *important note that all of you should know so I don't have to say it every time I mention food... a good majority of these kids are blind and or have trouble swallowing... so when it comes to eating and or drinking... this becomes a very challenging task*
9:00 After water, we move into exercise/play time for the younger ones and class time for the older ones. When working with the little ones this is mainly a time to make sure that they are moving and that their muscles are getting some excerise. A lot of these kisd are not able to walk and I am a firm believer that it is because they did not have proper care when they were younger. So having the chance to help them strngthen their legs is only going to help them in the ong run learn how to walk. When working with the older kids at this time, we are teaching then their alphebet (aka... ABDC... nothing more than that), numbers (1,2,3) and colors (blue, red, yellow, and green) After an hour and a half of class/playtime it is time for break and we give the kids either some chi tea or juice.
10:30Once all of the kids have had their tea, it is time for the volunters and Masi's to have their chi break. (one of my favorite parts of the day).
10:45After break we come back and help feed them lunch (which is a very long and messy process).
11:30Once everyone has eaten, we clean them up, change their close and put them down for a nap. As we leave for the day the kids always blow us kisses. (we are normally heading home around 1130-12)
The afternoons are filled with eating, emailing, blogging, reading, praying, and most importantly, napping.
0500: walk to the Motherhouse for adoration and a communal rosary. This is one of the best parts of the day because it gives you a great time to reflect on the day.The only bad part about this time of day is the streets are very crowded with traffic. WE are always dogging left and right rickshaws, taxis, motorcycles and bike riders. IT is always a relief when we finally make it to the Mother House.
0700: eat dinner which consists of either eating at a noodles street stand (which is only 17 ruppes for a whole meal... in american dollars... that is less than 50 cents), or some other cheap Indian restaurant, or the very famous Blue sky Cafe which is a restaurant with every tyype of food, hello french fried and grilled cheese!
8:00-9:30 back at the room and getting ready for bed!
10:00: lights out!
Blog entry soon to come about our most recent adventure on our day off! Yeah for having Indian friends who invite us to their house in the country!!
4:50am: Just barely after the sun comes up, I roll over in disbelief wondering how it could possibly already be time for my alarm to be going off. It takes a few mins for reality to hit that yet another day has just begun. I get out of bed, half sleep walking, and start to prepare myself for the day. The biggest thing to remember in the morning is to not brush your teeth with the tap water... or if you are doing your laundry... dont accidentally throw your last clean pair of underwear in the laundry bucket...(lets just say that leads to a very interesting day... or should i say morning..)
0520: We begin our 20 min walk to the Mother House as the streets of Calcutta are just waking up (and so are we) This is my favorite time of the day. It is the most peaceful time (well that I will be awake to experience) in the streets of Calcutta. As we make our morning journey, we tip-toe past hundreds of people (of all ages) sleeping everywhere: on top of taxis, rickshaws, on the sidewalks. We watch people brush their teeth and spit into the gutter, there are always lines of people at the public bath tub, and groups of goats standing on the meat market street that we always wonder whether or not they will be there on our journey home... The walk is always full of smells but luckily it is not too bad the heat has not had a chance to release the wonderful aromas that come form human feces, trash, meat, and dead animals.
0545: arrive at Motherhouse. Quietly walk in, and greet the sister sitting at the front door. We make our way up to the chapel, always remembering to take our shoes off before entering the chapel. The chapel slowly fills up with sisters, novices, volunteers, and locals. The the best part of the day begins. Mass.
0700: After mass the volunteers are herded to the volunteers room downstairs. This is the one place in the Mother house where we are allowed to talk... and let me tell you.. with anywhere between 30 - 80 volunteers everyday, we can end up being a very rowdy bunch. We eat breakfast with all of our fellow volunteer friends which consists of a very delicious glass of chai, a piece of white bread, and a mini banana. The banana is a bit longer and a bit thicker than a man's thumb (sometimes we are lucky and we get normal bananas!)
0730: pray and go with the Missionary's blessing to your respective destinations. Shishu Bhavan is only about 5 blocks from the Mother House, so unlike most of the volunteers who either have at least a 30 mins walk or very long bus rides and have to leave right away, I hang back and help the sisters clean up the volunteer room if they need it. Eventually our small group heads out to Shishu Bhavan to spend the morning with the kids we love and adore.
0800: Once at Shishu Bhavan, we go upstairs and wait outside the room until the sisters arrive. Once the sisters come, we pray with them again and then our day begins. As soon as we go in the room we put our belongings in the volunteers cabinet and then go put on our aprons (which is a must unless you want your clothes to be covered by every type of body fluid, food, or vomit). As soon as you walk in the room the kids faces light up and they are ready to play. For the ones who are not already awake, it is the cutest thing to be able to go pick them up and cuddle with them until they are.
8:15 After the sisters have gotten settled in for the day we line up all of the kiddos and we pray with them. One of the novices leads the prayer and all of the children echo after her (it is the cutest thing ever... i will be getting video of this on my last day).
8:20After prayer we bring the kids together and we have about 10 mins of meditation time. During this time the lights are turned out, clam music is played, and it is our job to make sure these little goobers sit quietly for 10 mins (and depending on which kiddo you have that day for meditation, this could be a huge challenge). After meditation time we say hello to all of the kids and sing this adorable song "(insert child's name here) is so wonderful, (insert child's name here) is so wonderful, (insert child's name here) is so wonderful, so wonderful la!" It is the cutest thing to watch each childs face just light up as the here you singing there name. Precious.
8:30 After mediation time we move all of the kids to the tile floor and we give them all of drink of water. *important note that all of you should know so I don't have to say it every time I mention food... a good majority of these kids are blind and or have trouble swallowing... so when it comes to eating and or drinking... this becomes a very challenging task*
9:00 After water, we move into exercise/play time for the younger ones and class time for the older ones. When working with the little ones this is mainly a time to make sure that they are moving and that their muscles are getting some excerise. A lot of these kisd are not able to walk and I am a firm believer that it is because they did not have proper care when they were younger. So having the chance to help them strngthen their legs is only going to help them in the ong run learn how to walk. When working with the older kids at this time, we are teaching then their alphebet (aka... ABDC... nothing more than that), numbers (1,2,3) and colors (blue, red, yellow, and green) After an hour and a half of class/playtime it is time for break and we give the kids either some chi tea or juice.
10:30Once all of the kids have had their tea, it is time for the volunters and Masi's to have their chi break. (one of my favorite parts of the day).
10:45After break we come back and help feed them lunch (which is a very long and messy process).
11:30Once everyone has eaten, we clean them up, change their close and put them down for a nap. As we leave for the day the kids always blow us kisses. (we are normally heading home around 1130-12)
The afternoons are filled with eating, emailing, blogging, reading, praying, and most importantly, napping.
0500: walk to the Motherhouse for adoration and a communal rosary. This is one of the best parts of the day because it gives you a great time to reflect on the day.The only bad part about this time of day is the streets are very crowded with traffic. WE are always dogging left and right rickshaws, taxis, motorcycles and bike riders. IT is always a relief when we finally make it to the Mother House.
0700: eat dinner which consists of either eating at a noodles street stand (which is only 17 ruppes for a whole meal... in american dollars... that is less than 50 cents), or some other cheap Indian restaurant, or the very famous Blue sky Cafe which is a restaurant with every tyype of food, hello french fried and grilled cheese!
8:00-9:30 back at the room and getting ready for bed!
10:00: lights out!
Blog entry soon to come about our most recent adventure on our day off! Yeah for having Indian friends who invite us to their house in the country!!
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