Putaronnkotai

Today was the last day of medical so needless to say we had a lot of participants. At the request of the volunteers we combined a couple of different groups to come. The colony was Putaronnkotai and it was awesome. There were to many people for everyone to have their own station in the line but we all made sure to keep busy. Of course it would have been nice to man a station but I was actually really grateful I was able to have some time to simply watch and take things in. Taking in the scene of a working mobile clinic never gets old to me. It is an incredibly beautiful thing.  

At this colony we set up in a clearing under the trees. Off to the side of the trees there is a large field. Usually it is empty but today it was occupied with a truck and workers and cows. There were even DECORATED cows!

And for my favorite shot of the cows...........
(Poor plain loser black and what cow in the back)

Some of us went on a garbage gathering mission around the colony. It was something so simple but a really cool experience. I got to talk with and know some of the volunteers a little better while being able to show an extra bit of love to the residents. And of course I got to visit with some of the residents that didn’t make it/need to come to the mobile clinic. These ladies were working on making an adobe stove---it flashed me right back to Africa. They were fun to “talk” with.   

After the colony we visited Vaiyvoor Temple. I have never been to this temple before. I am convinced that you could spend years visiting all the different temples in India and while they are all similar each one is a little different.

I've always loved playtime and the playtimes are only getting more and more precious. Guna, Issac and a few other boys and I swung on the low handing palm tree leaves. Berlyn turns into a freaking machine and runs with two to three kids hanging off her at all times.  

Shallani continues to be beautiful as ever

Saytia is in 10th standard and has finished all her exams, which means she will be leaving campus tomorrow. Of course we had to take some pics together before she left.  :)

I plan to come back to India someday and saying goodbye to Saytia made me realize how much of this experience she has been in. We at least said hi to each other everyday and even though we didn't necessarily talk talk everyday she has always just been there. She took such an active roll in all school functions and the branch that it is going to be weird to be at Rising Star (or back in India for that matter) without Saytia being there for all of it. I love this girl. She is very talented and has a lot of potential. I'm excited to see what her future holds.

Besides it being Satiya's last day, the very VERY saddest part of the day is that today was the Young’s last day in India. They leave early tomorrow morning. It was an emotional day for all but watching Camry cry at the colony this morning because she is leaving India was completely heartbreaking. I have never seen her that way before. All this is kind of blowing my mind, how fast this has all gone. Before I came to India I would tell everyone that I would be back before they knew it. But being about to go back before I know it is really something else.

Once again I personally didn’t get a good picture on my camera so I’ll have to pass along with this one until I can get a hold of one. But despite the crappy pic, I love love love this family. I’m sure going to miss them.

  

Good Bye Program

Today marked the beginning of the end. Okay, I realize that sounds more then a little dramatic but for reals, starting today people are leaving pretty consecutively--basically every single day, one after another until it is my turn. I feel weird and sad and happy and excited about it all at the same time. We've ended this spring sessions with a bang--having five different family pairs/groups come staggered but then all being there together for at least a week or so before they start their staggered departures. 

I've concluded they are the perfect group to end with. More or less everyone that comes to Rising Star has a huge heart, however this group all seemed to have ginormous hearts. They've totally been in the service and development work zone the entire time. They really "get" it. REALLY get it. The family that left tonight was the Stephenson Family. They are an American family that live in London. The dad Chris reminded me of cousin Chad, like almost in a eerie way. He (Chris) even jammed out to songs that Chad recorded on a tape for me back in the day. The wife Becca, was absolutely adorable and super super sweet, and their kids; Emma, Caleb, Hannah and Cami were so helpful and drenched playtime with love through painting nails, playing "catcher" (tag) and lots of football. Kaleb is going to be an Olympian Gymnast one day. He is well on his way now--who knows if he will compete for USA or Great Britain but he will most likely be there so watch out for him.       

Late last week Dr. Susan told me there would be a going away thing for the Young's and myself. We were informed that we would have to prepare a few words for the program. Since I've already been super reflective I didn't think it would be very hard, however it turned out to be harder then I thought because really, where do I begin? How can I simply say thank you for the last year. A simple thank you doesn't do it justice but then again I could blubber for hours and it wouldn't be adequate either. I ended up just talking about how I left my family to come to India and  how over the last year they have become my family. And the good thing about family is that family never ends no matter the distance between them. Cheesy I know but I meant every single word. yes, Moral of the story is it all worked out in the end but the initial struggle was real. 

The program itself was really sweet though. The kids presented us with gifts, incredibly nice things were said, several creative alliterations were used thanks to Mr. H. and a good time was had by all. When all was said or done we were walked out to the the Pathway of Hope where they had cleared a spot for the plaque they made for us. I am not sure if Lon and Rebecca knew but I had no idea a plaque was happening and was really surprised by their kindness. Well not by the kindness itself but I have always been under the impression that you have to donate a certain amount of money to get a plaque on the Pathway of Hope. I guess maybe they accept payments in increments of time too? :) When we first went out the spot was decorated with flowers and was super pretty. Once again I need to collect the real pictures from the occasion but here is what I have for now.  

Bodily Mal-Functions

The good news is Guna has stayed convinced I am a real person still. The bad news is he and all the boys in his hostel are on punishment for the week because someone (which I later heard was Guna) is having a hard time remembering to go to the actual bathroom when needing to relieve themselves late at night. Oops. Being little is hard sometimes. Especially late at night. Because he is on punishment I am not suppose to play with him but sometimes I still sneak over to him and take a pic or two. 

I had to go to Kavacet today and this visit was more then a little interesting. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it but it suffices to say that everything about my character and standards was called into question and more or less informed to me where I stood rather then listening to what I had to say. I know it was just a matter of cultural beliefs and I know where I stand and that’s enough for me, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit frustrating. I have visited and worked in foreign hospitals before and I have even received care in little ways such as getting shots, but I have never undergone actual treatment until now. To say it’s been eye opening and humbling is a bit of an understatement.   

Carpentry Lessons from the Master

Today was my last week in the Chennai 1^st Branch. I will miss this little branch, and I will especially miss the Lorax’s Sunday School lessons. His lessons and his mustache are the best. Oh and PS we went to Mamallapuram yesterday and my face got really sunburnt. I didn’t think through the fact that I just finished taking doxycycline (for my sickness) which makes you super sensitive to the sun. I’m really smart sometimes.

Maybe its because of church this morning but I’ve been super reflective as of late. Who am I kidding—my reflective state of mind is probably due to my impending departure. That is looming. Ever. Closer. Whatever the reason, I need to process some of it which means I am going to be dumping here. Stop now if you don’t want to hear it.

One of the biggest things India has taught me is how to better deal with frustration. I don’t feel like I super super sucked at this before, I mean don’t get me wrong I did super super suck at it in some situations, but overall I had more then a few chances to work on that particular skill. But the thing about India is that a lot of things—okay almost EVERYTHING—never goes as planned and when things do go as planned the timing never goes as planned and if the timing goes as planned someone or yourself will say something that either comes out wrong or is taken COMPLETELY wrong by someone else and in short there can just be a lot of frustration. But I am thankful for the frustration because it has stretched me and stretching me has made me more flexible per say.

Another thing India has been working on me with is faith. Overall I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in this area, but today I was reminded how much I still need to work on in this area via a wooden crocodile. That’s right. A wooden crocodile.

I had bought one in Sri Lanka and I had some ideas of what to do with it. As I have been going through things to leave in India and pack to take home I came across it again and I had a thought that I should give it to Guna. It was a pretty strong thought actually, aka more like an order from above. I had decided I would do it until I went to get it and then I had some second thoughts. In the end, I basically decided that my idea of what to use it for was better then the feeling I had and decision I had made to give it to Guna. Well, because I was being a stinker over a stupid crocodile, I was humbled to find another one the very next day. Which was ironic because I have never seen another one of these wooden crocodile my entire time in this part of the world. So I bought this new crocodile and problem solved right? Now I could keep one and also give one to Guna.

Well the second crocodile I found was nicer then the one I had previously brought and I’m ashamed to say that I had decided to keep the nicer one for myself. But really, that was jacked up because here I was, unwilling to give up something I felt prompted to do and then the man upstairs provided me with another one that was better then the one I refused to give up. Okay, okay, God, point taken—I’ll trust you when you tell me to give something up because I know you will always have something better in store. So I recognized the lesson but sadly, because I was being stubborn, I was still planning to keep the better one for myself. Well to wrap up the story I took Guna’s crocodile over to Veluma for the star store, dropped it off, and everything was finished right? Well yeah, it was finished. But I was sitting in church today when I realized that despite my selfish intentions, I had grabbed the nicer crocodile and dropped it off for Guna. It was almost like I could feel God laughing at me saying “Oh, and you also need to make sure to remember that I am in charge--ALWAYS—and my plan wins every single time”.  So there you go, a lesson in faith all from a stupid wooden crocodile. Oh, and Guna and I have decided to name our crocodiles after one another. I’ll have to keep Guna the crocodile in close sight to remind my independent mind to stay on track with who is really in charge. Thank heavens this reminder lesson came in the form of a wooden crocodile instead of some other form or bigger life event. It is comforting to know that when God laughs at me he also remembers to take into account my humanly shortcomings.

During playtime Guna gave me a note he had one of the older boys write for me. It talks about how when I leave "The Gunaseelan will be so sad he will cry." Me too little buddy, me too. Along with the letter he brought out some pictures, one of him with his parents and one of him at the beginning of the school year. He was SO excited to show me the pics but especially the picture of him with his parents. The kids go home for summer break Sunday morning, which means I will get to meet Guna's parents when they come to pick him up. I am excited for the meeting but kind of afraid its going to tare me apart. Uggghh. I'm not going to think about that anymore until I have too.

And I had to throw in some pics of Guna and Praveen playing on the merry-go-round. They are best friends and LOVE the merry-go-round. I love watching these two interact--and their giggles are so contagious.

And one pic more because I'm leaving and have been taking a lot of "final" pics with the kiddos. :)

   

Good Friday

Today was a Good Friday indeed! I finally got back to my normal activates—well mostly. I still needed to rest as much as possible. And had to take a nap. But it was mostly back to normal so Ill take it.

The best part about being mostly back to normal meant that I could go to playtime! Which was kind of sad. Usually Guna will see me coming to the playground and run right into my arms. Once he is there Ill always pick him up and turn around a few times. He smiles from ear to ear and giggles every single time. It’s kind of our thing. Some people have handshakes or give high five and we have a jumping into my arms and twirling around ritual. If he isn’t on the playground when I first come out he will almost always sneak up behind me and cover my eyes and/or jump on my back. I love our little greeting rituals. So when I saw him on my way to playtime today---and not only did he not run into my arms but instead watched me quizzically and kept hiding behind another volunteer. It was like he was scared of me. Im pretty sure he thought I was a ghost. Which totally broke a few pieces of my heart.

I went up to him and started talking to him---telling him how I had been sick so that’s why I didn’t come to playtime for the last 7 days. I went on to explain that now I am better and I was telling him that I missed him and how “I’m so excited to see you!!” He was still visibly nervous but gradually he started to relax some. Eventually he grabbed my hand and started insisting that we go talk to Miss. Velumal (one of the housemothers). He led me into her hostel but she wasn’t there. Then he quick ran ahead of me at went around the corner, and before I knew it he ran back to me and was motioning with his hands for me to, “Come Ashley! I have found her!” Once we were all together Guna started talking to Velumal in Tamil. She translated to me that Guna had thought that I had gone home to America. She said he has been very sad and talking about how he misses me but that “he has also been praying for you everyday”. I felt horrible and made sure she explained back to him that I was sick and in bed for a week and that is why no one has seen me. Her reply: “Yes! Yes! Now he knows and is very happy! He wanted to show me that you are still here!” Guna can speak fairly good English so I was wondering why he wanted Velumal to translate between us but oh well, because 1) it was incredibly cute and 2) it was almost like he needed to confirm with someone else that I was still here. After meeting with Velumal and deciding that I wasn’t a ghost after all, he was back to the same old Guna and quickly asked me to play red light green light with him.

I know I post a zillion pics of him but I can't help it. Just look at that face! Seeing it makes me so happy!

Because it was Good Friday, the kids got to watch a “Jesus movie” tonight—an animated version of the 10 Commandments. This made me so happy because it was like I was gaining back the movie night I missed with them last week. PLUS—we still get to watch a movie tomorrow night. See I told you---it was a Good Friday indeed.

Dying

I have the flu. Or strep. Or both. Let's throw in some weepy crusty eyes as well. And that is literally my life right now. For the past 4 days and counting. I don't know if I have swine flu, we would have to get certain tests to confirm that but either way--I have body aches, red sore throat, headache, fever, sweats and chills, etc. Regardless of what it is--it sucks. Like really really bad. I'm confined from others, I have masks to wear when talking to people, the works. In any other circumstance I would shrug it off and welcome a few days off "resting" (aka playing catch up--lets be real) but not right now. My playtimes and working days are numbered. I can't afford to be sick right now. I feel like I am dying--in more ways then one and it really really blows. 

So since I've already completed what work I can, caught up the good ol' blog, primitively packed, read, taken a ton of naps, planned out my future everything via Pintrest (numerous times mind you) and watched a whole slew of old school Julia Roberts movies (basically whatever I've been able to find on YouTube) and am still sick----I decided to post some of my favorite kids pics as of late. They were taken pre-sickness obviously because I am not allowed anywhere near them right now. But here are the pics, because even though they are just yards away, I miss them. Like bad.

Oh and some of the girls gave me these flowers the other day. How sweet is that!

And because I am already at this blogging thing again today, I have to post that Brooklyn left for America the other night. It is really weird to have her gone. I keep thinking I need to go over to her room and tell her this or that but then I remember she isn't there anymore. She came a day before I did so no matter what has changed, Brooklyn has always been here. So here are some pics from the last night we were all together and right before we walked her out to the car. 

This is my sad face because Brooklyn is leaving and because I am sick. And because she is getting lice checked----this picture is such is poetic expression of life in India!