Nepali workout Phase One - Carry Children
Nepali workout Phase Two - Wash Clothes on Rock
Nepali workout Phase Three - Move Stones
Indeed, yesterday we moved a good amount of stones from the big pile they are currently in to what will be the floor of a new school building. I'll admit, the kids had most of the work done before I even knew what was going on! They're so helpful :) But I got in there too and started chucking the rocks to their new home where they will soon bathe in concrete and become the foundation for more classrooms. As of right now, nursery, kindergarten, 1st class, and 2nd class are held in finished school building while 3rd, 5th, and 6th classes are held in the large open rooms in the house. 4th class is in a building a few yards away from the house where there is also a teacher meeting room. Hopefully within the next few weeks these will all be moved into the new wonderful school building!! And after that the auditorium and stage will go up! Things are moving a little more slowy now that Orr the Architect is gone (I wish so badly I had gotten to meet him but we actually flew into Surkhet on the same day on the same plane that he left on...isn't that weird?), but it will be finished! In the mean time everyone has been working their butts off, and Lisa has been helping the teachers from here so so much with their lesson plans, which they had never had to make before now. And of course Maggie is as busy as ever. We're all learning to stop asking the question "Where's Maggie??" because she is always doing something somewhere all the time. She amazes me. Seriously.
And now for Satsung!!! What is this mysterious satsung I speak of?? Why do we do satsung you ask?? The other day one of the kids said "We do satsung for love and peace." That couldn't be more true. But it's also more than that. This is a family of 30 kids so as you can imagine there isn't really any time during the day when everyone is all together in one place. I mean come on, in the US it's hard to get a family of 4 all sitting down for dinner together these days. So satsung is a special time every single night before bed, usually around 8:00, when Maggie and all the kids and volunteers gather in a circle on the floor of the second story's large room. Here, everyone is given the chance to say anything they may need to about the day, bring up any problems, and also offer any compliments. Then we sing and dance and pray and all the while I look around at these little faces and I can't believe I'm here with them. Whenever they close their eyes to pray and chant I always open mine early to look at them because it's the most precious thing. I really need to get some new adjectives. Amazing and awesome and wonderful and cute and precious and incredible just don't cut it anymore.
Two kids always beg me to sit next to them every night and then most nights there's a little one on my lap too. Tonight I had Maya on my lap, and about 5 minutes into satsung she had made me her bed and was fast asleep on me. Afterwards I carried her down to bed and was in awe of her tiny innocence. I don't know her story, but I know she came from a very bad situation and to see her sleeping so peacefully now in this beautiful place made my heart melt. Well, that and she can be such a naughty child when she is awake that it was extra special to see her cute and sleeping hahaha. It reminded me of when I was little and I would kind of fall asleep downstairs but then mostly pretend that I was sleeping so that my Dad would carry me up to bed :) I loved that. It's funny now to be the carrier instead.
I do love satsung though and I know it's something that I want to implement when I have a family of my own someday. Although I definitely do NOT plan on having 30 thirty children that's for sure! Oh and at the end of satsung we have mangoes!!!!! Which did I mention I now LOVE mangoes?!?! It's actually called pasad, at least that's what it sounds like but I don't know the Nepali spelling. I'm guessing it means snack or treat, so sometime we have apples or bananas or occasionally another tasty morsel, but I always cross my fingers that it will be mangoes. Before coming here the only thing mango I liked was Rita's water ice, but now that I have tasted a true Nepali mango I don't think I could ever go back.
Ok I have so much more to write about, but I'm officially too tired to look at my computer any longer. I would much rather look at this praying mantus crawling on top of my mosquito net and beg it to eat the rest of the bugs that are currently in my room :)
I'm so grateful to have grown up where and how I did. I'm so grateful for my loving family. I'm so grateful for my bed and my home and my old big back yard. I'm grateful for our family dinners. I'm grateful that my parents drove me to school and to practice and to friends houses. I'm grateful that they helped me with my homework. I'm grateful that they love me. That they gave me every opportunity in the world. That they gave me a bike. That they me gave running water and heat and air conditioning. That they fed me. That they gave me their time and energy and everything they had to give me. I'm so grateful for everything they have ever done for me and everything my Dad still does and for every little thing I have been taking for granted all this time and not even knowing it.
Oh and I'm grateful that who ever you are you care to read about my day! So so much more happens in it but I can't fit it all! I wish I could.
Sweet dreams. Namaste :)
June 28, 2010 at 11:19 PM
and I'm grateful that you have this blog, and that you're able to give your time and energy to Maggie and her wonderful (amazing, astonishing, fantastic, remarkable, sensational....) kids!
Love you dude!
Jen