india post eleven.

post eleven

the team is here! i'm so excited. except they left this morning to go to a church dedication out of town, and cory and i decided to stay here and hang out with the kids so it feels like they aren't here still. hahah. after one day.

but yesterday was sweet. i loved being on the welcoming side of things. and it felt strange. i remember how it feels to be at the start of being in india...and now i don't feel that! i've already been here two weeks! but i loved seeing my friends greet my indian friends here. it's kind of funny too, the kids are SO confused about our team of interns and the regular team from our church. they ask if we are going places with the team, if we are coming back...i think when we go to drop the team off at the airport, they're going to be super confused.

i love that i have a lot of time left here. it's still hard, really hard. honestly, sometimes i barely have enough stamina to be emotionally and mentally present when i'm with these kids, especially the girls.

i talked to my dad on the phone tonight, and i was telling him that the girls are SO much harder to be around than the boys. boys are equally as touchy, equally as moody, and needing just as much love and care as the girls. but with the girls it's different. it's a much more in-your-face type of interaction. and for whatever reason, i can stand there and let eight little boys poke me and hold my hand and grab my arm a lot more easily than i can have three girls touching my hair and pinching my cheeks. it's interesting! i really do love, love, love these girls...i don't want there to be any mistaking that. but it's just harder. a lot harder.

and i think i like that it's harder. it's testing my love.

so anyways. on another note. something interesting happened to me yesterday, and today.

every year when the team comes, they hire this really sweet man to come and cook for them. just to make things less spicy (the stuff the kids eat is INSANELY spicy, i try it every now and again), and to provide some variety. this year, he brought a family of four with him. a dad, a mom, and their boy and girl...who are eight and six.

i had some down time yesterday and decided to go hang out in the kitchen. a few of my boys were grinding up these leaves they use to make a paste to put on the sores of the children who have chicken pox right now (there are about eight of them). i sat on a stool and watched the boys, and the mother who came with the cook came over and started trying to talk to me. she knew maybe...five words in english. eventually she told me "house" and cocked her head in the direction of the room she and her family are staying in. i hesitated, and one of my boys, teja, told her, "auntie...nooo." i thought to myself, okay...i am obviously NOT leaving the orphanage, but if she's referring to her room here, then that's fine.

i followed her to her family's room. there were clothes everywhere on the floor and other knick knacks. her son and her husband were also sitting in there. i felt a little uncomfortable, until about three or four of my fifth grade boys came in. i know they're just kids...but i know they love me, and i felt a little more comfortable with them nearby as i sat and let this family try to make me feel at home in their temporary living space. the mother was sweet, she tried her best to communicate with me...and taught me some more words in telugu.

sitting in the presence of this family was such an experience. for one thing, the fact that the people here just want you to sit in their midst amazes me. they are so in awe that you, an american, would come here and do some of the things we do. this country is obsessed with hierarchy, and it shows in everything. i have no concept of that because i was raised to believe that everyone around me is equal and should be treated as such. sure, i've seen people treated badly in the positional sense. but for the most part...what i've seen in the states doesn't even compare to what you see here. and the way that some people will treat each other.