Happy independence day INDIA

Today was an amazing day because not only was it Independence day for India for their 60th year since partition but it's also the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Virgin Mother! Of course it was going to be a good day... how can it go wrong.
Mass was great like always and at breakfast it was pretty jammed packed of volunteers many of which i don't recognize anymore. When I arrived at Daya Dan all the kids were dressed in matching clothes! It was adorable, the girls had on their matching red dresses and the guys in their blue shorts and white shirts. Everyone was so happy and cheerful and Daya Dan was decorated with India's flag and colors.
In the classroom, the other teachers and I, helped prepare the class to make India's flag by tracing out the flag and having the students color in the flag and matching the colors to the specific spots. It was a great activity for many of the students, Mongol and megha who were able to draw it themselves without a pre traced drawing also were able to enjoy the flag making activity. We decorated our classroom with all the flags the students made after they were finish. We had a volunteer that is from Kolkata come talk to the students about Independence day and about freedom fighters of India. I've been telling the students that I'll bring in a movie as soon as I can find a lap top and today was Blanca's last day, she's been here since September 2006 and she brought in a friend's laptop so our class can watch a movie. Briana brought for me my external hardrive when she came and on my external harddrive there were some movies saved on. I plugged in the adapter and than plugged it into the electric input. It turned on for a second and then thge lights shut off. It blew a fuse! Or at least I hope that was the only problem, but it wasn't working. The same thing must had happened to my rechargable batteries that was also sent over. It would recharge here. The waltage here in India delivers much more than what is usually used for the eletronics in States. Frantically, I searched the room if there was any way I can play a movie for the children. At this time the children were still working on their flags. I figured the USB/external hard drive is finish and out of the question... i must find a dvd. So I left the students with the rest of the other teachers and went out to search the streets. It was nearly impossible to find a store that sold DVDs, VCDs, VHS or any type of movie format. Luckily the last sense of hope, I stumbled across a small stand that sold vcds! I bought a burnt copy of Harry potter and Pirates of the Caribiean. It was the only movies remotely close to children movies, all the other movies that was sold was some type of romatic drama.
I rushed back and by the time I got back the students were finished and were headed out of the classroom for a party! All the children came upstairs and we celebrated independence day with all the MC sisters at Daya Dan and masis! It was so much fun! We raised the flag, and Sr. Joy (the newest arrived Sister) gave a speach, we did a march around Daya Dan and than we party and DANCED! It was great! I pumped up some music on the speakers at Daya dan in Bangali and everyone was dancing! There was some indian's sweets that went around and everyone was just having a great time.
After the our party, one of the masis brought out a TV with a DVD player, they played a movie in Bangali. I thought to myself.... all the work, and they were going to play a movie all along.
At this time, it was late in the day morning shift was finished and the volunteers have left. The Masis made us lunch and it was sooo delcious! It's only of my favorite Indian meals... i love it all but this dish is pretty high up there with the egg masala dish. The Masis made us Chicken Braiyani. It's so good with some potatoes! ummmm! Well, anyways I went downstairs and began to paint what I sketched out yesterday. My goal was to finish painting both by today. One corner was of boats and the ocean while the other corner was of animals in the pooling. Corina and I started on the boats. There's only 4 boats drawn on the wall in that corner. I drew two and she drew two... It was a long process painting and after hours, I only finished painting one complete boat with a boy in it and the sail and boat of my second ship. Cornia finished painting her two boats but we haven't even begun painting the ocean or the sky, the moon, the stars... there's still much work to be done! We had couldn't do much more today because around 3:30 the children were getting up and they started coming over and touching the paint. It was such a hassel to try to keep them away from the paint..... and from LICKING it!
Well, that's the gist of my day today, tomorrow .... i'll probably be painting all day. It's voluteer's day off tomorrow because it's a thursday and it's the MC sisters day of prayers and day off. But I got permission from Sr. Johana Fa to come to Daya Dan and continue painting. I may go traveling with Corina for 2-3 days this weekend, otherwise Corina won't have a traveling partner or she won't be able to see any other part of india while she's here. So we're going up towards Darjeeling since the last time I went, I only spent a day there and it was by far the most spectacular, refreshing and peaceful town I've seen. So we're going to do fully days tomorrow and friday and leave for the weekend. Which is perfect with my teaching schedule because saturday is art class and sunday there's no class. Anyways, I'm not sure what I have planned for tonight. It's Independence day here... I think Corina and I may just go see what's happening on the streets tonight, maybe go out to the bars, and find a nice place for dinner since today we worked from 8 this morning and now just got back to sudder and it's 5:15pm. So, we're GOING OUT tonight! There's a lot of platforms set up , PA systems on the street and all sorts of fun all over Kolkata. Their be dancing on the streets tonight so ... it'll be exciting.
Well I'm getting excited to come home and miss everyone tremendously! I hope all's going well in States! God bless you now and forever!