Hide and seek

This morning at breakfast, Candis one of the long term working came up to me and said one of the sisters are looking for me... Sr. Collete. Sr Collete is one of the older senior MC sister. very well respected by all the other MC sisters. She never comes downstairs into the volunteer room and Candis told me she came into the volunteer room today and asked specifically to talk to me. I was parshly busy at the time and didn't go straight up to see her and was introduced to some Japanese girls that needed me to take them to Daya Dan because it was their first day and they didn't know how to get there, than I got another tap on the shoulder. This time it was Sr. Druscilla and she said... Sr. Collete wanted to talk to me and she came downstairs into the volunteer room. She said, "Sr. Collete never comes into the volunteer room so you must go see her." Then I turned around and Sr. Collete had came back downstairs and was at the entry of the volunteer room. She looked over at me with a great smile. She's old and frail but expresses great enthusiasm, joy, and love through her smile and eyes. She said "I don't know if you remember me, My name is Sr. Collete, I talked to you before I left on my trip and told you I wanted to talk when I come back." I diffinately remember her, I met her about 3 weeks ago for no more than 5 minutes and she was headed out to go outside Kolkata to help with something. Sr. Collete told me she's been thinking about me and if I find time that I can come to Mother house anytime and she'll be here and just ask any of the Sister for Sr. Collete. She rushed me out the door because she noticed that it was minutes before work and that a group was waiting for me to go with them to Daya Dan.
I couldn't believe that she even remembered telling me she wanted to talk when she gets back and even more so being so persistent about it. She told me she visited Vietnam and stayed there for 2 years and would love to talk to me about her experience. It is one of her most favorite place.

When I got to Daya Dan I was the only teacher that showed up, and I showed up about 20 minutes late. The room was full of kids and so i thought to myself... I guess its another day of art class. I started teaching Mongol a game. Where there are many of dots and you have to take turn to draw a line and try to make a square but you don't want the other person to get any squares. It was a really good game for Mongol because it made him think about future actions; if he was to place a line here or there what would it cause and would I be able to gain multiple squares or just one square because of the move he made. Mongol really enjoyed the game and picked it up quick. I played easy with him the first few times and made sure he won by a few so he would get some confidences to keep on wanting to play. Blanca, one of the other teachers, came in minutes after I did and than after here Nick came, and than Hidi. Everyone was late. It was raining hard today so the could of been a major reason but by the time all the teachers was there Sr. Johana Fa from downstairs had asked for Mongol, Megha, and Raul to come downstair to start preparing music for Mother Teresa's Feast Day/ 10 year Memorial. I stayed in the classroom and helped out with whatever I could and then also took some time to go meander from physical therapy, into the bedrooms, kitchen, and main gathering room. When 10am rolled around I went downstairs and led music class. It was a little rough today because there were many new volunteers downstairs and it was a break for them or something because the kids were off the wall and many volunteers just sat there entertained by music time rather then trying to keep the kids from running around or being envolved with the music. The kids weren't singing much today and Mongol was really frustrated because he felt as if nobody cared. Which I could understand his frustration because it was pretty chaotic today during music class.
After music class it was feeding time, and then all the volunteer left because it was the end of the first shift. I stayed back to watch the kids in the classroom during 12-3. During this time the MC sisters took time for themselves; prayers, lunch, and nap. The masis did the same. Many of the children were in their crib and napping but some kids were able to stay up and that was Megha, mongol, neisha, raul and a couple other kids that came in and out of the class room. We played the square box game for a while. mongol is getting better and better at it and played a long game with Corina because she stayed back with me so we could start drawing the paintings on the wall this afternoon. Megha and Divya played the game with me and they were a little more confused on how the game worked but it was still fun. Mona, one of the masis (divya's mom) made Corina and I lunch. There was some spicy pickle/pepper thing and mongol and megha wanted it and so I gave it to them. Corina is horrible with spicy stuff and gave hers too. They said the love it and it was so funny to watch them eat it. It must had been extremely spicy because their face cringed as they ate it and they were breathing pretty hard, but usually when something is too hot, people would stop but not Mongol and Megha they kept at it. I told Mongol why don't you stop if it's too hot and he replied to me " I asked if, I could have it... so I should finish." He was such a sport and those words amazed me. How often is my stomach bigger than my eye and I pile too much food on my plate or order too much at a resturant and let a lot go to waste. Here Mongol taught me such an incredible lesson which, of course I knew in the back of my mind but made it so much more real being here in Kolkata. Finish everything... there's so much we waste and so much that people need! We're blessed with what we have and when we ask for more and recieve... make use of it! Don't waste and throw it away.
After lunch Corina and I took Mongol and Megha in their wheel chair to play hide and seek. They absolutely love the game and always love playing it at the park which they haven't done in a long time but today for the first time they played it at Daya Dan! We were hiding all over each floor. It was so much fun because I took Mongol down to the bottom floor on the elevator and after 20 minutes+ megha and corina came looking for us... we saw the elevator coming down and hid around the corner from it... they got off the elevator and went around the other corner and as soon as they did.. we rushed back into the elevator and went back to the top floor and hid in the classroom... the room they were counting from. It was pure genius and it took them forever ever to find us! Then it was the other way around, I took Megha to go hide and Mongol was being certain that he could find her in less then 20 minutes so I told him ok... we'll make it easier for him and only stay on this top floor and still give him that 20 minutes. I took megha and put her wheel chair in the kitchen and carried her and sat her in the closet where the shoes and backpack was by the physical therapy room. All the masis were laughing because they were watching the whole thing and seeing Mongol and Cornia passing by it so many times. It's a very remote closet that gives you and outside view, not many volunteers even know that there's a closet there. I snuck out a couple of time from the closet and had Megha wait for me there... mongol and Cornia would see me walking around but had no clue where Megha was. I took tried to go in and out of many rooms and doors so they didn't know which door was I mainly coming from. It really threw them off and the Masis got a kick watching the confusion. Well 20 minutes passed and they finally found Megha sitting criss crossed in the closet. She laughed hystarically and was so happy. The Masis were laughing and everyone had such a great time!

It was now 3:30pm and there was still no sign of any MC sisters. I went downstair and waited for Sr. Johana Fa. We wanted to start drawing and painting but realized that we were never told which picture did she wanted at which spot on the wall. So we waited for her to come. After a while I went to the floor where all the sisters stayed and asked for her and she came out totally suprised that I was still there. She felt so sorry and told us sorry for making us wait. She was worried we didn't get any lunch and told us we can head home and start tomorrow since she made us wait so long today. Well... there's much work that needs to be done. The painting that needs to be done takes up a big part of the wall and along with that there are many places she wanted us to paint. She also wanted to make pictures for the offertory but I'm not sure if that'll be finished in time along with these other paintings and she said the priority will be placed on the walls of Daya Dan. Well .... it seems like I'll be taking on 3 shifts a day now... 1st shift from 8:30-12, 12-3, and 3-5:30! It's going to be rough but sleep will be amazing each night. I already am taking naps each day I come home from work and still feel so exhausted during the morning and during the day. So pray for my strength to carry on strong!