011 The Love Affair Continues...or Does It?

Yet another incredible day today! We got to visit the Sumangali Seva Ashrama, which is an orphanage cum school for children up to the high school age. We started the morning relatively late, and arrived at the Ashrama only to be greeted by two lines of little girls throwing flowers around us which was adorable!

We didn’t stay long in the Ashrama at first, as we had the opportunity to visit a local clinic and talk to one of the doctors who was doing incredible work with the surrounding community.

The clinic’s efforts to keep women and children who can’t afford basic healthcare safe and healthy were inspiring.

The doctor had mentioned that they offer many services for a minimum price or completely free, such as immunization and ultrasound checks for children and mothers respectively. And that they’re doing it and asking for so little was incredible.

The clinic's primary physician - incredible, strong lady.

After visiting the clinic, we went to a pre-school/kindergarten for the children of rag pickers. Rag pickers are essentially people who pick trash up and sell it for a living. The school actually pays rag pickers to keep their kids in school to ensure that they have a chance to succeed and break the cycle.

The kids were adorable and so intelligent and I know that if given a chance, they’ll succeed tremendously.

They didn't want to say bye just yet.

After leaving the kindergarten, we returned to the Ashrama, where we took a brief tour of their school and had lunch that was prepared by the girls that was so delicious.

Some of the babies we found!

More beautiful students.

Best friends at the playground. :)

Some of the kids eating lunch.

I gots a-yearnin' for some learnin'!

One of the dorm rooms. 100 beds to a room.

Crafts the kids are taught to make to sell.

Teachers' room/office.

Found the kitchen!!!

Lunch, cooked by some of the school's girls.

We then played with the children with the gifts and games we had brought and had so much fun.

TABLE OF AWESOME GOODIES!!!

Waiting to play!

Duck, duck, goose!

Jump rope competition. :)

We may have enjoyed it a little more than they did.

After playing, we taught them how to call the hogs which was probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! It was so hard to leave them when it was all over. Getting the chance to interact with these kids was definitely a highlight of my trip.

Beautiful.

Saying bye from the bus!

After we returned from the Ashrama, I kind of hung around the apartment. We had the freedom to leave and get dinner and/or explore Bangalore, but I was just not feeling it. Definitely felt the downward sloping curve (oh, Econ majors!) of the culture shock curve tonight. India is an incredible country…Afshar said today that this place presents a major case of sensory overload, and it absolutely does. I’ve never seen more beauty and felt more frustration in a single place like this before.

Today was an absolutely magical experience – getting to visit the Ashrama and seeing the children and the hope in their eyes, meeting the doctor at the incredible clinic where so much good is done, and yet, I feel like I still don’t quite grasp what this country is about AT ALL. I feel like nothing overly bad ever happens here but EVERY activity – even the routine ones – are riddled with setbacks and hiccups, so much so that they wear you down. And believe me, I’m worn down. I’m tired of not getting hot water when I want it (hah – spoiled!), I’m tired of not being able to communicate regularly with my boyfriend and with my family, I’m tired of people lying to me about my laundry and still charging me for it! Ugh. And so I’m here, whining about it…I know I’ll be annoyed with myself later when I reread this, but for now, this is how I feel, and quite frankly, I can’t wait to go home. I heard that a lot of people went to the Hard Rock Café and some others went shopping, but I’m quite content lying in bed and watching TV. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.