October 23rd

We woke up before any of the kids, at 5.30 this morning. It still looked as dark as night outside, and for once felt very cool, almost cold, out! At around ten to 6, the girls started to wake up, wash, brush their teeth, etc. I started to help Mary, the 11th grade girl with the huge list of English words she has to memorize. At around 6, we did yoga with Muthumari, what we had woken up early for! It was fun, just us 3. She led us through breathing exercises, stretches, different moves, and even foot massages. It was a good way to wake up!

For the next few hours, the kids did their homework and chores. This is when the big daily Bethania dirt sweep takes place, which we hear from our rooms most mornings. Each child is in charge of a section of land, where they sweep all the leaves and garbage out of their spot of ground. Some kids grind grain to feed chickens, get water for the kitchen, feed the animals, etc.

Kelsey then helped the kitchen ladies grind up coconut chutney. We sat on stools around a huge stone grinder that goes up to my knees. With a big cylindrical stone with a wood handle, we spun the pestle around fast, smashing up lentils, white coconut pieces, peppers, and green leaves, while pouring in water.

It was nice waking up so early, having a lot more time with the kids and to help out, before school. After breakfast the kids left for school and we did some field work with GP. We filled up huge pink and orange jugs with water we pumped from the well and then carried them to fields where we dumped them on the dry hard ground. The well keeps going dry which is frustrating. We jumped up and down, throwing our weight on the pump, while the kitchen ladies looked on laughing. We watered these vegetable vines while GP worked. After thoroughly drenching the plants we went to work removing stones from around the roots and the throughout the field. We took a nice break to pet our three adorable baby cows a while. The youngest likes to lie around and wait for Paige to put its food inside of its mouth. The other one appreciated some good ear scratching by Kelsey. We had some refreshing lime juice during our break. After, we did a bit of wash, trying to conserve as much water as possible, leaving us with slightly dirty clothes. Smacking the laundry on the tiles was still as fun as ever though.

After our delicious lunch, we collapsed for a well deserved nap after cooking, field work and washing since 5.30 in the sun. Muthumari came home from school and asked if our day was more 'brisk' because of yoga this morning. She says that if we keep practicing every day, in no time we'll touch our feet to our head like she can. Hahaa. We'll see.

When the kids came home, after tea and snack, games began. We played ball and tag with the boys. Taught Chess and of course there was some 'Uno card playing sister.' There is some definite improvement in the Chess skills at Bethania. We sewed up the ball where it ripped yesterday. Today Peanut (a dog who is very afraid of fireworks. During Deepavali he hid under our bed and in our bathroom and shook for the next three days) attacked one of the geese. This goose is white and looks like the typical goose with orange feet and orange bill. Today I saw Pandi wrestling with this goose by the kitchen, and I sprinted over, ready to enforce the 'no beating goose brother rule.' But Pandi and Mani showed us where Peanut had bit the goose's wing. Pandi held down the goose's body, MK held his head down and his beak closed while Mani applied medicine to the duck's wounds. Muga petted the goose's head too. 'I very like is goose. Very super' Nandhini told us. It's very sweet how all the kids care for the animals here.

The kids had Christmas practice and we prepared our lesson for the 7th and 8th standard boys. We had all the boys read a page of a section of snow white, then we cast characters for a play. It was very sweet and hilarious. Smart Satish, after refusing to write down his lines impressed and surprised us with his narrating skills. 'Snow White is running in the forest. What happens next? Watch and see!' Muruganadam (Joker) got himself a new nickname, Snow White. And Mani announced, "I am a squirrel. I am helping Snow White to clean!" Meanwhile Muruganadam, Mani and Chella pretended to sweep the ground. It was a bit challenging to get everyone to write their own lines and pay attention while other boys were reading, but they enjoyed acting it out a lot, and of course watching themselves back on Kelsey's camera is the best part.

After dinner, of delicious chapatis and two sauces and rice and papadam, we hung out with the girls on the hall. Ramya and Paige did their hair funny tied in mirroring knots on the side of their heads, and sat side by side for a photo. Saraswathi and Muthumari taught Paige some more Tamil, to write in her journal. I'm learning how to write my name in Tamil. It's super Sister! Kelsey played Chess with M+M and Veni before everyone said 'Iravu Vanakam' and went to sleep. Waking up early tomorrow too, for yoga. Wow. Waking up at 6 on a weekend. Only in India!