Sunday, November 15

We finally got to have a whole day with the kids again, and they could rest after their 5 days of exams. We woke up at 7.30 (which we consider sleeping in late here!) to a sunny morning. It was nice after it being so rainy for so long. We braided hair with the girls, tried to fit all of the flowers they gave us into our hair, and had tea. Then it was time for church. It was a nice service in the chapel, with the sun shining in, the dogs walking around as we sat on our reed mats on the ground with the kids, in our spot behind the girls. The kids were laughing a lot with the chaplain, and Saraswathi later told us he was making jokes about Christian and Hindu weddings.

After breakfast of idly and coconut chutney, as this is our last full day with all the kids home, we brought out bubbles, music and chalk and played in the beautiful morning weather. We passed out lollipops, while kids danced, blew bubbles and drew chalk on the walls. It was all quite beautiful and very fun. It was very sunny, and kids were very excited about bubbles, and of course, everyone's favorite, lollipops. We took some great pictures of the kids playing in the sun. Satish climbed up the slide and blew bubbles down, filling the air with falling bubbles. Muthumari and the older girls decorated the walls with designs and hearts. Antony, MK and little Karthi posed to take pictures with their lollipops. Muniyappan wanted the lyrics to the "Good Life" song by Kanye, so we played it on repeat for a while as he wrote down every word in his own writing. He says he will learn it and sing it to us before we leave!

Soon after, it started to rain again. Paige and I were sad that it wasn't nice and sunny anymore, but all the girls were happy and laughing as they ran outside to grab their clothes drying. Muthumari was surprised to learn that in America people are sad when it rains and just want it to be sunny all the time. Dhana Packiam yelled as she came back inside soaking wet, "I am raining!" We listened to music with the girls for a while, and played Uno and cards. Somehow M+M won every single card game of war that we played. Muga decided to invent her own tactic of putting all her big cards on the front of her deck, acting like no one could notice. Very clever girl.. We did a lot of picture browsing, music video watching and Alagarsamy DJing after evening tea. We brought out the last of the nail polish to use and let the girls keep, along with the rest of the nail stickers. Nagehwari was adamant about getting a sticker on every nail, and was not pleased she got a dog sticker that had been split in half and only had the dog's hind legs. "Do not like dog buttocks!"

A lot of kids are getting sick with fevers again. Four girls have been staying just in the sick room. We're trying to stay away from the sick girls, as we don't want to have to be stuck in quarantine in an Indian airport.

We had a lot of sad talks sitting out in the hall today with Rani, Muthumari, M+M, Ramya, and other older girls, about us leaving. Rani told me "You don't be sad now, 2 more days at Bethania! You be sad third day! You sad now, all the girls sad now. You laughing now, all the girls happy and laughing now." We're trying to keep everything fun and happy, but the thought of leaving so soon is really difficult to deal with. We're not ready to leave our brothers and sisters! They're all writing us going away messages in our journals, giving us lots of presents that we're not allowed to open until we get home. It's going to be sad to have to take down the artwork that we have taped up in our room, covering an entire wall. We miss our families and loved ones at home, but these children are like our family now. We have to keep reminding ourselves about the warm showers awaiting us at home, or it'd be too hard to say goodbye to their sweet faces.