Muhje peeth dard hai! (I have a backache)

Hello everyone.

We are visiting a Children's Home today, so I have some extra time. I am going to upload 30 of the 200 pictures I have taken so far. Thanks for all of the emails and comments. It's nice to know you guys are interested in what I am doing.

My day starts around 6:45am. I get up and meet the team for breakfast. Then we make the hour drive to Bawana, where we are working. We have a little briefing and then head out to the worksite.

The children are fascinated by us and follow us everywhere. At the work site we attract a huge crowd. Kids through the day and then adults when they get home from work. My Hindi is just bad enough to make them laugh but still have them understand me. My juggling is getting better, but it's hard to come up with new material everyday. It cracks the kids up when I stop working and hand the shovel to them and say "Aapke pari" which means "Your turn." Or when I refer to my co-worker as "Paagal hati gaykhan" which means "Crazy elephant ears." She responds by calling me "Paagal naag" which means "Crazy cobra."

We've been digging alot for the septic tank and the foundation. The only tool available to me for this is an Indian shovel. I sent a picture of it. It is killing me. I almost got the technique down though. After two days of breaking my back I finally got a compliment from the local worker, Ishjihad. He said, "He is a hard worker, you tell him to dig and he does not stop." That made my day.

As hard as it is for me to deal with the incredible poverty these kids live in, I mean the little ones don't even have diapers, they just go around pantsless, it's really hard for me to deal with the stray animals. Little puppies and dogs and cats and kittens are everywhere. Two things that have been fucking me lately are passing the same dead dog everyday on the way to my worksite and finding a baby mouse while I was digging that I thought was dead and seeing it reach out to me after I picked it up. It's been pretty tough.

But, I can make the kids laugh very easily and even some of the adults, so I can push the feelings down for a bit and get through the day. The people are very appreciative of us being here, so that helps.

The Indian people in general are very warm and welcoming. They'll just chat you up as you walk down the street. Either to practice their English or just to find out about you.

I have to go now. Like I said before, the internet is spotty, so I will post again when I can. More pictures to follow. Keep the emails and comments coming, they really help.

Namasté


Link to some pictures

Cute movie