As soon as my foot steps outside the apartment building children mob me. There is so much love here! The other day I was in the yard hanging out with a few of the children and then I had to run up my four flights of stairs to grab my water bottle. I took my time fiddling around with things in my room and then I glanced out my window. To my right all the kids were gathered around Heather, Lauren, and Kerri. When I glanced the other direction I saw Luke, Chrissy, and Joni (these are a few of the kids that have favored me over the other girls) all of them were sitting around by themselves waiting for ME to come back down. It made me feel so loved and needed. I received two colored papers today from Tisha and Deborah. Tisha’s says “Teacher Cantal I love you so mush.” I may not be her teacher yet but it is still sweet! Another girl told me that when I left she would cry every day. Yes, I am definitely feeling the love.
I have a few of the kids names down but it has been rather difficult getting to know all the children’s names since there are 115 of them! At the same time I am trying to learn Bangla and all the caregivers names. A few words and phrases I’ve learned are:
-Camonachu (How are you?)
-Balo Achi (I’m good)
-Nomasgar (Hindu Greeting)
-Ami Tomo que balo achi (I love you)
-Namkey (name)
-coo coo (dog)
Of course none of these are spelled right but you get the point. We had a photo shoot with the kids so that their sponsors could receive up to date photos of their child. This has helped me learn many names but it has been so difficult to make some of these kids smile. There is this one boy name Jamie and he will not smile at all! Lauren says it looks as if he is solving the world’s problems because his face looks so serious and sad all the time. Another girl cried every time they put her in front of the camera. Slowly but surely we will get all these kids photos taken!
In other news we have received our Shama camis. This is the outfit that the women here wear. It is a long shirt with pants that kind of look like Pajama pants and of course the olna (scarf). It took four days for them to get tailored and my pants are a little short. It was so much fun shopping for them. We went into town with Bani and Ellen, two ladies that work at the orphanage. They would take us to a shop that had all sorts of fabric that was already made into the shirts and pants they just needed to be tailored. When you go into a store you are suppose to sit on these stools that are set up for anyone who is buying something. We told them that we wanted cotton because it is the coolest material and then they would start throwing down different packages of fabric.
I bought three, each of them were about 500-600 taka, which is around 8-9 U.S. dollars. After you buy them you take the fabric to the tailor and they make them fit perfectly for you, although I don’t think they did a very good job.
We went into town (5 in the back seat) and picked the outfits up yesterday and then we got to ride back on a rickshaw van. This is a flat piece of wood that is pulled by a motorcycle. It was so much fun but at the same time completely terrifying when you see a huge truck coming at you from the other direction and when it passes you it is only a foot away. All the women here are so excited to see us dressed like them. They are telling us that we are real Bangali woman now. Watch out I’m going native!!
I have a few of the kids names down but it has been rather difficult getting to know all the children’s names since there are 115 of them! At the same time I am trying to learn Bangla and all the caregivers names. A few words and phrases I’ve learned are:
-Camonachu (How are you?)
-Balo Achi (I’m good)
-Nomasgar (Hindu Greeting)
-Ami Tomo que balo achi (I love you)
-Namkey (name)
-coo coo (dog)
Of course none of these are spelled right but you get the point. We had a photo shoot with the kids so that their sponsors could receive up to date photos of their child. This has helped me learn many names but it has been so difficult to make some of these kids smile. There is this one boy name Jamie and he will not smile at all! Lauren says it looks as if he is solving the world’s problems because his face looks so serious and sad all the time. Another girl cried every time they put her in front of the camera. Slowly but surely we will get all these kids photos taken!
In other news we have received our Shama camis. This is the outfit that the women here wear. It is a long shirt with pants that kind of look like Pajama pants and of course the olna (scarf). It took four days for them to get tailored and my pants are a little short. It was so much fun shopping for them. We went into town with Bani and Ellen, two ladies that work at the orphanage. They would take us to a shop that had all sorts of fabric that was already made into the shirts and pants they just needed to be tailored. When you go into a store you are suppose to sit on these stools that are set up for anyone who is buying something. We told them that we wanted cotton because it is the coolest material and then they would start throwing down different packages of fabric.
I bought three, each of them were about 500-600 taka, which is around 8-9 U.S. dollars. After you buy them you take the fabric to the tailor and they make them fit perfectly for you, although I don’t think they did a very good job.
We went into town (5 in the back seat) and picked the outfits up yesterday and then we got to ride back on a rickshaw van. This is a flat piece of wood that is pulled by a motorcycle. It was so much fun but at the same time completely terrifying when you see a huge truck coming at you from the other direction and when it passes you it is only a foot away. All the women here are so excited to see us dressed like them. They are telling us that we are real Bangali woman now. Watch out I’m going native!!
Love it!!! this made me smile!!! I love your adventures makes me want to be there too :D Can't wait to see pictures!!
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