Story time!

India beat Sri Lanka in the final game for the World Cup Cricket! Everyone got to stay up and watch the game on the big screen on campus (it was about a 12 hour game that ended around midnight!) I turned in early but I heard fireworks going off and things. The boys are nothing but cricket cricket cricket lately!

Charlie read in a newspaper somewhere that motorbike riders have to wear helmets now but Sikhs don’t have to because of the turban they have to wear. Of course!

In the newspapers here there are personal classifieds for people seeking spouses... or letting people know they are available. It’s pretty incredible. I’m bringing a newspaper home specifically for that reason for people to read! It’s amazing how people still marry into certain castes only. Sometimes, if a woman doesn’t want to marry a man … he’ll just kill her. The newspapers are so graphic here. There is no respect for people whose brains are spread out all over the pavement.

The boys go to school tomorrow. When Liz and I got back we went straight to wrapping textbooks. I’m pretty sure I can do it in my sleep now!

I got to put the boys to bed the other night while Kiran and Ruth went to a wedding. The boys were really riled up and I had to scold a few. I wasn’t their best friend the next day but today was better. Devotions went really well as we are going through the Stations of the Cross. After dinner I stuck around which was fun.

My dad is a great storyteller. He has always told good stories from his childhood, and after the boys were playing with a toad outside after dinner, I couldn’t help but tell the story about how my dad used to send frogs up with helium balloons. One story after a next the boys wanted to hear. They would say “ about animals” or “about mountains” or “about snow” or "travel adventure". “One more story, mam” I was having so much fun! I think the boys could tell!

Frieda encourages all the teachers this week to READ to their students. She read a few pages from Heather Lende's second book “Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs” ( her blog) that I gave her for her birthday a month ago. She read a few pages about when Heather was smoking fish and hunting to the teachers. I got to share a little bit about my home town to the teachers which was really fun :) Frieda told all the teachers from reading Heather's books, she wants to come to Alaska more than ever! She feels like she is learning a lot about where I am from. She said that the way the mountains are described, it is exactly what the bible talks about! I’m hoping for our community service elective our older kids can go read to the younger ones. I think it would be a good buddy system!

Last Sunday I went to Dehra Dun with Lindsey and Sonu to Vineyard Church. It was really nice and I’m glad I went. I felt like in the sermon God really spoke to me. It was really neat. It was the longest I had been away from Liz since I got to India, which felt weird! When I was telling stories to the boys I said one about ice-skating when I was really young and when my sister fell through the ice. Ratan said, “And Liz mam was there”. I had to remind him I just met Liz in November when I came here!

As a staff group we were all supposed to go on a picnic today a little ways away from Shishya but we had too much work today so we all just sat in front of school and shared food. Delicious!

I'll just be teaching life skills the remainder of the time I'm here to grades 4-8 and helping with the community service elective with Deepak. I won't have Saturday school anymore and I only have 10 school days left. Incredible!