Steppin Out With My Baby...

Today was a chill day for me here at Rising Star. We were back to our regular schedule after getting back from Delhi and it was my group's turn to tutor again. I'm really glad I was in the tutoring group today because both the medical van AND the construction group's cars broke down and they all had a crazy day. I, on the other hand, had a very chill day tutoring the kids and helping to write sponsor letters.

We started off by having the 8th standard kids read to us and checking their comprehension. I was with Krishna Morti and I am still amazed about how smart and awesome he is. We read two books and he comprehended them and read perfectly! Did I mention two years ago he couldn't speak any english and was just barely starting at Rising Star? Now he speaks english very well, can read english, and is one of the smartest kids in the school. He is also super nice and cool with everyone...basically everyone loves Krishna Morti.

After reading with the kids we helped Kristin do sponsor letters. I LOVE helping the kids do sponsor letters because you really get to see their personality and who they are. Today I helped Ashook, Venamalar, and Anita do sponsor letters. They all did an awesome job and they are all so cute! I was especially impressed with Ashook. I had not met him before today and now I am slightly obsessed. He is 12 years old and is extremely well mannered and kind and smart! He is very artistic and has great handwriting for a 12 year old boy. He wrote two long sponsor letters and I was so impressed by how well he was able to do them and form sentences by himself. He was seriously awesome.

From tutoring we went to lunch. After lunch and a little break and then came back to the school to help with a computer lesson. The lesson fell through, though, because they were having power problems--surprise surprise! :) Instead we helped kids in third standard work on reading. It is amazing how big of a gap there is between third standard and eighth standard. I worked with Gokul and he could not read anything. He tried really hard but the way they teach reading and writing here is hard for kids to pick up reading (they do not teach phonics).

After the reading help we went back to the hostel to write in memory books for the kids. Every child at Rising Star has a memory book that the volunteers write in as they come through. I wrote in almost 10 memory books today because I just love the girls in my family SO MUCH! After memory books it was time to head out to play with the kids. I seriously LIVE for playtime everyday! The kids are so much fun and it is great to just have time to play with them. One of the little girls, Mahalakshmi, is like my child. She comes and sits on my lap and we play and laugh and she is SO CUTE!! I also love playing with Abirami. She is also in my family and she is so sweet and fun. She gets along with everyone and is really easy-going. We will dance and play hide and seek and just run around and enjoy being outside.

After playtime all the volunteers went to dinner and then it was time to go with our families. I have been with Velammal's family of girls for the last week until another of the boy's house mothers arrived while we were all in Delhi. Velammal's family was always going to be temporary but I got so attached!! The girls are so sweet and amazing and I was reluctant to go over to the boys because they definitely are a different story. I got up to their room and they were running around and killing bugs and just being boys--it was a little nuts. Moving over to the boys' hostel, though, has given me the opportunity to get to know the boys better. They are so awesome, though, and seriously HILARIOUS! One of the boys, Vemmal Kahnt, was imitating a Tamil superstar for me, his house mother, and Katie and it was so. funny. I was gut-laughing. There are also some really sweet boys that I wouldn't have met without being transfered over to the boys hostel. I still kissed all my girls goodnight but I split the rest of my night between the boys and girls. :)

Well that was it for today!

Namaste!