Every Day is a New Day

Hello dear readers!

Good morning! I'm starting to get more adjusted to Nepal, although my stomach still isn't all the way there yet. I think it's more than just what I'm eating; I think the heat and the pollution are factors too. In any case, everyone I've talked to said this happened to them their first week, so I guess it's completely normal. It's not so bad, I just feel a little queezy after eating anything, including plain toast... But it's getting better though, and I'm hoping tomorrow I'll be feeling totally fine.

Working at MSPN, the HIV center, is okay. It's a little irritating because I don't really feel like i'm helping very much. We are supposed to try to teach them some English, but they never pay any attention. They're also at all different levels because they're different ages. The biggest problem is that they don't attend school while they're at the center, so when they get back, they're behind. We don't know what they were doing in school, and we don't speak Nepali, so it's hard to help with this. The other issue I've encountered is that they don't understand the concept of sharing. We don't have enough of anything for everyone, but they don't understand that if they throw a ball to us or to another child, they will get it back. I wonder if it's because they are so poor and so are not used to having anything at all. In any case, there's always one child stealing something from another child and then crying and punching ensues.

The other problem is that the mothers don't really help support good values either. Sara was telling me that last week, some of the children were dancing and one boy tripped and fell into another little boy. The mother of the second boy came over and smacked the boy who had tripped. Sara said she told the mother not to, but I don't know that we really have the right do tell the mothers what to do.

There was one little boy who was sharing, but eventually, one of the other children would just take his ball and not give it back. It was sad because I could see him learning not to share. Like I said, it's really frustrating because I don't really feel like I'm helping, and I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing...

In the evening yesterday, we all went to this place called Happy Home. It's an orphanage for girls, but it's unusual because the girls are sponsored to go to really good schools. It was a nice break from MSPN because the girls are all so sweet and so excited that we're there. They all speak some english, so they take turns coming over and reading books to you. They're really eager to learn, and when you try to teach them, they really listen. It's really fun to go over there and play word games with the girls. I may ask if I can go over every night, rather than just this week.

In other news, my new roommate is Swiss and is really friendly. She's been here for 6 weeks already, trekking around, and I think we'll get along well. The only thing that concerns me a little is that when I mentioned Israel and being Jewish at dinner last night, she visably looked a bit uncomfortable. Still, she didn't treat me any differently. I wonder if perhaps she's never met a Jewish person before... Anyway, I'm off to work! Thanks everyone who's been commenting!

Hugs!