Bye bye, Didi!

Today was my last day of work :(. I'm going to miss those kiddos SOOOOOO much! This week has been really fantastic although fairly uneventful. Let's see, it's been so long since I've written, I barely remember the beginning of the week! Oh, well, I'll just talk about the last few days.

Ever since Christie left, Maya has been really nice to me. The new girl, Naomi, has always been really nice and is very easy to get along with. Last night, I went to Happy House and stayed for dinner. This whole group of Americans was visiting for dinner as well. They are from something called the Z Foundation and the sponsor a bunch of the girls. It was interesting to meet them all. They were very surprised that I was there as they weren't aware anyone was volunteering. They asked me some questions about the girls and such. They were all quite nice and dinner was absolutely delish!

Earlier that day, the I helped one girl, Mollika, with double digit multiplication. She was doing extra problems because she wanted to get better. She's really studious and always working ahead and such. I think she's more humanities oriented though. It took me a minute to remember how to do double digit multiplication without a calculator.... but I remembered and managed to teach her. At the beginning, she had no idea what to do and by the end, she was doing everything correctly. It was really gratifying.

I've gotten really close to this one girl, Muskan. Muskan is 3 years old and is this adorable little princess. She's very sweet (although a little spoiled... she's used to getting her own way). She absolutely loves me though. When I get there, she runs over to me and hugs me screaming "DIDI!!!!" (Didi means older sister in Nepali. It's what all the kids call me). She is really really adorable and always really smiley. I was really surprised when I heard her story from Sajani. Both of Muskan's parents were addicted to drugs and HIV + (Luckily, Muskan is not). They kept her in this dark, windowless, tiny room, which didn't even have a proper door. I don't know how long Muskan's been at Happy House, but it's not more than a year. I can't believe that she's such a normal, happy 3-year old now. It really makes me feel like what Happy House is doing and my work there is worthwhile.

After dinner last night, Uncle (the caretaker at Happy House) took me out to get a taxi. The driver didn't know the area I live in, so I was to direct him. This was no big deal because I always walk it. I tried to tell him to turn right at this one place, but he missed the turn. It was late, and pretty quiet, so he backed up to make the turn. However, he managed to crash into a vegetable stand and run over some of the merchandise. He tried to drive away, but the shop keeper came and started yelling in Nepali. He literally pulled the driver out of the car. A crowd of about 20 Nepali men started standing around and yelling, while I stayed in the car and hoped it would all get sorted out (it was not so safe to be walking around late at night to get another taxi.) Finally, the driver handed the guy some money and we drove off. When we got back to my house, I thanked the driver profusely and rounded up the fare. And extra dollar isn't much to me, but if I hadn't given it to him, he might have made negative money on the trip!

At MSPN yesterday, one of the moms fainted. She's been really sick all week and has been in the hospital. The nurses gave her oxygen, but they said she was so sick, she couldn't hear anything right now. She's in the hospital again as of today. Her son, the oldest boy, Raj Kumar, is healthy, so he left MSPN for another center near the hospital. Regardless of whether they're healthy, a lot of these children will lose their parents and siblings at young ages. I can't even imagine how that must be. I don't know what happens to them in a country like Nepal.

Today, I had a going away ceremony at MSPN. All the children crowded around me and gave me Tikka. I also got a thank you letter and a framed photo of me with some of the kids. It was really nice. The teacher at the center told me that every day, the children ask if I'm coming and the mom's always love to spend time with me too. As I left, all the children shouted "bye bye didi!" Over and over again, crowding to get the last goodbye. As i walked out the gate, I nearly started crying. Those children are all so sweet and wonderful. It's hard to think that even if I do manage to get back to Nepal sometime, I still may never see them again. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I've spent most of my life so focused on my future, but with these kids, there's only the present to focus on. Every day, I just have tried to make sure they're having fun and learning in a fun way. I'm really going to miss those children.

Right now, I'm in Thamel. I'm going to Pokhara this weekend (by myself). I'm excited. I think I'm going to go see some caves and maybe go paragliding! (Don't worry, mom and dad, I promise this is safer than everything else I've been doing! It's probably even safer than the bus ride, lol). There are also really amazing views of the Anapurna and Himalayan mountains in Pokhara. It should be really nice.