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Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

Kids on a little boat ride!
Trip to the local garden!

Family.

One of the local hospitals had a Christmas party for House of Hope and one other orphanage... filled with games, food, coloring, and an Indian Santa even came to visit.
Shaheena.
Took the kids to an Indian amusement park over their Christmas holiday, I believe the park consisted of all of the reject rides from America.. no problem. The kids had a blast.
The House of Hope boys on Christmas!
Anneloes, my roommate, and I decorated a Christmas tree and filled each other's stockings for Christmas!
Sakshi and Simon at the schools Christmas program.Sahara.

The boys received hats from someone, and are now obsessed with them.

Chetan and I. He is quite a sass. Sometimes we refer to him as Baby Chetan. But lets be real here... we are best friends.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas, and have a very Happy New Year!

'tis the season!

A group of Christmas Carolers showed up at the apartment!

Christmas program at Bright Star Education!

wait, what?

I tend to forget that everything that has become normal and routine to me, is not really normal at all. Some things that happen to me on a daily basis are totally worth writing about, and something that many back in America will find strange, humorous, disgusting, etc..

Some things that have become normal to me and/or a fact of life...

1) Every Thursday there is no electricity for the majority of the day. It is something we all plan on happening anyway, so thats not a big deal. This past Sunday I had no electricity for most of the day, and it has been randomly going out at night for the past week. Sometimes frustrating.. but I am getting used to reading by candlelight.

2) Cows. Water Buffalo's. Flocks of Crows. I don't think I am fully used to these things though. I have realized my fear of big animals able to roam freely. Most days on my way home from work I encounter at least one of said things. I always am that White Girl who runs to the other side of the road to avoid the giant herd of cows, or lets out a little scream when one looks me in the eyes and says, "I am going to run you over right now." So maybe a cow hasn't said that to me, but I am sure they are thinking it. Many of these cows are decorated with necklaces, paint, etc. Whatever. Scary

3) Number two on this list is involved with number three. Poop. Everywhere. Lots of it. Cows poop. Cows roam freely. Cows poop freely. I have to watch my step.

4) Rickshaw Men. So, since I am white, rickshaw drivers tend think they can charge me about 50-100 rupees more than I should actually pay. Which is a joke. So we spend about 10 minutes before every rickshaw ride to argue about a price that they know isn't fair, and they know that I know it isn't fair. I tend to get a little frustrated, angry, loud with these men. But sometimes it is my entertainment for the day.. Especially when they speak English and we just laugh about how ridiculous they actually are.

5) Eating with my hands. I am an accomplished eater. Here, as some may know, the left hand is usually for washing yourself after you have gone to the toilet. So you are supposed to only eat with your right hand. You eat chapati and then some rice with dal and such. No utensils necessary. I am very proud about the fact that I can do it, and do it with class... for the most part.

6) FOREIGNER. That is my name now. Since we are the only people in the city we are also very popular, or maybe more unpopular. Anyway, while walking down the street many people will just yell "Foreigner" Which, I obviously am. Thank you. Many other's just stare. Some snicker. Some whistle (sick). Some of the precious kids say hello and smile. Walking around...always an adventure.

7) Milk in a bag. What? Milk... in a bag? Worst idea anyone has ever had. BUT, as long as you keep it in a bowl, cut a little corner no major spillage occurs. Though I didn't know the tricks the first couple of weeks I was here... let's just say I wasted quite a bit of milk for awhile.

8) Chai. I love this tradition, really. I loved it in Africa as well. Every morning at the school I work at we have chai and a snack, normally we keep working while drinking and eating. But sometimes we do as we should and stop what were doing and talk with each other and just enjoy the time together. While in Delhi we went to the Taj Mahal, as said in previous post, On the car ride there it got to the time where we would normally have chai. We pulled to the side of the road and got some cola and chips and had a nice "chai" time. So frands, when I get home we will have chai times. Or something along those lines.

9) Cockroaches. Maybe it's just because I am from Michigan and I haven't ever really experienced dealing with cockroaches and/or large bugs. But they are the most annoying thing that ever happened to me. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating. But still. I am never going to get used to waking up to a lovely family of cockroaches who decided to set up camp in my kitchen. Ew.

That is all for now, I am sure I missed some major oddities of India. I will be sure to fill you all in when I can remember them.

Moo.
Bahhh.
I understand this a repeat picture, but it's chai time. My favorite.
First weeks of the trip. This was one of the fun rickshaw arguing experiences.

This has nothing to do with my post. It is just the cutest thing in the world. Kids going home from school in their rickshaw. They love it. I love it.

With love from India,

Melissa

Still Alive.

Greetings Friends & Family,

Sorry it has taken a year and half to get a new blog post on here, but I was struck ill with a laryngitis/bronchitis type sickness for a bit, and then I was in New Dehli for a week. So I have been without computer, and a voice/brain for a good part of last month. Hopefully your anticipation for a new post will make this one THAT much better!

Anyway, I have been pretty busy here with work and just life in general I suppose. Things have been going very well. The kids are still as precious as ever and we have all been learning and having lots of fun together. I just completed a couple of paintings for the kids’ rooms, a princess castle and a pirate ship… I will not be posting pictures though; it would look as though my four years of art classes went to waste. But, the kids love them and have continued with the themes, putting up stickers and drawings they have made themselves. So nice!

As I said before I took a little trip to Delhi. And by little I mean, 24 hour train ride one way. Yep. It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds, I promise. The people are very friendly and the seats folded and such into nice little bunks when it was time to rest. While there we stayed with a man, Amit, who Jared used to work with in the States, and his wife, mother and brother. They showed us around Dehli and also took us up to Agra to see the Taj Mahal for a day. They were so generous and so welcoming. It was an amazing trip, full of history, conversation, food, Chai and new experiences. So happy I was able to go!

I got back from Delhi on Thanksgiving Day, then we all got together and had a lovely Thanksgiving meal that included stuffing, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, chicken and pumpkin AND apple pie. Delicious! To top it all off, we skyped in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade...Yep, you heard me. Skyped in. As in, someone sat a computer in from of the TV and we watched it through our computer here. Thanks technology. Many of the people I am working with are Dutch and were having their first Thanksgiving meal! It was pretty fantastic to be part of that… we made sure to tell them about Black Friday as well. Yay America.

Well, here are some pictures from the trip… enjoy!

Amit, His Brother & I at the India Gate
Taj Mahal
Red Fort, Delhi
Amit, His Wife & Mother
Red Fort
Red Fort
Taj Mahal
TAJ MAHAL!
Indian Frand

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali from House of Hope!

Setting the fireworks off from the roof, nothing caught on fire.

Diwali Sparklers

Mmm, dinner!

Singing

Streets.

happy birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMYYY !

hope you have a wonderful day.

thinking of you.

wish i was there to eat hot dogs & macaroni and cheese!

love you!

kiran.

This past Saturday the newest boy at House of Hope, Kiran, passed away. He had only been with us at he house for about three weeks. When he first came he was very small and quite sick, but as the weeks went by he seemed to be gaining weight and looking healthier and healthier. Many of the kids were sick these past couple of weeks so when Kiran got a fever and was complaining his ears hurt no one thought much of it, we gave him some medicine and figured he would make a full recovery like the rest of the children. On Friday afternoon he got very very sick so the staff at the house took him to the hospital. During the middle of the night there, he passed away in his sleep. They think it was the HIV medicine he was on was too strong for his weak body and it ended up just stopping his heart.

Though this has been SO hard for all of us here, believing in Jesus has made this situation a lot easier, knowing that he is in Heaven right now, with no pain, his body so healthy, and his smiles so big. Though I wish he was still here with us, I know that God has a plan, and though I may not see it or realize it now, putting Kiran in my life for those weeks was part of it.

This loss has been very very hard on the staff at House of Hope, it is putting fear in them. Fear that they could lose any of these kids, any day. Also the kids, many of them are asking questions about death, and they are also afraid that they could die just as suddenly. I ask that you keep everyone here in your prayers, the kids who lost a brother, and the staff who lost a son.

birthday dancing

just a little something to brighten your day.

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a day at the zoo.

Yesterday we took a school-wide field trip to the zoo! And when I say zoo, I don’t mean good ole John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, or any zoo in America for that matter. This zoo consisted of some ducks, a couple of moneys, some owls, two big pits of snakes, and the main attraction… A PANTHER. The panther was pretty awesome, actually the whole zoo was awesome, actually the whole DAY was awesome. Let us start from the beginning… First, we gathered the children, gave them colored coated name tags, emergency contact number included, and each of us “adults” were assigned a group to take care of. I had a group of seven precious little gems. At first I was kind of concerned that I was going to lose a child, or they would climb in the panthers cage or something like that, but none of the above happened so that was really great! Anyway, we started off piling into rickshaws, and when I say pile.. I really mean pile. I wish I had documented this portion of the day, but I was stuck in a rickshaw surrounded by 11 kids, with no way to get out. There were kids stuffed into these rickshaws like none other, just imagine those cars that like billions of clowns come out of. That was us, but with a rickshaw and cute little Indian children instead. Anyway, once we got to the zoo we checked out all of the animals, there was also a nice little playground that the kids loved. There was this merry-go-round-eque thing (picture below) People were pushing kids around, it was all fun and games... Until Simon, one of the little boys had too much. Did he say anything though? Oh no. He decided to wait for a while… until it was too late. Vomit. Everywhere. Yum. But, he was a champ about the whole situation. He cleaned himself up and ate lunch 15 minutes later. After viewing all of the animals, and the puking situation, and the lack of toilets with an abundance of full bladders (we found a nice little hidden corner that did just fine), we had a picnic! It was wonderful, blankets laid out, some yummy rice stuff (it has an Indian name, but I currently am forgetting it) afterwards we played some games and just hung out. Then, we piled back into the rickshaws again and headed back to the school! Such a great little day. Here are some pictures :)

2+2= 11?

First things first, I know my pre-school and kindergarten teachers aren't reading this right now, but if they were I would want to thank them. For teaching me my A,B,C's and 1,2,3's.

In the afternoon's I spend time with the younger kids at House of Hope, there are four of them right now, Chetan, Tanmay, Sakshi and Sahara. All at pretty different learning levels but in the same class. They only go to school in the mornings and after talking to their teacher I have learned that Sahara and Tanmay don't know their A,B,C's and Chetan and Sakshi need help with their math. So, I started doing just that. Which I figured couldn't be THAT hard right? Abc's I mean, everyone knows the song right? Wrong. Sahara does know the song though, but LMNOP is all one letter. So, I decided to take it a letter a day for Tanmay and Sahara, and its been going pretty well actually. The tracing letter pages that I found online have been the best and also reviewing everyday. Sometimes we have to stay on a letter for two days, but thats alright because they are learning, and I am SO excited for them.

Math is another story... Chetan is VERY good at math, we have our counting beans and he can add up some pretty hefty numbers, I am pretty proud. Sakshi on the other hand.. we were counting beans today. Adding 2 and 2 together.. So, we counted the beans.. "one, two, three, four" "good job Sakshi.. so what is 2+2?" "11!" This is the point where I just look at her and think to myself "are you kidding?" This is also the point where I remember my current math skills and wonder how TERRIBLE I was at math when I was younger.. So, right now were just taking it one day at a time. One math problem a day, and hopefully by February we will figure out together that 2+2 does not equal 11.

Cutest Thangsss

Ohhh, counting beans.

Our newest addition to House of Hope, he just arrived on Saturday. Every time I see him I just want to hug him, and lets be real here, I do.

Sahara

Tanmay

Chetan

Sakshi