Snippets

Life here is starting to become pretty routine, so I guess I can just give a few snippets: 

·        Yesterday (Sunday) I got up at 11(!) and went to Coffee Day with some of the others.  We were looking at the Indian newspaper and found pages upon pages of personal ads that parents place for their children. It’s funny because the women’s ones talk about how they’re all “fair, beautiful and homely”. Homely?? And the men’s say that they’re tall and make a lot of money. 

·        This one’s for Elliot: We went to a market yesterday on this small, busy street, and decided to follow one of the cows that roam free on the streets here.  We thought this was super cute and funny, walking right behind the cow, until it lifted up its tail.  We jumped out of the way and just narrowly missed being hit in the faces with cow poop! 

·        I rushed out the door today and didn’t think of my usual checklist of things.  On the way to the orphanage I realized I didn’t have a hair elastic, which is super essential.  I dug in my bag and couldn’t find anything and Annica couldn’t either, so it ended up that I held my hair up in a ponytail while she wrapped her mint flavored dental floss around it.  It worked and held my hair the whole time! Now it’s minty fresh.  She had to cut it out when we got home because I couldn’t remove it. 

·        There was another adoption at the orphanage today!  We came in and there was a white couple standing there.  They were from Switzerland and they were there to adopt one of “our” kids, unlike the other day where we’d never seen the kid before.  We didn’t know this kid’s name (I don’t know any except Pinki!) but it turned out it’s Asha and it means “hope”, and they’re keeping her name.  How sweet!  I’ll miss her but I’m so, so happy she’ll be able to grow up in a family.  We’re in all of this couple’s orphanage home movies now! 

·        We don’t know is 80% of the kids at the orphanage are boys or girls.  The only way to tell is when their pants fall down.  Today we found out that one was a girl who we were SO sure was a boy.  It reminds me of those Magic Nursery dolls I had when I was little, where you put the packet underwater and it dissolves to tell you whether your doll is a boy or girl.  It’s thrilling each time we figure out a gender! 

·        We went to this market called Dilli Haat tonight, where women on micro-loans sell their goods.  In the market was a mother monkey nursing her baby, which was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.  She let us get really close, which surprised me.  Then she stood up and walked on all fours, with the baby clinging to her upside down, still nursing.  It was so sweet.  

My camera’s on the fritz so I don’t have any pictures.  Am trying to decide whether to suck it up and buy a new one or not.. I suppose I have to but when this one died I wanted to get a really nice special one, which I can’t afford right now.  Sigh! Dilemma.

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