****SO SORRY, WORDPRESS IS NOT LETTING ME FORMAT THE POST AND ALL THE PARAGRAPHS RUN TOGETHER. PRETEND THAT WHEN THERE’S A TOPIC CHANGE, THERE’S ACTUALLY A PROPER NEW PARAGRAPH!**** Thank you, Cipro! Thank you also, those of you who suggested ideas for the kids. They’re so eager and so well-behaved and they love whatever we plan for them. Kathy, by resources I meant that we’re not empty-handed, we can bring materials and supplies that the organization provides for us. I’m excited to try out all of your ideas!On Saturday we did a very simple but very successful activity, we traced the kids’ hands. We showed them bigger/smaller, counted the fingers, taught them some English words related to hands and then they colored them in. The older ones, Babita and Sahil (here in the orange shirt:
) were able to trace their own hands, and did beautiful coloring. Little Namita (this one:
) sat on my lap for almost an hour, drawing tiny circles all over the tracing of her hands. Every once in awhile she’d turn around and say “Hey?” looking for my approval of her drawing. So sweet! Despite my illness, the food here has been amazing. They have their own tandoor and have been making the freshest naan for us. Tonight they went American and we had pizza and those French fries with the Indian spices. Luckily the mountain roads here are so rocky and steep that I’m burning some of it off! Last night some of us went up to McLeod Ganj for dinner. They were having a beautiful march for Tibet with candles lit which we were able to watch for awhile. I had macaroni and cheese for dinner! And Tibetan dumplings, called momos. Afterwards we went to this outdoor bakery where I had the most delicious chocolate sandwich cookie ever. Then we took a hair-raising taxi ride back down the mountain, and all went to bed early, as usual. I am getting SO much sleep here! There’s so much free time to relax on the balcony and read. I feel sometimes almost like I’m on vacation, which is refreshing after the intensity that was Delhi. They both have their good and bad but I’m really happy here. Pictures from yesterday: 
(I love this one, cheesy sweatshirts for sale outside beautiful Buddhist temple)
Sign in our restaurant that cracked me up: 
Bakery: 
I LOVED this sign in the bakery case: 
And my favorite shot of the day: 
Coming attractions: Pictures of my house and neighborhood, plus the wonderful Sunday picnic and temple visit we had with CCS staff.
A Big Leap 
Hi, Amy – Your mom forwarded me the link to your blog so I’ve been following along on your adventure. And what an adventure it is! My step-son, David, was just in India on business, but has now returned. I’m passing the link to your blog on to him so he can see the places you’ve gone. Your experiences have been amazing and I think you are incredibly gutsy and inspiring.
To add to your activity ideas with the children: 1) in keeping with the “hands” theme, would you be allowed to put their handprints on the walls in paint? If you have finger paint or tempera paint, it’s a fun (albeit messy) activity. Then you can write the children’s names around the painted print. 2) A friend of mine is an early childhood intervention specialist who works with children ages birth to 3 in Chester, PA (a very poor area near us). She uses a “See-n-Say” to introduce the children to different animals and the sounds they make. (It shocks me, but she works with children who live not more than 10 miles from us who have no idea that a cat says “meow” or what a cow looks like.) Chances are you don’t have a “See-n-Say” laying around, but you have some pictures in your blog that might work (elephant, cow, horse, and of course, monkeys). If any of you can draw, you can follow up the activity by drawing pictures of the different animals and having the children color them. For a physical activity, the children can act out what the animal does while making its sound (swaying an arm for an elephant’s trunk, galloping for a horse, “scratching” claws for a cat… I have no idea how to emulate a cow).
Whatever activity you do with the children, your obvious love for them is already teaching them the greatest lesson they could learn – how to love and be loved.
God Speed and Best Wishes!
Charron
is it bad that that last picture makes me think of disney world?
Expedition Everest! (The real Himalayas remind me of the Animal Kingdom ones ALL THE TIME.)