A Day in the Life

Goodness, time flies by fast here.  Maybe you are wondering what I’ve been doing? Maybe not, but let’s pretend you were.

My days begin somewhere between 6 and 10 a.m. Lately, no matter how exhausted I am, or what time I go to bed, I have a really hard time shutting off my mind when it comes to brainstorming on life and what I can do for these kids.  My solution? Turn off my mind by watching episodes of comedies on Hulu through my Mizzou VPN.  (A sincere thank you to the university for letting me continue to use this beyond graduation after sucking my life’s earnings over the past four years).  And then I fall asleep listening to the Barfi soundtrack around 2 a.m. 

If a miracle happens and I am up and motivated to wear pants instead of shorts by 6, I go to Grace Home and help my little schoolgirls get ready for school.  But now that they have a foster mom, I guess things will change and I can stop feeling guilty about sleeping through my alarm!  I then go to Faith Home and work with some babies and toddlers on motor skills—using the hemiplegic side, weightbearing, improving range of motion, etc.  Soon, I hope we’ll be ordering some Neoprene fabric so I can make soft splints/gloves to help prevent deformities and normalize muscle tone.  

Then, I take my daily break for lunch, which often includes cooking, laundry, and/or researching OT treatments and interventions.  Soon, Telugu classes will also fill this time of day—thankfully—because I will be so much more effective when I can better communicate to ayahs and kids!

Later in the day, I might teach English online (I still have a couple of my Korean students, and this helps cover daily expenses). And then I go hang out and love on my eight Grace girls, while simultaneously doing some good ol’ behavioral therapy.  Add to that typing classes with the older schoolgirls for an hour or two before and after dinner, and then (if I feel like I have energy for it) singing songs with my cuddly Grace girls, and tucking them into bed.  An auto ride home later, I chat about the day’s events with my roomies before curling up with my laptop and poor wifi connection.

Overall, it’s a pretty satisfactory, pretty busy schedule.  But, it’s India, so things rarely go as planned, and this past week I spent more time with walls than I did kids.  The schoolboys are getting ready to move into their new Truth Home, and so I designed, sketched, and have been helping paint murals so that their home looks nice and spiffy and boyish.  My artsy self has had the most fun time working in particular on the cricket-themed room, but there is also a space room, a “transportation” room, and an animal hallway. Hopefully we’ll complete it soon, and move-in day will be sometime this week! 

After finishing painting, I’m going back to being an OT—while simultaneously preparing for that far-off day when I have my own adopted children.  Yes, (Insert fake excitement here) it’s going to be potty training time!!! Having not so much success with my older girls due to inconsistency, I’m first focusing on Chelsea, a two year old, and we’re going to try the 2 day intensive methods taught in OT school.  In the next post, I’ll let you know the results of this method and whether or not it’s a bunch of bologna or not!  Beware that if I succeed, I might make a small business out of it when I come back (hopefully only for a visit?) to the States next summer!   The bigger challenge, unfortunately, is working on the toileting skills with the school girls who have been potty-trained on/off throughout the years.  Prayers for that are extremely welcome!

I also just ask that you pray for SCH as a whole--that the moves and transitioning of children to their new homes will be smooth, that there will be transparency and unity among the community of staff and volunteers, and that we will be following both His plans and His timing both individually and as an organization.  

When I Miss America

I wrote the title of the blog and then realized it says "Miss America."  Yeah, you all have read about the American pageant queen with the Indian background who is currently the topic of discussion before something more worthwhile to talk about comes into play.   I'll be honest and say reading some of the articles about all those discussions has simply verified my opinion that I don't understand people.  I don't understand the ignorant Caucasian Americans who seem to forget that our ancestors also immigrated to the place we call home, and that pretty much everything we are isn't of the culture and people that were there originally.  *Are you gasping in shocking realization of this obvious fact?*  I also don't understand the Indians (and other cultures) who claim the woman isn't drop dead gorgeous just because she's dark--after all, I'm planning on getting myself an arranged marriage to the darkest, tallest Indian man around in 5 years.  (Joking....well, sort of.)

But the main topic of this blog is supposed to be the "When" not the "Miss America" part. So, I will continue on that note:

For me, it's kind of too soon to miss my family.  I mean, sometimes I wouldn't see them for 2 months when I lived only 2 hours from them, so nearing 3 months isn't that big of a deal to me. In December, when most of the long term volunteers leave Ongole, it will likely be a different story!

But I do miss things about America sometimes:  Like how I didn't have to cancel work once every ten days for my stomach's slow internal death.  How I didn't have to become a Google-certified gastroenterologist.  (I'll let you guess how my day has gone since these are the first two things to pop into my head). I miss being able to fill out an order form, send it to a hospital secretary, and have a custom-made orthotic to give a child after 4-5 business days. I miss being able to leave the house or answer the doorbell without first having to think about putting on pants to cover my knees and ankles.  I miss washing machines and dishwashers.  I miss calculating costs in only one currency.  I miss these things usually just one at a time, and I'm fully aware I can only make an actual list because my stomach hates me today and I've been stuck at home researching ways to make splints (out of essentially no materials or budget) and watching episodes on Hulu through a very slow internet connection.

Now, I will do my best to be optimistic and tell you about the otherwise glorious week I've had:
Last week was the 7 day Hindu holiday for the birthday of elephant god, Ganesh. It could be a wee bit obnoxious when I was walking home from work and parades had all traffic stopped to beat on drums, shout things, and throw powder at me; but frankly, I find the 6-8 weeks of playing Christmas music, singing hymns at church with words I don't even know, and 900 people jingling bells at me for money to be a lot more obnoxious. (Yes, I am aware that I'm a bit of a Scrooge). :)

I was able to make the most of the holiday though, as my apartment building had their pooja (worship) and then dinner every night.  Considering that I'm now living on less than a college-student-budget, free food is still awesome, so I'd skip the worship part and then join everyone for dinner. But more than my love for the free, home-cooked spicy cuisines, I loved getting to reconnect with all the neighbors with whom I'd been friends last year, plus many others.

Sunday was the final day of the festival, so all the neighbors piled into a van, a couple cars, and a huge truckbed to take their 8 foot tall statue of Ganesh to the beach. Because the kids begged me to join them, I rode in the truckbed, playing UNO before our cards blew away, and admiring the view as we traveled through farms and villages. 
When we reached the beach, in the most unceremonious fashion, the hired men shoved the idol head-first into the waves while the aunties, kids, and I jumped the waves and paid them no attention.  Whereas the neighbor men were shirtless, doing back flips off each other's shoulders, and playing catch with lemons (surprisingly, this is way more fun than it sounds), the women were fully clothed and fully terrified of being taken out to sea.  They held hands (or in my case, wrists, as I didn't return the super-tight grip) and clung to each other for dear life, lest they be standing in water more than waist high. And then they dragged each other to the ground if the wave was remotely strong.  Through this I learned that while we Americans do not have the grace of Indian women, we do have a stronger sense of balance and ability to dig our feet into the sand to maintain an upright position.  Whenever I'd venture out to what is maybe 3 feet of water, Aunty Kavita would yell at me to come back, truly afraid for my well-being, which I found quite hilarious.

I love everyone who works for SCH and, of course, I adore the children at SCH.  But I also love having this community where other things can happen.  Girls my age with whom I can go see Bollywood movies in Telugu, aunties who invite me to dinner and want me to meet all their friends, little kids who invite themselves into my apartment for manicures and ask me if they can see what my Bible looks like.  There's so much to be had within this community, and I am very blessed and thankful to be a part of it!

Two Weeks In

Have I really been here over two weeks already? Goodness! Anyways, here is what has been going on:

Grace Home Purple:  I’ve kind of adopted the group of girls in the Grace Home Purple apartment as my own.  (Angel and her best friend are in this home). For a little over a week, I considered the possibility of moving in with them and being their foster mom. I've wanted to have 8 adopted children for a long time; however, considering being a full-time mom-like figure to 8 girls with disabilities between ages 3-14ish, was terrifying.  A foster mom is greatly needed, but I don’t feel led to take that role at this time.  So, I’ll continue to head over to their apartment at 6 a.m., help them get ready for school in the morning, and then do my day of OT work.  I was a little stressed/confused during this decision making process, but now, I’m glad I’ve decided to stick with doing primarily OT—it’s what I love to do.  If you want to help furnish their new apartment, go here: http://www.schindia.com/Special-Projects/equip-a-foster-home/

Cleaning:  Sometimes I’ve planned my day to be full of OT treatments, and then things change.  Like, getting a cold and losing my voice for a couple days. So, instead of going and faking energy and trying to yell when all that comes out is raspiness and 12-year- old-boy-like cracking voice, I’ve been deep cleaning the volunteer apartment and extinguishing our four ant colonies.  After day two of cleaning for 9-10 hours, I’m so thankful my roommate puts up with my Bollywood tunes blasting through the apartment--and I’m ready to stop washing rugs and towels that other people used and get back to my 6 a.m. routine with my girls!

I am an OT:  I passed my board exam, in case you missed that little awesome piece of news.  So, I am officially a registered occupational therapist or OTR. To make that even more real, voice-cracking me got to Skype Mizzou and joint-lecture on international OT with one of my friends. (Really, it was just us talking about what we're doing and how awesome being overseas is, but lecturing sounds much more sophisticated).

OT Kid update: The day prior to getting my board results, I got Jamila (a 2 year old with cerebral palsy that affects only her left side) to eat two entire cookies with her left hand—picking up the small pieces that fell to the ground and everything!  A week before, I had begun wrapping her right arm with ACE wrap for a couple hours every day, so that she would have to use her left arm for things. (She previously just ignored that arm). The first time she ate a cookie with her left hand, she could grasp it if I placed it in her palm, but when she dropped it, she’d just put her face to the ground to try to grab it with her mouth.  Yes, it was funny, but no, not functional.  :) Her quick improvements make me very excited about everything I am going to get to do here!

Beach Day at Bay of Bengal:  A team of volunteers took some kids to the beach, and asked me if I wanted to tag along.  (Of course!)  I also brought Naomi, one of my Grace Home girls with Down Syndrome, since I wanted to bond with her a bit more—and that’s easier to do away from her 7 sisters. It was really fun, even though she wouldn’t go anywhere near the water!

 

She is precious, and I greatly enjoyed our time and her cuteness. The waves were beautiful, and I am so glad to live within 30 minutes of the ocean.  I guess I was able to finally get that lifelong wish, Mom.  Now we’ll see if I ever get a dog….

Prayer: A friend's father passed away this past week, and I just ask that you pray for strength, wisdom, and peace for Liban and his family.  He has been such an encouragement to me since I met him at the beginning of this year, and although I can't "do" anything for him right now, I can ask that you just cover their family in prayers.

 Skype:  I have always had difficulty keeping in touch with people when we lived in different places. Email and facebook are great, but talking on the phone is typically a dreaded experience for me, and I'd much rather just hang out in person.  But, when I decided to go live in India for a bit... meeting up for dinner or your coffee and my smoothie just isn't possible.  My goal is to Skype at least two people every week, so that I don't just miss out on your lives and those relationships.  Anyways, whenever any of you grandparents or aunts or cousins or friends and definitely whenever you nieces and nephews want to talk, please let me know because I'd love to!

Ok, guess I should go put on some knee-and-ankle-covering pants so I can take out the three bags of trash...  Enjoy wearing shorts, America. :)