Today was our first full day in our homestays! Last night was spent in our homestay homes. They were all very welcoming. They made sure we were comfortable and laid out our mats and sleeping bags for us. They also made sure we cleaned up our stuff! After our first night, we woke up to the sounds of roosters crowing and people puttering around the house. Amelia’s group had a breakfast of crackers and chai (the first couple cups of the day), and Emily’s group had upma, which is potatoes, garlic, wheat, onions, and peppers. It was all really good! We all asked to help do chores but we were told not to do them. We tried to help out anyway. (Amelia: our host mother tried to teach us how to make a certain type of bread...it didn’t work out too well. She sent us away pretty fast. ) Emily’s group also got to see how to make the upma.
After breakfast all the girls helped our families carry water. We did this by carrying the pots on our heads! We were able to balance the empty pots, but the full pots were a lot more tricky. We were chastened by the girls who could carry two or three full pots on their heads without using their hands! Even those who only carried one were impressive. But it was a lot of fun, and the boys occasionally helped, but mostly laughed at us and took pictures of us.
After that, we headed over to the construction site. The people from the community were already hard at work, and we were welcomed with open arms. We helped mostly with carrying and fetching concrete, laying bricks, and creating piles and piles of bricks wherever they were needed! We got very good at creating assembly lines, and we completed a significant part of the building today--- the walls are almost completely done! We have about three more feet to go, and with some luck it will all be completed by the time we leave! And don’t worry, we made sure to take plenty of water/chai and snack breaks. :)
After our first stint at the construction site, we headed back to our homestays for a light chicken curry, an ocre-like vegetable that you sucked out the meat from, a great popped bread (kind of like homestays) and roti! It was all delicious but very spicy. (Amelia: at our homestay, we were lucky enough to be given the chance to have a little siesta after lunch. We may or may not have overslept and missed 20 minutes of work....)
During the break Emily’s group played Uno with the homestay family and many of the local children came by to watch. They seem to really like the game!!!! It was a really great way to bond and have fun. We laughed constantly.
Then we went back and worked for another couple hours. The time flies by when you’re singing Simon and Garfunkel and laughing! After our first full day of work, we had about an hour to go back to our homestays and take bucket showers. There might not be anything better than a bucket shower after spending hours in the sun working with cement and dust. It gets everywhere. Then we were given even more chai (we actually had some at the work site, too!) that was very sweet and delicious, this definitely contributed to our need to use the squatting toilets!
After that we headed back to the big house for a leadership activity. We each identified our personal character types—whether we are guardians, artisans, idealists, or rationalists. Guardians are loyal, responsible, and helpful. Artisans are spontaneous, energetic, and helpful. Idealists are kind and idealistic. Rationalists are logical. We then discussed the pros and cons of each character type. We ended our session by asking some additional questions that we are supposed to think about over night. The questions were: who is someone that bothers you, and what is their character type, and what might be some foreseeable problems between members of our group and what are some possible solutions in relation to character types.
Our solo freshman Sunny is alive and well. He writes: “Hey mom I love you and I miss you. Dad I miss you too. From Sunny your son. I miss you too sister. Peace!”
Overall, we had an awesome, exhilarating, fulfilling, exhausting day!!!!! Now to eat dinner and then go to bed so we can get up early to go on a hike. Signing out: Amelia and Emily.
