A day at the orphanage
Trip Start
Aug 29, 2009
1
32
46
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Orphan and Street Children Rehabilitation Center
A few people have been curious as to what my life is actually like at the orphanage. I wake up between 6:30 and 7 am. At that point, one of the women who works there brings me a cup of very sweet tea. I walk outside, where it is freezing and drink my tea while thinking about what to do with the kids today. I then go to the each room and see how the kids are. There are 3 rooms, one with the young boys, one with the older boys and one with all of the girls. At this time, I usually help them with their homework or read to them. Steven, one of the other volunteers, has an Ipod so sometimes, I make the kids listen to popular American music, which is hilarious. In the mornings, we usually go outside and play a large group game involving a ball. Before we arrived, the kids didn't even have a ball, so that really makes them happy every morning. Around 8:30, we have dal baht, a lentil and rice dish, which I eat for breakfast and dinner. It's rather bland and hard to stomach in the morning, but you quickly get used to it. I've lost considerable weight eating dal baht every day. After breakfast, the kids get ready for school and we walk them over. From 9:30 to 3:30, we have the day off as all of the kids are at school. During that time, we usually go into Kathmandu and sight see or go into Thamel for shopping. At 3:30, we pick up the kids from school. After that, we play more games and do homework. All of the kids are so sweet and so well behaved. I thought orphans were supposed to throw gruel around. I like hanging out with the older boys, as they speak very good English and are quite funny. Around 6:30, we have more dal baht and then it's sleeping time for the kids. Before bed, I usually go into the girls' room to see h ow they are. The girls are so cute and often dance traditional Nepali dances for us. They have wonderful voices and dance very well. To be fair, they make us dance and sing as well, but I can only recall crappy Britney Spears lyrics and the only dance we know is the chicken dance. I then go to bed and read until 8-9 o'clock and then go to sleep. That's pretty much my day at the orphanage in a nutshell.
