Was I really feeling homesick?

When Saturday began, I was pleased with the sunlight, it seemed like ages since I had seen a blue sky. I woke early to wash the load of clothes that I had been putting off for a week and when I finished, I was looking forward to doing something with the hostel children. Uttam made the children vacation from the 1st of July to the 14th, and because of that, two the hostel students came and asked him if they could go back to their homes. Then, I saw a few more of them packing, they were leaving me...all alone. Half of the hostel students left for home and as they waved, I realized that I desperately wanted to go with them. After the children had left, Lipi, the only female here close to my age, also decided that she wanted to leave and stay at her mother's house for a week. I couldn't believe how teary eyed I was getting. I wanted to go home too. There are no school students, no hostel students, no one to talk to that can actually relate to what I am saying, which meant that there was absolutely nothing for me to do. The feeling inside was weird. Often I have nothing to do, I mean I go to school in Maine but when there is nothing for me to do at school, I have my friends to do absolutely nothing with, at least we can engage in some type of conversation. But on Saturday, I felt like there was no one there and to top it off, there was nothing to do. It was a very uncomfortable feeling and I did not feel like being bothered. I just went in my room and slept until dinner, ate, then slept until the next morning.

On Sunday I woke to blistering heat with no current, which is always a signal for me to just go back to sleep (sad but true). I felt like a small child as I asked Uttam, what is there to do today , and even more like a small child when he told me we were going to the zoo. I quickly wrapped my sari and was excited about leaving the house, the two older boys from the hostel, Sankar and Nabakanta also went. More so than going to the zoo, I was excited about the hostel boys being able to come along. They are really polite young gentlemen and they way they smiled when we were out was unlike the other smiles I have seen come from them. I could tell that they were really enjoying their time away from the hostel. We all had a great time and took some pictures which are posted now. I even had this snack called chaat for the first time...it is like a smorgasbord of things that doesn't seem like it will taste good together and looks disgusting but tastes wonderful.

Although the children are on their summer vacations, some of them have been coming just for a couple of hours to do some activities. This morning, I took over the group of children that came. I decided to do a short grammar lesson. I felt pretty bad making them do work during their vacation but the group of 17 children really enjoyed learning vowel sounds and understanding English punctuation. I could even hear them saying the sounds once the class was over. After the grammar lesson, I let the children paint portraits of each other, it was fun and peaceful. The children really enjoy art and they are excellent artists. After the class, I watched a couple of movies with the hostel students and then I had some more clientele for hair cutting. A very simple day, but full of fun spent with the children... who knows what tomorrow may bring. Will post soon!!