Christmas at the Children’s Home is a sweet time. Earlier this evening Kathy and I returned to our apartment from the girls canata. Last evening was the boys cantata. (Cantata is a British word for singing performance, I think?) Tomorrow evening the children will carol at various staff members homes. The following day (Christmas eve) is when the gifts will be distributed to the children.
Two of the staff women here have labored cheerfully over the past few weeks to assemble a gift parcel for each child. About $10 was the budget per gift. I believe the parcels include a new toothbrush, toothpaste, a tub of Vaseline, some candy, shoes for the boys and sweaters for the girls. I’m sure there are a few other things, but I’ll have to wait until Christmas to find out for myself and then I shall let you know!
The children are on chuti now (school break). So rather than the normal wake-up gong being rung at 5:30 sharp, now Hindi Christmas songs are played from a loudspeaker at 6:00 to rise the campus for the day. This morning I found myself wondering if the sound was any more appealing to actual Hindi speakers than it was to me. Despite being thus aroused, I did pull myself out of bed and outside for a morning run in the school yard. I don’t particularly like running in the school yard –it is much smaller than a normal ¼ mile track and the ground is uneven—but I’m increasingly missing the exercise and solitude running in the US provided, so the school yard will just have to do for now.
On that note, I’m going to sign off for the evening so I can prepare to enjoy some Hindi Christmas music at 6:00 am tomorrow!
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