So, I felt all traveled out after Trip #3 and had to take a break. Coincidentally, all the expats decided to stay back and take a break at the same time, so we had quite a group of people to hang out with (maybe 12+ people) and celebrate the good times.
We kicked the weekend off on Friday night with dinner at BBQ Nation, followed by some nightlife at Firangi Paani. I've mentioned both of these in a previous post -- they're both on my recommended list. It was fun -- the place was crowded, they had a dance floor, and as expected, they played "Bebot." Where's the filipino? Oh, there I am. And so everyone looked at me during the song and it shouted "Pilipino!" during the chorus.
Half of the gang at Firangi Paani.
Me and Viktor.The next day was lazy day. I slept in for once (hallelujah!) and had lunch at Aroma, a really good Chinese restaurant here which I also mentioned in that previous post. The hot-pot style soup, meat, and veggies were really yummy, and it's probably the closest to authentic chinese that I've found here.
In the evening, everyone (about 12 people) joined together at my place, and we ordered some italian food and biryani for delivery. Biryani is an indian rice with lots of herbs and spices, and Hyderabad is especially known for its biryani. It's actually too spicy for me so I don't eat it that much. It was nice in the end to have everyone just relaxing and kicking back at my place. We ate and chatted and watched bollywood music videos together til the midnight hour.
On Sunday morning we went to the children's orphanage, Divya Disha. The intention was to help tutor the kids with English and math for an hour or so, and then play with them for a bit. I was a little nervous beforehand because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to communicate properly with them given the language barrier, but I was knew that it wasn't about me and that it's about helping the kids and giving them company.
When we arrived, we were greeted by many excited little girls. (The girls and boys were in separate houses.) They rushed up to us, shook our hands ("Good morning ma'am! Hello ma'am!"), and were giggling and smiling at us. It was little overwhelming, but it was nice to see their excited faces.
The girls were especially fascinated with Pris' and Aly's cameras. It seems that here in India, whenever you flash a camera in front of a child, they immediately strike a pose! I've often watched them fight for camera space, with one girl trying to get in front of the other while another girl just squeezes in barely from the back. And when you say that you're done taking pictures, they ask for you to take more!
After we spoke with the facilitators, we found out that there was no real agenda. "What do we teach? What's the schedule?" The response essentially was: Do whatever you want! Of course, we were stumped for a bit -- the girls couldn't really speak English, and we didn't actually have any school material to cover. So ... we decided to just play singing games with them instead!
We did everything from hand games to "Ring around the rosie" to the chicken dance ("I don't wanna be a duck, I don't wanna be a chicken, I just wanna be me ...") to hop-skotch. They also taught us some of their own games. One of them involved people holding hands and walking in a circle and singing a song, while one person was in the middle dancing to the song and selecting the next person to go in the middle. All I really remember was the part that went "Shakey shakey shakeeeeey .." where the person in the middle would shake their hips. Some of the girls were quite the divas when they did that part. :)
Spinning in circles! "Ring around the rosie ..."
"I don't wanna be a duck, I don't wanna be a chicken ... "For two hours, we played outdoors with them. Of course it got a little hot, and it was also very tiring! Maybe I'm getting old, but I can't sustain enough energy to play games for 2 hours, apparently. Haha. We took little 5-minute breaks here and there to just watch them play on their own, as well as take some additional pics. One of the girls even put a sticker on my forehead. :)
All of the kids were very sweet, and it does break my heart to know that these girls don't have any families of their own. I was touched to see how much they take care of each other. When one girl stepped on something and get a splinter in her toe, another girl immediately went to her side and helped her get it out. And the bigger girls were like older sisters to the younger girls. It was hard to say goodbye when you could tell that they wanted you to stay longer.
It was a nice experience to interact with the children. By going to all of these posh, high-end restaurants, I was sort of avoiding the reality of many parts of India. I hope that these children do somehow find new families. The experience has motivated me to always to my best to reach out whenever I can. They were innocent, enthusiastic, and genuine kids, and they deserve something better.
