A quick rundown of an ordinary day…………..
Up at 4:30 to get kids ready for school. One massi is usually on duty for the night. We do this together. Ganga wakes when i do, and chirps a sort of "chirp-humph" louder and louder until I pick her up. As soon as others are up she is happy to go with her Didis to watch them get dressed. The girls do a pretty good job of getting themselves into uniform — after our hard work of getting them up. They love their winter uniforms and by the time of breakfast they are in uniform, leggings, scarves, socks, gloves — all of it. Shoes stay outside. I shower and dress while they eat breakfast. By 6:10 we are out the door. It used to be 6:am but because of "winter" the time is shifted ten minutes. This morning we also took Ganga with us in the stroller.
I love the mornings, the walk to school — saying hello to head teacher. i used to be intimidated by her, seemed I was always "getting it wrong" but now we are comfortable with each other. last week I was made President of the Mother-Teacher’s Association, the Indian form of the PTA.
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(Now the next day)
The above is as far as I got last night when I got a phone call about a meeting today, and then made a call to find out yet another avenue, and it seems some meetings on the part of people trying to help are happening today (the 5th) so I was VERY tense. I’m getting better though. I slept, interrupted by a sick baby who needed medicine, but then slept the rest of the night. All of this is what my ORDINARY life is like here. I have constant interruptions, caused primarily by my always being underfoot, or rather at the computer which is the "everything" room. So I laugh at myself when I get irritated at being interrupted.
Also yesterday:
1. A teacher called Gibi to say she wasn’t coming back. This was a total surprise, and it looks like she is going through some major personal crisis that no one seems to know much about. So, we will look for another teacher. Our Special Ed teacher will also fill in.
2. The washing machine takes two hours for a one hour cycle. The repair man came. The problem is the water pressure, so we will move the machine down to the first floor today, and put it in the outside bathroom.
3. I posted a blog about the politics here, which affects me a lot — on my mind a lot. I’m actually writing a lot about my early life… and politics, and trying to decide what to put on the blog. I know I have to learn how to categorize blog subjects or an index but i don’t have time.
4. I talked on the phone with my older daughter. It was her birthday in the US and we had sent her flowers. She works late and calls me from the car on her way home. We talk several times a week. I was a single mother, so the phone was always a big part of communication when I wasn’t home. It still is.
5. I chatted online with my younger daughter in the US. She works at night, which is day here, so when she has down time, we chat. It’s funny. I love her night job.
6. A homeopathic doctor came to see the handicapped children. He is evaluating each one, and giving us medicine. This doctor has taken care of me in my migraines, for which allopathic medicine has little to offer. Maybe he can help with the spasticity of the handicapped children…. I do use antibiotics for infections, probably I over-use them. But remember, I’m an anxious mother before I’m a doctor.
In between all this I talk to kids, check exam results for a list, sign exam books, buy fruit from the fruit man who comes each day. Vegetables I buy in the morning on my way home from school. I give hugs and scoldings throughout the day.
And i worry, and wonder how to make my "nerves of steel" even harder, how not to worry, how to "let go" at times because others are working on this too. My eating is OK, but I do not exercise, which upsets me, but I haven’t figured out what to do.
So now it’s the end of the 5th December, and this average day was similar. We had a meeting with the local councilor. I put together more files. The two other meetings planned for today were canceled because of schedule conflicts… (so I wait and try to be patient). The plumber came and we moved the washing machine downstairs. A former staff person came to visit. This wasn’t the right job for her here, but she has found a really good job, and I’m happy and relieved.
As I write now the time is 8 pm, and the night massi has just arrived. The younger children have been fed and are watching Damu, the Bengali movie about a father who wants to find an elephant for his daughter. The older girls have just come downstairs from Spoken English class and are eating supper. Then three girls will clean and wash the classroom and stairs; three others will clean up the kitchen and the downstairs floors. The remaining three did the lunch clean up. Then they will all shower and change into night clothes and begin the slow process of going to bed.
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