Day 11: Construction Day!

 Today was bittersweet.

It was my last construction day.... Yay, because construction is exhausting, but SOOOO sad because, it's my last construction day!!  Time is flying way too fast.  I am NOT ready to come home.  I know this wont be the last time I am at this beautiful place, but having to wait even until next summer just seems like too long!

Today our job was cleaning up all of the "coconut scrap" around campus.  You can't tell much from this picture but the ground is COVERED in palm bark and tons of leaves.  This is gonna be a big job.

We had to rake everything into the back of this small trailer and then take it over to the trash burn pile on the opposite side of campus.

Next we were told we would get to bust out the machete's, we were all wayyy excited until we found out it was to cut out all of the weeds around the water wells.  

I thought we would never finish. 

Did I mention how many bugs were crawling around EVERYWHERE??

Spiders the size of golf balls, red and black ants the size of my fingernail crawling all over, termites, and some type of HUUUGE flying beatle. It reminded me of the lion king.

I'm still twitching every now and then, every time I feel a pull on my skin or any type of itch I'm positive it's a bug on me. 

ughasdjf;klasfjl;dks I'm freaking out now just writing about it.

The Rebeccas.

We now call them Reba and Becky so that we can get them straight.

Showin those weeds whose boss.

I'm super skilled with a machete.

Watch out weeds.

Okay you might have to enlarge this one to catch the significance.

That boy in the window is Ruthish.

He was watching me work and kept yelling my name out with his cute little Indian accent, as soon as I noticed he lit up and waved through the windows!

(There is no glass in the windows here, just bars.)

I just love him so much, I am going to miss seeing this cute smiling face every day.

Went in for lunch and discovered my battle wound.

I told everyone it was from a machete.

Truth is, I have NO clue what it is from.

Could have been a branch, could have been "coconut scrap," could have been a machete!!! 

...I'm going with machete.

While I was at lunch, I was able to FaceTime Jordan.  He was at a big family gathering on his side.  Everyone was in from out of state and I am super bummed I had to miss out.  

It made me a little homesick.. 

....just a little.

Really though, I miss my family, I am sad I wasn't able to be there.

Lot's of fun announcements, and family we have not seen forever!!! 

...also found out today that some of the volunteers have been laying out on the roof during break time.

I think i might have to hit that up.

This place is beautiful, tropical, hot, and sunny... and somehow I have a feeling I will be coming home whiter than when I left.

After lunch we literally raked the jungle.

that's right,

...we RAKED the JUNGLE.

I'm here to serve in any way I can, and I was happy to work anywhere they needed me.

However, this chore seemed a little ridiculous to me, but hey... that dirt looks awesome now.

Everyone piling their stuff into the tree.

SOOOO many bugs and snakes crawling through EVERYTHING on the ground.

uggghgklajsdfkajsdfklvnasdnakdfkjs... I am NOT a bug person.

still raking.

One of the landscapers on campus wanted us to take this picture and pose like a Hindu God.

I guess there is one that carries a staff and is standing on top of it's enemies like this.

Haha, ohh I love India.

This same man also took a close up picture of my eyes, 

he was fascinated that they were blue and not brown like his.

My construction group!

Sad that this is the last group photo we will get in construction.

It has been amazing, and I have loved every minute of it, the campus looks amazing!!

(Not that it didn't before)

When I got back to the room it was blogging time until Krissy or Sam came back.

Once they got back we had to practice, practice, practice!

Shawn, the dance instructor here, asked us to perform for 

the Life Dance group, one of our dances from home.

We had absolutely nothing prepared, 

so we scrambled to go through one of our dances to show the kids.

Then it was off to Life Dance for the big performance! ;)

I was super excited to perform for them.  We have loooved getting to dance with these kids every day.  It has been so fun to get to know them better and watch them learn and grow.  I am excited for the opportunity to be able to show them a little bit of what we do back home!

The kids loved it! Most of the volunteers were able to watch as well.  It was so fun.  All around this has just been an amazing experience.  There is so much love here. 

 Everyone, for the most part, loves and supports each other here. It's awesome!

When we got over to family time, Kala had more Jasmine for our hair.

I seriously LOOOVE HER!! She is the sweetest woman alive, and we hear her house really is the best behaved.  I am so glad we have had the opportunity to spend time with Kala and these boys that we love so much!

Sam giving the boys henna tattoos.  

We are definitely not artists, but it keeps them entertained and it's fun to see them running around the playground so proud of our little chicken scratch art that will stay on them for at least a couple days.

Me reading with Ruthish.  He reads to me every night.  I wish I could continue this tradition back at home.  I love him so much!!! My heart will seriously be broken when it is time to leave him here and come back.  I will never forget this little boy.  I hope I can keep in contact with him forever.

Ooo I just love this.

These little moments mean so much!

These are the ones I will cherish, the ones I will miss so much when I come home.

I have to stop thinking about how little time we have left here.

It's making me sad.

Ruthish giving me henna!

He is just the cutest.

Ebenezer came and sat next to me to watch.

I seriously want to bring them all home.

How do I make this happen?

Kala giving sam a beautiful henna tattoo on her hand.

Me next, me next!!

Can you tell what that says on my arm?

Neither could I.. lol Ruthish kept pointing at the Tamil letters and saying "sound it out" and I just giggled inside wondering if this is how they feel with me every day in tutoring. I hadn't the slightest idea how to even begin sounding that out.  He was able to help me out a bit, and it says Ruthish!! He branded me with henna, little does he know he has literally branded my heart for life. I love him. I can't say it enough, I LOVE this little guy.

Also, Basha made me a bracelet, you can see in this pic.  If you have been following my blog, you saw that he bought me a bracelet in the star store on Tuesday.  Well I guess he bought the bracelet because he promised me he would have me a bracelet that night, but he also bought string and a butterfly charm in the star store that day as well and has been working on my REAL present.  I love it. I want to keep it on forever.  I just love these kids, they are full of so much love.  I am so sad to think that the only love they get throughout the year is by volunteers like me, who leave after 3 weeks, just as soon as they form attachments.  I hope and pray that the future groups of volunteers will love these kids like I do.  I'm sure some volunteer from sessions before me has thought exactly the same thing too.

Me and Ruthish showing off my awesome new henna tattoo.

Don't worry guys, I have gotten pretty good at drawing a cobra and a lion, the two things the boys ALWAYS request, if anyone is interested when I get home. haha!!

I had to get a picture of this, all of the kids sleeping as we are getting ready to leave family time.

They don't have beds or blankets, they just literally line up like sardines along the wall and sleep in lines next to each other.  I hated this at first, but Ruthish said he loves to sleep like this, it keeps them cool through the night.  

Caught these two lil munchkins holding hands.

I LOVE.

Don't you just have to fight back the urge to squeeze their little cheeks?!?!?!

ADORABLE.

When we got back to the room, our roommate emily had discovered a family size chocolate bar she got in London.  Taylor whipped out some chocolate candies she got at the Reliance Fresh market in Chennai the first day in India, and we had a CHOCOLATE PARTY!!

It was a feast. 

Seriously nothing has tasted so good....EVER.

Or at least since the first week of June.

I think it's safe to say, EVERYONE in the Parakeet room is now chocolate wasted.

VERY chocolate wasted.

I love the girls in my room.  We have had so much fun getting to know each other. I am so glad we are all fun and get along super well! It has made this experience that much greater, to be able to come home from many physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting days and be able to share it with my two best friends plus several new ones has been AMAZING.

ps. one of those HUUUGE brown golf ball sized spiders fell from the ceiling on to Krissy's bed while we were all up blogging. I am PARANOID to go to sleep, or lay in my bed, or touch my blankets. These jungle bugs are crazy!!