The Young Ohana: Day 4 at The Rising Star: Tutoring!

Well we woke up late again (7:15am) so no time for a workout. I think with all of the construction and dancing we have been doing, were not exactly lacking in that department but I hope we can get time to work out soon. There were monkeys running across campus this morning, everyone was freaking out when I woke up, but by the time I got out there they were gone. Bummer. Krissy is going into one of the colonies today that sells art. A lot of the people in the colonies don't have hands or are missing fingers so they paint with their nubs, or whatever fingers they have left. I told her to buy me the craziest/coolest picture she could find. All of the money collected for the art goes to the artist in the colony, which I feel great about!! Plus it will be super original. I can't wait to see which one she brings home for me!! Yay!! (It's in the video)

p.s. The boy in the video got nominated for every new "presidency" position. He was so humble and didn't think he deserved any of the nominations. It was so cute to watch him blush every time he got nominated for president, vice pres, etc. of the dance group.

Also, sorry some days the videos are totally random clips. I don't have a ton of time to video blog because we are busy ALL the time, but I am trying to atleast catch a few clips of what we are up to, or I give the camera to someone else, and they either don't film anything, or don't necessarily film what I would have filmed. (like dance class, us dancing as well as the teacher talking lol. but... beggars can't be choosers. Hopefully you still enjoy them!)

Got up and ready for morning conclave and then it was off to the school!

Today was my tutoring day! I absolutely loved it! These kids are so adorable! It is so fun to see them comprehending and learning. They are so inquisitive and really want to learn. I started out tutoring one boy, and besides the room being 1,000 degrees (we found out later there was AC we just didn’t turn it on…figures) it was so fun!!! It's so cute listening to them read their little books with their adorable little accents. They roll their RRRR's here. I just love listening to them talk.

Just a short walk over to the school.

The first room we tutored in.

Ummm just sitting in my own sweat waiting for my student.

Hardworking boy! He loved to read and was so focused.

I LOVE watching these kids learn.

Doing his worksheets.

Ruthish!! (on the left) I am so in love with this boy. I want to bring him home. Ohhh I wish I could so bad. He is such a doll! So smart, so well behaved, and he just loves me to pieces. He is in my house for "family time." I am bringing him string tonight so that he can make me a bracelet. I can't say how much I love this boy. Ohhh I just wish you all could meet him!

The girl to the right is a little Indian girl at the school. She is albino. 100% full Indian. At first I thought she was a white mix. She has very light skin, light brown hair, and the lightest honey brown eyes I have ever seen. She is beautiful. She picked me some flowers today at play time. I love her. They kept begging me to come sit with them at computer time, but I was assigned to two other children. I seriously wish I could bring them all home.

Playing at recess!

I wish I could remember her name. I will figure it out tomorrow! She wouldn't let me go play with the boys at play time. She kept saying "the girls sit on the stairs and watch the boys fight." Haha. I just love her. She would just pull me along all over the grounds until we finally rested at these stairs.

As soon as I sat down, all of the girls SWARMED.

They are so full of love. It's awesome!

All of these girls wanted to play with me, and touch my jelwelry. I love them so much.

I'm sure you guys are so sick of me saying I love them over and over and over.

...but I can't say it enough. These kids are darling. They make every day amazing.

I LOOOOVE being here.

More friends!

They LOVE to get their picture taken!

Photo shoot!

Cute girl putting chapstick on Kaylee.

I love thse boys!! The one in the middle is in my house.

You can see the flowers I got at recess!

Lunch time!

Look who I found!!

Sam was on construction today but joined us for lunch!

One good thing about having all of these kids around is that you always have someone to take your picture for you!!

...until they won't give the cam back.

This is Basha.

I love him so much! He is such a good boy. I love to play with him. I tutored him today and he was seriously an angel. We got through all of his work so he wanted to color me a picture. He had me pick out my favorite colors and then I told him to pick his, and those were the colors he used.

He colored everything but the astronaut and the sky. He wanted me to finish it so that it was "our" picture. He signed it with both of our names.

He went and grabbed scissors and cut it so that I could "frame and hang" so cute.

The principal told me I had to give it back because all artwork goes in the kids memory books and then they receive them at the end of the year. When Basha heard this he was SO upset!! We finally convinced them to let me keep it!! wahoo!!!

My loot for the day!!

Picture, and flowers.

I love that Basha drew the Indian flag on the moon.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that this picture is PERFECT for me. :)

After tutoring we were on fruit duty! We eat fresh cut fruit every night with dinner. It is education's job to cut the fruit at break time. I learned the MOST AMAZING way to seed a pomegranate in seriously less than 30 seconds. I wish I would have video recorded this little indian woman teaching me how to do it. She is one of the house maids. She saw me struggling (as I'm sure you all have) trying to get the seeds out of the pomegranate. She cut it in half, tapped it five or six times with a wooden spoon.. and they ALL fell into the bowl. It was amazing. Pretty sure this skill will change my life forever haha.

Becca just cuttin away!

I'm working hard. Can you tell?

So the pants to my Chudidar were wayyyy too long today, but they had cute sequins along the bottom so I wore them anyways. When I finally got home I was so sick of pulling them up all day. I just let it be. Pretty much got made fun of all night. But I was wayy more comfortable.

I don't see what the big deal is. ;) ...they fit fine.

Krissy and Me just blogging on Sam's bed til she gets home from construction.

Haha! Shhh... don't tell Sam all of the crumbs she keeps sweeping off her bed,

may or may not be from us.

Life dance!! So grateful we are able to work on technique out here!

It has been so fun to take dance with the kids.

We have to wear our Chudidars to dance.

OMG ITS HOTT!!!

But soo fun to take class in the open lunch hall with Mango trees all around

in the (very rare) cool Indian breeze!

Shawn Perry. Founder of Promethian Spark.

It has been so fun to learn under him.

What a great opportunity! We will be at life dance every day!

Ahhh so glad we still get to dance. EVERY DAY!

Showing us their tricks!

We had dinner and story time after dance. Rhuthish is in our house. Omg you guys I just love him!! I am for sure sneaking a camera in to family time tomorrow.

YOU HAVE TO MEET THE BOYS!

It's crazy. there are no beds. They all sleep on the tile floors. With no blankets. 20 boys crammed into two little rooms. They literally just sleep in a line on the floor like sardines. At first I thought it was sad. I talked to Rhuthish about it. He said beds were wayyy too hot, and they like sleeping on the floor because the tile keeps them cool. Makes sense. Crazy though, they don't have pillows or blankets or anything. Just tile. Makes me appreciate my bunk... and my HUGE fluffy bed at home that I dream about on a nightly basis. But I was glad to hear
that the kids don't mind it, and actually prefer to sleep this way.

I HAVE to remember to bring string for Rhutish tomorrow to make me a bracelet!! I forgot it tonight. I felt so bad when he asked for it. These kids remember everything I swear!