Home of Hope friends

The first two days in India have been a bit overwhelming, but we're holding up well. The sisters at Home of Hope orphanage in Pallaruthy, a neighborhood in Kerala, did up our room very nicely, although no shower for a week will be a challenge, as will washing in big plastic buckets. Of course, the girls are adorable. Nicholas and Peter and I played with them all day. I brought four good tennis balls, which kept us all occupied making up games outside through the afternoon of our first day here, a Sunday. Sarah bought them all tiny koala bears carrying Australian flags and wearing I love Australia t-shirts. They are clip-on bears, so all the girls were wearing them on their ears, in their hair, etc.
They sang us a welcome song, we told them a bit about ourselves, Nicholas said he felt uncomfortable being the center of attention. Peter had a couple of small meltdowns today--the girls were literally pulling him in different directions and he got frustrated with not being able to ward them off or communicate with them. But all's well. After 18 hours of flying yesterday, we got here at 11PM (3AM Australia time) and by dinner time (about 7:30) after our first full day here, Nick and Pete were out cold. Sarah took some fruit up to the room for them for later.

We are being served royally mealwise (in fact, the bell just rang for 4 o'clock tea as I write). We also attended mass this morning. What a crowded affair! Shoulder to shoulder and only about a dozen pews on one side of the church, so most of the people just say on the floor, with the men and women largely sitting on different sides. And the saris were gorgeous. A riot of color and beautiful patterns. I'm sort of embarrassed to say that we Americans appeared to be the worst-dressed congregants.

After mass we ate breakfast with Fr. George (I think that's his name) then walked over to his Don Bosco center, site of the boys' orphanage. He showed us around, then drove us over to another Don Bosco facility, but Peter couldn't handle anymore building tours, so he drove us back to Home of Hope.