Do You Have Any Justin Bieber?

So I busted out the poi today. I was supposed to teach English, but instead the headmaster at the government school asked me to teach poi during their "drill" period. Drill period is kind of like gym. I taught to the 8th standard, which are girls ages 12-13. These are the same girls I have been teaching English to. So they have this big concrete slab that leads into the school, and the girls all sat in neat rows around the big concrete slab, and the headmaster set a chair for me to sit in, almost like a throne. It was scary, my heart was beating so loud I could hear it in my chest. How am I supposed to teach poi to 144 girls with only one pair of poi?

So I showed them what I do, and they watched in awe and clapped when I finished. Then, I asked if someone wanted to come try. A brave girl volunteered and I showed her some easy movements with only one poi and then gave her both. She was excellent. These kids are faster at picking it up than most people at home who I have tried to teach. Several other girls tried, and soon everyone wanted to give it a shot. One of the teachers even came to try and she was great! They all laughed and clapped each time someone tried.

So they PT teacher (who thank Brahma she had a whistle to quiet everyone down,) said to me that we will do this as a performance on Sports Day, August 3rd. I am to teach them all to do it, and they're going to bring socks to school on Monday so we can make our own poi. I'm going to make a CD of some music and have the girls pick an American song they want to do the performance to (they all want Indian music but I'm going to make them choose an American song!)

I asked if they had any hula hoops, and they had these thin wooden hoops that were made from a bent stick of some sort. They worked fabulously, so we're going to get more. I'm so excited about this. So the good news is that I don't have to teach English anymore (at least for now). I was really stressing about that. So we'll be splitting the 144 girls into 2 groups and I'll be teaching one for 40 minutes while Kerry teaches English, and we switch for the next period.

So I was really happy with today's outcome. The girls were happy and the teachers were happy, so I was happy. I had my amazing dinner of chowpatti and dal (note to self: Fresh ginger tastes SO GOOD in dal! YUM!) After dark I went out to the basketball court and started playing with my flowlights. Sure enough, some of the girls in the orphanage started to emerge and came to tell me how beautiful it was and I let them try. They picked it up so quickly! These girls knew English very well, and were around 14 years old. We played with the lights and were listening to music and they were asking to listen to Justin Bieber. I told them I deleted all of the Bieber from my computer but they liked the music I was playing. Then they asked to listen to Michael Jackson and I definitely had that! So we showed each other some dance moves, I taught them the moonwalk, and talked for awhile. Then I realized my curfew was up and the warden at the guest house needed me back so she could lock the gate. So, we all ran to our rooms and those girls are my first friends I've made here at Lady Andal. Maunica and Ausha, and I forget the other girls' names. There were several who came and played for a bit, including a tiny girl and boy.

One actually asked me if I was a boy or a girl, which I thought was cute. They aren't used to seeing women with short hair who are of any higher status. I'm definitely very foreign to them. One of them said, "You are very beautiful!" I told her she was beautiful, too.

So, another great day another rupee. Feeling really great right now. Tomorrow is the weekend, the monsoon is expected to come. I may go over to the orphanage to make friendship bracelets with the girls I met last night. We'll see, I need to keep some of my tricks in the bag though.

Missing you all so much! Sending good vibes to those in need of happy energies. Hope all is well on the other side of the planet.