I have now finished my time at my first orphanage. The experience has been unbelievable! I can't imagine a more amazing group of 24 children! I am definitely going to miss each and every one of them. Leaving was very difficult for both me and the children. They had the most beautiful goodbye ceremony for me! Each child had made a card for me and gave me a flower. The two older girls that primarily take care of the children made me a traditional Nepalese outfit and the "grandfather" (the man who financially supports the orphanage) gave me a matching satin scarf. All of the children, from oldest to youngest, gave me tikka on my forehead and grandfather put flowers in my hair. In Hindu, giving tikka to another person is a form of blessing! :)
The children stood on the roof and waved as we drove off.
Earlier this week the children went back to school since the festival was over. Their school is called, "Little Moon English Academy". I went to visit the school with them and see what it was like. The funny thing about it being an English academy is that very little English is actually spoken there, so the teachers and principal asked me if I would teach a bit. The subjects are all in English, except for one Nepalese class. All of the children can read and write in English, but most have difficulty conversing. Each morning they gather in the school yard and recite their code of conduct and sing a song in Nepali (but apparently not the anthem). The kids from my orphanage walk to school in a line and they all look adorable in their school uniforms. On the first day back to school I gave them all new pencils with maple leaves on them. They were ecstatic!
As for the title of this post, I have run into my first very unfortunate circumstance while travelling. At the orphanage, my baggage and all of my money was locked in a room. The room was broken into and all of my money and debit card were taken. Even more unfortunate was that I was carrying about $800 USD in my bag because many of the organizations I am volunteering with during my travels require me to pay in cash upon my arrival. I thought it would be more secure locked-up than to carry it on me... apparently not. My insurance was not able to help since it does not cover property theft. I am currently working with the volunteer organization to reach some sort of resolution.
Despite this crappy circumstance, I am going to continue everything with my trip as planned. It would only make things worse to let this affect me any more than it already has, especially since it was pretty much not preventable. I have ordered a new debit card and I am trying to keep a positive attitude.
Tomorrow, I am starting a 3-day village stay and later in the week I am headed to Chitwan National Park to see the elephant breeding centre and jungle. Should be very exciting!
