Gotta Get Down on Friday By: Owen Jenkins

Classic India is still the greatest. I’ve lost track of days so I’m just going to talk about random stuff. Breakfast every day is so good, I had like three scones with honey this morning and it was so nice. At home I always make peanut butter banana sandwiches for lunch and I’ve kept doing that, because we have bread and bananas we can use. I brought plenty of peanut butter and they give us Nutella which was fun to try on the sandwiches. There’s these “calm cream and onion” lays that are so much better than American sour cream ones. Also I had a kit kat and apparently they make them differently outside of the US and it is so much better. We have chefs that cook our meals and it’s so good every time.

That’s just the food though and that’s not why we’re here. We’ve been having such a good time with each other just talking on the bus rides and at the bonfire. We were deciding on a song to sing to the kids and me and some other dudes were joking that we should do “let it grow” from the Lorax, but we actually got it to happen, so we’ll see how that goes. Our conversations can get wild and I love it. But obviously the main point of all this is the kids. I think I’ve already said but they are the greatest thing ever. I’m at a small school so I can bond with each kid a lot more. I have so many favorites so I don’t really have a single kid that is my only favorite. Here’s a bunch that are so great:
Divanshi and Shavnam and Mahak Bharti are so sweet and cute, but also all of the kids are.
Divanshu interrupts the lessons sometimes, but I love him so much because you can tell that when we play with him he’s having the best time of his life.
Rubal is so small and he’s just this lil guy and it’s the best.
Sanjeev is such a punk sometimes but it’s hilarious. Apparently he’s one of Lili’s favorites, so it was super funny today when we were all ready to leave and he goes over to me and holds my hand so we could walk together. Lili felt betrayed and I’m sure she’ll write about that.
There’s these three boys that are crazy smart, I don’t remember all their names though so yikes. They always get the lessons so fast, and every time they just want to play the memory flashcard game. I usually just read the books to the kids but I can let these guys read it on their own.
Palvi is such a goober. She’s all innocent and nice then all the sudden she just cheats in all the games. Even when she’s not playing she’ll tell people the answers.
Suahani is also way sweet and I can throw her really high in the air so that’s fun.
There’s so many more too and they’re all the best.

We painted a mural at our school which was fun. At first we decided on an ocean scene but like half the group didn’t really want to do it and the blue paint was basically black, so we ended up doing a jungle. We didn’t finish the first day but I’m glad we didn’t because the second day Lili and our translator Monika added some very nice touches. I think it turned out alright and the kids seem to like it. We only have two more days with them and I don’t get it. During the lessons it feels like time is super slow but the days just zoomed away, I can’t believe it’s already Friday. The next day with them I’m the group leader so I don’t teach, I’m just in charge of the dance party which will be so nice. I’ll get to film which I haven’t done enough of and I can just play with the kids more. I’m so glad I’ve been doing this and I can’t believe my time with the kids is almost over, but I’m super pumped for the rest of the trip cause I know it’s gonna be a quality time.