"Oh the Places You'll Go." -Dr. Suess

Hey, look at me I wrote a grant. Haha. The Program Manager (aka the Vice Pres) of New Light, Gorge, gave me the task of writing a grant at the beginning of this week for a donor in the US. Let me tell you, when I said yes I didn’t expect it to be an all week project. I think the hours total I’ve spent working on this thing goes well into the high teens. But I’m pleased with it. It’s basically 8 pages of why this donor should give NL money to send children to college. There could have been worse ways to spend my week I guess haha!

When the monsoon attacked Maggie and I

Even though this week was so busy with the grant, I was able to spend a lot of time with the people I’ve met here. I’m extremely impressed with some of these guys. It takes a certain type of personality to want to travel the world, and as it turns out, I get along with those types extremely well.  And also, Kolkata is actually such a huge city that there’s a lot to do after work. It’s kind of like America actually…. besides stuff like malaria mosquitos, immense heat, disease infested dogs, street people, radioactive super mold and monsoon weather. Okay so it’s not really like America at all but it has its perks. I get to work on my sense of direction, language skills, bartering confidence, and low and behold: I’m losing weight cause of all this walking.

I keep watching the New Light kids ‘ Carnival practices and I’m getting so excited to watch the final show. They are going to be adorable!!! And I think Jennifer and I have picked out which dance we want our Soma Home girls to teach us in exchange for my guitar lessons. It’s gonna be great!

Lol...

God has been teaching me a lot about contentment this week.  It’s really easy to think about how easy some things were in America like A/C, having my own car, Internet, and not having people CONSTANTLY overcharge you or stare at you in public because you are different. However, there is a reason I am here. I know I have a purpose and whenever I focus on bad or inconvenient things I need to remind myself that I have wanted this for a long time. And the children I serve are truly incredible. Oh the stories I will have when I come back :)