Teacher's Day!!!!!!!!!

Today was teacher celebration day! It was soooo much fun! We were blessed with abire, which is the red powder, all over our faces. Different students blessed me, aka doused me with abire, and my entire face was colored bright red. We danced and played and laughed all afternoon, with all 350 students, teachers and volunteers. We got all sweaty and the red powder turned into a nice liquid that was dripping all over the place. It's a good thing I don't really care about the quality of my clothes. :) But really, I can't believe how much fun it was. These kids saved up money to buy us all cards and the abire, there were two stereos - two dance floors - kids playing drums, and so many people having a blast. Talk about a great way for teachers and students to bond! These kids are absolutely amazing!

On another note, the creative drama class from yesterday was awesome! They loved it! I am so glad, because even though there were 18 3rd graders, they were all in the palm of my hand - and had a great time. Again, (I know I keep repeating myself but) they have never done anything like this - and it is really so rewarding as a teaching artist to bring this to these wonderful kids. The 8th grade class also was superb, and I couldn't ask for anything more.

I went to yoga today, and it is totally different than any kind of practice I have ever studied. There was a lot of different breathing, focusing exercises. In fact I felt pretty faint for a bit there, just doing an exercise that I have never done before. It is so interesting the way your body reacts to techniques you are not used to. There is also a lot of meditation, which is something I wanted to focus on while in Nepal. I know this practice will be very beneficial to me both physically and mentally - and help to balance out my life here. I am going to go 7 days a week, unless I choose to go trekking for the weekend. I created my schedule so that I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off - which is very freeing. All of the volunteers really want to explore and trek and do as much as we can here, so that is awesome!

All in all, things are really great here. I miss my love, TJ that is, more than I can even express...I hope these 3 months go by guicker than the last 2.5 weeks.

There are some stresses with the school, as to concerns of the money being used properly...but that is another huge topic and story that I would rather not dive into right now. But at least I am doing what I came here to do...and it is beneficial and rewarding to the students, the school, the teachers here, and myself.

To quote Clinton Fearon, "Oh, what a feeling...what a lovely little feeling."