Day 2 Part 2...the good stuff begins!

So, today after my first blog Caitlin was still on the phone with her mom, so I went back to the hostel to check on Tuan, who was sleeping when I got there. I realized that it was better for everyone to sleep now so we fend off illness later. So Caitlin came back a while later and I read some more, and when Tuan was up we hung out for a while, talked about traveling a bit more (I've decided to go to Darjeeling, but to come back to Kolkata on my own for the next couple of days and spend my time volunteering), and then we went to lunch at a stand around the corner from our hostel. There are three guys that run the stand, and two of the brothers are deaf/mute. They are adorable, and really entertaining. Neither of them is much older than the three of us, so talking to them is easy, in a sense, but you have to motion everything because they can't hear you. Those two and the other one have a sign language that they use and understand, which I think is amazing, having an ASL background.

Anyway, so we got lunch to go and then I began my first walk to the Motherhouse for my volunteer orientation. On the walk there following Caitlin and Tuan, I was feeling kind of empty, like this city, with its outrageous sites and smells and effects it should be having on me, was having no such effect at all. I mean, walking down the street dodging bicycles and motorbikes and cars, ignoring beggars and shop owners, seeing people sleeping on the sidewalks, and just the general air of it all, the vast difference that the buildings and cars and streets have from the US...I didn't feel like any of it was having an effect on me. The thought that crossed my mind was, "I flew about 10,000 miles around the earth, by myself, through 3 places I have never been, have seen skinned cow-halves hanging from carts, ferrel cats and stray dogs eating from garbage piles on the sides of the streets, and lightning, rain, and thunder like no other, and still nothing? Still I feel no effect? I feel as if I am walking on a movie set; none of this is real."

A few minutes after I had this rather dissapointing realization, and thinking that none of this was going to sink in, we turned onto Bose street, and the Motherhouse was just a block or two ahead. Its a brown builduing with green windows, if I recall correctly. Tuan said "It's right up here", and we walked around the corner, and I saw the sign that says, "Mother Teresa, M C. - IN", and a huge smile spread across my face. We rang the bell and an MC sister came and opened the door, and suddenly I felt as if I belonged. With my first steps into the Motherhouse I felt my heart and spirit rise with joy and admiriation and awe. I had a great swell of emotion, as if everything mattered again, as if I had had an epiphony, and the meaning of it all came rushing back to me. With a few more steps, I saw the room that holds Mothers tomb, and stopped, and smiled, and thought, "This is it, the reason I am here. She is lying there, smiling and happy that so many are coming to do her work."

The orientation was nice. I met a girl from New York, a girl from Ireland, and a guy from Israel. It was interesting hearing about each of their journeys to the Motherhouse and India itself. We got the low-down on all the rules, and each of the houses, and before this afternoon I had wanted to work at Daya Dan, but when she went over each of the houses with us, Shishu Bhavan just called out to me. I felt a very strong desire to work there. Shishu Bhavan is for female volunteers only. Tuan and Caitlin are both working at Daya Dan, but another thing in working at Shishu Bhavan is this will be the thing that I do on my own while in India. I wont rely on Tuan or Cailtin when I feel lost. And I like that. Also, it is about 4 blocks from the Motherhouse, so I don't have to go far after Mass in the morning, and I don't have to take any scary Metros or Auto-Rickshaws to get anywhere ;) unlike some of my friends.

After orientation we hung out in the Motherhouse until 4:30, when Tuan leads choir practice. The two head sisters are awesome, and they both sang with us. Seeing them made me feel so happy and so at home, and it was odd, in a way, because it was kind of along the same lines as "these are people you only see in movies", but these women are real, and they made everything that I've seen so far so much more real.

For dinner tonight I had real Indian food - Dal and some kind of bread I can't remember the name to, and Mango juice. it was REALLY GOOD! It was that kind of soupy brown stuff that doesn't look very appetizing, but, oh, it was good.

After dinner we walked back across the street to Hotel Maria and I bought some water and then me and Tuan came here.

Thats my day! It was soooooo amazing. The first moment I've been waiting for and anticipating has finally happened! Getting to set foot into the Motherhouse, to see Blessed Mothers tomb, to meet the sisters...its all so fantastic. And now its all so real.

With All Christ's Love
Briana



Oh, man...I got up at 5ish this morning...I need sleep! Mass at 6am, bright and early!