Lifestyle changes

Over these last two weeks, since Francesco left, our lifestyles have changed quite radically. Nicole and I are now living in a spare room that's been used for storage at Prerana Hostel, right next to some of the girls we teach. We're also navigating the countryside on the backs of our translators' motorbikes (who are the co-coordinators of the organization) as we visit far-flung Musahar villages as opposed to taking autorickshaws. And since our surge-protector burst into flames last week, our work on the survey report, fundraising and creating a Nari Gunjan brochure has slowed down quite a bit. Thank goodness Nicole's aunt is sending us a new heavy-duty surge-protector, along with more DEET, permethrin and a large bottle of pepto bismol!

Our living situation had to be altered once it started raining heavily at night (after all, it's monsoon season)...our rented house's caretaker, Suji, sleeps in the unfinished second floor and apparently gets wet when it rains at night. The first time it happened, he banged on our front door in the middle of the night and slept in the unused bedroom that had bed bugs (poor Nicole). Upon learning about the incident, Sr. Sudha firmly told us that this was an improper arrangement and we should no longer answer the door at night. So the next time it rained, at 3:30 a.m., Suji banged on our front door, and upon our seeming indifference, came round to our open bedroom window and shone his flashlight onto us as we "slept", yelling the whole while. How creepy and inappropriate! I understand that nobody can sleep in the rain, but as he sleeps on the unfinished floor upstairs, he could have just moved his mattress into the covered garage instead. The day after, Sr. Sudha had us move into Prerana hostel. It's great being able to spend more time with the girls and Sr. Sudha...I just realized I have a little less than a month left here. So much to still do: we plan to continue the survey and do 3 more rounds of another 6 centers/villages, plus all the computer work that needs to be finished.



Here's a photo of Prerana Hostel, my new home: