It's early morning. I wake in my bed in Kinley’s house at the hostel. I hear the bird song starting with the rising sun. A rooster crows nearby. I hear someone rustling on the patio, feeding the incense burner with juniper and soon the divine fragrance is wafting in my window. It's chilly and I burrow deeper into my thick blanket. The morning is foggy.

Kinley begins chanting his prayers in the prayer room on the roof above me. It's a soothing rhythm and I am tempted to go back to sleep. But I throw back the covers, pull on a sweatshirt over my pjs, slip my feet into flip flops and head for the kitchen. One of the women who work in the house is already up making tea. Kinley and his wife have taken in a couple of destitute women to live with the family. Their kids go to school and live here and help out. One has become my friend. She speaks no English but she always hugs me and has the sweetest smile in the world.

I ask for milk tea, no sugar. Ok. Ok. No problem. When I get my tea it is very sweet! Darn. My efforts to limit my sugar intake are rarely successful.

I go out to the patio and look out over the kid’s hostel buildings and playground. A clatter comes from the hostel kitchen hut. Breakfast is being prepared. The school bus leaves at 8:30. So the kids are up early to wash, get dressed in their uniforms, have breakfast and gather their school bags. The older kids help the younger ones. I see Gita helping a small girl braid her hair.

I see Chandan and he calls up to me" Good morning Didi. Have you had your breakfast?"

I want to take some video but the morning is so dark and hazy..not good lighting. So I go back into the kitchen and am motioned to come and sit. I'm served two large, thin pancakes and a small saucer of chili sauce. More carbs. I think this is a battle I cannot win. Everywhere I go, people are so happy to cook something for me. I feel I must appreciate their kindness and generosity. It's makes them happy to be able to give something and that something is typically starchy. 

I'm riding the school bus into town with the children this morning. That's always fun. Listening to the kids chatter and sing lifts my spirits and distracts me from the awful roads and the gridlock traffic, dust and exhaust fumes. I'll spend the day at school taking photos of our kids and interviewing new children. Then I'll return on the afternoon bus and spend the night here again. More kids should be here then; returning back from vacation. It's so great to see them again after a year...their bright faces and familiar quirks. And to see how they have grown in the past year. 

One little girl, Nisha, who last year looked so sad and unhealthy is bright and shiny-eyed this year. She is a tiny thing, and shy. But it made me happy to now see her smiling and looking so well.