daily routine

After registration on Friday we went to the hotel restaurant again and ate essentially the same thing as the day before for dinner. We aren't loving Indian food but are hoping we'll find alternatives or learn to love it again. We both liked it before our last trip but when here last time we just got beyond sick of it and neither of us were excited to eat it this time. We're managing.

Saturday am we decided to go to 6am mass for our first day of volunteering. We arrived in time and, after removing our shoes, entered the room. I quickly counted over 90 nuns and maybe 30 volunteers. I think the nuns start every day this way. It was a beautiful liturgical, solemn, reverent ceremony. One priest and two priests in training ran the show (they were all South Korean, I think). One nun-in-training read a passage from Genesis. Then there was a lot of order and words that everyone but me seemed to know. At one point I said and Teresa said, "you need to kneel". Oops. I refrained from communion and took the opportunity to just observe. People's expressions indicated depth of feeling. Again, I was astounded by the reverence and earnestness. There is a statue of Mother Teresa in the back of the room; we wonder if that was her place in mass.

After mass we went to the volunteer room for a breakfast of chai tea, bananas and plain bread. This will be our breakfast for 6 weeks (except Thursdays as there are no volunteer placements on Thursdays). At 7:30 we gather to say a meditation (it's quite beautiful, hopefully I can memorize it), then the crowd has a recitation for Mother Mary. This routine is, I think, an attempt to get our hearts and minds in line with humble, selfless intentions. After this we sing:

We have our hope in Jesus (2x)
That all things may be well (3x)
In the Lord

And after this we sing, to repeat my 2013 description, a "happy-clappy" song to anyone for whom it is their last day:

We thank, we thank, we thank you
We thank, we thank, we thank you
We thank, we thank, we thank you
from our hearts (all 2x)

Then we love you and we'll miss you. (Sing the 'we'll miss you' version: it sounds funny as it's all ss's).

After this, volunteers grab signs for the various homes and you need to assert yourself and get to your group quickly: no one looks out for you because no one else knows where you need to be.

We followed a lovely Filipino lady who had been at Kalighat for two weeks. Off to the bus stop for a dose of authentic Indian transportation!

Next post: our first couple of days at Kalighat 


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