apparently, I'm experienced

After a day off yesterday filled with copious amounts of naps, (Thursdays are our only days off during the week), I had my third day of work today.

Bernadette was very sick and couldn't make it out for work and we had a group of three new Irish girls at Prem Dan. This all amounted to me being the "veteran" English speaking volunteer at Prem Dan. What!? I showed them what to do, gave them tips, led them to the bus and got them on a rickshaw home. They looked so happy and scared with their big wide eyes--most likely exactly what I looked like the other day. It was nice seeing it from the other side... as a wide-eyed-scared-semi-experienced volunteer (who still has no idea what's what).

Good day at work today. It rained a lot. Which made me secretly happy because that meant the men's ward had to spend the day inside. The women aren't allowed outside in the courtyard, ever, but the men are. Don't ask me why. I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself.

After my chai break I've developed this routine of going upstairs and sitting with these same two little old women. It's so funny. They really like talking with me. And I really like talking with them. The kicker: we don't speak the same language. It's so hilarious. I sit down between them. I look like a mega-giant-woman in comparison--their little wrists are maybe the size of six pencils bundled together. They throw their hands in the air and begin talking rapidly in Bengali. And then the one woman pats my chest and smiles and holds my hand, as if saying, "you understand." I always talk back. I like to pretend we have topics each day. Today was world politics. The other day we were trash talking other women in the ward. For tomorrow, maybe global warming?