I’m very happy to say that we were able to make another trip to the orphanage. I wasn’t clear if it was meant to be Angel’s possessive or Angels descriptive. It was another moving experience. The kids all remembered us, even though it had been almost a month. And there was one of us who couldn’t go, and the kids asked about her by name. They were so excited to see us, but the afternoon started off pretty awkwardly. We filed in and sat against the wall, with all the kids squirming on the floor. We taught them The Itsy Bitsy Spider, complete with hand motions.---SILLY CONFESSION TIME
I don’t think I ever understood what the song meant by a water spout. I’m still not sure I do. I picture the thing that carries water from the roof to the ground, but I’m not really sure. Why wouldn’t it just go up the outside? I definitely had no idea what was meant by it when I was little. And why do we teach kids songs about spiders anyway? Eww! And an itsy bitsy one? All the harder to find and kill!
END SILLY CONFESSION TIME---
I’m not sure what made the start of the visit so awkward. I think it was probably that they were told to be on their best behavior, which was very unnatural to them, and we responded by not getting too excited. Fortunately, after TIBS someone suggested we all go play outside, which helped to break the ice. On the way out someone passed out the candy, pencils, and little toys he had brought for the kids. Once we were outside everything was great again. We all played and laughed and ran and jumped. I took a lot of pictures again, because the kids LOVED seeing themselves on the screen. Oh yeah, and because they are adorable. We played a lot of some game, though I wasn’t totally clear on the rules, where there was a lot of dancing around in a circle and picking someone to be ‘it’… as you can imagine, I got picked a lot, but it allowed me to make sure everyone got turns. 
One little girl wanted to join in the fun, but stood just outside the circle reluctantly. Eventually I realized that her little hands couldn’t hold both the candy and her neighbor’s hand at the same time. She really wanted to play, but she didn’t want to let it go. She was almost in tears. So after a little gentle persuasion I held it for her and she held that hand as we went around and around in the circle. There was a woman who came with us who was married to a ThoughtWorker and spending time in Bangalore for a few months. She brought her daughter and was planning to spend time at the orphanage regularly. I haven’t heard anything since, but I hope she is, since she was great with the kids; the itsy bitsy spider was her idea. Her daughter was adorable, 2 or 3 years old, I think, but she needed pretty constant attention from her mom, or she got very jealous very quickly. It was pretty cute, like ‘why are you being nice to all these kids I’ve never seen before, Mommy?’
There was one girl who seemed to be one of the ringleaders of the group. She was the one organizing the circle games, and the clapping games and making sure everyone got their turns. But then when it came time to taking pictures, she dragged me over to take a picture of her and a cute little boy. It was a very nice picture, and they really enjoyed seeing themselves in it. Then she pointed to him in the picture and said ‘my brother,’ in such a sweet, possessive, and protective way it made me almost cry. I don’t know why I assumed orphans had to be totally alone. It must be nice to have an ally in a place like that, even if sometimes he has to side with the boys.
A lot of them wanted me to take pictures of them in sports poses, or right as they were hitting a ball; like you might see on a baseball card. They thought they looked so cool with the cricket bat in hand about to smash a 6 run ball! Sadly, with my snapshot-taking camera I often missed the precise moment of glory, but they didn’t seem to notice or care. There are more pictures in the latest album 'Angel's Orphanage Revisited'
Finally (I know, right...? Already?), I noticed something really precious. The kids, especially the younger ones, had a tendency to ‘buddy up.’ That is, as soon as they found one of us that was giving them some attention, they would be instantly attached at the hip. Or rather the shoulder to the hip. It was very cute and very sad at the same time. Even in a place where they are loved and 
nurtured, they were still starved for attention. Maybe it is like that for all kids, I don’t know, that they are like black holes for attention, never filled, just wanting more. Even when we ran out of steam, our new little buddies could just sit next to us, content as can be. And then they would pick their nose.
Love Sarene