Day 3 John

6/23/23

The day started earlier than normal. The night before we learned there would be a whole school assembly where the students would hold a flag ceremony. Watching the kids sing, dance, and be so joyous at 7:30 is something that I would never expect to see at home. After the ceremony ended everyone split off to do their own duties, whether it was in the kitchen, farm, teaching a class, the library (where I was). Working in the library was uneventful and honestly relaxing aside from hearing the librarian watching a show with people constantly yelling at each other. I spent the time with Thorne organizing the fiction and biography section alphabetically. We were impressed by the variety of stories and the quantity of certain books. Over the course of the 3 hours we found 10 copies of "Treasure Island" randomly placed in sections they didn't belong.

Once the kids were out of class a group of us formed the volleyball super team with a member of the faculty and played against the kitchen staff and some teachers. We played four sets to 25 and our super team went undefeated. We played from 3:30 to 6:00 and did ball work. This was all preparation for sports day where our super team will play against the parents or family members of kids at the school.

After a few days here it's been pretty moving to see the constant happiness and happiness it's contagious. It's hard not to smile when walking from dorm to dorm or to the fields and being swarmed by kids saying hello, waving, and just being so excited see us or be with us. Seeing people who live day to day with fewer recourses but are much happier makes me wonder what's actually worth my time, and what will make me happy. Is it cultural? Is it lifestyle? Is it an outlook on life? Honestly I don't know but I'm re-evaluating what brings me happiness at home.