The First Days

Crossing the legs was easy. Using the fingers wasn't.

This post mostly records the jet lag Santiago suffered from.

He slept through most of the car ride home. He slept the most of Friday. Stayed awake the night. And had to go through 2 full days of AFS orientation orientation over the weekend.

On Friday night though, we covered some questions he had to ask us.

What struck me through these couple of days was the gentle and courteous manners of the boy. He was polite almost to a fault, had a nice sense of humour and cared for others.

When I dropped him off at the orientation, there was an instinctive urge to check if he'll be alright. Many times, I wanted to call someone and see if he was ok. Joan kept worrying as well. Tcha... how stupid, he's come alone all the way from Madrid and has done a few canoeing camps already - what can an Indian guest house do to him?

And when we went to pick him up again on Sunday evening, Amrit and I were surprised to see two full families there welcoming their daughters. So, we were a bit outnumbered. It was nice to see the other two families embracing their daughters - one had brought some welcome pastries. Our boy was the only one to have already met the host family.

Dosa + butter sauce = Ghee Roast

It was nice to have him join us in the family prayer time, kneeling beside us. Missed Anu much! (She was having a rollicking time in London, with Kate in labour.)

We were told the children could sleep the next couple of days and think of school from Wednesday. That's welcoming! For any student.

So he slept.