Little of this and that!

Ok, I am back in the blogathon wagon to finish the ride! The last two days have been just so hectic that I did not have a chance to sneak some time for my blog. Right now, I am happy and sad at the same time. My freelance business is picking up and I have projects lined up for the next couple of months. I had to even turn down a couple of projects because I cannot fit it in my schedule now. All this is good right considering the fact that about 6 months ago, I had no idea where I would go with all this. But, it also means that I have to struggle to manage everything. S does help me a lot. Even with that, sometimes it feels like crazy. I think I still have to learn to manage my work efficiently so that I don’t have to end up working on the weekends.

I was working almost all day today. But, compared to before, I don’t feel as bad about working on the weekends. During the week, I get to spend a lot of time with the kids. I am even volunteering in Sarath’s school a couple of days. So, on the weekend, if I have to work or go to a meeting, I don’t feel as guilty.

The volunteering at the school is so much fun. I go for reading and math volunteering. During the reading session, the kids have to read a book aloud for 5 min and then re-tell the story or facts from that book without looking at it. I then need to write a two line report on how they did. They have been told how to choose the right books for their level and they choose really well. So, there is this one girl who cannot understand or speak English. The first time she came to read, I was really surprised that she did not know anything. Later I learn’t from Sarath that they just moved from Japan and she is slowly learning. So, the next time, I knew what to expect. I read the lines and she repeats after me. After that session, I talked to their teacher about what we could do to help her and we discussed a number of strategies and things that we could do. The teacher was very happy that I brought it up and also happy that I was willing to work with this girl differently. During our conversation, the teacher said “it must be so frustrating for the kid to be in class all day without understanding much of it”. I had never thought of this situation from the kid’s point of view. It really must be frustrating. But, even then, she does not complain about coming to the reading session.

When I come across situations like these, it’s like a wake up call for me. We seem to complain for very small and silly reasons on a daily basis. Overall, they don’t even matter. The supposedly educated grown ups that we are, forget the little things in life we need to be thankful for!! I honestly think that we can learn a lot from the kids.