Ok everyone. We are here and we have seen the children. We aren’t even worried about the fact that we have been wearing the same clothes since Saturday or that we are smelly. We really don’t care about our bags but are mostly concerned about the two bags filled with all sorts of goodies for the orphanage. The hotel is trying their best to help locate them and are confident that they will turn up. They made two trips to the airport today while we were with the children but nothing has surfaced. They seem very confident that they will turn up though. We, on the other hand being pessimistic Americans, have very little doubt we will be traveling home MUCH MUCH lighter than when we left.
The children are amazing! We saw them yesterday for a couple hours. Shanti had just been put down for a nap so we didn’t spend much time at her orphanage. Then we travelled over to the other orphanage where Sandeep is. He seems to have a bit of a cold and we think he is teething so he wasn’t really in the mood for visitors. He winged most of the time we were there but Alisha did get to hold him but wouldn’t have anything to do with me.
Today was moving day. We picked up Shanti and travelled over to Sandeep. They will now be cribmates and begin to bond as brother and sister. The nannies are already calling them didi and dada – sister and brother. By the time we go back we’re sure they not even remember a time when they weren’t didi and dada.
A quick note on the nannies. They are all incredibly wonderful. They love these children as if they were their own and have very warm hearts and are very beautiful. They are never far from the children and know better than we do how to introduce the children to us. Everyone came into the room to greet Shanti, they all spoke some Nepali to each other, laughed, dropped Sandeep in Alisha’s lap, laughed some more and completely disappeared! Talk about immersion therapy. Having had all those years as a pre-school teacher, Alisha did well with Sandeep and by the end of the day we both had him smiling. Shanti will be a bit tougher we think. Although she seems ok with us near her she doesn’t seem to want to be held. We aren’t taking this personally though as she is , of course, in a new place and doesn’t want anyone to hold her. She is a very independent gal.
All for now – this will probably take about 15 hours to upload! Check the photos page for some shots of the kids.