Crazy Families

Hey all, today was one of those days where when i sat down after I got home I knew that I had to write about it in the blog. We had 4 studies scheduled. First was Sumintra. She has a very sweet family, they always feed us too, which is a big plus. They gave us roti and potatoes that were fried with onion and eggs. It was delicious. Then came our first run in with a crazy family. The crazy family in question was Rani's. She is about 7 years old and last we were told she didnt go to school. She lives with her parents and grandparents, who are so nuts that the people who studied with Rani before us used the term certifiable to describe them. We found out quickly they werent joking. The parents are almost never there, and when they are the father is drunk and very chatty. But he is so drunk that its not understandable. Then there are the grandparents, the grandfather is never wearing enough clothing and they like to go through your bag and see what sort of things are in there. Today however they told us that Rani went to school...she has never gone to school before and the reasoning was that they couldnt afford to send her on the bus everyday to school. So we will see if that is true.

Then we experienced the craziest old lady that I have ever met. Let me tell you I have met some really crazy ones, if you know where I worked before I left then you know I am telling you the truth. We went to go and see Jem up in 50 village. Normally the gate is open and the kids are running around and the woman who takes care of her is sitting on the porch. However today was a different story. We walk up to the house and the gate has a chain around it and a very strong twist tie is holding it together. The old woman, who is called granny, came up to the gate and tells me that Jem isnt home today. Guess who walked up behind her? Yes it was Jem, she pointed to the twist tie and motioned for me to start untying the twist tie. It was really strange because the gate has never been closed or locked. So we walk up to the stairs and take off our shoes, this is where the real craziness begins. Granny tells us that her dead mother is upstairs waiting for us. Yes those are the words that she used. She was extremely serious, we were trying so hard not to laugh. That is considered disrespectful to do, especially to your elders.

So we are sitting out on the veranda with Jem when granny starts babbling on about how its awful Jem is studying and she needs to stop and come and do her hair. Apparently she doesnt know that being deaf means you cant hear, or maybe she just forgot. Then she proceeded to tell us that we were all going to recieve blows. Yes granny threatened us. It was rather amusing, however I think that she could take us so we didnt say anything about it. So after the study Jem and granny walked us to the gate. At that point Jem motioned for me to lock the gate, so i locked up the gate the way it was when we arrived. We thought that was the end of it but granny had another idea. We are standing on the road and I turn around and granny is trying to shove her hands through the tiny cracks in the fence to reach the lock so she could unlock it. Then I look up at the veranda where Jem and all the kids are standing there watching granny try to escape. Granny spent 5 minutes trying to get her hands through the fence to get out of there. Then she gave up but it seems she forgot that she had already tried to escape but had failed, so she tried again. Ok well that was my day, keep those comments and emails coming. I love and miss you all. Its only 3 months and 3 weeks until I come home and see you all. Until later