On the daily.

I'm going to get right to it today - this post is all about what Courtney and my weekday schedule looks like. We usually work the 5am-2pm or 2pm-10pm shift. If she's on at 5am, I'm usually on at 2pm, and vice versa.

The girls go to school in two shifts because the school that the majority of them attend isn't big enough for all of them. So there is a morning session and afternoon session. The morning session leaves at about 6:15am and comes back around 1:30pm. The afternoon session leaves around 11:15am and comes back around 5:30pm.

5am: The girls wake up. Yes, it's still dark at that hour. Yes, I don't know how these teenagers do it. Those who are scheduled to make breakfast go to the kitchen and whip something up for everyone. I usually stumble out of bed at 4:30am (because I need to open the office by 5am), eyes glued shut, and find my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face with at least one or two other sleepy girls.

5:30am: Morning prayer. Usually a Bible reading and Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

5:50am: Breakfast. My favorite that the girls make is fried noodles. Yumm. Though I've lately been waking up craving oatmeal. The Sisters gave Courtney and I a huge pack. They call it Quaker Oat, but it sounds like "Co-ay-kaout." And even though I love good coffee, I have a fondness for the instant Nescafe we drink here.

6:15am: Morning session students leave. Afternoon session students hang out. Turn on the radio, read, play guitar.

7am: Afternoon girls do chores, which they call "charges." Each month they are all in charge of something. Washing the bathroom, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping and mopping, burning the rubbish pile. They compost what can be composted, recycle bottles and cans, and burn the rest.

8am: Study and homework time starts.

8:45am: Courtney and I do 45-min English lessons with the Form 2 (14-year-old) girls Tuesday through Thursday. They call it "tuition." These haven't been regular, however, because they are at the end of the school year which means lots of exams and irregular breaks. I'll have another post later talking about tuition because they've been a lot of fun.

9:30am: Girls in charge of making lunch go to the kitchen. Sometimes I supervise/help. But on the three days a week that Juriah, a part-time staff from the church community whom the girls call Aunty Juriah, is here, I am happy to not be in the kitchen. She's an awesome cook.

10:15am: Girls shower and get ready for school.

11am: Girls eat lunch.

11:15am: Girls leave for school. Peace and quiet for us staff, for an hour or so!! :) And lunch.

1:30pm: Morning session students start to trickle back from school, eat lunch, relax.

3pm: Study/homework time for morning session girls.

3:45pm: Courtney and I do tuition for the Form 5 (17-year-old seniors) girls.

4:30pm: Charges. The morning schoolgirls repeat what the afternoon schoolgirls did. It makes a huge difference! Girls who are scheduled to cook dinner head to the kitchen.

5:30pm: Afternoon girls start to trickle back and take showers, relax.

6:30pm: Evening prayer. Consists of an opening song, Gospel reading in both English and Malay, prayers, and a closing song. Of course I love the songs, which sometimes involve hand motions and dancing. Sometimes they sing in English, sometimes in Malay. After prayer are announcements.

7pm: Dinner. The girls gobble down their dinner and some of them are usually done before staff has even started. I suppose it makes sense though, with twenty girls. After dinner, they like to hang out, play guitar, sing, play board games.

8pm: Study/homework time for everyone. Courtney and I do English tuition with Form 1 (13-year-old freshmen) girls. I have to admit, this is my favorite group. They make me laugh, a lot. All such characters :)

8:45pm: Courtney and I do English tuition with the Form 3 and 4 girls. If we are not doing English tuition, Courtney and I help the girls with their homework if we can. The older students like to give us math problems from their exams, which are like the SATs. Then Courtney and I ask for their books and try to teach ourselves trigonometry or geometry or calculus. Fun stuff. Maybe half the time we are successful and jubilant. The other half, baffled and forced to say, "I don't know, ask your teacher."

10pm: Bed time! Girls go up to their rooms, we close the office, shut down the hostel.

It's a pretty structured day and I have had to get used to it. More than I like to admit to myself. At first I thought, okay I'm here for the girls, this is what my volunteer year is about. Most of the time, we (Courtney and I) take every meal with the girls. We both do every tuition session, even if we are not on duty. Our schedule is their schedule and we are both happy to make that our priority. But, I have had to be very self-aware. When I am not on duty, I try to do yoga in our room, read, take alone time. In the beginning, I wanted to hang out with them as much as possible. Even if I wasn't on duty. So I've learned to skip evening prayer if I have to. Stay in my room even if the sounds of the guitar are calling me from downstairs.

Of course though, every moment spent with the girls is life-giving. Even if I am feeling tired or overwhelmed or whatever emotion you can think of, hanging out with the girls, even if it's playing a board game or exchanging English for Malay words or watching the sunset, is always energizing and always so much fun. They often say that they miss home or their parents, but they have made this funny hostel my home.