First day on the job and a trip to the dentist!

Our first day at our placement was very exciting as well as bit overwhelming. First arriving at the orphanage, kids flocked to us with hugs and 35 times repeated greetings like, "Hello! What is your name? How old are you? How are you? I am fine!" haha Each child had to ask us these same questions over and over! It was so cute because when they would ask, "How are you?", they'd also answer for you "I am fine," before you had a chance to answer yourself. So funny! After the children somewhat settled down we attempted a short lesson, but it didn't last long as the kids were too wound up from the excitement of having new volunteers. We played jump rope, read books and took a few photos before leaving for lunch. Our day at the orphanage begins around 8am and we start with a lesson, then play until lunch time which is around 11:30 am. The orphanage is a quick 10minute walk from the place where we are staying so we walk home for a delicious lunch served around noon. We made our way back to orphanage afterwards where we were pleasantly surprised that we were taking 8 children to the dentist! The 8 kids plus the two of us, piled into a Tuktuk for a 30minute drive across the city to the dentist. They each waited patiently for their turn and all went in to see the dentist on their own, even the 4 year old Liang! This was our first real insight into how independent these kids are and how they can switch from being a child, to being a mature grown up so quickly. It was a little bit sad to see how they didn't need anyone to hold their hand, or go in with them, or keep them occupied while waiting. They were completely fine to do it all on their own. We had lots of fun on the Tuktuk ride home. We taught them the song"down by the bay." They had no idea what they were repeating back to us, but did it anyways whole heart idly. Once we returned back to the orphanage, we said goodbye for the day and our first day with them was complete! It was overall very exciting, very tiring and a whole lot of fun! So pumped to see what tomorrow brings!