Pizza Hut

Yes, believe it or not, there are actually Pizza Huts in India (and McDonalds and KFC and even Subway!). One of my favorite things to do is to take the kids on a special outing to Pizza Hut and then a park to run around and play. The first time this wondrous event occurred was in 2006 with the kids at Emmanuel. At that time there were about 280 kids, so we spread it out over 2 trips every day for 4 days. You would be amazed at how many kids can cram into a car!!

Last summer while I was here we decided that we would take the kids of Asha Mission. This was a much easier task due to the fact that there were only 19 children. This was the first time most of them had ever been to Pizza Hut. One little boy, who happened to be 5, at 10 pieces of pizza! Of course none of them were used to this type of food, and practically all of them got sick. Needless to say Gracie and Saji, the couple who run the orphanage, gave us good warning this time to limit the number of pieces they could have.

We told the kids about the trip on Friday afternoon when they got home from school. They were so excited, especially the ones that had never been before. The air was full of so much anticipation that night and into the next day as everyone got ready for school (yes, they go to school on Saturdays... bummer). 3 didi's went to Pizza Hut early to decorate and set up while me and another didi stayed back to pick up the kids from the bus and hurry the process of getting ready and getting in the car. We got to the bus stop and the kids rushed off the bus to head home to change into their nicest outfits. I carried cute little Chinny, a precious 3 year old girl who had never been to Pizza Hut before, home from the bus stop, and she kept saying Pizza a jao" which means "Pizza come". We stuffed all the little kids into 2 cars and headed off to Pizza Hut. The drive took about 30 minutes and they were quite crowded, but it was well worth it. We were greeted by the other 3 didi's on the sidewalk and walked all the kids up to Pizza Hut and our little area decorated with balloons and nametags. They all found their seats and were served glasses of pepsi while the drivers went back to pick up the rest of the kids and adults still waiting at the house. The kids at Pizza Hut were now introduced to so many new things! Each glass had a bendy straw, and I noticed that some of the boys weren't drinking their drinks. The more I thought about it, the sooner I realized, they didn't know how to use a straw! I had to demonstrate how you suck on the end to make the liquid come up. Soon enough they had it down, and were delighted to realize you could blow the other way and make bubbles in your drink. Another new thing for them was cold soda... they are used to drinking things that were cold... that mixed with the air conditioning and the kids got really cold! I think my favorite thing to introduce them to is the bathroom. In India, most people use squatties. It's basically like a hole in the ground. Pizza Hut, being a more modern Western restaraunt, had Western toilets. These kids have never seen anything like that and are quite perplexed when they get into the bathroom. They aren't really sure what to do. Most of them will just climb up onto the seat and try to use it like a squatty! We had to have a didi stationed in the bathroom to show all the kids how to use it. One girl was so enamored with it, she just didn't even know what to do with herself. She kept looking at it exclaiming, "what is this? What is this? Oooooh, so beautiful". We got a video of her reaction I will try to post soon. They were also introduced to automatic hand dryers, which actually scared a lot of them. After our fabulous time at Pizza Hut we all paraded through town to a park a little ways down the road. We played red rover and soccer and freeze tag and all sorts of fun games. It's so wonderful to let them get out and run around. We finally loaded up the adults and the little ones in the car to head home while the didi's and the older kids stayed in the park to wait for them to take that load home and head back to get us. Once it started to get dark, we walked back towards the market. We got all the kids their first ice cream cones while we waited, and they were asking if it was okay to eat the cone. We assured them that it was. Soon enough our ride came and we went home full and happy and tired!
When we got back one of the boys who had never had pizza before came up to me and said "pizza nahi acha" which means "pizza no good". I asked him why, and he proceeded to demonstrate how he threw up when he got home! It upset another little girls stomach as well. But the next day they both exclaimed how much they loved it and were even asking for more!
Here are some pictures from the spectacular event.
Love you all! More to come soon :)