After putting my cutest pink kurta and matching pink scarf on, I leave the house running late, of course. My host grandpa always gives me an orange and a banana to eat on the way. Cute! I wave to my neighbors as I walk to the main road to catch an auto rickshaw to my school!Bless shared autos!

From Monday to Thursday, I work as an assistant-teacher at a free private school that runs based on individual donations. I’m mentored by two amazing fellows from Teach for India, Aishani and Sandya, with around 50 students from 4th and 5th grade. Teach for India is a non-profit organization that aims to end education inequality by building a movement of young leaders that work in public and low-income schools all over the country. When I get to school, my kids are still having Hindi class, so I use the time to grade notebooks, plan lessons and do some paperwork.

I supervise a 4th grade class working on their math assignments. Look how lovely they are! After that, I go to 5th class to facilitate a lesson on emotional intelligence. Before I start, we always play a game to get some good energy going on – here, the kids are playing “Dictionary”: I write a big fancy word on the board and they have to rearrange the letters to make new words!!

Most days of the week, the school provides food for students and faculty. It’s usually vegetable curry, rice and curd. Veeeery tasty, actually, I’m a big fan. After that, we go back to class and play games until the break is over.Here we are playing carrom board, an Indian game where you have to aim the coins in the holes and it looks simple but they find a way to make it very sophisticated, trust me.

My school partners with the Learning Curve Foundation to facilitate the learning of life skills such as forgiveness, active listening, self-confidence and identity through stories and activities. The kids love it! I teach these Learning Curve sessions in 4th and 5th and the discussions turn out to be truly breathtaking! Today, we’re talking about the value of TEAMWORK. “It is much easier to keep the balloon in the air if we give our friends a chance to tap it, didi.” HOW AMAZING CAN THESE KIDS POSSIBLY BE??? I’m constantly in complete awe.

After school, I head to one of the most colorful, chaotic, energized, functional, inspiring places I have ever been: Rubaroo!!! Rubaroo is a non-profit where “young people are empowered to understand their self and society, and take action.” Rubaroo facilitates workshops and fellowships for young people on the issues of gender, interfaith and youth development. I’m currently working on the Emerging Leaders Fellowship, that aims to end Early and Child Marriage by educating adolescents about puberty. I’m responsible for the impact study of the program, doing interviews, writing profiles, observing sessions, and organizing the closure event. I’ve met so many incredible young people and brilliant women and wow. Always learning.

I grab an “evening snack” on the way home with one of my colleagues. Indian street food is always the way to go.

Back at home, I gossip with my host mom and play with my sisters — my rays of sunshine!! After we have dinner, I catch up with work from Rubaroo, take some good BuzzFeed quizzes, do some pilates, hit that Netflix, or call my mom and best friends back home. Or I just stop doing all of that because Sassy, my little sister, comes running to my room and doesn’t leave until we watch a movie together. Always good to finish a day like this.