"Oh the places you will go." -Dr. Seuss

I would say it was a pretty successful trip on the whole. We saw lots of things, went to a lot of places, never missed our trains, avoided rabies, and didn't die. Ultimate recipe for success right there.

Agra was by far my favorite of the two places. The Taj was absolutely gorgeous! Delhi was okay. I think it was just so big we didn't know where to go exactly. And our rickshaw driver was rude. Even so, we still had a lot of fun and there were several really really funny things that happened.

So at the Taj, Jeselene needed to go get something before we went in so I sat down to wait on her. It was hot, my hair was down... So I decided to fix that. I started braiding my hair. No big deal. Out of nowhere this old lady comes and starts braiding my hair for me. I said no like 5 times but she still did it anyway. And her granddaughter was precious and laughing so I didn't fight it too much. Anyway, this crowd also forms watching/videotaping/taking pictures. Why? Why would this be a big deal in India? Apparently it was and like 30 people stopped to watch this Indian woman braid my hair. Embarrassing. I'm pretty sure my face was red. One of the guys taking pictures looked at me after hearing I was from America and said, "You are like a celebrity to us!" Well, swell. Glad I could make someone's day. I got out of there as soon as Jeselene came back. She just looked at me bewildered and asked what happened. I really didn't know what to tell her haha. "Well Jas, a mob of people wanted to braid my hair...." The rest of the day we were either from South Africa or France depending on who asked us. 

Right after the Taj, we went to a huge tomb a couple of miles away and probably the funniest/most traumatic event of our trip happened.... We were attacked by monkeys. This is not a joke or an exaggeration. They ripped Jeselene's pants! We have proof!!! There we were, just sitting there taking pictures of a cute little heard of monkeys when I notice one is coming up behind me. As we both turn to look at it, another one (with a baby on her stomach. Talk about setting a bad example for your children) swoops in from the other side and grabs my bag. So what did I do? I leapt into action and chased after her. This causes another huge male monkey to chase after me. This whole time, Jeselene is screaming and standing there helpless with her hands in the air saying "I don't have my rabies shot! I don't have my rabies shot!!" Meanwhile all the tourists and Indian onlookers are just standing there watching the show. The girl monkey finally drops my bag after her baby monkey almost fell off her. So I grab it really quick and run away from the male monkey. I decide it would be a good idea to run and hide behind a tourist man and woman. I mean if they weren't going to help me, I might as well use them as a shield. The monkey chasing me eventually gave up, went over and grabbed Jeselene's bag and sat a couplet feet a way. I swear he maintained eye contact the entire time as he slowly ripped open her wrapped gifts. I'm serious, it was pure evil wrapped in a cute furry body. We kinda just sat there, Jeselene with her mouth open because a monkey was essentially eating her gifts, and me laughing hysterically because I couldn't believe it all just happened. I also decided it would be a good idea to throw my water bottle at the monkey so it would drop Jeselene's bag. Nope. Didn't work. Eventually this rugged looking indian man showed up, walked up to the monkey and grunted. Not kidding. He just grunted. The monkey then looked terrified and ran away. Well, if I had only known to grunt haha... The damage was minimal. Jeselene's pants, some bite marks on a keychain, but mostly just our dignity. I mean... I chased  a monkey. All dignity was gone. 

That night we got to sleep in a SUPER nice hotel. With air conditioning and fluffy beds. They also had American showers! The next morning we boarded our train at 5 in the morning and headed to Delhi. Like I said, it's huge. So unless u have a general idea of what to do, you probably need someone to show u around or tell you what to do. We saw India gate, Loti garden, and went to HARD ROCK CAFE!!!! Oh and we got Jeselene's nose pierced in the mall! Yay! A really quick note about the trains. We rode on an A/C sleeper which are considerably nicer. Apparently the ones without A/C are kinda dangerous at night. Anyway so the way a sleeper works, there are like 6 beds to a section. They are really small and get even smaller when you sleep with your backpack beside your head so it doesn't get messed with. Although this is advised so stuff does not go missing, it is still uncomfortable. However, my first sleeper train experience was a good one. 

I'm writing the from school this morning. This week is called Rakhi, and it's the brother/sister festival. The sister is supposed to tie a little bracelet on their brother's arm. In turn he promises to  be there for her all her life. It's quite precious. So, since the boys all call me didi, which means older sister, I got them all Rakhi. Many of the boys have already gone home to celebrate, but they will be back on Friday. Sadly Friday is also my last day. So so sad. I'm seriously gonna have a hard time leaving them.   I guess I have to make the best of this last week. Until then <3

"Time is not measured by the passing of years, but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves." -Jawaharlal Nehru

One of the most memorable things about any trip, I think, is the people you come into contact with. I think that is what I will miss the most and for me, these relationships have made my time in India what it was. So, let me describe a little bit about these people who I have come to love and appreciate very much. At school, I have two teachers that I am close to. The first is Vijay who is a nice man who in his 40s. I am supposed to go to his house next week and meet his wife who will cook for us all. I'm pretty excited any time food is involved. The other teacher is Jamila who I am considerably more close too. She might be one of the sweetest, most understanding people I've ever met. I have been over to her house multiple times and have met both of her kids (Alifiya is 13 and Mustafa is 20 and both are genuinely wonderful people. And they are super fluent in English which is nice.)


As for my fellow foreigners, I usually hang out with a combination of three people. Hisa is one of my housemates who will be here for about two months. She is working on a project for the rural villages to raise awareness about preventable diseases. Her and her group have made signs to hang in houses in the village about how to help prevent pneumonia (which is one of the leading causes of death in the villages.) She is from Hawaii and I have really enjoyed being around her recently. Also, it's nice to have her around not just for her company, but because she has studied Hindi for two years. You can find out a lot about people when they don't think you understand what they are saying. It's made for some pretty interesting situations. 

 Jeselene is an intern for ProWorld, so I've been with her since the beginning. She is from Boston and is a super hard worker with an unexpected sense of humor that will catch you off guard. She is who I am going to Agra/Delhi with, and I know that it's gonna be super fun just cause I'm with her. Between us I think we have a pretty good sense of direction/independence so we can survive this "big girl" trip. Her project here has been with an organization called Jetan, which is about women's health. She has liked it but I think the program itself has been a little frustrating and slow to start. That might also be an understatement. Anyway, I count myself really really lucky to have a friend like her here. :)

The third is Alyssa. She is 28 and from Michigan and, no joke, might be one of the coolest people I've ever met. She did the peace core in Mali, Africa for two years and is all about women's empowerment. I absolutely love being around her and meting her has definitely been one of my favorite things about coming to India.  Her project has been working at a huge NGO in Udaipur called Sava Mandir (where I would also love to intern at someday) and she works in the public health section. I think her project mainly focused on women's health, but she has also been editing a manual for foreign volunteers to help them during their time ine India. And she knows famous people. Just throwing that out. Yea, she's really impressive.

 So, these are the people that have been written into my story of India and I count myself lucky to know every single one. I really am going to miss them when I'm gone. I am happy to go home in a week, don't get me wrong. However, I know I will miss these people greatly. I mean, I plan on visiting them all anyway but it still sucks that I leave first. So, moving on from the people, I would just like to announce some new talents I have picked up since coming to India. First of all, I have become a lethal assassin. It might be the fact that I'm more aware now, or maybe just that there so many here, but if any mosquito comes within arms length of me in my room, it's a goner. Seriously, I feel like I'm single handedly eradicating the malaria problem in India. Okay, maybe not, but I've killed like 30. 

Secondly, I can tie a sari by myself. Not well (3 different people insisted on re-wrapping me throughout the course of the day) but enough to function. I also feel like I get a little bit of leniency from the Indian women because I am a white girl... let's be honest. At least I'm trying. And I'm not in shorts.  Another fun little thing I've picked up on is how barter. Alyssa has taught me well. If you ever come to India  and need a rickshaw, I'm just going to tell you, NEVER pay more than 50 rupees for any ride within the city. Seriously. Most rickshaw wallas, if they are jerks, will say 100 as a starting price. Once I got a man down from 100 to 35. In one of my less finer moments I almost made a rickshaw driver cry because he was trying to rip me off... And show us off to his friends. I may have been a little mean to him.  Also, depending on the situation, I know how to say "I don't speak hindi."  This is useful when someone annoying is trying to talk to you. I can usually understand them a little, but it's better to just go ahead and say you cant understand them. The other useful phrase is "I can understand you." Usually, this is a lie. But sometimes it catches people off guard because they are obviously talking about me and I want them to stop. Then when they try to talk to u more, u can ignore them. They won't talk about u any more. I am better, on the whole, with preparing for the unexpected. I always carry hand sanitizer, a plastic bag in case is rains and I don't want my bag wet, paper soap and my water bottle. Oh, and toilet paper. That's a fun thing about India. They don't use it. They have other methods. I won't elaborate. You can google it. Anyway, today I am packing to go to Agra. Our sleeper train leaves at 10:20 tonight. We will arrive in Agra 12 hours later, spend the day at the Taj. That night we will get a hotel, then board a train early in the morning for Delhi. Sunday we will spend in Delhi, then head home on the 7 pm train. It is going to be a busy weekend, but I think it'll be worth it. Until then

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things." -St. Teresa of Avila

So this weekend was pretty great. Saturdays are work days in India if I haven't said that before. So when I say weekend, I actually mean Sunday. In the morning I went with Christine, an Indian lady who works for pro-world, to mass. Although, it was completely in Hindi I still enjoyed it. I was surrounded by a huge church full of Christians and (as dumb as I realize this is about to sound) I was comforted to be around so many people who believed in the same thing I did.

 For anyone who has never traveled outside the US or been a Christian where Christianity is not the norm, you really wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Being there for me felt like home, even though I only had interaction with a nice old nun who reminded me of Mother T (during one of the hymnal songs, she fixed my sari in the back where it was twisted . And yes, that's never a sentence I thought I would write). I felt happy even though, It was 8 am and I was rather hungry. Anyone who knows how I operate, feel free to be baffled at how that could be possible. I came home, took an hour nap (in my sari haha) and then went with my host mom and dad to a free clinic my host dad was running at my school. My two friends Hisa and Jeselene went with me which was nice. Basically they put me to work rotating which kids still needed check ups and which were already done. I even took one of the boys that can partially see, Kamlesh, and we found 5 other boys who were hiding in the hostel from the check ups. Im pretty sure those kids saw me as like the clinic police, but Kamlesh and I we're dying laughing as we hauled the boys to Dr. Sareen.

My day ended with a trip to Old City with Jeselene and Alyssa. We went to a pool on the rooftop of a super nice hotel. It overlooked the water and the city on the other bank of the river. It was pretty sweet. Also, Indian dress rules don't apply at swimming pools which is excellent. Everything is just normal. Even though I didn't bring a bathing suit I made due with a sports bra and athletic shorts. Sitting in a cold pool on a hot day in India is one of the most satisfying experiences in the world. You should try it sometime.  As wonderful as my weekend was, today I was faced with yet another hard reality. I have loved my boys at the school. Seriously. I cannot say a bad thing about any one of them (well maybe I could reprimand Kishan for always wanting to take pictures on my iPhone, but that's hardly a make-or-break problem). Some teachers, however, I am struggling to deal with.

Virenji absolutely loves the boys. You can tell this by the way he interacts with them, talks about them, and all he does for them. Although it is slightly different than we would consider in America of someone in his position (like affection for example), by Indian standards he's like Ghandi to these boys. I guess this next fact really shocked me because since all the teachers are blind... I figured they would want to be there too and would love the kids like Virenji does... However, today I learned that isn't the case with all of them. Here is what happened. I was sitting on the bench with the guy who works in the office (just to clarify, he isn't blind. I also am not 100% sure on how to spell his name. So for now he is office guy) and one of the older boys came to the lobby with sunglasses on. I was laughing and told them they were "acha" (good/nice) when the office guy stopped me and told me to look. The boy's left eye was bleeding heavily. The office guy told me it was infected and he was going to the hospital... Which I thought was weird because there was the free clinic the day before.

 The office guy said "He never takes care of it or washes it after he plays outside so of course it got infected." His English is vey good, but he sometimes comes off really harsh. By sometimes I mean a lot. I thought about his statement for a second and said "Well, has anyone ever told him he needed to, explained hygiene to him, or showed him how?" Office guy looked around at the teachers sitting close to us and replied "Well, no. These teachers are hired to only teach their subjects." "Well wouldn't that be something that they would say anyway to them, since it's something they would need to learn?" I asked. I guess I assumed this cause I have this idea that all children should be taught certain things, like how to keep yourself clean and healthy. Idk, maybe this is a first world idea.  "Well," he started. "I don't think it's the teachers' responsibility. Most are here for a paycheck. See Farook over there?" and he motioned to a guy who stops in every day from his motorcycle. He is considered a comedian and all the kids adore him. "He cares about the kids. So does Virenji."  I  didn't ask him if he cared too. I knew he did.

 He did, or he wouldn't think to even tell this to me. And the look in his eyes was a familiar one. Really passionate teachers have it, older siblings have it, social workers have it, mothers have it, youth ministers like Dustin F and Jeff P have it, and my father has it. Only people that really love children have it. I knew office guy, while he never really said it, loved every single one of these blind boys. He went on to say that some of their parents didn't care about them either. They drop them off at the school and leave them there for others to care care of them. This was around the time my eyes started watering because the smallest boy at the school, Amrit, came around the corner with a HUGE precious grin lighting up his face. I couldn't imagine anyone not wanting him.

 A week ago, I was frustrated slightly because I didn't have a concrete project I was working on. The school seemed disorganized and questions about America were starting to wear on me (How much does your house cost? What about your car, iphone, etc? Are boys still worth more than girls there? Are there blind people in high ranking jobs? When are you and Brenton to be married? Oh so you two aren't arranged to be married?) However, after what office guy said today, I am no longer frustrated like I was. Don't get me wrong, some of the teachers love the kids and want to do a good job. I absolutely love two of the teachers in fact and have been invited/gone to both of their houses. Then some sit forever in the teachers lounge while their entire classroom is waiting patiently in another room. I cant speak Hindi so I know even though I want to, I know I could never be as helpful as these teachers. My purpose here is to love these kids. Plain and simple. That could mean playing with them, trying my best when teach me Hindi, walking with them to the hospital if they get sick (like I did one boy today), playing ice water, or merely just walking down the halls calling them by name. It's not much, but it's all I can really do. But maybe that's enough. Maybe I'm here to do my best at loving them.  This coming weekend, I'm going to the Taj Mahal and then Dehli with Jeselene!!!!!! We arranged everything with a travel agent today. I'll most likely write before I leave. Until then

"God doesn't call us to fix people, but to love people." -Brenton (and others)

I just finished a book called a Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. Essentially... It's a story about stories. He says that people live stories, and asks the question "if your life was a movie, would it be worth watching?" or would you just feel like you wasted your money after the credits rolled? For those of you who have asked yourselves this question before, I highly recommend it. For those of you that haven't... I highly recommend it. So here I am, in India, thinking about the concept of life and story. In the book, Donald Miller writes that "out of the ordinary" is what makes things memorable.

Yesterday I played ice water (freeze tag) with a bunch of blind kids in India and tried to teach them English while they taught me Hindi. Two nights ago I watched a movie about Abraham Lincoln killing vampires, in Hindi, in 3d, while sitting in a movie theater with reclining seats (yes, they are common in Indian) in the company of a Bollywood actor/director and a girl who has been all over the world. Last night we had Katie's goodbye dinner at a  really nice restaurant in the Old City and on the way home we fit so many girls in our rickshaw that Alyssa and I volunteered to sit on the back of the skinny tailgate with our feet dangling inches above the road. And today I risked my life by eating street food at the monsoon festival. I've had wonderful experiences here... I really have. I've realized how much I take mosquito repellant, wifi, and toilet paper for granted. I know now that it is a strange concept to most of the world that men and women are of equal worth, that people are all inherently the same, and that justice could be granted to most citizens of a nation. As much as I could complain about the injustices that exist in American society, at the end of the day, the nation that I live in has granted me more rights than just about any other place I could be in the world. I have lived a very privileged life and have only been able to do so because of things out of my control. This is what I am struggling with now.

 The boys at school sing a song that Virenji wrote. They not only have taught me how to sing it (in Hindi) but they have also described what the words mean. It says something to the effect of, "never say life has no meaning because you cannot see. You have a special sight and a special kind of joy. That is why people close their eyes during happy moments in life. It is in darkness where we find things special. This is what you have, this special sight." When they explained it to me, I swear I almost cried. When they started singing it, at the top of their lungs, I actually did. I know they couldn't see me, so I didn't have to hide it... which was good because I never wanted their singing to stop. If any of these boys had been born in America, what would their lives have been like? Several are so so so smart. DM would probably be a lawyer or a politician. Bhavesh would no doubt be a professor of English. Kishan, who can see very very slightly and loves to draw, would be an artist. Why were they born here, in a place where a disability could determine your worth? How could i ever explain

 to them that despite our differences, they are my equals? These are the things that I am struggling with. These are the questions I can't answer. You know... I actually don't think there is an answer.  I used to think the world could be "fixed". That if enough people came together and fought for the good of all mankind, the suffering and injustices of the world would cease to exist. That was before I left comfortable America. I'm not saying its impossible, but from all I have seen, it seems that way. Three nights ago there was a little boy who followed me through the streets, begging for money. He's a super precious little 5 year old with shaggy hair and a really mischievous smile.... and I couldn't help but like him immediately. He had followed me home the previous night as well. This night he waited on me as I sat in the window of a coffee shop and drank my coffee. As is was sitting there, drinking away the equivalent of what would buy him a meal, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Sure, we are told some street children really are pretty wealthy, or that someone takes care of them and trains them to beg. It's different though when one is sitting there on the curb watching you drink your coffee. As I was walking out of the store, a man walked up beside the little boy and slapped him hard across the face. That is common here, because no one wants a beggar bothering customers, but I couldn't help but be completely appalled. Although I said nothing, I stared the man down, and he eventually walked away. I sat beside the little boy and fished in my purse for a half eaten chocolate bar. As I gave it to him, his crying quieted and he grabbed it. He never smiled, never said thank you, and never looked up as he ate it. I couldn't imagine how hard his life must be.

Don't get me wrong.... I am happy to be here and I am blessed more than I have realized. I am loved and supported by wonderful people and a great family. I guess tonight I just have a lot of thoughts going around in my head. Tomorrow is the second day of monsoon festival. I went today with the boys from school and even risked my life eating street food. Seriously.... I sat looking at my plate for a couple seconds thinking "this actually has the potential to kill me..... or at least give me stomach worms." It was delicious :)  Everyone has setup in streets with big ferris wheels and every other unsafe contraption you would think to set up at an american carnival. Today when I went with the boys, we usually attracted a crowd whenever we stopped to look at something. Seriously, crowds of like 30 people would stand around to stare at us. A handful of disabled children with a white girl in a saree. It was quite a sight, I'm sure. Its been a couple hours now since I ate the street food food so hopefully I will survive until morning. Until then

"If thrown with passion, even a rock can make a hole in the sky." -Hindi proverb (supposedly)

My school is absolutely wonderful. Seriously, I don't really know how to articulate everything that has happened. So the school itself is called Government Pragya Chakshee Secondary Blind school. There is another school for specifically the deaf about 7 buildings down, but I have never been inside. The school is funded through the government, but I have no idea how they make ends meet. They pay for everything here... 3 meals a day, beds, hygiene stuff. It's so much when u add it up. The school takes in blind students, both boys and girls, from ages 6-4. They will then attend the school until they have graduated from the 10th class or turn 21. Most of the students come from the outside villages around Udaipur, so there is a hostel built for the boys so that they can stay during school months. Overall, a little under 70 boys attend the school.

I say boys because I haven't seen any girls at the school, although they are allowed to attend. The reason for this is that they don't have a dorm for girls. girls from the villages are unable to live there, so they only time I will see them (if any are enrolled this year) will be during classes.  Classes technically don't start until tomorrow (so this coming week I will have more of a job to do) but I have gotten to know many of the kids so far. Names are hard, because they are so different to me, but I am learning pretty quick. And I write everything down. So far, I have seen one class, learned quite a bit of Hindi, and watched the boys play cricket. Yes, they play cricket. I didn't believe it at first when they told me, but they have a ball with beads in it. They can hear it when it is rolling towards them so they know where to hit/catch it. It's super impressive. I also promised them I would play a game with them tomorrow.... I may or may not be regretting that decision thoughP, because some of them are really good. And it's really hot. Ehhhh. (btw, weather is called mosom in Hindi. Therefore, you can say awesome mosom... And then you can make 10 blind boys laugh. Just FYI) They also think it's really funny to teach me Hindi. About 4 of the boys speak English very well so they are able to translate my questions to the masses.

They ask a ton of questions like "what is America like? Are there blind schools? Have you met Obama? Why aren't you married?" I am falling very much in love with all of them. It blows my mind, though, how smart these kids are. Like think about that... To learn 3 languages (Hindi, English, and Braille) without ever seeing them... I have no doubt that some of these kids are brilliant! The one in charge of the school is a man named Vire Virenji, who is also a teacher of music and has been blind from birth. He is a genius. He is a composer of music (story about this later), and intellectual on politics and philosophical things, fluent in English, and LOVES the boys at the school. And the boys love him just as much. They actually flock him.


Three things about I have to say before I tell you this: 1) the boys often pace up and down the outside shaded hallway since there are not a lot of places to walk. 2) in India friends of the same gender hold hands. So like grown men will be walking down the street holding each others hands. No big deal, it's part of the culture. Fingers laced and everything. Bromance abounds. 3) envision  like a kung fu master.... White robes, a staff, perfect posture, wish words... Thats pretty much Vire.  So, Vire will be walking up and down the hallways and like 15 boys will be trying to hold on to him, get close to him, or even just listen to him. It's really quite precious..... And I took a picture don't worry. All the boys just cling to him, and it's obvious how much he has changed their lives. It's really quite something. Anyway, it's about 11:40 here... So it's wayyyy past my bed time of 10. I'll be sure to let you know how first real day of school and cricket went.  Oh and about the quote for the title of this post.... Today I met a couple who work for a nonprofit... That work with bengal tigers. Yup tigers. Oh the people u meet while traveling... Anyway the man quoted this as why he is motivated to do things he is passionate about. That maybe someday even impossible things will be a reality, that he will make a dent in the world, if he continues to do things he is passionate about. I found it fitting :) okay, the Mosquitos are attacking my iPad screen. Night

"I've got nothing to do today but smile." -Simon and Garfunkel

So much has happened I have no idea how I'm gonna write it all here without leaving a good deal out. First of all Udaipur has taken some getting used to. Don't get me wrong I want to be here, but culture shock is noticeable. For example, I saw a cow eating out of the street trash today and it proceeded to accompany me almost all the way home. It was kinda cool in a weird "hey I have a pet cow" kinda way. Also, staring from strangers is slightly unsettling but I was warned of this because I am foreign, and we tend to get a lot of attention. But to backtrack before I leave everything out...

Sarah picked me up from the airport as soon as I arrived. (she had a sign and everything) From the airport we left to go to the ProWorld office by car. I make this distinction because I was overwhelmed with the amount of motorbikes there are. Let me just paint this picture for you.... The yellow lines that divide the rode into different lanes are completely disregarded. Motorbikes are whizzing past so close that I was completely terrified they would crash into us. Like literally.... inches away. Oh and to drive, ones places their hand on the wheel and another on the horn. It's used as a kind of sonar. Therefore... Lots and lots and lots of honking. It takes some getting used to to realize people actually aren't going to die and that that kind of driving is just the norm.  On the way, I told Sarah of my luggage situation and stuff. So... What is the first thing I do in India? I go shopping. Typical.

Sarah took me to get a couple necessities at a place called V-Mart. The closet thing I could compare it to would be a mix between a CVS and Kroger. After that we went to a kurta shop. A kurta is the usual type of clothing worn in India (besides a sari of course). Picture a long tunic over a type of lose pants..... Actually ya know what, just google it. About 30 min later I walked out with 4 tops and 3 pants.... Success. At the end of our ride, I was able to meet several interns as well as Sarah's personal intern Katie at the office. I got to take a bucket bath ( which felt glorious btw) and then changed into clean clothes. That night we had dinner and myself and another intern, who had arrived a day before, were taken to a hotel for the night.  On Sunday we had orientation which was a basic rundown of the way things work in India. That night we also were taken to our host families.

I LOVE where I am staying. Dr. Sareen and his wife are wonderful people. Mrs. Sareen was also really funny when I told her about my luggage. I told her what happened and she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. I then told her that I was sorry because her present was also in my bag... Which warranted me another hug and kiss on the cheek. Then lastly I said I needed a towel... Another hug/kiss. Basically.... She's the best host mom ever.  So much has happened with my actual placement at the school that I will probably have to address it in my next post. I was going to wait and only post like 3 times a week.... But I realize at least now, when everything is new, I will have to write more often to get everything down.

 Before I end this, I will give you a basic rundown of my situation. In Dr. Sareen's house there are 3 other girls who live here. 2 from America and the other from the UK. To get to work, I ride a tempo which is a public bus about the size of a car but it has a covered back with benches. About 7 people can fit uncomfortably inside. The bananas rock here, and are safe to eat. Brushing my teeth with bottled water is super weird. There are little versions of chipmunks here with huge tails... Also super weird. The Mosquitos don't just fly around here, they are on the attack (yay for anti-malaria medicine). People do this thing here where they very slightly rock there head from side to side when they are listening to you. It's just a very small mannerism but everyone does it. Everyone. It's the same motion as making your ears touch your shoulders.... Only a much smaller movement. People do it when they are thinking, or listening to you... or just because they feel like doing it. It is now monsoon season. Yay. Thats about all there is to say about that. Lastly, there is a phrase that people use that I like. It's almost like a polite version of "whatever" but it also makes me think of the movie the Princess Bride. It is "As you like". So like if your host asked you where u wanted to sit, you could say "As you like."  It's pretty great.  Okay so my next post will be rather soon. I will talk about the blind school and all that good stuff. Until then

"I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers" -Tennessee Williams

Okay.... Where to start? I feel like I've been traveling for a lifetime. I'm typing this now from the ProWorld office in Udaipur. I'm so so so happy to finally be in India it's ridiculous. Everything is so different here and so much has happened that have no idea where to start. But to back up really quick, I need to talk about my flight shinanagins. Like I said in my Facebook status, I had to take several connection flights (like 5).

 So... Morgan was in louisville, Chicago, London England, Hyderabad, new Delhi, and finally Udaipur.... All in about a 48 hour time period. I can honestly say, even though that was my first EVER international flying experience, I can just about figure how to get anywherere now. Just so its not all complaining, some highlights from flying: I sat next to a 50 year old man from Sweden who had 27 peircings on his face (I counted them while he was sleeping. I almost took a picture but I felt that would have been way too creepy), I got a free meal in the London airport because of a flight attendent who sounded dead on Ron Wesley (He felt sorry for me because he made me cry by telling me I nhad to have 3 more connection flights. Oh behalf of the company he gave me a 15 pounds meal ticket. Starbucks!!!), and I got to hear a small Indian child sing K'naan. The only terrible thing, which honestly isnt that bad, is that my luggage was lost. This could seem really bad except that I have all the nececities in my backback and also the entire situation allowed me to meet Jyothi.

On my flight from London to Hyderabad I was booked for the same seat as someone else. He was traveling with his family so I got up and let him have the seat. In apology,the stewardess bumped me up a class and I got to sit next to Jyothi and her precious one year old son. Words cannot express how absolutely wonderful this woman is. Whenever the steward came by and told me they had lost my luggage on the plane, I started to cry. I never cry, but couldn't help it just like I couldn't help it when I was talking to Ron Wesley. Jyothi immediately grabbed my hand and told me it would be okay. Kindness like that, at a moment like that, from a stranger.... Well, I can't describe how surprisingly comforting a it was. Whenever we got to Hyderabad she told me goodbye and I went to the baggage claim. The man behind the counter was extremely rude to me and wasnt really listening as he proceeded to help 4 other people at the same time. He was about to tell me there was nothing I could do but wait... (I was crying a little again) and Jyothi comes out of nowhere and starts demanding the man help me. He listened to her. Jyothi, if you are reading this I can never say thank you enough. I promised I would come see you and eat at your restaurant in Atlanta and I intend on keeping that promise. With all my heart, Thank you.

So... My luggage was finally worked out. The man who had been rude to me also ended up giving me a debit card that held 35 pounds because "seeing me cry broke his heart." haha, oops. Crying has been working out for me so far. As soon as I arrived I got to take a bucket bath which is the custom here and I felt like a new person. I washed my hair twice! That night I also slept for 12 hours. It was glorious. Anyway I'm about to continue my orientation here and will describe what happened in Udaipur in my next post. Until then