Only three workdays left at Rising Star! It's going so fast!

During education on Wednesday, I got struggle children almost every class period. I wanted to explode. I don't have patience for struggle children. And the language barrier makes it that much more difficult.

At construction this week, we carried bowls of bricks on our head from a pile at the beginning of the colony to the furthest house in the colony. We work with two Indian workers names Milo and Deveraj who are absolutely hilarious! They call me "sister" or "Rebekkah-madam"and tell us we are "Super!" frequently. That's about the extent of their English other than "How old?" and "Photo!" They are constantly concerned about us taking breaks or getting blisters.

We took a tour of the colony in which microgrants have been implemented. It is amazing the difference between that colony and the others. Microgrants are truly making a difference!!! We also stopped for Parotha afterward which is... very eggy naan? It's fantastic and you dip it in a green sauce.

Yesterday we went to Pondicherry (think Life of Pi). I was hoping for some civilization. But it was still India. We went to a wonderful French bakery and an Italian restaurant run by a VERY Italian man, blowing kisses our way and everything. Lots of shopping again... Lots of money again... One street vendor trying to sell me drums told me he would trade me drums for my eyes. There were some news reporters at the Gandhi statue that wanted to take pictures of me and my roommate. He said we would be in the Monday edition. Someone at dinner joked about is accidentally being put in the "brides classified" section (which exists).

We leave for Jaipur at 2 am on Thursday. I can't wait to see the Taj Mahal and ride elephants!!!

I'm at church, so I have wifi!!! The wifi tower on campus is still broken and apparently will take months to fix. So blogging will only happen on Sundays.

It's been a wonderful week in India!!! The campus is beautiful!!! The volunteer house is a beautiful courtyard house. It is very humid, but quite breezy and luckily, there is AC in our bedrooms. Mango groves cover the campus, but we are only allowed to eat the ones on the ground, and the kids usually get to them first.

I go through three rotations during the week: medical, construction, and education. At medical, I cut bandages for the leprosy patients. Actually, there was a death in the colony we went to, so I only cut one bandage out of the four patients that came. At construction this week, we dug big holes for septic tanks and latrines in the leprosy colonies with "shovels". At education, I sung songs with little kindergarteners- the cutest!!! I also help them learn the alphabet which is so satisfying when they grasp it!!! I helped two kindergarteners use the computer for the first time ever! Specifically, one little girl, Kavya, was using Paint her first time on the computer and every time she would fill a section of her picture with color, she would turn to me, gasp, and put her hand over her mouth. Almost like it was scandalous or something. Absolutely adorable!!!!!! 

On education rotation, I eat lunch at the dining hall with all the kids. Apparently there is an art to eating with your hands that I obviously don't understand, and the kids laugh and laugh at me. 

The volunteer coordinators are fabulous and  I have wonderful roommates! We get done with our rotations at around two everyday, and then we have a couple hours of playtime with the kids and eat dinner on the roof every night. We then have story time as the kids are in bed at the hostels.

We went to Mamallapuram yesterday. It's a beach town  with some ancient temple ruins. The ruins were beautiful and I swam in the Bay of Bengal! I, once again, spent way too much money, even with bartering. I had wonderful Chicken Tikka Masala and a chocolate crepe!!! 

We watched Frozen with all of the kids last night, their first time. All of the boys thought it was so boring! One little kindergartner, Miduna, was sick with fever and just slept in my lap the whole time.

I am sure you have already heard this about India, and it is no surprise, but yes, trash and poverty is everywhere. I really haven't been shocked by anything yet. I had heard so much, seen so many pictures and videos. Of course, actually being here is different than just looking at a picture, but no big shocks.

I'm having troubles posting photos, but they will be on Facebook and I'll keep trying to post them here! I hope all is well!!!

Four flights later, I have arrived in Chennai! At 5 am this morning, we touched down in the Chennai Airport and connected with our hotel driver. Driving in India... There is no "right side" of the road. Or sidewalks. Or a sense of space. And yet I saw traffic police... Not sure what they do. At 11 am we caught a tuktuk (buggy that you start like a lawn mower) to church ! It is so wonderful to feel completely at home halfway across the globe. The church is true! And God works miracles!

While at church, we met many of the volunteer coordinators for Rising Star, whom we will be meeting up with tomorrow. I obviously am not drinking any unbottled water over here, but a shower had to happen. Like that's any better. I have been awake for well over 24 hours now and can't wait to get settled somewhere a little more permanent tomorrow.

                                                                  Mario Kart Indian Style

IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS, I WILL BE ON THE PLANE TO INDIA! I am going with a program called Rising Star Outreach (risingstaroutreach.org) that works to lift those affected by leprosy. I will be working in the leprosy colonies for three weeks! I will build colony projects, help in the medical clinics, and tutor children. The internet might be down for the first week while I am over there, but other than that I will be posting pictures on this blog daily! Thank you so much to all of you who supported me! I could not have done it without all of the generous donations-- money and time! THANK YOU! Check back for pictures of my adventure!