A Lot of Nothing

I was sick all last week. I didn't go to school or go to Hindi lesson. I was almost thankful that I got sick so I could take a break from everything. However, I was not thankful that the hospital I went to did not have soap or toilet paper in their bathroom (just to say again, this was the cleanest place in the city and it did not have soap.) Thankfully, that was last week and I do not seem to have contracted an even deadlier disease from being there.
The Snake festival as pretty interesting. Here's some pictures

I have met many amazing people while here. I would talk about them more, but I feel their privacy is something I should be conscious about. I can't wait to see who else I'll meet during the rest of my stay.
On a sadder note. Things have been really hard. Being sick sucks. I constantly feel like I don't know what I'm doing and everything here is about 10 times harder than in the states. BUT! it's okay. This is something I know I want to do. The year will go by fast enough i'm sure. I can't believe I've been here a month already. anyway, general ups and downs as always. not looking forward to my period starting. ha. byez.

Fun Stuff

My friend and I spent the day going around the city. We went to various temples and went to our guides silk factory/shop. I got to sit and help make a silk sari!

So, I'm obviously not very good at it. But it was fun and I can only hope some Indian woman will enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed working on it. We then went to the shop that sold the saris that they made. I ended getting two really beautiful saris from them. If you're wondering about the red dot on my head....I got blessed at a temple we went to. The guy also bumped me on the head five times with a wand made of peacock feathers and gave me a black necklace made of string lol. We also played a carnival game-

(I was the only one who actually popped a balloon!)

The last thing we did was go to "The first preaching place of Buddha). Here's some pictures -

I love this last picture. The art here is breathtaking and there is a lot of it.
I think we are going to the river temple tomorrow and getting Henna done on our hands. As much fun as I'm having...I miss my people in America. Much love to you all! 

Bug Bites

I've been waking up in the mornings with bites all over my feet (which I then scratch into scabs.) Thankfully, I have a mom who thinks of everything! Bug spray bracelets! (/anklets lol)

Tomorrow I'm going to check out some temples with my friend Anna. She is leaving on Sunday. I'll put some pictures up if I find anything really interesting! 

Swimming with buddhist monks

How crazy is that?
One of the younger ones even asked me to a race....this video is of me having obviously won the competition between India and America. (U.S.A!)

Soon after this was taken it started to rain. We got out and went to the mall right next to the hotel.
I got my nose pierced!

Well, enough about me. Here are some cute kids that I get to work with :) 

 Lunch time! This is the only meal that a lot of these kids will get.

My kids

I made it through my first week of teaching. It was a little intimidating. The only way I've been able to survive is literally taking it one day at a time.  I am teaching 3rd, 4th and 7th grade. I really enjoy my 4th and 7th classes.
The 3rd class is filled with monsters. I've decided that I'm going to have to make a poster board of their names and give them gold stars if they behave well (hopefully this will work) They constantly yell and fight with each other.  I know I should also make a seating chart, but I feel like I don't know the kids that well yet. 
My 4th class loves to draw. There are a couple kids that really have talent. They love to draw and tell me about their culture. I found a book of Indian history for children and they ate it up. They seemed to already know the stories and really enjoyed helping me pronounce all the Indian names. It helps that they already know the story because it will help them understand the English better.
7th grade is my smallest class (this helps a lot) and they know the most English. They love to read books aloud and have conversations. However, it is very apparent that I need to learn as much Hindi as possible in order to get my points across.
I asked my 4th and 7th classes if they wanted to make videos so I could show my family in America.
Here's what came out of that....lol
7th class (They came up with what they wanted to say)

4th class wanted to sing the song I've been teaching them. We've only worked on it for like two days. We've got some ways to go...but aren't they cute? lol

So yeah. It's hard. It's going to continue to be hard. But I think I can do it. I've had 3 Hindi lessons and I really like my teacher. I am also feeling more and more independent. I can go to the store and get things I need by myself...things like that. 
But I do miss my family and my friends. I've had doubts all week....but I'm gonna keep sticking it out.
LOVE YOU ALL!

The Fourth of July in India

My American friends and I decided we couldn't let the fourth go by without a little celebration. (It's funny, I feel waaay more patriotic now that I'm not in America) Anyway, we decided fireworks and a couple drinks on the roof would be appropriate (no?) The drinks were taken care of already because it is very inappropriate and very scary to go to the liquor store. So, they ask guys they know to go and get it for them. So all we had to do was figure out how to find fireworks. We asked the guys at the coffee shop were we could go. They gave us the name of a place and the Hindi word for firework. Thankfully my friends knew a little about where we were going. However, when we got to the market we had to keep stopping and asking people where to go. The people kept pointing us in the right direction. We ended up at this little shop.
This is me (obviously) buying the fireworks.

   Here are some pictures of the market. Sorry they are kinda blurry.

We weren't even sure we were going to be able to find fireworks. We were very excited to be successful! We rushed home to get started.

 The sparklers went out before we could get the picture :P

 I had a great night and was very glad I was able to do a little bit of celebrating. I've been missing home a lot. I also learned a lot by sitting and talking with these ladies. I hope you all have a great Independence Day as well! 

First Day of School

Well, technically it was a half day. I think it still counts. I met two of the classes I'll be working with. One of them is really little kids (I'm just helping the teacher in this class) The kids were so cute! I couldn't believe it, I can't wait to work with them everyday. It's really sad though because a lot of the kids had really bad heat rash because it's been so hot. I would have taken pictures of the kids but I thought having a camera the first day would be too distracting. I also want the kids to take me seriously (lol is that silly?) Anyway, the next thing I did was work with the 3rd grade class I'll be teaching. Sarah is helping me out the first week or so, which is amazing. My biggest challenge at the moment is learning all of their names.

I also had time to go through and clean all their music supplies.
This is all that I found. It will do for now, but I would really REALLY love to get those handbells that they use a lot in churches? ya know? I looked it up and it would be about $150 to get a set of 25 of them. But I would also have to wait till my mom came in December because she would have to bring them over. But maybe I can find something that is over her. I'm still thinking about it. If you would like to give money specifically to get music supplies for these kids you can send me a message telling me that is where you want your donation to go. These kids have very difficult home lives, I only hope I can give them a small outlet to have fun and express themselves. I'm really looking forward to this year :)

Oh, and my mom told me to take a picture of myself the first day. This is for you mom.

Never Give Up Hope!

Hello Peoples.
Right after I finished writing and posting that last blog "Some Thoughts" I got a text on my phone. It was from the only other person who's number I had besides Sarah (I met her once). She invited me to go to a concert! and here I was thinking I was going to spend the rest of the day cooped up in my hotel room alone. We ended up spending all evening together and she brought some other people she had met. They were college students studying religion here. It was great conversation and a wonderful, completely authentic Indian concert. I even made it home all by myself! (Yikes!)
So, anyway, the moral of the story is...you never know whats going to happen. Things can change in an instant. Don't get too caught up in the moment, good or bad. love to you all :)