New fear: monkeys

I GOT MY LUGGAGE!! All intact and nothing (that I know of) was taken out of it. Thankfully I got it about 2 days after I arrived, which is a lot better than previous times when it comes a week or 2 later. I'm thinking by the next time I come, maybe just maybe, my luggage will arrive in the same plane as me haha. 

Over the weekend we went to Mamallapuram, which is a beach town with a bunch of ancient ruins and a sea shore temple. I took some pictures, but I forgot the SD card reader. So pictures will be coming soon! 

At the campus where I stay at with all the other volunteers, there are a TON of animals. Lola the goat, Twinkles one of the ducks, Monnikom  the dog, Chief the other dog, blue birds, monkeys with their young, kittens, squirrels, crows, geckos, frogs, scorpions, snakes, spiders, and more. It's pretty much a zoo here, just not a petting zoo. The other night Lola, the goat, got into a place where she wasn't supposed to be. So I pulled out all the herding skills I know, slim to none, and helped herd Lola out. I've discovered that I don't want to be a shepherd or anything close to that, because the whole time I felt like I was the one being herded and Lola was chasing me at full speed….whoops! Then I was walking up the stairs to dinner and underneath one of the steps was a baby kitten that was so cute, so I stopped real quick and noticed with her big eyes staring straight at me she was eating a squirrel about the same size as herself…I was definitely creeped out!

This week I've been doing things to help get the school ready for the kids, which they come on Sunday so I'm SOOO excited!! I've been entering in their annual scores from the past 7 or 8 years and found probably the longest name known to the planet Earth….M. Mariacatherinedevadhrasini with S. Marudharajamanikam coming in a close second. Imagine trying to learn how to write your name, let alone putting it on a scantron. Crazy! Then yesterday I carried 16 huge bundles of notebooks up a flight of stairs by myself, until my legs and arms started shaking. There are a total of 24 bundles, so I have 8 more to go! 

I haven't even been here a week and I'm already starting to miss food in America…when I'm talking to the other long term volunteers our topics of conversation always result in food. This is going to be bad haha. I seriously cannot contain my excitement for the kids to come, like every time I think about it I just get so excited!

I miss and love everyone so much! 

P.S. I've never had a fear of monkeys before, they actually were my favorite animal growing up, but for some reason I have a huge fear of monkeys now. Especially at night when I go outside, I have to have someone with me. Then the other night I had a dream that I went into the shower and a monkey startled me and he had his fangs sticking out and he looked like he was about to full on attack me. 

India 2014-Edition!

I'm here. I'm here! I am finally here!!

This summer I am the Education Coordinator for Rising Star Outreach in India. In the past summers that I have come to India I would stay for 3 weeks as a volunteer in medical, education, and community outreach/construction work. This time I get to stay for 3 1/2 months and primarily coordinate the education rotations for the 2 or 3 week volunteers. I am so excited to meet all of these self-less volunteers who are leaving all their families and friends and comforts of their homes, to come to India (in the HUMID and scorching sun) and serve others.

After 24+ hours of traveling….I am here!! In the past summers that I have come to India, for some reason my luggage never comes with my flight, so that is what I expected. This time though was a little bit different. I got on my flight to India from London and after everyone was all ready to go, the pilot comes on the intercom and says, "we have some bad news" and in my mind I thought the plane was unsafe or something, because when you say bad news I think of the worst, right? wrong. The pilot continued to say, "we have about 50 pieces of luggage that just got here, so we are going to be about another 15 minutes, that way we can load them. Sorry for the inconvenience." This gave me a twinge of hope, if they are loading more baggage, surely mine has to be in there. Nope. Of course my luggage didn't come with the flight. Once I got to baggage claim in India, I heard my name over the loud speaker, so I scurried over to the customer service desk. This lady tells me that London called them and told them that my luggage did not make it on the plane. London CALLED India just to tell them that…let that sink in. I was the only one that they called over the loud speaker…I am seriously cursed with bad luggage karma! But, I did get an email from British Airways saying that my luggage is on the next flight to India, so I'm glad they know where it is!

I am so happy to be here! It feels UNREAL, like I'm going to wake up from a really good dream about India (which I've had too many to count). The whole 2 hour van ride from the airport to RSO campus I just looked out the window, because I was so excited! Once I got to campus, it was almost 7am and everyone was beginning to wake up. So naturally, I just pretended like I woke up too, except I didn't, because I had just been traveling with little to no sleep for 24 hours. My plan was to stay awake the whole day, with maybe a little nap and then just be really exhausted by the end of the day. However, whenever I was tired I would go lay down and as soon as I would close my eyes I would be awake. After the fourth time of this happening, I was quite annoyed. So even though I literally looked like a zombie off the walking dead, I pushed my way through the day. Well at least until an hour or two before dinner time and then I totally passed out on my bed. I didn't even realize I fell asleep, so when I woke up at midnight and everyone else was sleeping, I was way confused. Jet lag is so real.

Tomorrow we are going to Mamallapuram which is a beach town and then Sunday the BYU Nurses come in!

I love and miss everyone so much!

P.S. It was 108* F and it said with humidity it felt like 118* F…walking across the campus I felt like I was walking across the Sahara Desert!