How to Start

I honestly do not know where to start to explain the past few days of my life. I was able to make it onto the plane out of Houston at 8:45 pm and travel the 10 hours to Doha and then back onto a plane for 9 hours and arrive in India at 4:00 am Sunday morning.Flying over the Atlantic Ocean was amazing- and it was something that I got very excited about being able to see and do- but the other 2 guys that I was sitting next to did not share the same amount of excitement and kept laughing or giving me looks. The 4 am arrival time on Sunday morning was somewhere around 5:30 pm for Texas on Saturday.The time difference is something that I will have a very hard time getting used to. I did not sleep too much on the plane because the flight I was on (Qatar) has over 150 movies to watch on a personal screen as well as interactive games, endless amounts of food and drinks can be served- and I was just excited to be finally traveling to India. When I got to the hotel, my roommate had already checked in and was asleep- so I quietly got settled in, ate an amazing buffet breakfast, complete with a morning scoop of ice cream! Took a quick nap and was able to have a quick Skype date with Jeff.

Sunday: I met the 5 other girls that I will be living with for the next 3 weeks and after meeting them, I became even more excited about the trip and meeting the kids and being able to find out more about the Indian culture. We took a trip through Chennai, which is laid out much like the bad parts of town in New York City. But we were able to stop and get a tour of a Hindu Temple, called the Kapaleeswarar Temple. It was interesting to hear about their beliefs, and why they worship the way that they do. The Hindu's were explaining their 3 main gods and how they can take on different shapes, but you can always tell which god it is by what animal they travel by. We had a private person of the temple attempt to explain the belief and the tradition, and he blessed each of us by putting ash on our foreheads. He said it is similar to the Christian belief of  "From ash we come - and to Ash we will go."

Monday is when we were all picked up by the RSO van and driven 2 hours south of Chennai to a village that I cannot begin to pronounce or spell.. The village still, is about 10 minutes from the Rising Star campus, but upon pulling into the facilities- it was an amazing drive and I look forward to working/volunteering here for the summer. The kids have a new school and it will be dedicated on July 10th! The school is beautiful with open air and chalkboards for all the teachers to use as well as desks and chairs for the kids to sit in. The hostel that the volunteers will all be sharing is one donated by the Marriot family (of the Courtyard, Marriot, and it is beautiful. We have about 6 beds to a room, and a total of 6 rooms each for guys and girls, with a courtyard in the middle and a kitchen to be able to use. The toilets are Indian style, and they are called "squatter" toilets. Ill post a picture of that later. The showers are taken with 2 buckets, and there is only 1 spicket that provides safe RO water to be used. We eat dinners on the rooftop of the kids homes and it is beautiful. You are about 3 stories high, overlooking a beautiful sunset among the Indian jungle full of monkey's, and all types of jungle wildlife. We have been advised by the summer interns that they have yet to see Monkeys or cobra's, but they have heard stories about them coming onto campus. 

We got to spend a small amount of time with the kids, but we will have jam packed days of being with the kids as early as 8:30 in the morning and then not retuning back to our hostel until nearly 9:00 pm. 

I am so thankful and excited to be here though! It truly is going to be a magical experience. Later in the week, we get to go to the Leprosy colonies and work a little there, although I am not sure what we will be doing yet, whatever it is, it will have a strong meaning and purpose.