India Post #4

This morning I woke up at 6:00 A.M. in my bed in Utah. I realized I was home (which was probably why I was so comfortable . . . a real live mattress!) Since I'm jet-lagged and can't go back to sleep, let me write one final post about my incredible adventure in India.
It's hard to really describe the experience I had the last 6 weeks in India. Life-changing? Yes, but how do you really write that out? Without taking you from our home in West Marredpally down to the bus stop, then to Baliginagar and the surrounding slums, I don't think you would truly understand what I've seen. How could you possibly understand how miserable our bus rides on the 211M could be? Or how that was also one of my favorite places, because when I got a seat, I felt like that was when I truly saw India?
Without taking you to my piano lessons, I don't think you can feel the happiness in Usha's smile, comprehend the tears welling up in Saritha's eyes when she plays out of the regular hymnbook for the first time, or feel my joy at being able to teach music, in India of all places!
Without taking you on a rickshaw, I don't think you can relate to the almost nauseating lack of traffic law, or how the beggars can walk right up to you at a stop light, grab your arm and if you refuse to look at them, pinch you. Hard.
I don't think you can visualize all the shops, advertisements, and the garbage everywhere. Everywhere.
And the smell. How do you describe the smells of India, one minute walking by a mountain of garbage, the next moment a stand of jasmine flowers? How do you describe the constant honking, the sounds of vendors, the sounds of chanting? How can you taste the food I tasted, the wonderful chicken biryani made by Jaya, or the exceedinly spicy noodles in Jaipur?
And most of all, how can I explain the beautiful people of India to you? How can I tell you about how adorable the school children were in their school uniforms, and how they would wave to us and say hello?  And the gorgeous women, with a baby on their hip, or a water pot on their heads. And still dressed in their best saree and bangles with their hair neatly braided, despite their poverty.
Or Jaya, Poojitha, and Ruchita? My best friends in India.

But here, I will try:

 Home sweet home for some in the slums

 Standard filth

 Being asked to take pictures with Indians, I'm a celebrity cause I'm white

 Garbage pile near our home

 Rick-shaws

 Mahesh

 Becoming best friends with the locals

 Walking with the SAPID ladies, Urmi and Mary

 The children attacking me, asking me to take a picture of them

 Friday market near our home

 Braids

 Wisdom

 Taj Mahal

 Rice and curry, eaten with my hands

Finished school mural

Riding an elephant

Piano recital. Usha (left), Saritha (right)

 Jaya, Poojitha, Ruchita

Welcome

India Post #3

It was only a weekend trip with most everyone on my team. Yet it turned out to be one of the craziest and most awesome adventures of my LIFE.
This last Friday, after our workday, ten of us headed to the Hyderabad train station expecting to get on a train around 9 and have our very own beds in a sleeper car. Turns out, we were all still on the waiting list. However, by the time the train got there, we had three "beds" to our name. So, we piled on them, waiting for other beds to open up. Miraculously, three other beds did. So, I spent Friday night sharing a tiny bed with my team member Eryn, hardly getting any sleep. Oh, and the squatter potties where there's just a hole and you just go ON the track was also a pretty hardcore adventure. BUT on Saturday morning around 7:30, our train pulled into Hampi, an AMAZING temple town.
We spent the day touring ruins of Hindu temples and palaces. It was indescribably awesome. All these HUGE temples with super intricate and ornate carvings. They were incredible.  
However, that night was probably the biggest adventure . . . We were at dinner, and I had just finished my delicious panner butter masala when we heard a *thud*. Something had fallen out of the tree onto the girl across the table from me. She reached behind her because she could feel something touching her. All it took was her to scream and say the consonant "sn . . ." for my adrenaline to kick in. Apparently, my team members had never seen me move that fast, ever. I ran up the stairs near our table and stayed there. Turns out, a 6 foot SNAKE had fallen out of the tree. I was absolutely terrified. You see, snakes are probably my number one fear on this planet. I just feel super grateful that I didn't see it or feel it, cause I definitely would have passed out for sure. I spent the rest of dinner at the top of the step.
I made it shopping and back to our quaint but charming hotel just fine and woke up the next day to have an experience that totally made up for the events of the night before. We went to a Hindu temple near our hotel, walked through it to a river, and witnessed the bathing of an ELEPHANT. That's right, an elephant. We sat there and watched, and a few members of my group actually got in the water and helped scrub her. Then, the elephant walked back to the temple where it was painted. Last, the coolest part: We got in a line with a single rupee. When it was our turn, we actually gave the rupee to the elephant, who took it in her trunk, and passed it to a man beside her collecting the money. Then, she lifted her trunk and set it on our heads. It was quick, but it was such a surreal experience. The rest of the day was spent visiting various ruins and Hindu temples.
When it was time to go back to the train station, we found out again that we had been wait listed. This time, we didn't get any seats, so we ended up cancelling and getting on a bus. It was a miserable 10 hour bus ride between Kendra and a large Indian man. But I survived it, showered, and gave an awesome piano lesson this morning. All I need now is a full night's sleep on the maybe inch width mattress that I've come to know and love.
I'm loving all the adventures I'm having here. Some of them are amazing, some miserable, but either way, India is stretching me. It's making me do things I would not normally do. India is making me grow!