Jan 13

Today work was again crazy. Luckily though we had a different driver- one who makes me feel much less car sick! He came in to help me with the children some, but even then it was difficult to get them to listen and as soon as he left they went crazy. They just bowl each other over and they keep crying! They give me ulcers! They are so terrible! Tomorrow I am going to switch with Jackie. She will have the little ones and I will get the older class. They are better behaved (I think) and smarter so I can actually plan more to do with them. The 3 to 5 year olds really aren't old enough to be learning much and I dont know enough Hindi to do too much with them. They just don't understand. The older children can do some math and things like that so I think it will be easier and more enjoyable. Bella, the program manager, said that the first week would be adjusting, the second week would be hard and in the third week we would get into it. It seems like that might turn out to be true.

I had a frustrating day. After work I was going to go to Dilli Haat, a market here which is apparently amazing. Everyone went while I was in the hospital so I was going to check it out. I'm determined to get my interviews in and to really get to see a lot of the city. The Australians went to see Gandhi's home where he died so I was convinced to tag along instead. It was a total wasted day because the stupid auto rickshaw drivers took us to the wrong Gandhi museum! Apparently more than one Gandhi has been assassinated in India and has a museum to prove it! By the time we discovered this it was too late to go to teh right museum because it was about to close so we just had to come back. So I paid again to be taken back. Waste of money and time!

Tonight, though, there was a bonfire. Its a shik holiday here so we had a fire and snacks with dancing. It was pretty fun to see all of the volunteers and staff mingling and dancing. It was nice to stand around the fire and learn about the holiday. We had to throw some of the food into the fire as a sacrifice first and then walk around it in a circle. Vicki said a prayer and then we ate! I'm totally stuffed now. Afterward i enjoyed hanging out with some of the other girls in my group. There are only 4 male volunteers and the others are all girls. There is a big group of Australian students and then several others who all came alone. One Australian and the rest of us are American. Its a pretty good group of volunteers; all a bit strange of course because the average person doesn't want to volunteer in India. Of the people I encounter everyday at home, most don't care too much about the outside world or for that matter about much other than themselves. Its refreshing to meet other people who care about others and volunteering and making a difference in some way. I really am closest to 2 people: Jake and Heather. Both are around my age and are very neat people. I am also learning from them. Jake is very funny. He is himself no matter what and doesn't apologize for it. I'd like to be more like that. Heather has had some tragic things happen in her life but she seems to have this amazing peace about life that I have never seen in another person. After seeing the way much of India lives I hope I can also become more like this. Most things that happen in my life really aren't a big deal. I haven't had anything all that bad happen to me. I have it made and to complain is really a crime. It cheats me out of truly enjoying and experiencing life. When I get back I am going to be so thankful for my warm home and shower and my car and for many things that I never knew were luxuries.

As a side note I am going to meet with Bella (the program director) tomorrow to talk about CCS and NGOs. Today I have been preparing for it so I will include the details of that tomorrow.