Jan 25 Finally Home!

Note: Today I posted two blogs. A blog from sunday that I wrote in the airport and this one from yesterday. For some reason my computer has had a hard time re-adjusting to internet in the US so I couldn't post at first.

Monday

Today was a relaxing day. The time difference has me pretty tired. I got up and mostly took it easy today. Lots of things are really strange. I was only gone for 3 weeks, but India is so different than the US that it is more strange being back this time than when I was in Europe for a semester. The traffic is so orderly and here I can drink the water and flush toilet paper in the toilet. I took a long warm bath today which was amazing then got out into a room warmed by central heating! I was in a great mood all day because I realized how amazing my life is. I am so unbelieveably thankful for my life here! The main thing I've been thinking of is that if I grew up in India as someone in the lower middle class I probably wouldn't have an education or being doing any of the things that I've been able to do. That's an exciting and tough thought. Its wierd to think that I did nothing to deserve these things. Simply by growing up in the US I have been exposed to great opportunity. It could have been very different.

One thing very apparent in India is that people do not just sit around content with where they are. They are always trying to get ahead, to work to improve their situation. There is a strong spirit here. People take advantage of every opportunity. Americans/Westerners tend to be lazy. We have so much but try to escape working hard at anything. Many of the wealthiest people in our societies do very little, but make the most by having others do the work. Almost every American has access to higher education, but so many do not take advantage of it simply because they don't feel like working! How selfish and unwise! Children in India are desperate for a chance to get out of their situation and many know that education is the key to that, but so mnay don't have access or opportunity. One sixth of the world's population lives in India and about 3% have been affected by the prosperity of India over the last few years. It is so hard to get ahead there. That's been a good lesson for me. Seeing the strong and resilient spirit of India has reminded me that I must take advantage of the opportunities around me. If we don't, Indians will continue to take our jobs overseas.

Today I reviewed some of my information, but mostly took a day off to process all that happened. Tomorrow I am going to make a plan for the project and start on it. I've got 6 days to get it all together.