Surprise!
15 July 2011
So I sucked at running. Big surprise. Yesterday was the third standard competition. It went by quickly but despite explaining the rules the night before we had to continuously stop to prevent them from pushing, shoving, holding, etc… Only one girl from the hostel won and that was third place for running. I kept telling Jil that you will get first but in the end she didn’t win anything. It was okay because she was still a winner in my eyes. She’s warmed up to us, so it’s all good with her.
After the competition, I went to my class and they updated me about the day. They told me who got hit, who was good, who finished their class work and other things. I found it funny that they would tell me this. After the break, all the interns gathered and asked the secretary for permission to go to a mini trip next weekend. We plan on flying to Delhi, take an overnight bus to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, go to Jaipur and then Suzana and I will go to conference in Silvasa which is two hours from Bombay. Michael and Vittoria will go exploring in Rajasthan while Emily will go back to Ahmedabad since it’s her last week. We all plan on coming back on the 29th hopefully since Emily is leaving on the 30th. Next Tuesday we want to plan a bonfire for the hostel kids. I want fireworks and to make s’mores. I’m excited. This weekend we will go to Udaipur.
We went to see Delhi Belly, a Bollywood movie and slept at Namita’s to see Harry Potter in the morning. It didn’t go as planned and we left Namita’s to eat out only to get a text saying the film is ready. We ended up watching it at 5:30 pm and it was so good!
After we came back from Namita’s and before we went to see Harry Potter, we went back to the hostel, to finish our day. The sir knew what that we were leaving and we didn’t tell him the exact details. I went to my class for a while and learned some words in Gujarati. Vayshali asked me to do flashcards with the kids. This game certainly helped me to learn some words as well as seeing the kids do it repeatedly. Today went by quickly and we are on our way to Udaipur. We should get there around seven so I wish to sleep. Good night!
16 July 2011
Ha ha seven! We got a surprise at 3:30 this morning when we got dropped off in Udaipur. We waited around and the Jagdash temple was open at 5 am. We slept for a little bit while they prayed and left around six thirty to go to the lake. We ate around seven and then went to the palace at nine. We spent several hours at the palace. The family has three palaces, one for each season, monsoon, winter and autumn. After the palace we went shopping and killed time just to eat again. Then we made plans to do things but the charges were expensive for foreigners. We wanted to go on a garden via lake but it was expensive. By the time we wanted to do something it started to pour. Suzana and I considered going where the other interns were going but we decided to do something else. We saw a movie. We met up with the other interns for dinner and then left for the bus. I’m here writing on the bus once again and yeah good night!
17 July 2011
We got in at 4:30 am today. We told the rickshaw to leave us at McDonald’s which is five minutes away from the school. As 5:30 approached, I told Vittoria as a joke that the gate is open all this time. After ten minutes, and she turned the lock and we were inside the premises. We took a nap or at least I did and then at 6:50, we were off to a walking tour of Old City. Ahmedabad is in two parts, New City and Old City. Old City has a lot of history. The tour started at 8 and ended at 10:30am. The retired vice-principal’s son took us to the Green House for snacks and then we went to her house, the vice principal, to meet her family and to relax. We left to go eat at 12:00 pm. We then went back to the school and we decided to go to the flat. I’ve spoken to my best friend and my family. I can say that I really have enjoyed my time in India so far. Vittoria and I will go to the school now because we are tired and need to be back on time.