Bullet Recap

It has been an intense whirlwind couple of weeks so far. This recap may be more for me to have a handle on what happened.

Each and everyone of these bullets is a bountiful experience.

Tuesday October 20th:
- Arrived in India
- exhilarating ride to hotel
- popped out of my hotel room only to return 3 or 4 times; it can be very over stimulating/overwhelming and I felt that I had to return to my calm home base
- wonderful Indian meal Dahl and chapati
- early evening

Wednesday October 21st:
- We wait in India. Everything/everyplace is described as either 2 minutes or 10-15 minutes but can be any amount of time. There doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency until you find yourself on the road and than it is a break neck pace, full out, get out of my way race.
- Met up with very friendly faces and moved to the ashram were we stayed during our service retreat.
- The ashram is very nice: simple, peaceful in the center of chaos, nice green grass and Kristen brought a frisbee!

Thursday October 22nd:
- The rest of our group arrives and our service retreat begins.
- Visit the After School tutoring program and meet the children for the first time.
- The children are so excited to see us.
- Santosh certainly does not rest on his laurels. He already had so much going on with the school and he recently started an After School tutoring program open to children from his school, children from nearby public schools, and girls who do not currently attend school.

Friday October 23rd:
- We visit the school for the first time. Bright smiling faces and bubbling with joy.
- Learn that the children are expecting us to teach English.

Saturday October 24th:
- The mornings begin pretty early for me as I was waking at 4:30 or 5:00 am. So I walk the grounds, throw the frisbee, climb up to the top of the temple, occasional yoga.
- Each morning our retreat begins as we sit with Vanessa.
- Return to the school. Countless smiling faces and more joy.
- Evening Cashmiereian experience. We were invited to a wonderful dinner and music evening at a Persian Rug showroom.

Sunday October 25th:
- We spent the day at the ashram in retreat.

Monday October 26th:
- I find myself teaching English with Breez. We had a big time with two classes and the children were jumping with excitement.

Tuesday October 27th:
- Breez and I teach English to the two younger groups of children at the After School program. We learned a lot, hopefully the children did too.

Wednesday October 28th:
- Breeze and I are in our groove and we teach three more classes at the school.
- Great fun.

Thursday October 29th:
- We had heard that the children were planning a performance but we had no idea what they meant by a performance. We were completely blown away.
- Every act was so special and full of energy. WOW! it was incredible.
- We went to a school performance and it exploded into an all out dance party.
- If you see the video, I had something in both of my eyes.

Friday October 30th:
- We say goodbye to our new family at the school and later in the evening at the ashram.

Saturday October 31st:
- Our retreat wraps up.
- Kristen, Patra, Breez and I head to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.

Sunday November 1st:
- A day in Agra.
- Visiting the magnificent Taj Mahal, and Agra Fort.
- A full fun day around Agra.

Monday November 2nd:
- Train to Delhi. Everyone of these line items is a learning experience and for this one we all receive extra lessons.
- Shopping at Delhi Haat a city bazaar.
- Most of the crew departs for home.

Tuesday November 3rd:
- Kristen, Patra and I brought what we learned from our first train excursion and hop a train to Haridwar.

Wednesday November 4th:
- Cable car to a couple of temples.
- Vikram ride to town and arrete in the Ganges.
- Haridwar at night.