INDIA

we've been in india only a day and a half and i love it already. rachel and i got in at noon on sunday after 30 or so hours of traveling (that includes a lovely 10 hour layover in london heathrow) to an empty flat. another volunteer, jennifer, came in from boston at the same time as us so we spent the terrifying 45 minute drive from the airport talking to her.
the staff at our flat explained that there's somewhere around twenty of us living here in this gated apartment complex separated between 3 flats. we spent our lonely first couple of hours unpacking, eagerly waiting for phil (and everyone else kind of) to come back from their sight-seeing tour. after our blissful reunion with phil we passed right out (at like 5) and slept through the night, missing dinner and the Lorai celebration.
yesterday was pretty jam-packed with boring orientation lectures that, as semi-experienced ccs volunteers, we could've given ourselves. when we were all good and antsy, the head program coordinator, bella, sent us out in groups on 'missions' to force us to get out into the town and talk to people. my group had to buy food from a market (to practice our bargaining skills), hand it out to people on the street and engage people in conversation. we ended up in a small temple on the side of the road where we learned it was the holiday of the sun and therefore also a day of donations.
they took us out to lunch for real indian food, which is nothing like the indian food i tried with my family before coming here. it was way too spicy for me, but gabe would certainly love it.
our last excursion was to a boutique to buy appropriate attire to wear to our volunteer placements. i can't wait to go to the markets and buy loads more dresses and shawls aaaand to get some henna tattoos.
i've got to go get ready for my first day at my placement, wish me luck!

p.s. the Internet here is not so reliable so i'm not sure how often ill be able to update this