Hey there Readers,
Today was really a blast and probably my favorite day so far, so I'll fill you in on what happened. After breakfast we went to a different, larger, and more organized school. They were warming up when we arrived and I saw that they had uniforms and were well disciplined. We watched for a little bit and the person responsible for essentially the whole project showed us around the two different sites. During the tour we talked with Sabita and the things she has done and saw how accomplished she was and her dedication for the project, called the Prakash Deep school - it was incredible. Once we returned to the first site there was a group of older kids being taught self defense by a retired military officer and I decided to join them. We were taught different techniques on how to release the grip of somebody choking you and if someone grabs your hand, how you can escape. At the end we made a circle and two people sparred in the middle, using the techniques that we learned that day. I managed to survive and it was so awesome. It was my first self defense lesson and I absolutely loved it because I actually learned something that would help in my life and also it helped to integrate me with some of the older kids in the school. Tired and sweaty, I went to a nearby store looking for some water and I got a liter of Mountain Dew. Normally this wouldn't be allowed because of the gargantuan amounts of sugar in it (11.9/100mL, it was awesome). Now Mom, for the first time I've seen in a long time, got a coke. Ask anyone in India who usually abstains from soda and they will tell you that while in India, the most refreshing thing in the world becomes a cold soda. I don't know why, but everyone who stays with us at Dr. Bandhu's says the same thing, so I don't think we're going insane. Because we didn't have a ride, one of the teacher's friends drove us to the main road where we managed to find a rickshaw. Finally we got home and I took a shower. The water was cold, which was nice because of the sweltering heat and then I took a nap. I was woken up two hours later to go to our first Hindi class so I crabbily got dressed and we were soon off. Our teacher, Bindu, was a very nice woman and we learned some incredibly useful new material. Mom took notes and I decided that I could use hers seeing as I'm the one taking ten pages of history notes every night. After class, which took an hour but seemed like 20, we decided to go to the local market where Bandhu would pick us up. We arrived there, took up a search for an ATM and then we were ready to go. When I say go I mean shopping by the way, seeing as we had time to kill. Usually I'm not a fan of shopping, especially when Mom walks into a store gleefully exclaiming, "Oh Colin, wouldn't this be the cutest for Vanessa!" and spends over 2 hours looking for clothes and shoes and whatnot while I stand behind her as she piles everything she's going to buy in my arms. Hopefully now you will be able to understand why I do not particularly enjoy shopping with her but this time, we actually bought stuff for me, so it was a nice change. With two bags of cheap, new clothes, we headed towards our designated pick up spot. Once we were picked up and shuttled back home, we ate dinner which was once again chapatti and potato curry. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious, but after eating it day after day you eventually get tired of it. The Family (this is referring to the Western family that stays with Bandhu, I don't know what else to call them), Mom, and I ate together. That night there was a change in the usual schedule and Bandhu decided to take Sowmick (his son) and me on his motorcycle to get ice cream. This was my first time on a bike and it was awesome, first of all because of the rush you get from the possible danger of falling off and second was the speed at what you could get to. Once we arrived home a little bit later, I got ready for bed and slept away the day’s exhaustion.
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