Basking in Bangalore

So we didn't get to watch our Bollywood flick yesterday because they wouldn't let us in with our bags. But I wasn't too heartbroken because the theater we were at didn't have any English subtitles for the movies so we would have been watching it in hindi...and of course we don't understand hindi :)

Last night we left the fabulous and oh so glamorously sweaty life in Delhi and flew down to Southern India to Bangalore. We easily mistook Bangalore for heaven when we arrived because it was like night and day from Delhi. There was a cool breeze and cold rain and the airport was immaculately polished, complete opposite of where we had been in Delhi. We didn't know if anyone would be at the airport though to pick us up because we had facebooked Sharola to tell her when we were coming in but she had not responded. But alas, Sharola was there to pick us up! We were elated because not only were we no longer sweating, but we had a ride and a new friend.

Sharola took us to the Bangalore YoungLife house where we will be staying for the next 15 days. She gave us the lowdown on what we are going to be doing with our time here and then we arrived at the house, showered, and crashed out. We all have our own bed in one room of the younglife house. Luxurious. Forgive the cliche, but we slept like babies last night...

...only to be woken up at 7am by the crowing of the local rooster.

The three of us laid around until about 9ish and then we got up and had some toast for breakfast. At 10:30 we headed out to meet Sharola's dad. Sharola and her sister Chinky live together at the YoungLife house and Chinky took us to the YuvaLok office where her dad works.

Sharola and Chinky's dads name is Sam and he is the founder of the YuvaLok organization which I had mistaken for an orphanage but it is actually a school. YuvaLok actually means YoungLife but because YoungLife is "blatantly Christian: (Sharola's words), they had to come up with a more all-encompassing way of getting to the children. YuvaLok is a school for underprivileged children. They have two campuses. One is a primary school and the children have all been rescued from child labor. The other is a high school for kids, grades 6 to 10.

After meeting with Sharola's dad Sam and the director of the school, Shobha, we were whisked off to see the two campuses and meet the principal of the school. Immediately after meeting the principal we were asked what our strengths are and where we think we can help the most in the school. Taylor will be teaching 10th grad math and Lauren and I will be teaching 4th and 5th grade English....the principal said we pretty much have free reign and she wants us to sing, dance, teach poetry, and play puppets. Sounds pretty epic to me.

So we will be teaching in the mornings and having lunch with the students and then in the evenings we will be doing YoungLife stuff. There are several YoungLife clubs going on in Bangalore and they are all different. There is Junior K club, which is high school club. Then there's Senior K club which is college aged kids. Then there is Bagalur club. Bagalur is a slum near the YoungLife house where the leaders go to and hang out with the kids that live there. There is also SMILE which is Serving Mankind In Love Everyday and this consists of club kids that have grown up and are encouraged to give back to the community.

On Saturday we will be going with the SMILE members to the Sisters of Charity Mother Teresa home where we will be helping out with children that are mentally and physically disabled.

The Lord is doing big things here in India and the three of us are so incredibly blessed to get a glimpse of the majesty.

Today after meeting the principal we got to have lunch with Beulah, Sharola and Chinky's mom, as well as Sharola and Chinky. We ate dal and rice for lunch with a salad made of carrots, cucumber, and parsley. There was chapati, which is sort fo like pita bread, and we all ate with our hands...that's what they do here. :) And everything was incredibly spicy...I don't do spicy...but I'm trying.

After lunch we headed back to the YoungLife house where we just played cards for about 4 hours. I learned a couple new games: Donkey (which I don't really care for), Show, and Up and Down the River.

So I basically love India and can't wait to start teaching and playing with precious Indian children tomorrow morning. The kids are so great. We got to go to all the classrooms today and they all smile and love high fiving and shaking hands. So precious and beautiful.

That's all for now. We have internet at the place I'm staying at so I'll probably be updating this little dilly quite often so keep checking in!!