I'm on an Elephant.

Well hello there...

It's Tuesday evening here in Bangalore and we leave tomorrow to head back up to Delhi...and Thursday morning we fly back hooome!!! Our first week in Bangalore dragged by but this past week has flown. God's full of surprises. I seriously love this place and I'm so sad to leave.

So Thursday we were supposed to have Bagalur club but it rained hardcore and we couldn't get over to the club location due to the flooding so we had to cancel club...but we had popcorn for the kids so we waited until after the rain died down and then we headed over to the Bagalur slum. Long story short I think more elderly women received popcorn than children.

Friday ended up being the equivalent of a snow day. School got canceled becuase a chief minister of the state of India that we are staying in, passed away in a plane crash. Twas rather unfortunate but we thoroughly enjoyed our lazy day watching movies.

Saturday we went to Mysore!! We left town at 6:30 am and you can find some fun pictures of me sleeping in the van on facebook :) In Mysore we got to see a bunch of tombs and forts and palaces. It was pretty epic. Lauren and I also got to ride an elephant and when we hopped off, the guy in charge told us to give the elephant money and then he would bless us. Of course I wanted to be blessed by an elephant so I gave him 10 rupees and he patted my head with his trunk. I will never be the same.

Oh man. The ride home from Mysore was a 4 hr time period in my life that I can never forget. I was utterly exhausted but could not sleep due to our horn happy driver. He would sometimes honk his horn for no reason at all. Sometimes he would lay on the horn and sometimes he would just honk it about 10 to 15 times in succession. Lauren and I laughed about it for awhile but then we just got pissed. Can you imgaine 4 hours of horn honking. When we got back into Bangalore we hit a major traffic jam. So I opened my window and hung my head outside to get some air. There were 11 of us in a small charter van. It was stuffy. So here in India white people get stared at...a lot. So I've begun to just stare back because I'm so tired of it. So on our drive home from Mysore we were pulling up alongside this big group of men and they were all staring so I just said hello. Bad idea. One of the men proceeded to reach inside my window and touch my arm and say "hello madame." It was shocking and hysterical and proves that Indian men have relentless audacity.

Sunday we went to a traditional church service where we got the pleasure of singing a ton of really fun hymns...I'm not gonna lie, I almost fell asleep a few times. But the message was really good!! After church Sam and Beulah, Chinky and Sharola's parents, took us out to the most amazing lunch ever at this really snazzy 5 star hotel. We actually got a tour of the buffet to explain to us all our options...that's how snazzy it was. Let's just say I ate myself into a coma. Then Sunday night we had senior k club and after club the leaders taught us a fisherman's dance. So Fun!!

Monday was our last day of school so we ended up just playing with the kids and not teaching them anything...we read to them a bit and then just took a ton of pictures and videos. Then after we were done with our classes for the day we headed downstairs where we normally have lunch and we reminded Jimmy, the primary school headmaster, that today was our last day. He freaked out because he thought we were staying longer. He ran outside and made some calls. Meanwhile, Lauren and I are bewildered. We have no idea what's going on. Children and teachers are rushing by us and Jimmy comes back in and asks if we can stay another 30 minutes. We say yes, of course and then by this time, all of the kids in the entire school are sitting outside on the patio where they normally sit for lunch. Jimmy starts talking to them in Kanara, which is their language here in Bangalore. Then he pulls three chairs out into the middle of all the kids. He proceeds to tell Lauren and I to sit in them and then he takes a seat next to us. We still have no idea what's going on. Then one of the teachers has all the children bow their heads and they pray for us as we head out on our journey home. Then the same teacher that led the prayer called up three students from the kindergarten class and they performed a little song for us. A select number of students from each grade did a special performance for us and it was the most amazing and highly undeserved thing I've ever been honored with. We felt like royalty. The children had practiced and practiced and then they stood up before their peers and us and sang and danced and it was so magical. Then after all the performances the same teacher brought out these magnificent necklaces made of jasmine and marigolds and roses and put them on us. Jimmy asked us to stand up and say a few words of farewell to all the kids and I almost cried. In the beginning this job was so hard and so unexpected, but those children certainly won my heart by the end of it all and I was sooo sad to leave them. We promised Thara, the school bookkeeper, that both Lauren and I would come back with our husbands and visit someday. :)

Yesterday after school and all day today, we shopped. And shopped. And shopped some more. We bought soooo much beautiful stuff and I've become an expert at bartering. Sherin and Sheila, two of the leaders that came shopping with us today, told me that I'm better at bartering than they are :) I just smile the whole time and keep my price that I offer from the beginning and he merchants always end up giving it to me..for example, today I wanted to by this really gorgeous table runner and the man wanted to give it to me for 750 rupees. I said oh no no ..way too much. He brought it down to 600 and I said oh no no ...still too much. Us Americans have wisened up. The price they offer us at first is at least twice what the actual product is worth, and they do this simply because we are white. So he told me 600 and I refused. And then I saw another table runner that I wanted so I said give me these two for 700 rupees. He said oh no no. I said yes. 700 rupees. We continued to argue for a bit. I kept smiling. And eventually he gave me two table runners for 700 rupees when the original one he wanted to give me was 750!! It's really quite comical how they try to cheat us. All the rickshaw drivers are the worst. They have meters that they are supposed to use on their rickshaws but if you're white, they pretend the meters are broken and give you an outrageous price. So when we are with our Indian friends we hide out while they go talk to the rickshaw driver and get him to use the meter, and then we pop out and hop in the rickshaw. It's fun to get to cheat them back. :)

So tomorrow Lauren and I are supposed to be flying back up to Delhi...but we just got word that our specific airline, Jet Airways, is on strike. All the pilots have called in sick so there's a chance we might have to change our flight. :( So pray that everything works out please!! It would be really unfortunate if we got stuck here. I mean I love it and all, but I'm really quite excited to come home.

Missing you all terribly. Thanks so much for reading!!!