Firstly, I have a confession--pride really does come before the fall. Remember in one of my past blog entries where I said I had mastered the squat toilet? Well I thought I did the first week. Don't worry, I didn't fall in or anything, but one day I went in the stall and noticed for the first time the shape of the toilet. After looking at it for a few seconds I realized that I had been using it backwards! In Western cultures, obviously you face the door as you are sitting on the toilet. I guess I just assumed that was how it was supposed to be in India, too. That day, though, I had my epiphany and everything clicked. I had wondered why the flusher was behind and you had to turn completely around to flush it! And why the hole was at the back instead of the front! And now as I looked at the foot grips on the side I realized they were shaped an ideal way for facing the wall instead of the door, too! I laughed out loud as I realized my foolishness and how ridiculous I had been those many days before in thinking that I knew how to use the toilet so well. No one else was in the bathroom at that time, though, so I kept my embarrassing little secret to myself. I think about it now and wonder how many other things I am doing wrong here in India. I'm sure the natives get a hoot sometimes when they see us dressed in what we think is a real Indian outfit or eating the wrong way. I know my little girls sometimes talk in Tamil about me and laugh, but it's okay. I am sufficiently humbled now and am more open to forgetting my Western ways and learning how to do it the Indian way. Upon further contemplation, though, I wonder if there really IS a right way to use the squatter. Maybe it is one of those things where everyone just has to figure out how they want to do it. Actually I wouldn't be surprised--it seems like that is kind of the way it is here in India. Anything goes! Three grown men can ride a single motorcycle with no problem, chickens cross the road all the time, and you can find just about any type of religion here. Ahh, you gotta love it.
Anyways, now that I got that out of my system, I just want to summarize my weekend real quick:
Friday
Travel on bumpy road at 3 o'clock in the morning to get to airport. 4 hour flight including literally 10 or 15 minutes of taxiing down the runway. Visit Mahatma Ghandi's home and site of martyrdom (walk on the actual path he walked on right before he died and find out that's not allowed--oops!). Go to Old Delhi and tour it via bicycle rikh shah [visit the oldest temple in Delhi, which is 1000 years old; go down cramped alleyways teeming with life and tons of teeny shops; visit the spice market]. Go to Pizza Hut for dinner [it's actually a very nice sit-down restaurant; even my pasta has a tint of Indian spice to it. My strawberry "shake" is DISGUSTING but I hate to waste food so I drink it anyways]. Feel really nauseous for the first time in India and become very familiar with Pizza Hut's little bathroom. 5 hour tour bus ride to Agra in which I feel miraculously better (thank goodness, because the bus has no bathroom). Arrive at the luxurious Jaypee Hotel and crash.
Saturday:Wake up at 4:45 AM. Depart for Taj Mahal at 5:15 AM.
Visit one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World (also the biggest mausoleum in the world, I think) and take lots of pictures. I get to walk BAREFOOT on the marble of the Taj. Visit Agra Fort, a huge military fort with an amazing palace. FINALLY eat breakfast. Chill at the hotel (SLEEEEP). Shop, shop, shop. Eat at McDonalds, which has no hamburgers [the ice cream tastes exactly the same though :) ] Go to a dazzling show about the story behind the Taj Mahal.
Visit the disco in the hotel. Crash.
Sunday:
Sleep in a little bit. See an elephant up close! (Many people chose to take a ride on it.) Long 6 hour bus ride to Delhi. 2 and a half hour flight to Chennai. Bumpy, windy, wet 2 hour bus ride back home to Rising Star hostel. Arrive after midnight and crash again.
It was such a long weekend packed with probably a week's worth of activities, but I had a great time. I was so happy to be back here, though. We got straight back to work! My group was on construction yesterday and it was the most exhausting one I've experienced. We stayed on the Rising Star campus and dug a trench around what is supposed to be their track. It was SOOO TIRING, but SOOO REWARDING being able to do labor and see the results of it. The last time we were on construction we spent about 40 minutes watching these men pour concrete into the foundation of a bathroom we were all working on, so it felt good to actually do something today. We are praying that it doesn't rain tonight, though, or else the dirt might fall back into the trench and rend all our work useless. If it does, we will cry and then we can say we literally put blood, sweat, and tears into the construction of that track (I got a little cut on my leg while working with a shovel, so hopefully it doesn't get infected!)
It was great to see my girls and all the children again. I played a nice little game of soccer with some of the boys and got to have some quality time with my youngest girls tonight. We read books and sang songs and it was just great. I have this little nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps reminding me that I only have a few days left here, but I'm determined to live those days to the fullest. I'm sure there are still so many things I can learn and experience!
You didn't want to ride the elephant?
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