Namaste

Hello all from INDIA! We all made it safe and sound to Delhi. We arrived on wed night after a whopping 24 hours of travel or something like that. The location we are staying in is very nice... all us 4 girls are in one room - with one bathroom/shower/toilet and the boys another. We have fans in our rooms so at night it is even cool (we just wake up with sore throats from the ceiling fans but its worth not sweating in our sleep!) And we have breakfast served to us and cleaned up after us everyday. Usually eggs, toast, cereal, and bananas. We also have a balcony for our use and we can use the roof too - for very important things like catching up on our tans (its the only place sheilded from view so we can actually wear tank tops and cropped trousers up there!). We've spent the past few days going around in autos (see facebook pictures whenever I get those up) and visiting a couple different markets. We had to have much of our shopping done before this next week, because come monday we will not be wearing western clothes very much any more. Its been alot of fun going around and purchasing Dupatas and Kurtas. The patterns and colors are all so beautiful! For food so far its been alot of take out and fast food. We have a couple people on our team who really cannot eat spicy food, so until we figure out some local dishes made with cream or cheese instead of peppers and chili, we will be eating at more common places . We did try one Indian restaraunt - Al-Bake. And it was pretty good.. the butter chicken is perfect for me, but the Chicken Korma ( which is usually a perfectly sweet indian meal) was really hot. SO weve had mcDonalds and pizza hut and and indian fast food joint called Fast Trax a couple times. Tonight a local friend is taking us around the community centre - where we eat daily - and showing us the good/safe restaraunts and shops and good foods to eat. My "role" is kind of being developed as time goes on. For sure I am in charge of transportation - meaning arranging and bargaining for the autos (they usually charge double for us because of the "white tax" so I try and haggle it down to half that) and all the budgeting for that as well. Also, I am helping Lidia create the schedule while we are here.. and any rotas or calenders as needed.. and planning any tourist things. so far.

Today we are going with another friend to a street program where we will be playing with kids for a couple hours! And monday we start with our regular program - which we dont even know yet! Delhi is very different from any place Ive been before. But so far I really like it. Im just soaking everything in! Some of the team members so far I think have found the poverty and beggers and the shopping with the bargaining very overwhelming, so it is good that we have debriefing and accountability as a team. I look forward to seeing and experiencing more...

I will keep you posted!
Love joy peace.