PEOPLE! PEoPLE EVERYWHERE!

First week in India!

The first week here has been great! We started work at both the boys home and the girls home. the boys home has about 120 boys ranging in age from 5/6 to 18. The girls home has about 15 girls ranging in age from 8 or 9 to 14 ish..i think. At the boys home we all have different projects to work on. I'm going to be decorating some rooms and helping with planting and upkeep of a vegetable garden. We've gotten to hear some of the stories on how the kids got into the orphanage. At the girls home, there are two girls that are sisters. Both their parents died of HIV and the older sister who is 10 years old, recently found out that she is HIV + as well. Very dad, but God is defiantely doing a great work at both homes. We have a translator that we are working with that is with us to talk to the kids. I've been learning some Tamil. Eru! that means wait! that's the only word i know how to spell but i do know some other words.

On Monday, we went to the boys home. We got to meet the boys, play games, and get a run down on some of the projects that need to be done. Trying to learn names has definately been a challenge! They all have very long names that are very hard to say, but with practice I'm getting them. They think it's funny when we try to say their names! There is one boy that looks boy that looks like a young Indian version of George Clooney. (side note: I've found that I've been seeing the Indian versions of people i know. It's strange..) They are all very well behaved and it's fun to see all of their personalities and see how much potential they have.

On Tuesday, we took about 90 of the boys to the Circus! The Circus was pretty similar to any other Circus, except it was like 90 degrees with no air circulation and flies everywhere. But besides that it was great! The kids don't get out much so this was an adventure for them , and they seemed to really enjoy the circus.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to the boys home and began our work on the projects and played with the kids.

Friday was a very exciting day. We went to Chennai which is the closest large city. Luckily, we brought our friend Kalai who has been our translater. She helped us out so much! We got there at about 6 am, went to breakfast and then took our first Auto ride. If you don't know what an auto is, it's like a taxi but it has 3 wheels and is very small..and a little scary. The entire time, i could stick my hand out of the vehicle and touch the car next to us. So we took the auto to Marina Beach where we got to see the Indian Ocean! :) It was kind of nice to see a beach of fully clothed people! Aftger the beach, we went to Spencer plaza which is like a big shopping mall. There we went into shops and...got our noses pierced! Pictures to come.

Saturday, we took the girls to a small zoo. After lunch, we hiked to a little waterfall. The kids had a blast splashing around in the water!

So it's been over a week and I'm starting to adjust to the culture, communicating with a language barrier, getting stared at, etc. It's been a great experience so far! :)
Thigns that are different about India:
1. animals are everywhere. even in the middle of the road.
2. when the cars here go in reverse, they either play music or a beeping noise.
3. people bobble their heads from side to side to say yes or ok.

More to come later! If you could continue to pray for health and safety for me and the other two girls with me that would be great!

Love,
Delia