What an amazing trip

Wow this trip has been such an amazing experience for me. I have gotten such a love for the people of india I really do not want to leave! I have made so many life long friends here that I am going to keep in touch with and come and see again. I finally know how it works here and feel like i could do things by myself. My mission is to with in the next few years is bring back my brothers just me and them and show them around and show them what I have seen. MAX YOU WOULD LOVE IT HERE. I wish i could explain in typing how much i have learned but i just can not put it into words! The internet is down at the house so i am sitting at an internet cafe right now. This will probably be the last blog till i get home cause wed morning we get on a bus to leave to traval around india for four days I am really excited to see everything and kayla I am going to get to ride a camal!
Well thats all for now

UPDATE!!!

So I just got home from the village a few days ago and when we got home i had no internet! So i thought I would tell you how the trip went. I think that this was my favorite trip into the village so far. It was more of a you can go off and do what you want to do kind of trip. So i got to spend alot of time being with the little kids and playing with them. One day They wanted to take me on a walk with them in the jungle. So we were walkin around for like an hour and we came to this little stream and so i decided to go and stand on one of the rocks that had water flowing over it and try and get the other three kids to come in with me they wouldnt untill i slipped on the rock and completly fell into the water! Then they all decided to jump in and play with me i was in so much pain but had so much getting to be in water for the first time all summer and getting to see these kids have a little bit of a child hood for once. Another thing i decided to do was go for a walk and i met three kids and stopped to say hi next thing i new i was being invited up for tea and sitting talking to the family on the porch. I was invited back the next day and the teenage girl really seemed to like to have me around. So i would go and visit her during the day. I got to visit with sooshma alot. I have noticed a huge difference in the way that her sibblings are treating her while we were ther and it made me really happy. Like her sister a few years older then her i saw every night would go and wash her off and started bring her ti come see me, wich never happens. The best thing to see tho was when paboo started screaming and yelling at shooshma, Pooja came over and grabed her sister by the hand and started screaming and yelling at him then nicly took her into the house and gave her a plate of rice and dal. It was the most rewarding thing ever.
Untill next time
BYE!!!

Home from the Village (again)

Just talked to Kirra. We hadn't had any contact since last Sunday since she was in the village for the week. She just loved it! Sounds like they got to do alot, and she described several times she got to just sit for an hour and talk with someone. I asked how they communicate since many of them speak little to no English. She said they use small words, jestures and that most of them love the fact that they are spending time with them more than the talking anyways! She called this morning (the house she is staying at has a plan so they can call for 6 cents a minute but it's not usually a very good connection and I spend most of the time trying to figure out what she just told me :), but it feels so good just to hear her voice). She wanted me to blog and just tell everyone that she will post as soon as they get internet as it's been out for a while. So if you have sent her an e-mail she hasn't gotten on in over a week, she is not ignoring you.
She told me she is READING A BOOK! That might be the biggest change that happened on this trip (jk). But if you knew how much Kirra HATED to read, you would be as happy as I am. She is reading "3 Cups of Tea". They read it in school but it was the shorter version. At the time, I don't think she had any idea she would be spending a summer in India and going into schools and villages so I'm sure she is reading it with a whole new understanding now.
So YAH!
Thats all for now. Kirra promised she would go on and blog when they get internet and try and send me pictures. Can't tell you how excited I am to see her and hear about her trip!
Love Pam

Kirra's new pictures

Kirra was able to send some more pictures so I am posting them. I will let her put a description of some of them that I am not sure of. She said she is very happy there (although still more homesick than she thought she would be) and is so excited to start taking day trips into the schools to spend time with the kids... no sleeping in the rain. They are done going into the villages due to the amount of (constant) rain/storms that they will have from here on in. The last village trip it was raining most of the time and they slept in a place where the owner used to keep their livestock so you can imagine how inviting that might have been :)

The girls at an engagement party for one of the women living there. Kirra said it was the best party and they danced all night.

I love this picture. So Kirra

Kirra and one of the only girls she has met that is around her age.

I don't know but this one looks pretty feisty!

Kirra and the other girls bought the little girls to their camp spot and washed all their hair and then braided it and made them feel special.

Looking down from above the clouds into a village

Kirra & Shooshma after they bandaged her up. This little girl will have a special place in Kirra's heart forever.

They all love hugs

I can't remember, will have to go back and check her e-mail (and its 1:58am right now)

One big bad monkey that sits in the front yard.

This is the village they went into and knocked on every door and handed out seeds. Then went back with bibles to anyone that wanted one.

Even in India, kids love an IPOD.

The little girls put Hena on the older girls and then received some artwork from the team. Kirra can't wait to bring some home!!!!

Kirra on her 3rd cup of Chi, although she said she still doesn't really like it? (But she had to replace her Starbucks addiction with something, right?)

A temple they pass on one of the paths

Was anyone wondering if it got cold there at night after the hailstorms? Kirra left her TOMS out after a big storm... but they are TOMS... she dried them out and still good as new!

Kirra and the kids in the village

I am guessing she has quite a few of these pictures. Kirra getting to hang with the people she loves best... the kids!

Kirra, Dani & Emily on the way to the village. She loves these girls

Half way mark on the trip!

So we have hit the half way mark and let me tell you it has gone by really fast! It does not even feel like we have been here for 4 weeks. We only have about 3 weeks left of working with the people of India till we have a week of travling and staying in hotels while we go and do some sight seeing it should be lots of fun! So we just got back from the village last night and it was our last trip that we are going on but i must say that it was also the best one we have gone on. The kids are finally comfortable with us and are more talkative and it was so much getting to play games with them and intruduce them to bubbles and crayons and coloring books. They had a ton of fun with it. I got to see sooshma again and it does not get any easier seeing her. Once again i saw her beaten on over and over again! I finally got enough hindi down to tell the kids No! This is bad. The first day we were in the village she came up to me and pointed to a huge gash in her head that was totally infected, it felt so good getting to have a nurse on our team clean it all up and give her some meds to make it better. It beccame very clear to me that this little girl is shown very little love when I picked her up to take her to go play with the kids and us and she would not let me put her down for an hour! and when she was put down she would run twords me and give me huge hugs. This little girl is always going to be my in my heart! We also brought with us a bunch of hena and did the Hena on all the girls and then they did it to us! Along with Nail polish. It was so cool seeing them laugh and have fun. I am so excited for the next three weeks!

Happy 4th of July!!!

So this week we concluded our third week and i am finally getting a hang of how things work around here! we celabrated the fourth of july last night. It was nothing how we do it in cali! The fireworks were like Gun shots it was insane. We are leaving for the village tomorow and I am super excited to get to go and visit all the new friends that i have made! The girls and people here are amazing! I have met a guy that is a tailor and he is the sweetest man. I have gone and sat at his shop three times now and every time he has offered me to go and have that dreded drink with him and his family, yes that dreded drink is chi! I will never get used to that unless it comes from starbucks in a frap mixed with a shot of esspresso! But he has asked me about my family and what it is like in cali and always ends our conversation with asking us to pray for his family. They dont have a ton of buisness at the store and need the money. I want to thank everyone for emailing me the other day I am feeling homesick and it really helped hearing from people. I will let you know what happens in the village. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Update!!!

So I am sorry about not updating you guys we went to the village for a few days and i had a ton of fun the first day we walked about two hours to go to a seperate village to pass out vegtable seeds. We got there and it was a really nice village, I think it was a higher class village because the houses were nicer and bigger and they had electricity a rare ocurance of the homes. We were invited in to a few houses to have Chi (Not a fan of chi I must say) Then when we were walking aroud we were dragged into a wedding party it was really cool we got to go and dance and just have fun it was nothing like am american wedding i can tell you that. The next day that we were camping i got sick and ended up staying in the tent all day sleeping. Then the next day we came home I had one day when we were here and got to go into town to pick a few things up and then got sick again yesterday i spent the whole day in bed more sick then the first time. All i was thinking was i want to be at home in my own bed with my mom with me. I am feeling a little better today but am going to take it easy. I will let you know what is going on in a few days!