The Roller Coaster Highway

Last night I went to Cindy and Martin's house for dinner. The run down of my family here is Reni and Rajan are my mom and dad, Cindy is their daughter and Martin is her husband. Cindy does all of my translating and general running around. Needless to say, I could not do anything around here without Cindy! The neighbors picked me up and we rode to their house with the windows down. It was night and the air was cool and we passed little roadside towns, coconut trees, people walking, and it was a great trip. I breathed in the air, watched my surroundings and thought, wow. I am really in India! Then we almost got hit by a bus and ran into by a car so my moment was interrupted! haha, but that is the Indian experience for you! Everyone in the car had a great laugh becuase when the bus came by so close and blared its horn so loud my automatic reaction was to flinch and squeeze my eyes shut. Sadly shutting my eyes did not keep the others in the car from seeing me when I reacted! haha, It felt like a roller coaster ride, that is for sure. When we arrived we had an amazing dinner cooked by Martin, the best food I have had since I got here. (Yes, I realize that most of my posts have at least one reference to food.) He made a special plate for me, plated just like at a restaurant, and I had buttered rice with cashews and dried cranberries, coconut encrusted chicken bites, fish, and some chocolate to finish it off. The man should really open a restaurant. Another cool thing Martin can do is carve wood. At their home was a 20 foot root that he had carved into a huge fish. It was so awesome. He already sold it to a new hotel. The man has talent. The ride home was another roller coaster except it was one of those where the whole time you wish you had never gotten on. The other brother drove home and he drove soooo fast and it made me nervous. He was actually only driving 45 km/hr, which I don't think is really that fast at all, but it felt like it on the winding roads!

Today I conducted my first childrens program. It was so dysfunctional but so fun. The kids had a lot of energy and were really responsive when we asked questions and played games. I have some work to do to make my program a little bit better before I conduct another one tomorrow, but I had a great time. I have about four more programs with the children so I am really looking forward to ending my trip with such great energy! My last womens seminar will be this week and since I have already done two, I fully expect this one to be my best. The only downfall to everything is that my parents did not give me a name condusive to international travel. Every kid asks, "what is your name?" and when I tell them they give me a blank stare and go, "huh." haha

I'll end on a note of food (obviously, you should expect this by now) and tell you my favorite snacks here:

1. Afternoon coffee with milk and sugar

2. Fresh cashews (fresh and local, so good)

3. Tiny bananas. They have a really thin peel and are really sweet and tasty.

4. Tapioca sticks. Comparable to potato sticks. I had no idea tapioca was like a potato. I thought it was a type of pudding.

I'll be home in two weeks minus a day! Looking forward to sharing my adventures with all of you in person!