Well, today you all are going to get an update of some of the monumental things that have happened in the past week!! Here we go!!
1. Tea time at Shishu Bhavan. This time is normally just a relaxing quite time and nothing really happens. Small conversations and maybe some laughter. But all of that has changed this past week. The Masi's have started trying to talk to us and have conversations with us, so this always leads to an interesting and very funny break time. One particular break this past week left me and one of the other volunteers, Caro, in tears. It probably will not sound funny to you all via a blog update (but i am going to tell the story on here anyways) but make sure i tell you the story when i get home!
Tea time started just like normal.. everyone crowding into our little stair well. volunteers first, and then everytime a Masi wants up the stairs we have to part the way so that they can get up. One particular Masi, as she was coming up the stairs, accidentally hit her hand on the railing and her chai went flying everywhere. (this is when me and Caro started dying). She said something in Hindi that we didnt understand, but in our heads it was hilarious. She left to go get a rag to clean up the mess, but in the mean time another younger Masi is trying to get up the stairs. Caro and I tried to warn her about the tea in the ground, and in doing this we got the attention of some of the Masi up above us. One of the Masi looked down, and again in another language, started speaking very loudly to this young masi. *Side note, me and Caro were creating our own diolague for this whole situations since we could not understand a word that they were saying... this is why it was SO hilarious to us* young Masi tells the older one that it was not here who spilled the tea, and then both of those masi start to laugh as well. With tears streaming down our faces at this point, and barley able to catch out breath, Caro and I look up to see that the masi who had spilled the chai tea has return and is cleaning up the mess, while yellng at one of the masi sitting at the top of the steps. We figure that the Masi were making fun of her for spilling the tea. All in all, I seriously dont think I have laughed that hard in my entire life. Needless to say, it was a grear break time and we ended up bonding with the Masi's that day via our ridiculous laughing fit.
2. I love my volunteer friends. This past weds we had a volunteer party to say goodbye to some of the long tern volunteers who would be leaving within the next week. We met at the hotel right across the street and had some drinks on the roof and just chatted with each other. It was a blast! There was an older guy from Britain who i think on his own drank a whole bottle of whisky and dicided to give all of the volunteers on the roof a little concert of his own. He started singing along while one of the volunteers played the guitar. The best part was he wasnt singing a song that anyone knew.. he was making the song up as he went. I believe it was called "the Sudder street blues". HILARIOUS. my friend Cora and I were on the floor laughing. We left the roof of the hotel around 1130 pm and headed to and Indian dance club with a group of the volunteers (shout out to Kyli Maddox! I never thought I would cross this one off of your to do list!) the night club was a blast!! We left the dance club at 100 and headed back to the hotel.
3. That leads me to my next thought. The streets of Calcutta at night. I thought that the streets of Calcutta were peaceful and my favorite place at 530 am.... well that has now changed. Walking back to the hotel the other night at 1am was the most peaceful thing i have experience in Calcutta. IT literally felt like we were in a different world. There was not a car on the road, not a car horn to be heard for miles. No people walking up to us asking us if we wanted henna, gum, or to but some stupid flute from them. There was no one. The few poeple that were awake were sitting on their "beds" or should I say their piece of cardboard, jsut waiting for sleep to take over their bodies. We walked past hundreds of people peacefully sleeping under the street lights. Hmm. give my a few more days to decompress this experience and i am sure i will be able to put it all into words a little better.
4. AIR CONDITIONING! MY friends Grier, Elizabeth and Ebony who live next door to us have just recently gotten air conditioning in their room and OH MY GOSH. I have never been so thankful for having an air conditioned home back in the states. Being in their room was the first time that I felt good air conditioning for a VERY long time! Let's just say i got the goosebumps and didnt know what to do. (i think we might be treating ourselves to some air conditioning before we peace out of the beautiful humid place)
5. INDIAN FRIENDS. This might be my favorite thing about being in India, is becoming friends with people who live here. I mentioned these people in one of my earlier post, Vivek and Bikash (they were our tour guides when we went to the rain forrest) This past Thursday, aka our holiday, Me, Cora, and FIona met up with Bikash and and he took us to his house which is in west Bengal (outside of Calcutta, in the country) it was the best day i have had since arriving to India. It was so fun to get to see where he lived, meet his family members, and just hang out away from the city. We literally just hung out all day. Cora and I just kept looking at each other and saying "this is our reality" "we are in india" it was one of those moments where I couldnt believe i was actually in India. IT was just a laid back day, and it felt lke i could have been home in Kansas hanging out at someones house. While we were at his house, Bikash sister taugh the three of us how to make out favorite Indian meal. IT WAS DELICIOUS! (lets just say we FEASTED)
WEll my camera just died, so i guess that is all of the pictures you will get for now! the first picture is a picture of Fiona and I cutting up the unions and the potatoes. The next picture is all of us learning how to roll out the dough to make the rotti. The picture on the far left is Bikash entertaining all of us. and the last picture is a picture of our delicious home made meal!!
Here's to more adventures! only 20 days left here in Calcutta! (it is going by so fast!)
1. Tea time at Shishu Bhavan. This time is normally just a relaxing quite time and nothing really happens. Small conversations and maybe some laughter. But all of that has changed this past week. The Masi's have started trying to talk to us and have conversations with us, so this always leads to an interesting and very funny break time. One particular break this past week left me and one of the other volunteers, Caro, in tears. It probably will not sound funny to you all via a blog update (but i am going to tell the story on here anyways) but make sure i tell you the story when i get home!
Tea time started just like normal.. everyone crowding into our little stair well. volunteers first, and then everytime a Masi wants up the stairs we have to part the way so that they can get up. One particular Masi, as she was coming up the stairs, accidentally hit her hand on the railing and her chai went flying everywhere. (this is when me and Caro started dying). She said something in Hindi that we didnt understand, but in our heads it was hilarious. She left to go get a rag to clean up the mess, but in the mean time another younger Masi is trying to get up the stairs. Caro and I tried to warn her about the tea in the ground, and in doing this we got the attention of some of the Masi up above us. One of the Masi looked down, and again in another language, started speaking very loudly to this young masi. *Side note, me and Caro were creating our own diolague for this whole situations since we could not understand a word that they were saying... this is why it was SO hilarious to us* young Masi tells the older one that it was not here who spilled the tea, and then both of those masi start to laugh as well. With tears streaming down our faces at this point, and barley able to catch out breath, Caro and I look up to see that the masi who had spilled the chai tea has return and is cleaning up the mess, while yellng at one of the masi sitting at the top of the steps. We figure that the Masi were making fun of her for spilling the tea. All in all, I seriously dont think I have laughed that hard in my entire life. Needless to say, it was a grear break time and we ended up bonding with the Masi's that day via our ridiculous laughing fit.
3. That leads me to my next thought. The streets of Calcutta at night. I thought that the streets of Calcutta were peaceful and my favorite place at 530 am.... well that has now changed. Walking back to the hotel the other night at 1am was the most peaceful thing i have experience in Calcutta. IT literally felt like we were in a different world. There was not a car on the road, not a car horn to be heard for miles. No people walking up to us asking us if we wanted henna, gum, or to but some stupid flute from them. There was no one. The few poeple that were awake were sitting on their "beds" or should I say their piece of cardboard, jsut waiting for sleep to take over their bodies. We walked past hundreds of people peacefully sleeping under the street lights. Hmm. give my a few more days to decompress this experience and i am sure i will be able to put it all into words a little better.
4. AIR CONDITIONING! MY friends Grier, Elizabeth and Ebony who live next door to us have just recently gotten air conditioning in their room and OH MY GOSH. I have never been so thankful for having an air conditioned home back in the states. Being in their room was the first time that I felt good air conditioning for a VERY long time! Let's just say i got the goosebumps and didnt know what to do. (i think we might be treating ourselves to some air conditioning before we peace out of the beautiful humid place)
5. INDIAN FRIENDS. This might be my favorite thing about being in India, is becoming friends with people who live here. I mentioned these people in one of my earlier post, Vivek and Bikash (they were our tour guides when we went to the rain forrest) This past Thursday, aka our holiday, Me, Cora, and FIona met up with Bikash and and he took us to his house which is in west Bengal (outside of Calcutta, in the country) it was the best day i have had since arriving to India. It was so fun to get to see where he lived, meet his family members, and just hang out away from the city. We literally just hung out all day. Cora and I just kept looking at each other and saying "this is our reality" "we are in india" it was one of those moments where I couldnt believe i was actually in India. IT was just a laid back day, and it felt lke i could have been home in Kansas hanging out at someones house. While we were at his house, Bikash sister taugh the three of us how to make out favorite Indian meal. IT WAS DELICIOUS! (lets just say we FEASTED) 
WEll my camera just died, so i guess that is all of the pictures you will get for now! the first picture is a picture of Fiona and I cutting up the unions and the potatoes. The next picture is all of us learning how to roll out the dough to make the rotti. The picture on the far left is Bikash entertaining all of us. and the last picture is a picture of our delicious home made meal!!
Here's to more adventures! only 20 days left here in Calcutta! (it is going by so fast!)
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