Pink People, The Indian Army, Rice Babies, and Shame, Auntie, SHAME!!!

Heyyyyyy everyone!

sorry it's been so long....we're been on the move and then finally settled into Uluru but not online much. So I haven't even written about Rishikesh! It ended up being my favorite part of our nothern travels. Cool temperatures! (AHHHH HEAVEN!!!) and a beautifully relaxing three days. The first day we were there we took a nap all mornign because we had overnight trained/rickshawed there which wasn't so hot and then decided to take a stroll. we didn't make it far. turns out we ran into a festival! It was so awesome! We followed the Festival along the Ganges river for six hours. there was a lot of dancing and super loud music and traditional dancing. And a lot of indian boys jumping around and a lot of pink and green powder thrown everywhere. Yeah so it turns out that stuff really hangs on. I was [pink for days. I'm already a slightly pink individual so when i say i was pink - i kid you not. Also - i have pink streaks in my hair now and probably will for a while! thank GOD my eyebrows are no longer pink. kate sort of joined me in the pink people revolution but needless to say deepa maintained her dignity. she's just cooler than us.

on our train from Delhi to Chennai we were in a car filled entirely with personnel from the Indian Navy and Air force....so ALL men ages 22-ish and then the three of us dead center. Of course we stand out naturally but I didn't make it any better by getting locked in the bathroom. Twice. Kate also got locked into the bathroom after making fun of my for about 15 minutes. HA.

We've been at Uluru for a week now but it's really hard to know what to say. Especially because I know I'll be there for so much longer, it feels strange to make any sweeping generalization about the experience yet. But I'm getting into it. IT was a bit rough at first. Scary to know that I had just come to my home for the next three months - it made the fact that i was away from home all the more real. Actually, it was quite difficult for the first few days. I expected a bit of a honeymoon/easy time to begin with just because of things I've read about the place, people's experiences. But it wasn't. I felt very lost and not under control. I didn't really relate to the kids to well in the beginning and was freaking out about how it was going to change though I knew it would eventually. The kids are spunky. At first they were difficult because i didn't at all have the lay of the land and they were so hyperactive....but I'm falling in love with them, of course. This is very odd....but after working at camp Patterson all summer, it was VERY strange to be surrounded by so many typically developing kids in the beginning. It's still strange. I really like the other volunteers that are at Uluru right now. They're all Australian, fun, laid-back, and great with the kids, so I'm fast falling in love with Australia as well as India! We've also all developed a strong liking for the Aussie accent!

Already in the first week I"ve been pegged as the artsy girl and it's pretty fun! I've done about a million henna jobs for the kids.....we had an annual day celebration yesterday and they all wanted to be prettied up. It's a great chance to spend one-on-one time with them. I've bonded with a couple kids in particular....but like I said - it's hard to really say much about it all just yet.

What I CAN say - I don't like white rice. Turns out....that's kind of rough when you're living in South India......for the first few days i ate it anyway...but I"m just throwing away heaps of it now and they're starting to notice and give me less, thank god. Really...rice is everywhere...it's pretty comical. One of the volunteers always talks about her "rice baby" aka the rice weight she's puting on....although most people DO lose weight in India....Kate and I both are stilll craving fruit hard core.....ahhh fruit. This is a sort of silly thing to be writing about on my blog - but it's a bit daunting to try to sum up my life whereas my feeligns for fruit are very straight forward.

Shame, AUNTIE, SHAME!!!! All the kids call us Kate Auntie, Alice Auntie, and Deepa Auntie. (Though a few call us akka....big sister) The dress code in rural India is pretty intense. If they see your knee.....you're basically running around naked. Anytime you "expose yourself" which we did on accident before we figured it out....the kids yell - "Shame, Auntie, SHAME!!" and we find it pretty funny/intense.....The three of us have been running every other day and we have to run in pants so Deepa and I have been running in these billowy, multicolored polka-dotted pants covered in all sorts of sweat and dirt. Though I did wash mine yesterday, mom!

I have to go....I'll talk more about the children's home once we've had time to mull things over more. there's definitely a lot more I could say now but I'm sure my thoughts will be more complete next time I write.

I love you all!
It means more to me than i can express to get letters/emails from you. thanks for the letters, daddy

the address youre using is right except that you should include "Off Alampara Beach Road" after the line that says No 1 Kamal Avenue.

LOVE,
~Alice