Hi from a cybercafe across from the park in Vadodara, India! Where Ba, Rachna's grandmother lives. We have been keeping our blog but hve not had internet to put it up, so here it is for the last few days!

Vadodara Day 1

On the day that we arrived (June 19^th), my uncle, aunt, grandmother, and my mom’s friend came to pick us up from the airport around 7:00 am when our flight landed. We slept. We went on a walk to a neighborhood park/garden, sat and talked a little in the evening. Rachna’s grandmother feeds us very well and often! Then, a bunch of family members came over to visit in the evening.

Vadodara Day 2

This morning, we woke up pretty early. Jess was the last one to arise and it was only 7:15! We did “Slim and Six” workout in the early morning heat, but it felt good to move and stretch. Then, we walked around the near-main street a little.

After showering, Jess went outside to read for a bit in the garden, and after about a page, a very large animal sprinted across the garden and over the fence. She let it go, thinking a very big dog got spooked and was just running around. A second later, another huge animal came by, and this time I saw it coming... it was a GIANT monkey!!!!!

Later, we went shopping... lots of pretty fabrics. They pick out fabrics to get the outfits hand-made. Shopping is very personalized.

There are cows on the streets everywhere! Cyclists, motorcycles, rickshaws (tiny taxi-like rides), pedestrian, and cows share the streets equally with few rules about lanes or traffic. It is crazy how everyone magically seems to stay accident free with all of the close calls we witness every time we’re on the roads. People here know what they’re doing.

Saturday, June 21

Everyone woke up this morning around 7:00, and we ate our daily dish of mangoes and a cup of chai. After we had all showered and dressed, we got ready to head to the mall to meet with Rachna’s cousin, Jaimin. Jaimin just received his commercial pilot’s license and is currently flying for King Fisher airlines and also interviewing for pilot’s positions in other airlines. We met him at Vadodara Central, one of the many new malls that just opened in Vadodara. At the mall, Rachna bought an international cell phone that she will use while in Kathmandu. Jess bought a headband to control those crazy curls that seem to go wild in this unbearable humidity! It was interesting to see a mall that carried both Indian and American clothes, but the thing that caught us off guard the most was to see so many American items (clothes, makeup, perfume, and even food) in the middle of an Indian city!

After leaving the mall, we picked up one of Ba’s friends and went to the restaurant at the Hotel Suriya. It was very nice inside, and the greatest perk was that it was air-conditioned! At the restaurant, we had a delicious Punjabi meal which only cost 750 rupees (or about $16 dollars) for the five of us!

We went to Ba’s friends house afterwards to sit down and talk for about an hour. After we left, we went to a shopping center where Jess and Radhika bought Indian-style hobo bags. We also went and looked around in some of the nearby clothing stores. We then left and came home. Around 8 pm, we finally got access to the Internet at one of Ba’s neighbors houses. It was a relief to finally be able to check our e-mail and contact our friends! Other than that, we spent the rest of our time reading, eating, and watching TV – a very chill and relaxing evening.

Sunday, June 22

This morning, after breakfast at 7:30am, we went to the park with the children who live behind the house (Sajol and Mahul). We planned to run/workout and then play on the playround, but after three laps of the track we had to stop. We wanted to keep running, it felt good, but it was just WAY too hot. We played tag with the kids and then played on the playground for a while. We came back to the house and the kids showed me their school work. They did lots of cool drawings, and English numbers and letters. Sejal, the eleven-year-old girl counted to 100 in English!

The children’s mom works in Ba (grandma’s) house, and they live on the property right behind Ba’s own house. We then played music with them and sang. We started off with the ABC’s and some other things with silly hand motions they could follow. Then, we remembered that Sejal was learning animal names in her English book, so we sang the longest version of “Old Mac Donald Had a Farm” that we have ever sang. She came up with some very interesting animals, i.e. sparrow, crow, frog, etc. We had a lot of fun singing.

In the afternoon, the dressmaker came. Rachna and her family get all of their clothes (mostly Indian traditional wear) handmade by fabric they select on their own. The dressmaker comes to the house and measures them and then constructs beautiful clothing made especially for them!

After that, we went to a cousin’s neighborhood. There, we sat with the family, and played cricket in the street with all of the boys from the neighborhood! It was the first time we had ever played cricket. There was also a boy there with Down syndrome, and we are going tomorrow to see his school! Apparently, he goes to an inclusive public school, very cool. We are excited to see it, and will tell about it in our blog tomorrow! Goodnight!