India...finally!

Hello again.

So the last few days have been EXTREMELY overwhelming to say the least.

These aren't the best pictures...some are out of car windows and none are edited..but I figured that some was better than none!

I've learned a few things about India so far.

1. No one... I mean NO ONE drives with any rules. Basically you just go...don't look in your mirrors or slow down. Honk if you have to change lanes or if you get close to someone. This happens constantly so people are honking constantly! People aren't angry...they just make noise out of necessity. Also, I haven't seen any women drivers...

2. Monkeys live outside our house. No we don't live in a rural area...we are in the middle of the city actually, but we had quite a few hanging outside this morning...even a baby one but I couldn't catch a picture of him.

3. Don't drink the water. Under ANY circumstances. I'm under a strict regiment of taking anti-malaria medicine every single day.

4. People stare. We are quite the novelty here. They love to ask where we are from saying we are "beautiful people" -funny thing is... I'm thinking the same thing about their people. People constantly wave just to get a response and are CONSTANTLY wanting pictures with us. Problem is - when one gets a picture the rest want pictures too. A native family that toured around with us yesterday literally had to pull us away from people when we got mobbed for pictures. 

Makes me feel kinda cool. Like a celebrity...or like I should be some sort of animal in a zoo....

5. Milk comes in bags. It's also not cow milk. It's water buffalo milk. Enough said there.

I have many more things I'm learning written in my journal (a book that deserves a blog post in and of itself) but I'm going to leave it at 5 for now.

Here are a few other things I've been doing the past few days:

This is Celetine....she is the daughter of a family in the branch here and is so cute it's ridiculous!

We explored the Golconda Fort yesterday...it was pretty amazing

They used to put diamonds above these and light fires beneath to reflect the light and create beautiful lights in rooms...I would have loved to see that!

This is our branch building...not a great picture but the building is REALLY nice compared to the rest of the city. It's only about a 5 min alk from our house...and the best part is...they have AIR CONDITIONING! Did I mention that it's 104 here and there is no air conditioning in out house?

It's hot so you will have to forgive the way I look for the next few months...also we can't wear any clothes that show our knees or really any skin...imagine wearing long pants and dresses all summer in this heat...it's going to be crazy!

Love,

A