Chalo, chalo!

Out of all the Hindi words and phrases thrown at me thus far, चलो or "chalo" is the only one that has stuck. It means "Let's go!" Also, आलू or "aloo" means potato.

And miracle of miracles, we are getting some relief from the aga ki bhavana (the title of this blog, which means "spirit of fire"). That's right friends, on Sunday we moved all 95 students and 8 counselors out of the concrete hotbed that is the dormitories into air-conditioned rooms across campus. Perhaps it's the fact that Ahmedabad is having its hottest heat wave since 1901 and nine people in the city actually died because of the heat that has caused the powers that be to move everyone into a more habitable living space. Morale has increased significantly, and I have actually been able to sleep through the night for the first time since arriving in India.

On Saturday we had the entire camp divide into teams for a campus-wide photo scavenger hunt. Whilst searching for a mango and a green bird, we happened upon two of our monkey friends. I got several great pics from justa few feet away, much to the amusement of my girls. "You don't have monkeys in America?" At this I can only laugh and say, "We do, but not roaming around our cities!" Our team was far from winning the scavenger hunt, but we did have a good time -- despairing at finding a green bird, I grabbed some palm fronds and acted like one. Ohh, the things I'll do for my students...

With all of the moving, the constant red tape, schedule adjustment, and working out of kinks that come with doing an international program, the staff is absolutely exhausted. I am incredibly thankful to be working with such a spirited team -- the constant energy and positive can-do attitude makes all the difference. Although now that we all have our own air-conditioned rooms, we don't spend nearly as much time together. Just the same, I think this whole India experience has fused us all together so tightly that we will all be pretty disoriented coming back to the States and not seeing each other every day. It's strange to think that we only arrived two weeks ago. It feels like we have been here forever (in a good way).

It's time for me to take a nap and relish my day off for the week. Mmmm, day off...