Fever Dream

The past few days have been the craziest and best days of my life. The first few days were extremely tiring. We boarded our first flight and flew for 10 hours. I got the middle seat so that was not ideal but I sat next to Talli and Lizzie so it was still super fun. The flight felt so long and barely slept. For dinner on the flight I had mushroom pasta and it was actually not too bad. For breakfast we had a breakfast sandwich which tasted a little like cardboard but I still ate it cuz I was super hungry. We also had fruit which was super good. After we landed in London we had a 10 hour layover so we went into London to pass the time. During customs into London I got pulled out of the line and had to wait another 20 minutes and the rest of the group waited for me. We then went to London and got to see Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and lots of telephone booths. We got lunch at Whole Foods because we didn’t have a ton of time, I got pizza and it was actually really good. After our time in London we took a train from paddington station to the airport and I took the best nap of my life. It felt like a fever dream because I didn’t even realize I was asleep and then all the sudden I was there. We went through security at London which was super chaotic but I didn’t get flagged. We finally boarded our flight to India and I got an aisle seat. I was so tired that I didn’t eat dinner. For breakfast I had some yogurt and fruit which was good but not like at home. After we finally landed in India we had to go through customs again in India.  We then had to get our checked bags and move them to a truck to drive them to the hotel while we took another flight to more there India. Our flight was delayed for about an hour and half but we played uno and scum with the group. The next flight felt like a fever dream too. When we boarded the flight I fell right asleep and then next thing I knew I was getting woken up by the flight attendant. We got off the plane and loaded into cars and had a five hour car ride. India driving is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever witnessed. I explained it as Mario cart with too many players. It was so interesting to watch I but I took Dramamine because I was worried I would get sick. Because I took Dramamine I could barely keep my eyes open. I feel asleep most the ride and when we stopped for KFC for dinner I fell asleep and didn’t even eat. After a few more hours of crazy driving we made it to the hotel. Our bags hadn’t made it yet so we didn’t change and all just crashed before the next day.

The next morning we got a welcome from the hotel workers and they gave us Indian hats and painted dots on our forehead as part of their culture. We also were Indian outfits to the school and they are super comfortable. We had breakfast and then we went to the schools. Teaching has been the best experiences of my life. My face hurts because I can’t stop smiling. The joy in all the kids faces is so special to see and they instantly made me happy when I saw them. Each day we teach six groups of 7 kids the first day I taught about five sense and the next day I taught about conversations. For a craft we made paper bag puppets and they LOVED them. They would all run up to me and ask to make puppets and it was super adorable. We sang songs like old McDonald,  Hokey Pokey and if you’re happy and you know it.

It has been a super exhausting few days and has felt like a fever dream but going to the school and hanging out with everyone in the group has been such an amazing experience and I’m so glad I’m part of this amazing program.