I Made it to Faridabad!

Namaste!
I am finally living in Faridabad.  I arrived late Sunday evening after a long day traveling to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.  We left Gurgaon at 6:30 AM and did not arrive in Agra until 2.  The trip should have taken four hours but we got stuck in traffic and there were points when I driver just shut off the engine for 15 mins at a time. 

The Taj Mahal was absolutely breath taking.  I have over 100 pictures from that day and I will post some here and the remainder on Facebook when I am able to make it to a cafe with wifi.  Gaining access to the internet here is even harder than in Gurgaon.  I will have to take a taxi to the mall to use my computer and post photos, as well as skype and I will only be able to do that on the weekend. 

Right now I am living with a host family and not in the orphanage.  I will not be going to the orphanage project until after Christmas because the slum children project had less volunteers.  The family I am living with is wonderful and I have enjoyed the project thus far. My local coordinator palced me with the family because they celebrate Christmas and he thought 5 months in an orphanage might wear on a me.

The slum children school was started by my host family and it is a wooden, open sided structure that is covered with a tarp to keep the rain out.  In the morning we have breakfast around 7:30 and walk to the slum school around 8:30. In the mornings it is pretty cool and the weather is only going to get colder as January approaches.   The children are so cute and range from 4-12 (around kindergarten to fifth grade).  Peigi and I correct their spelling and math exercises and try to explain the difference between addition and multiplication to children at very different levels.  In the afternoon we teach english to the children and school lets out around 1pm.

I have the afternoons free and I have been walking around exploring the market.  There is actually a bakery in the market that makes delicious (swaadist) cakes and Italian pizzas (both of which I have tried).  I am hoping to discover a cafe with wifi closer than the mall so I can keep you better informed.

Oh...Cool tidbit for the day. I rode to school on a motorcycle today.  I was terrified because the roads are crazy and there was no helmet involved but it was fun.

Sorry for the jumpy stories! The limited internet time is not conducive for creative writing.

Love you all!

Allie