Catch Up

I really am a terrible blogger.  I’m so sorry that I have not been very good at blogging regularly.  I’m so busy here with teaching, playing, and laughing that I don’t often have a ton of time to sit down and write.  So today, I’m playing catch-up.

Let’s start with last weekend.  We took all 40 of the new session volunteers out for the day to Pondicherry.  It was fun to be able to go back to the little French/Indian town and do a few things we didn’t do the first time.  Right when we got there, we decided to go to this little temple where we heard you can get blessed by an elephant.  We got there and saw the elephant, but its owner took it away for lunch break before we got a chance to be blessed.  So we decided to run to a little grocery store for a few things while the elephant was on break.  I may or may not have come within inches of being hit by a rickshaw while crossing the street on the way to the store.  Don’t worry, Mom, I’m still alive.

 We finished shopping, headed back to the temple, and finally got our chance to be blessed.  I handed by camera to Callie, stepped up, gave the elephant a rupee, and she reached out and touched me on the head with her trunk.  It was such a cool experience to be interacting with an elephant in India.

After the elephant experience, we went back to the Italian place we ate at last time.  Once again, we had a serene little meal there in the open air restaurant on top of a building.

After lunch, we decided to catch a rickshaw to the Grand Bazaar.  This was my first time riding in a rickshaw and it was a lot of fun.  Our group was too big to cram into one rickshaw, so we took two and had ourselves a little race.  

The bazaar was one of the most incredible places I have been so far.  It was in these tiny little allies throughout a section of the city.  The whole thing was draped by tarps and fabric overhead to provide some shade.  I felt like I was in Aladdin. 

They were selling all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fabrics, grains, flowers and spices in this bazaar.  It was so amazing to see all the vibrant colors of everything.

 Many of the vendors had just laid out their produce on the ground. 

This guy stopped us and asked for us to take his picture.  His posing was obviously well-practiced.  I got a kick out of him.

Onions.  Lots of onions.  This is for you, Britt.

Have I mentioned how much I love the fabrics here?

So many flowers.

He was tired.

Motorcycles are everywhere in India.

View of the motorcycles from above.

It was a great little excursion.  I had a great time wandering through the bazaar and being blessed by an elephant.  India is so foreign, so crazy, and so incredible.