I am mentally tired today. Although the dogs laying outside of the guesthouse looked even more tired. Speaking of dogs, there are a million of them here. Jaipur, human pop 3 million; dog population 1 million; cow population 1/2 million; boar population; 1/4 million. okay, I actually made up those numbers, except for the part that says 3 mil people live here, that is true. There is a MacDonald's that just opened across the street from where I stay. What is this country coming to? It is not necessarily a good thing to follow in the footsteps of the U.S. According to Abesiek (runs the guesthouse) Mickey D's is the best restaruant in all of Jaipur. However, this is the same man that told me that his friend just opened up a deli. I think he jokes a little. I get such a kick when my rickshaw driver gets his panties all in a ruffle because of a slow driver. He always tries to pass by moving onto oncomming traffic. It is quite hilarious to watch because he starts yelling in Hindi and waving his hand, and our auto rickshaw is swerving to and frow. Morning entertainment on my way to school.

I have to talk about Karnika. She is amazing. She is the i-to-i in country coordinator and basically she offers 24 hour support if necessary. She goes out of her way to make all of the volunteers feel safe and comfortable here. She invites us to her house for dinner, comes to our projects once a week, and takes us to great shopping areas. She is pretty much our indian foster mother. Bascially, she doesn't have to do any of this for us, and I have heard tha there are coordinators in other areas who offer no support. So I am lucky and for this I am thankful.

I have begun taking Hindi lessons. Today I had my second lesson and I am enjoying the lessons very much. It is nice to learn and to be challenged and I now know how to count to 10 in Hindi. Ek, do, teen, char, panch, I forgot #6, sath, aath, nau, das. Of course this is not how you write it in Hindi. I have only had two lessons for goodness sake.

It has really begun to cool down. When I first arrived it was on average about 95 degrees . It was hot and it still is, but it is getting cooler. According to the locals it is going to get very cold, but this hard for me to believe. I guess I will find out.

Chai is life here. Chai is immediately offered in any social situation where there is a stove and a tea kettle. Yesterday, I had a record high of 5 cups of chai in one day. This amounted to a lot of a) caffine, b) milk c) sugar. That night a) I couldn't sleep, b) I had a headache, and c) a stomach ach. Today I had four cups of chai.

I know I have already talked about the Indian head bob, but it is so funny when a teacher at school says something to the class and then you see 20 three year old heads bobbing in agreeance. I love sitting with a group of Indian women and chatting. Of course they usually speak in Hindi and I can't understand, but I love watching them bob their heads and laugh hysterically. Like I said before, some people here are so animated. I love watching people interact with one another.

Jaipur at night is absolutely beautiful. The streets of the old city are lit up like our cities at Christmas time. There is something peaceful about night here, versus the chaos of daytime. Vihaan (name of school) in Sanscrit means rising sun. I think this is very nice. I have become very attached to the children. These children are so amazing.