Beach Bummin' in Kerala!

Hey there blog fans! It's Annie and Kaytee here fillin' you in on our Indian adventures.

Today was our second full day in Kerala. It began with a 7:00 AM yoga lesson in the clinic's library. It was a little cramped and Karl had some trouble due to his 6'6" frame. After yoga we had a delicious breakfast of noodles and, for those of us missing the tastes of home, oatmeal. Kaytee and Ellie had brown sugar oatmeal and Annie munched on some Dinosaur oatmeal (there are magic hatching dino eggs!).

After B-Fast, we loaded into the rickshaws and visited the colony where the previous group built the well. It was great to see how much improvement the well had brought to the community. They were all very happy to see us, and they were still thanking us for the hard work put into the well. The kids were adorable, and loved posing or playing with our cameras.

Next we headed back to the house for some R&R and had a tasty lunch. Unfortunately, we also had to say goodbye to Karl and Jennifer Shulz. None of us were too happy about their departure but they had "lives to get back to" apparently.

Some of us did homework or just chatted before we left for the beach at 3:00. It was about a 45 minute drive to the beautiful Indian Ocean. They're starting to build more attractions so that more tourists will come to the beach, and if we come back in two years it could look completely different. But for now, we were pretty much the only non-Indian people there. The water was very warm and the temperature was perfect, but we couldn't go swimming because of riptides. The Indian men could go swimming in their speedos, but the women had to wade in their saris. After a long walk on the beach and receiving a lot of attention (due to our glowing white skin), we settled down in the sand to eat some banana fritters. We even stayed on the beach to watch the sunset before packing back in the bus and heading off to the house.

We had another break and then had a tasty dinner of naan and curry. Even though naan is a mostly Northern Indian dish, Lal (one of the cooks) was nice enough to find us some in town. After dinner, we were sitting in various rooms when we began hearing the melodious strains of a beautiful instrument. We followed the sound, and discovered some Indian kids singing-- to the sound of Mr. Palma's saxophone! He would play a tune for them and then they'd repeat it (looking and sounding absolutely adorable). At one point Mr.Palma even got Dana to sing along with them. Speaking of singing, when we were at the beach, Kaytee, Dana, and Ellie sang the national anthem in a trio while the sun set in the background. Absolutely magical.

The final highlight of our day occured just a few moments ago: we asked Lal (who doesn't speak very much English) to open the library for us. He nodded, and returned with a can opener. The best way to describe this- as Daisy would say- is "lost in translation." It was hilarious. Lal, like everyone, is adorable. I (Annie) would adopt them all if only I could.

Well that's all for now, blog fans!
Thanks to Shauna Flanigan, Mrs. Reid, and Zoe Huston for responding- keep up the good work!
XOXO Gossip Annie and Kaytee