Our morning started off with a lovely yoga session with Ms.Laly on the rooftop terrace. She took us through a series of stretches and movements to prepare us for the day. From there we had a breakfast of dosa with potato filling and fresh fruits. Dr.Seshi and his daughter Neetha dropped in for a visit and joined us for our morning at the clinic.
With our work gloves and bug spray on we were ready for gardening. We collected seeds and leaves for multiple purposes including selling and replanting, breaking up styrofoam to mix with the soil for replanting, opening and filling bags with soil and replanting leaves in them. We worked non-stop until lunch time. We all took a well deserved cold shower then chowed down on some curry, butter chicken, and vegetables. We got cleaned up, loaded into rickshaws and headed into town for an evening of shopping.
On our rickshaw rides to Changanacherry we saw many of the students walking along the road that we had seen at the school the previous day. Once in town, the shopping began for sarees and formal lungis because we are going to a wedding next week! The layout of the store was chaotic. First we selected the fabric for our sarees, then we went upstairs to check out blouses and other traditional Indian clothing. Once people started to finish their browsing and try-ons, clerks around the store asked us if we were ready to be billed. The billing process seemed ridiculous. The clerks took the items you wished to purchase, disappeared, and came back with a "bill" that you took to a counter where they were checked and stamped. Then you were sent to another counter where you payed with either cash or card. From here you finally took your checked recipt to yet another counter where you picked up everything that was on the bill. After that process we were finally allowed to leave the store. We then went for brief ice cream and tea at an outdoor snack shack then loaded up in rickshaws again and headed home. For the rest of the evening we relaxed, ate a dinner of fish, rice and vegetables. Saraswati helped us girls try on our sarees. It is quite the ordeal and we cannot imagine wearing one everyday. We also had our first meeting where we discussed what we enjoyed and didn't enjoy during the day.
We've been learning a lot about the culture and about how people live. We have also been asking a lot of good questions to Daisy and the house help. Tomorrow we have a busy day of painting, meeting the neighbors and we will keep you updated on our daily endevours.
Nighty Night,
Jessica and Amy
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