Look both ways...

A picnic in the park!

Friday we went to the Park and had a celebratory picnic to celebrate all of the awesome experiences we’ve had together over the past two weeks; it was so much fun! The students were so impressive. To say that crossing the street here in India is a challenge would be a vast understatement – New York City streets have nothing on this place!

Basically, you stand at the side of the street – look right first (because, you know, cars are driving on the opposite side of the road here!)  then look left. If there are no cars, rickshaws, horses, dogs, motorcycles, buses, scooters or bicycles coming at you full force, you make a run for it! Mostly, you hope for the best and so far, it’s worked out just fine. I mention this so that you can easily imagine what I mean when I say that 90 students (children and adults alike) all crossed the street on the way to the Park. One of the older students stepped out into the street and into the role of crossing guard and managed to stop cars, buses, bikes, dogs, scooters, and more so that all of the students and teachers could safely cross the street.

At the park, there was music, games and of course great food. It really was quite impressive to see close to 90 students with varying levels of physical and mental abilities sitting in a big circle all together playing games, singing and dancing together! We played a game similar to duck, duck, goose, ran races with the teachers and just had an amazingly fun time and delicious food. Until now our days have been filled with work, work and more work – it was nice to play!

Speaking of playing, everyone’s been asking what we do in our free time around here. Mostly, when we hear that question – we just laugh. We’ve literally been working 6 days/ week in SOREM and spending all of our free time preparing for the next day’s activities and 6-hour weekend workshops. We’ve been busy, but as savvy travelers have managed to learn our way around a bit and find some time to play. A favorite hangout has been the coffeeshops walking distance from the center where we all take turns using the one available outlet and the one computer that works with the wireless internet card. We’ve also managed to find a few good places for some after work relaxation and of course we’re all enjoying bargaining with the local street merchants for some beautiful handmade gifts for friends and family back home. We’re so thankful for Jayshree’s ever-growing Hindi vocabulary.  

We’re also so incredibly thankful to all of you who have made our visit here possible and the wonderful staff and families of SOREM who have made it an absolute pleasure to visit India once again!