I wrote this on Sunday when I could not get on the internet:

Well, if you don’t like roughing it, and you don’t like to be dirty, India is not the place for you! Our flights were very enjoyable. On the first one I had an old man that told me we were lucky that we didn’t die, on the second one I had a very nice 19 year old from Amsterdam that I talked to the whole flight and played photo hunt with while learning a little bit about Dutch life. The third flight I had two seats to myself so I got to lay out and sleep most of the way. The third plane had individual TVs that you could pick what to watch so that was nice. We got two meals on the second and third flights. All four were great tasting. 26 hours after I left KC we landed in Chennai. We had a 2hour delay in Belgium. When we got off the plane we had to do our first bargaining to get a Taxi. It was nuts with everyone trying to get us to pick them! They target Americans and when there are 4 young girls they think we don’t know anything and price us really high, but we can usually get them down quite a bit. Driving is exactly what you picture it would be. Scary. No lanes, no signals, and traffic lights are optional and honking is a warning that you are coming. But we got to where we were supposed to stay and they only had one room for us. SO we had to talk to them about that and got one with AC and one without. The one without had a lot of mosquitoes- but we were only there for a few hours and got up to eat breakfast at 6:30. The place was dirty- but we were just happy to be out of a plane! It was all decorated for x-mas too. It looked a lot better in the morning. We watched the sun rise, and felt like we were at the zoo. Oh---it is humid here- but it doesn’t smell all that bad. But around 10 we decided that no one was coming for us so we headed to the train station. That was an experience! So many people and sweaty and dirty! We found a few very nice Indian men that helped us out getting our tickets. Then we went and got on the train which was a bit like taking a herd of cattle to the sale barn. no air, no room, no seat, no AC, no water. I cannot lie- I was not sure that I could do it for two months by the time I got off of that! I almost passed out from heat exhaustion and I was in between the bathrooms with little air for 3 hours. But once again-some very nice men helped us out with our things and where to go. From there we took a Tuk Tuk to CMC. It is like a scooter minivan. Or guy stopped at a gas station though which was strange. He drove us all around Vellore and to our Hostel which was great because we agree on a price before we get in, and the rest was extra. But he got us HERE!

This place makes me think we can do this. It is like a resort outside compared to what we have seen- with lots of extra trash around. Vellore looks like an awesome place too. I already saw a stray cow, but I didn’t get a picture yet. But our room is cleanish and our beds are comfy. There is a shower head but it is useless, so we got to take a shower under a spout that is 2’1/2 feet off the ground. Fun when you are 5’10 and filthy! Everyone we have talked to has been nice though. There is a gate around here and there is a guard at our door-who didn’t talk to us when we got here…. But I feel like this will make a great home for 6 weeks. The food we have eaten has been good too…even though we are not sure what is in it. We will try to find the person that is in charge on Monday. It is Sunday now and everyone is on Holliday. There are lots of Mosquitoes though, even though I only have 2 bites…maybe the spices help. Good thing I have Malaria meds!

Once again it has been an adventure….but at this moment I am still glad I came.