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Today was the day of mosquito bites. I have four on my right knee. I have had very few mosquito bites up until this point in time, because of the very effective repellent that I have been using. But today the mosquitoes were extra bloodthirsty and have savaged my right knee through my jeans! The itching is unfortunate, but manageable. The mosquito bites here seem to be different at home, they both itch and get red and puffy with a white bump in the middle, but the Indian mosquito bites seem to heal quicker, and be less likely to scab. The little white bump only itches for a few hours directly after biting. Then the itching stops and the bump goes down rather quickly. I am glad for this, because otherwise I would probably come home with mosquito bite scratches all over!
I learned more about the strike today. It doesn’t have to do so much with business as it does with politics. First Jonathan explained to me that in India you only vote every 5 years for a local representative. The person you elect is then in charge of voting for representatives at higher posts. The majority party at the higher posts elects the prime minister and the president. Because of the distance from the upper level leadership and the people’s votes, many times persons feel distanced from the political process. This is why there are so many street rallies for political parties. The strike was government workers who want to be paid more, and they are striking because it is their only outlet for political expression. In India government runs a few very important commodities in society, including gas and telephones. So if government employees don’t go to work, the town shuts down. There were very few cars on the street today, mostly only police jeeps, and a quite a few parked buses on the side of the road. The roads were full of people on bikes and a few rickshaws. All of the shops were closed, besides the chemists, which are like pharmacies. There was less street noise, although it was no wear near quiet, the birds just seemed louder.
This morning I was able to speak with Mom and Dad on skype for about an hour (Ajla I think the power outages was what kept interrupting our conversation). It was really great to see their faces and hear their voices. It is surprising how much comfort comes from the senses. Because of the strike I thought that my students would not come, but I had 6 students who all came by bike. The class performed skits again today and they are definitely loosening up and having more fun. I most appreciate class for two reasons: one, it is teaching me the value of good communication and two, it is the most effective way to learn about culture, history and tradition. I just assign the students to give 2-4 minute presentations on the topic I want to learn more about, and that way while they learn English I learn about Indian society. There were no mice in the classroom today, and the power stayed on for more than half of the class (although this afternoon the power was awful).
I spent some more time today researching for my project and developing a firm idea of what a revolving fund is, and the elements necessary to provide for its success. I found some interesting and valuable information on a few databases, but with the power outages, the computer kept shutting off and having to restart. After a while I gave up and went to Ruchi, Trisha and onathan’s house. It was a holiday for them, because of the strike. We played with Trisha on the terrace, and she now knows my name! She calls me Chelche (which is pretty darn close)! After lunch (rice, what looked similar to garbanzo beans in soup with vegetables and cooked spinach) we had some more wonderful Indian sweets. It was this flakey sugary square sweet that literally melted in your mouth. I think at home I will miss Indian sweets, they are very rich and very different from US standard desserts. Ruchi’s brother will be in town for the long weekend (tomorrow is a holiday that celebrates the birthday of a freedom-fighter and Monday is republic day). On Sunday we are going to have a brunch and I am going to make American pancakes. I am very excited to be able to cook, it will be a good way to show gratitude for their kindness. There are no ovens in India either, a fact that I surprising just became aware of today. There are countertop stovetops and microwaves, but no ovens. Ruchi said that usually for baked goods you go the baker, which makes sense 
Trisha is so cute, she is very smart for a two year old and very stubborn. She has an endless stream of energy and is always going going going. Today she was playing with her next door neighbor who is around 9 years old and was home from school. They were running all over the place on little tricycles with little plastic toy instruments making quite the ruckus. It was only then that I realized how much I miss my kids from Childhaven and even having McKenna around. Kids are such an example of joy, I am glad I have been able to find that in India as well as at home. (See now I am finding similarities instead of differences.)
In the evening I taught Father Herman how to use a few different Microsoft programs. I showed him some tips and tricks for Powerpoint and Excel. He also wanted to know about Access, and since I am not as familiar with that one I found a free online tutorial for him. I felt as though I was knowledgeable, which is usually doesn’t happen too often in the states. Before dinner Father Herman and Sha-na-watch and I did the Sudukos together and the word jumbles. We had a lot of fun, trying to make up words and find the right numbers. Sha-na-watch invited me to tag along to the field tomorrow, which is very exciting, twice in one week! We will leave tomorrow directly after class.
Dinner good, a father from the rectory had come for dinner and the four of us (Father Herman, Father Markus, new Father, and myself) all enjoyed joking around about the news updates. We had soup tonight, which was new and very good. It was reminiscent of chicken noodle soup with no chicken or noodles. I am starting to recognize the vegetables, there is a dish with cabbage, one with carrots and potatoes, one with green beans that look like sugar snap pea pods, and one with potato and mashed up brinjol. Tonight it was the carrots/potatoes and the cabbage.
There are dogs that live at SWI. They stay locked up during the day, but at night they are the used as guard dogs. They usually bark and follow me to my room. They are actually rather frightening, Father Herman said that that is the point. But I have to say I sympathize with Ajla (she is scared of dogs), when they want to be threatening, dogs are scary.
Sweet dreams for now, and good night hugs.