2/15

I slept through mass today, which is surprising. My alarm didn’t even wake me. I woke up just in time for breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to find egg and carrots mixed in with the noodles. After breakfast Puthumai told me to get into the jeep. Usually I am not one to respond to commands, or if I do respond it is with questions. But I was feeling antsy so I hoped into the jeep. We first drove the MC Srs home and then went to DDC. A few weeks back DDC was swarming with newly born critters – from piglets to puppies (pictures to come soon). I especially enjoyed playing with one of the puppies (the only one of the liter to survive) and asked a few weeks ago what its name was. No one had named the puppy yet, so I took the responsibility upon myself. After much consideration I decided upon Sugar. I was initially teased about this name, the boys said that I was calling the puppy Stupid instead of Sugar. But I persisted with my name. I was pleasantly surprised today when we visited DDC and Puthumai called the puppy Sugar! The name has stuck, and if I do say so myself I think it is very fitting. Sugar is very friendly, she likes to nibble at fingers and toes and since she was the only surviving puppy she is getting quite chubby from drinking all of her mothers milk. She now comes when you call her name and when I whistle for her. I am extremely pleased with this development 
After a few more errands with Puthumai we arrived back at SWI to find Hannah waiting for us. Hannah and I spent the morning running around Raiganj. We went to the bank, the fruit stand, and a few other shops. We bought yeast to make pizza/bread with, some bread flour and Special K cereal which we were both thrilled to find. From the fruit stands we purchased pomegranates and oranges. I also bought more minutes since Mom and I used up all but 1 rupee of my minutes yesterday.  My favorite story of our morning was trying to get the rickshaw driver to pull over. We were running short on time and didn’t want to be late for lunch, so we took a rickshaw home. When we reached we were trying to get the driver to stop. I was gesturing with my hand and making noises while Hannah was yelling stop! It must have been quite a scene to witness. The driver heard us after an embarrassing 30 seconds and we exited the rickshaw. Hannah made fun of me for making so many noises, but I still stand that if someone doesn’t understand my English, then I have a better chance they will understand my noises.
After lunch we went the to cinema next door to SWI. The cinema changes movies every Friday and has an annoyingly loud generator that goes on whenever the power is out. We saw a movie called…oh I forgot the name. Well either way the movie was in Hindi and quite an experience if I do say so myself. First of all in India you buy a movie ticket for a specific seat and it costs different prices to sit in different areas. We sat in the balcony and it was pitch black. The screen was large and the building was nice, but Indian movie etiquette is extremely different, as are Hindi movies. The movie was progressing normally (with quite a lot of chatter from the surrounding crowd), it was about a barber and his family. Then all of a sudden their was a rocket ship flying through outerspace. Hannah and I book looked at each other! Had the reel broken and this was another movie? What was happening? The space ship landed in a strange larger space ship and a man got out. He started singing and dancing with women who were (by Indian standards) naked (they had on skin tight fake shiny leather looking outfits that consisted of boots, shorts, and bikini tops). The men in the back (and the theater was 80% men) started hooting and hollering. They were clapping and yelling and Hannah and I were still desperately confused. The scene ended up being music video, and the man in the rocket was a movie star whose character had an important role in the film. But the singing and dancing happened at least 5 times throughout the show, usually with very little reference to the plot. There was also an intermission to the movie which was 3 hours long (a common movie length in India) and people answered their cell phones very casually during the movie. It was quite an interesting cultural experience, although I can’t say I completely understood the plot of the film.
In the evening Hannah and I went to Chonditola, and were thrilled to find that Sleepy and Bird (two of my favorites) were smiling and playful. Bird also uttered the first noise that we have ever heard him say, he said num, it was very cute. Other good news, the little girl who has some physical and mental disabilities who has difficulty walking was walking today with very little assistance and was very playful and smiley. Smiley got a haircut and now looks like a boy and Hannah was peed on once. We played around with the particularly rambunctious kiddos and left without anyone shedding a single tear!
We went to the second night of the St. Xavier fair to eat more food and play more games. I say Pee-a-lee there, the little girl who helped translate at my first field visit my first week here. I chatted with her for a while, and discovered that her birthday is tomorrow. It was really great to see her and reminded me of how far I have come from that first week. After the lottery drawing at the fair (no one I know won anything) we all headed home. Dinner was uneventful, although I got an omelet without onions, so that was exciting.
Today Hannah and I rode the auto from Chonditola to St. Xavier while hanging on the back and Puthumai took me home on the back of his motorbike. Both times I though to myself how much I am going to miss India (because those two experiences are things that for me ‘only happen in India). There are a million things that I will miss (and knowing that Regina and Johannes will leave in a week makes the reality of leaving seem a lot closer). As my days in India continue to pass I hope that I am able to listen, learn and love with increasing commitment. And that I am never distracted again by counting days, because each one is such a blessing and the first, third, eighteenth or last are all of equal importance.
Sending love.