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I am writing these next three entries on Tuesday the 10th. It is surprising how much memory can be washed away in a few days. I will retell these days to the best of my ability, but I will forewarn against stories mistold and memories forgotten. Thursday morning began with breakfast and class, the usual. Class is going well, although I am starting to sputter in my lessons. I need some new ideas and methods. Hopefully if I give it some time, I can get the creative juices flowing.
Tangent: These past weeks have shown me how many idioms there are in the English language. I often find myself explaining these to Hannah or a student in my class. It is so interesting to think of how colloquial the English language is. Tangent done.
This was the last day of the quarterly meeting and so after class I took an auto over to DDC to hear the closing speeches. I was very proud of myself, as this was my first time making it to DDC alone. DDC is about 6-8 km away from SWI. On the way there I was the only one in the auto, I was slightly worried that I had missed some social taboo, and my auto was for some reason an outcast. I was luckily incorrect in my worries, when I reached, Hannah told me that usually by the time the autos make it out to Mission Moore, they are empty. Unfortunately right after I arrived Father called me and told me not to come, the meeting was over. So I hoped right back into the jeep and drove back to DDC.
Puthumai’s brother was in an accident the morning before and was badly hurt. He was on a motorbike and was hit by another vehicle. Puthumai has not said anything very hopeful about his brother condition, and I ask that you all keep him and his family in your prayers.
In the afternoon I finished a serious chunk of my project and was able to chat online with Ajla and Stephanie. It is good to speak with people from home, although it is difficult at times. It feels like there is too much to say and nowhere near enough time to say it. I feel as though I am failing at being a good friend, because I am so out of touch with everyone’s struggles and joys. But it always helps to see smiling faces at home. Then a quick lunch and Hannah and I were off to Chonditola. I had packed my overnight bag, because Hannah, Regina and I were going to have a ladies night that evening. After Chonditola, Regina had a few classes to teach, and Hannah and I began our mission of stocking up on junk food, soda and sweets for the evening. On our drive home our auto broke down, the front wheel became flat and we had to walk the rest of the way. Luckily we were pretty close, but it was very funny seeing the auto drivers attempting to communicate to us that we had to get out and walk.
We were easily able to find the toffees that Hannah likes and the potato chips that I like. We also bought some fried dal (which is kind of like salted nuts) and then began searching for Coca-Cola. We asked every stand in Mission Moore (the intersection off of DDC) if they had any. They either shook their heads or brought out something that was not soda. We went back to DDC and asked Sr. Sarita where we could by it. She told us we had to go back to Raiganj. So we hopped in an auto (mind you this is our 3rd trip out stocking up on supplies) and we were off to find the soda. Once we found the hotel that sold the soda, Hannah decided she wanted to try fried brinjol (green eggplant). We bought a brinjol on the way home, and were happy to find Sr. Sarita and Sr. Philo waiting for us in the dining room. We asked if we could request the servants make fried brinjol for dinner. The Sisters told us that we needed special flour to make the brinjol. So we were off again. We went to a local shop in Mission Moore and asked for the kind of flour we wanted. They looked at us, and pointed around the store. They wanted us to show them what we wanted. This would have been a great idea except we had no idea what this flour looked like, and there were 5 bins of flour looking stuff in the shop. Finally we decided on one, and took it home, hoping we had found the correct one, and we didn’t have to venture out again. Well we were successful!
For dinner that night we had fried brinjol, and lots of other delicious food. Regina arrived just after dinner. We went up to Hannah room, which has three twin size beds and we began our night. We listened to German music, because Regina broke her MP3 player the first month into her trip here. We continued to eat, chat, sing and dance. Then we turned on Dirty Dancing. Overall it was a really great night, and all three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves ☺