More days in India

The days seem to blend together in an amalgamation of sweat, mosquitos, dirt, and exhaustion. We are still not done with orientation (basically trying to visit as many service learning sites as possible before we have to decide where to work on Thursday) so it's been a lot of biking in the hot, hot, hot sun and heavy, heavy, heavy air. The sites are all amazing--still a lot of people doing amazing things--but it is getting exhausting. "Winter" is over here and summer is slowly starting to creep up on us. I've exerted no self control in refraining from itching mosquito bites so it's been quite an irritating--downright miserable--experience. I should take a picture of my feet since they look pretty bad...like I have leprosy or something.

Basically, this situation has defined the past few days...it's really all I can think about as the sweat makes the bites even more itchy....plus, the group dynamic here has been off and on. Sometimes I feel as if I can really relate to the people in my group but other times, I'm not so sure. Plus, I need my alone time so I've been having a hard time trying to be 'cheery' and whatnot. I'm still glad and grateful that I'm here...and I think it's just a matter of time to get adjusted.

In other news...tomorrow is a strike day here in southern india as Tamils are going to show their "solidarity" with the Tamil Tigers. Here in India, even a general strike can be turned easily into a mob crazy-like fiasco so we will be spending most of our time in auroville (youth camp, where we're staying, is right by a village instead of being 'in' auroville), just in case. February 7th is "black flag day" where they will be parading the streets with black flags to also show their solidarity.......both of these acts have been declared by the government as illegal so we'll see what happens. A little freaky but I have trust in the universe.

I would love to videochat (skype) with some of you loved ones...usually, the best time for both us, would be...my time 7:30 am...your time around 6:30 pm? my id is shevawnv....post yours and find me.