Busy Busy Busy

January 19, 2009
So Friday all the kids had math exams in the afternoon, so I went to school and sat outside and let the kids ask me any last minute questions before their exams. Some of the older kids I was really impressed with, but there were others that I had a hard time understanding how they past 2nd grade let alone the ninth. I worked with them until the afternoon and I had lunch at the school with Marion, who had classes for most of the morning, and then we went over to Lynne’s house since we could do anything there while they are taking exams, Marion and I helped Lynne work a little, but mostly played with the boys.

Saturday, Marion and I spent the day entering things into the Library, and Amy spent it sorting bills. Both super, super fun tasks, but they need to get done. We worked from about 9 to 5:30. We then just relaxed in the room for some time before coming out to play with the girls.

Sunday I woke up quite early to pick up my grandmother Bammy who decided to make a quick stop, (probably 4 hours out of her way by plane) to come visit me. I hired a driver for the day ad he brought me to the airport. We met up really easily and headed back to hostel 3. I introduced her to Amy and Lynne and all the girls. We then went over to hostel 1 to meet the boys. We then drove into the center of Hyderabad to the Charminar. I had never been there so it was a very cool experience. The Charminar is the main monument of Hyderabad. When we first got there we walked in the area around it which is called the old city. We went down a street with so many bangel shops that had thousands of bangels. On that road we stopped and Bammy, Marion, and Amy all got bags. We then took a tour around the Charminar from a guy that came up to use and flashed his Deparment of Tourism badge and told us all about the significance of it. It was created after the Plague hit India and to comemorate the 4 thousand people that died in Hyderabad the created this four tower structure of limestone. Each tower was constructed for 1000 people. He took us up to the second floor of the structure we he pointed out other important sites that we could see, like the second biggest Mosque in Asia, seating 10,000 people. After we finished the tour we went back to car. He took us towards the airport, but right before we got there we stopped at the airports 5 star hotel’s buffet for lunch. The food was absolutely amazing, especially since we had been eating hostel food for 2 weeks. The chairs were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in. After we finished we had a couple of minutes to relax on their bed like seating area. At 4 we brought Bammy the last 5 minutes to the airport so that she could make her flight to Chennai. We said good bye and then the three of us headed back to hostel 3. It was a very good day.

Monday, Marion and I went to school and Amy went to 2nd hostel as usual, but instead of teaching computers, Lynne took me into the city to by the rest of the nighties for the girls, because only half ended up getting them for Christmas. We walked around for quite some time, with no luck. We actually came across a very cute shop for baby clothes for Lynne’s kids and for the new baby Hannah. We were not successful in finding nighties, but we put in an order so that they should come with in the next week. We came back, and since Monday was Dan’s last day, we had a small function for him at 3rd hostel and 2nd hostel. While we were out two new girls were admitted to 3rd hostel, one is 5 years old and one is 4. At 11 we said bye to Dan and headed off to bed.

Tuesday we worked at 3rd hostel. Marion and I worked on the library while Amy started putting the that she had sorted on Saturday, into binders. At around 12 Ratnam called me to tell me that a computer Engineer had come to fix the computers, and that he needed me to identify which ones were a problem. Even though we have four computers that are messed up, he would only fix one, because apparently Ratnam had only given one serial number when he filed the complaint for the computers, which seems completely stupid. After he engineering guy left I had lunch at Lynne’s house and then we went and picked up Amy and Marion to take them shopping in the city. Amy was looking for a Punjabi for when she gives a little presentation for the people that gave her donations to come here. Lynne took her to Palaka Bazaar, where I got my first Punjabis, because they can make them there within an hour. We then came back to Uppal and went on a driving adventure into a village that is only a few minutes outside of Uppal. It was very cool to see how the majority of India lives. We saw a ton of buffalo, classic village homes, that are one room with slate roofs. We also went into a field were some people were working and Lynne bought some of the greens that they were growing. We stayed out and watched the sunset. We came back, had dinner, and then crashed.

Wednesday, Marion and I went to the school and Amy went to second as usual. At school I sat with the computer guy that came back for a while. I then came down helped Lynne with some paperwork. After lunch we went into the city to look for cloth for the boys
Easter clothes. How crazy is that! We finished Christmas just to start the Easter project. We went to the same guy as last time for shirt and pant pieces. We brought him a calendar to thank him and to help him be even more willing to give discounts on his merchandise. We stayed there only for an hour before we had to come home. Lynne and Ratnam were going out to dinner with Shelia and her husband at the Marriot and were dropping off James and Luke for a sleep over in Marion, Amy, and my room. The transition process was pretty smooth, but about half an hour in James started crying and screaming for about an hour. At 9:30 we finally got him to bed. Luke was as happy as he could be, but once we put him to bed he woke up a couple of times but went right back to sleep.

Today I took my shower downstairs and made their bottles and about 5 minutes after I came back in the boys woke up peacefully and I had their bottles ready. They were very cute this morning and played nicely. Lynne picked them up at 11am and then we did some work. I did my laundry, and cleaned the room after the tornados named Luke and James had passed through last night. The rest of the day I have been trying to fix the wireless portion on the internet router unsuccessfully.