Tattoos and dreadlocks

Those 2 things seem to be very interesting to these kids. We had a full day of “let’s touch Leigh’s head!” yesterday. Some were scared some were amazed, but at the end of the day they all gave me the thumbs up or the Ok symbol, basically meaning I’m in the cool kids club.#finally

Also, apparently word has spread that I like Jesus because different kids come up to me all the time and point at my cross tattoo then ask (well not really ask) if I pray. When I say yes I get that thumbs up. #winning My other tattoo isn’t of as much interest because they can’t read all the words.

Yesterday this man asked me what part of Africa I was from…I have no problems with the motherland but I was still over it. I said I am an American but I would love to visit Africa someday soon.

One of the teachers at the school is convinced I need to learn Guajarati, so his class is now solely focused on teaching me how to speak their native language which is totally awesome! Except for the fact that this is literally the hardest language I have ever studied or read or looked at. I can’t even repeat the words once someone else says them! I learned a phrase yesterday that means “how are you?” I asked one of our caretakers in Guajarati how she was and she was so excited! She responded and looked so proud of me! Then she started talking…a lot and very quickly in Gujarati…and I was silent again…she was so proud of me for one second…then she was like lol…you don’t speak Gujarati, and our moment was over. I’m working on being able to hold a minimal conversation….ya…I’ll let y’all know how that goes.

There’s a little girl here and it’s her first year at the school and is just crying and boo hoo-ing all over the place. Well naturally the camp counselor in me wanted to hug her and tell it would be ok, but when no one was looking and I went to sit with her she stopped crying and stuck her tongue out at me. then got up and moved somewhere else to pretend to cry -__- I was SUPER over it. She’s fine. She gets no more sympathy from Leigh.

So I am the best English speaker here…which I find weird because I say things like gooder and bestest  and other things that would shame my high school English teachers, but that is the role I am playing. I am a translator, sure makes me wish I had paid attention during those 3 years of French and 3 semesters of UNC Spanish…whoops…

Many of you have been expressing your confusion about my purpose here in India at this school. To be quite honest, I’m just hanging out. Everyday the kids teach me new signs and help me remember old ones. I’ve literally taught no one anything…and I probably wont…because I don’t know Gujarati…or Indian sign language…or how to embroider, which is what the principal asked me help with…that’s going to be a fail of epic proportions.  I brought plenty of embroidery floss though…so I guess I could teach them how to make friendship bracelets?? Maybe? 

 Melanie and I NOT teaching anything...

The first friend I made (that is a student) here, is named Gelo (short for something I can’t remember how to spell), well I’ve been pronouncing it like Jello…because that’s what is looks like! Well yesterday I found out it’s pronounced like Gela…how was I supposed to know that? I guess I should stop calling him Jello…

 He's the taller one on the second row

The other night I was sitting on a bench with my feet dangling carelessly over the edge, when all of a sudden…BAM this random stray dog tentatively approaches me looking all sad and sullen and he plops his self down with his ENTIRE body pressed up against my feet. Like he wasn’t rubbing his body against my shoes, just sitting literally as close as possible to me. I was just looking around and no one seemed to think that was super strange except for me. SPOILER ALERT: if a stray dog does that weir crap to you MOVE. I mean nothing happened….he just sat pressed against my shows for a few minutes….kind of anti climatic now that I think about it…but still, of all the room in the entire country of India, that is where he chose to sit.

OOO AND LOLZ SO HARD: I have a cricket phone….hahahahaha! does anyone remember those awkward moments when someone asked you for your number and you had to tell them to give you a couple days so you could put some minutes on your phone???? Well I don’t because I’ve never had a Cricket, but I remember my friends riding the Cricket struggle bus. So, I’ve pretty much been sent back to the past in terms of a phone.

More tattoos soon,

Leigh  

Jeans, Tea, Sweaters: Things you never need in India

That super awkward moment when you get locked out of your room…at the deaf school…when no one can hear you…that happened. We stood outside for like 15 minute just a hollering…in vain…because we work at a school for deaf students. #fail on our part for getting locked out. No one be alarmed, we eventually got back in.

It’s very difficult to explain to deaf kids what stepping is…so thank you Joe Bryant and Denzel McCollum. My day just got more confusing! I have about 900 photos on my cell phone and about 20 videos, my tiny human friend went through at least 500 of them and watched a video I had of Joe and Denzel stepping at least 20 times. It is also very difficult to explain why my mother was dancing with my dog…but she was and she watched that video at least 40 times! It didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear the signing or yelling the dancing was quite amusing.  Something I’ve found, these kids love pictures, they love seeing us in pictures and they love taking pictures and most importantly they love seeing themselves in pictures, therefore I take about 100 pictures a day just so they can see themselves. There’s something about a photograph that makes them very happy. So just imagine what happened when I pulled out my laptop and started showing them all the special effect that could happen. They were just tickled pink! Hence the attached photos of them looking like aliens.

Also, through the pictures they have been teaching us signs! So when we look through our phones or computers or cameras, we’ll point to an item or animal or whatever,  and they show us how to sign it. It’s been pretty awesome.

It’s so amazing how easily these kids understand us, we’ve only been at the school 3 days and they’re teaching us all kinds of things! You know that awkward moment when I can communicate better with deaf children than the speaking and hearing adults? Ya that’s been everyday so far.

Things that aren’t meant for India: Jeans. I for some dumb reason decided that wearing jeans in this HOT HOT HOT country was a solid idea…it wasn’t. So im walking around sweating bullets. All day. Something else I’ve learned, it’s important to pay attention to your surroundings.  So I came bee bopping and gallivanting out of the school office today and I failed to realize everyone else is standing perfectly still as some kind of prayer/song blares through the speakers. It took me a solid 3 minutes and a few hard stares to realize I was failing…again.

Things I’m over: the amount of HOT tea that is consumed in this HOT country. Ok so here’s my daily schedule:

6:30 AM- wake up, eat biscuits (cookies in America) and drink tea

10:00 AM – lunch (don’t ask me why they’re calling breakfast lunch, I have no idea)

2:30 PM – Tea time

5:00 PM- Tea and biscuit time

6:00 PM- dinner

sooooo much tea…sooooo much food…all the time…everywhere. In the words of Lindsay Chambers: “Eat ALL the things” 

Hot tea all the time,

Leigh

P.S.- if any was concerned we WILL be celebrating the 4^th of July in India.

just chilling in India...playing some cricket.

Today a group of deaf boys taught me to play cricket...and it was awesome! We stood outside for like a total of 3 hours today just playing cricket! Even though they can't speak they taught us the rules, how to keep score, when we were out (which for me was quite often). They taught us new signs and showed us on a map where they were from, and we showed them on world map where we were from. The cool thing about this is that we don't know any sign language but we pretty match talked to them all day. They're funny and try think we're pretty funny. 

It's really funny because all the kitchen and school staff gather around us when we eat to make sure we like the food and that we've got enough to eat. The thing about is I'm not hungry pretty much anytime we're supposed to eat but I can't tell them I'm not hungry! It's been a lose lose for a couple days now.

Ok now let me tell you how I got guilt tripped into drinking this HOT tea in this HOT country. So what happened was they kept trying to give us water, but we didn't know if this was sink water (that we can't drink) or mineral water (which we can), so they're offering us this water and we're all refusing and they look at each other and look back at us and with this sad look in their eyes say "but it's clean.." the thing about it was at that I wasn't even thirsty! So we all kept saying no. 4 minutes later they are making tea and they tell me I should drink the tea bc I didn't drink the water...so I'm standing around sweating and drinking this hot boiling cup of tea and I'm actually dripping at this point. It was awful. The tea was great, the feeling I had while drinking it was awful.

There's a tiny human following us around, she's real cute so it's cool.

I got bit by an ant, I was super over it. It hurt...like a lot. And the ants are literally the size of my pinky nail. They're HUGE.

O and the puerto rican is still saying she's from pr...and they still have no idea what she's talking about.

Also, we still don't speak Gujarati and they still don't speak English. We should probably just start signing to everyone. 

So I was on my way to this temple and we in a toot toot (this was by far the most errifying ride ever) we almost hit like 4 people, 2 cars and a donkey. Well anyways, on our way to the temple there were these 3 guys on one motor bike (yes 3 normal sized guys on 1 bike) well, all three of them were looking at us soooo hard they almost crashed into the car in front of them. Then when we pulled up beside them (after they almost crashed), I looked at them and said "you should pay attention to the road." Then we pulled off. They were SUPER failing. 

School starts tomorrow so we'll see how my first day goes!

Ants...Ants everywhere,


Leigh

There's so much culture...everywhere...all the time. O I don't have a toilet anymore.

So, when I said there was someone look down and chuckling at my life I meant it. When I arrived at the school today with my 71 pounds of luggage and I climbed the 2 flights of stairs to get to our commune with said luggage I see that there are no little cots set up for us. So I’m thinking hmmm…maybe they will set them up now, or maybe they waited so we could help them?  Both of those thoughts were wrong. I will now be sleeping on the floor…on a very thin mattress. What is happening here? I just don’t even know…So to recap: I left a house that is getting an actual shower, I lost my toilet privileges, I will be sleeping in a room with 45 children, and together we will be sleeping on the floor. My life is a huge lol. O and there’s not toilet paper. O and we don’t know how to use the toilet. Great. SOOOO MUCH CULTURE! 

PICS TO COME! (on FB)- pic 1

I washed my clothes today! It was a fail. For those of you that know me, you know that I don’t joke. I don’t kid, I don’t do anything of the sorts, I don’t like it, it’s not my strong suit. So when I tell you that adter washing my clothes they were actually dirtier than they were before you have no chouce but to believe me. I can’t even tell you what happened, Iw as washing my clothes I hung them to dry then these random weird stains appeared. WHAT IS GOING ON? The stains weren’t there when I packed my clothes, they weren’t there when I wore my clothes, they were there AFTER I WASHED THEM! I just can’t…O and to make matters 110% worse, after I washed my clothes and hung them to dry and sat down it started POURING. I’m not talking about a little drizzle, I’m talking about a freaking ocean coming out of the sky. My clothes are still wet to this moment.

We were setting up our floor spaces at the school and there was a very cute tiny human named Domeni, her a pic. Now let me explain the pic, Rumaire (the intern from PR) was super excited about taking a picture with her, so she sat right down and scooped her up into big hug, well apparently they don’t hug much here, hence the terrified look on poor Domeni’s face. I laughed a lot about this photo.

PICS TO COME! (on FB)- pic 2

So the people at the school who are taking care of us,  don’t speak English, they don’t sign, they speak a language that we don’t know. So this communication game jut got really tricky. They’re both super nice though, we just all do that thing that people do when they don’t understand someone, that haha..ok…uhh… So we’re really just standing around looking at each other.

O, there was a camel walking down the street today…casual.

PICS TO COME! (on FB)- pic 3

When I was in the toot toot coming to the school I had another end of life vision. Let me tell you what it was like. For those of you that have seen Harry Potter (can’t remember which one) The scene where the Hogwarts double decker squezzes into a tiny sixe in order to fit through 2 normal double decker buses and they just barely made, remember that? Remember that was able to happen because of magic. There is no magic on the roads in India.  What actually happened was my toot toot was in between a car and bus and I thought death was there to grab me. I leaned out my toot toot touched the bus beside me, leaned back and said “I just touched that bus and that’s HUGE problem.” I had my sassy pants all the way on, and I was looking at the driver for an explanation or at least hoping he was going to move, he looked at me ignored me and drove even further into the belly of the beast.  

Culture everywhere,

Leigh

"Follow all traffic laws"

Well the title above was a complete lol and a blatant fail. As my favorite elf would say "You sit on a throne of lies!" That quote is posted in the middle of a road at a very busy intersection. Let's just talk about this intersection for a second...the stop lights don't work, there's no official there directing traffic, it's essentially just  a huge free for all. It's terrifying. I have seen my life flash before my eyes too many times to count and I've only been here a couple days. People drive like they have no concern for their lives or my safety. I asked one of our friends from Ahmedabad how high his countries traffic fatality rate was, he said "o not very high!" that was a lie. I know it. The "rules of the road" are more like "mere suggestions" and sometimes it seems like they're just something someone wrote down one day that no one cares about. People drive down the wrong side of the road, they just drive and honk instead of yielding, it is so scary.  

Being a pedestrian in chapel hill for 3 years will make you feel invincible, like you can walk in front of any car and your life will be left in tact because you know they have to stop for you. In India it is not even similar to that, they are literally polar opposites. People dart in front of cars, cars don't slow down, I envision people getting hit, then somehow quite miraculously they survive. I generally close my eyes because I don't want to see them meet their demise so I can't say how they're doing it just yet, but one day...one day. At one point today we were attempting to cross a street our friends from here just casually strolled in front of motor bikes, cars, toot toots (aka rickshaws). Well I sprinted. I don't run often, but when I do it's because I'm being chased by a coyote or a car in India is about to destroy my life. Well our friend so, "No, don't run." To which I responded with, "Well a car was about to run me over so...you know."  

I can't tell if I've made a friend or an enemy...let me tell you about our newest intern. She's from Puerto Rico, so when she got here and said where she was from I yelled (actually screamed) "YES! GO TEAM AMERICA!!!!" she was not thrilled. In fact anytime some one asked her where she was from she would say Puerto Rico, which is totally fine except that she has a super thick accent and NO one knows what or where Puerto Rico is! So after about 10 tries and misses I finally said she is from America! Which resulted in a lot of "oooo ok USA!". They were happy, I was happy, she was over it. I think what really did it for her was when she looked at me upset about the statement and I responded with "what? My country owns your territory." Ehh...we'll see what happens. 

Well it seems that there's someone in the heavens looking down at my life and chuckling, and thinking how can I continue to test Leigh?? Well I can't make it hotter because the country will explode...what can be done? Let me tell you: I'm moving out of the volunteer house I've been living in and moving into the school. This move was totally expected and understood. What wasn't expected was that the volunteer house would be getting...drum roll please...A REAL SHOWER. I was so flabbergasted and dumbfounded I just didn't know what to do. They're getting a shower this week! The week I move out...I can't. Not only is this happening but I'm moving to the school where I will be sharing a large room with 45 CHILDREN, taking communal showers, and (and here's the kicker) we no longer have toilets. Yes, you read correctly, NO TOILETS. What is there you may ask? A hole. A hole in the ground. That is all. A hole. I feel like my life has a hole in it.

I visited the school and got to meet the kids ill be working with! They're adorable! There is a small problem however...for some reason I thought we'd be teaching American sign language...i have never been more wrong in my entire life. We will be teaching Indian sign languages SPOILER ALERT: I don't know know any Indian sign language, nor do I speak the language. So...about that...I thought I was going to come back the states and be proficient in sign language and maybe that would help shape the course of my life. I was wrong...again. If anything I'll be returning back the states more useless than before. Once again I am failing. The principal of the school told us we would be responsible for teaching either art or sculpture...I said I have no talent in either of those areas. He responded with "yes, everyone has some hidden talents"...i said, no you'd be wrong their my friend. We'll see how this goes. Can anyone imagine me teaching art to anyone? Ya neither can I. 

Ok let's just talk about a few things that are not helpful at all:

1) when the news is on in India it reads in English "breaking news!" only to have said breaking news in a DIFFERENT LANGUAGE. How is it that helpful or informative??? If America is destroyed while I'm gone and anyone survives can someone please give me a call because I won't know. 

Also, Indian food is delicious! It's flavorful and spicy and great all around! What's not great all around is when I'm in a restaurant and I ask what something is and the waiter says "something I don't understand, something I don't understand masala. " I will literally never know what I'm eating. 

If you were wondering to yourself recently, "hmmm I wonder if people are still staring at Leigh? Well to answer your question, yes, yes they are. They stare in a friendly sort of way and many people wave. Today a group of school girls were in front of our house about to get on the bus, before that could happen they spotted us. They started waving and giggling and carrying on, one would begin to question if they are laughing at us...I guess we'll never know. 

If you're reading my blog I really appreciate it, but I wanted to inform you all that I will most likely not have daily posts starting next week. I currently have wifi where I'm staying but ill be moving into the school tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll be able to access the internet. I know I'll be able to update at least once a week, but I'll try for more! 

Remember rickshaws are scary,

Leigh

Bucket shower was NOT on my bucket list.

Welp, last night I had my first bucket shower. Many have been asking me questions like "what was it like?" or "how did it go?" I'll tell you...it left MUCH to be desired. I told a friend of mine I won't really be clean for 6 weeks. Now, some may say that I am a privileged American and the shower could not have been that bad. You're right and you're wrong. I am a proud privileged American and the "shower" was in fact that bad. Let me tell you why: the "shower" room is a small small rectangle, about 6 feet in length, 2 1/2 feet wide, and 6 feet tall. That being said, there was not a lot of room to move around. So, there's this bucket and this cup, and just pour some water on yourself, lather up as best you can, then pour some more water on yourself...then you're done. That is it. There is nothing else. You know how when you take a shower at home you get to relish in the fact that the water is just pouring over you and you don't have to do anything? Ya that is NOT the case here. O and did I mention  the water is hot? Please take a quick trip down memory lane with me to my last blog post where I discuss that fact that this country is hotter than the devil himself, therefore the water is naturally hot...so I stood in this tiny sauna of a room and poured hot water on myself...the "shower" was really quite counterproductive as I stood and was sweating for most of it.

Bucket style is not for me...but I've got 5 more weeks...so...ya...this is awkward...

Ok so you know how when you’re walking down the street you may see a stray cat or dog? Or even a rabbit or a squirrel? And you know how that’s like no big deal. Well…in India cows, monkeys, and sheep just waltz around like the own the place! So Sunny, Mélanie and myself and gawking and taking pictures (as you’ll see at the bottom of this paragraph) and we’re getting stared at and people are chuckling at us! Well let me tell you something, next time you’re walking down the street and you see a cow just chillin remember that’s not normal. In the words my new found friend Mélanie, “where’s the farm? where’s the farmer? where’s the zoo?” those are some phenomenal questions that no one can seem to answer. I mean what am I supposed to do when a herd of sheep is stampeding in front of my house? (ok maybe they weren’t stampeding per se…but just give them time and enough motive…o they’ll stampede, I’m sure of it!) O and while we’re on the topic of animals and nature being all over the dog blasted place, there’s a lizard living in our house…he eats the mosquitos, so I guess he can stay. Maybe.

I like this one because it looks like there's monkey on my head.

 Lizzie, our resident lizard.

The herd of sheep...NBD

Our cow friends 

O and I saw that pack of monkeys I was told not to be alarmed by….SPOILER ALERT: when there’s 17 monkeys all eyeing you suspiciously, you should be VERY alarmed. Do not take them lightly, they don’t like you. Good thing monkeys are so independent because I just know they would have stampeded me if given the opportunity. I’ve had my fill. 

O ok so today I had fresh coconut water (like directly out of the coconut that I saw him chop open!) I was just down right tickled pink! I rushed over and in all my excitement was convinced I needed a picture with this young man! He was quite baffled and I think the picture speaks for itself. See below.  Well turns out I don’t like fresh coconut water…so that was a fail. I thought I got smart for a second (silly me) and I poured the coconut water into a cup and put it in the fridge thinking maybe if it was cold…? Nope, still not for me.

In addition to the fresh coconut I had this really cool mango. What you do is you squeeze the mango so that the inside turns basically into a thick juice, then you bite a small hole in the top and suck the mango out! 3 words: IT WAS AWESOME.

Have I mentioned that it’s hot? because I feel like I’m sitting inside an active volcano, that has somehow been put inside the oven at my dear friend Elizabeth’s job that gets up to 1000..CELSIUS. All that is to simply say I’m really hot…all the time. 

Today around 3:45 PM my friends asked me did I want to go for a walk…a walk….really? In this heat that feels like I’m hugging the devil you want to go for a walk? I looked at them quite exasperatedly and said, “no, never. I never want to talk anywhere in this hot country. no, nope.” Then later on one of my friends was talking about how she really wanted to go for a run. At this point I knew she was delirious (probably the heat talking). I told her I would not suggest running anywhere but into some ice or an air conditioner. Some people…

Well that’s all I’ve got for now, but please continue to check back in!

Monkeys, cows, and sheep,

Leigh