I made it.

So I made it. India's really just a hop, skip, and a jump away. I was so relived to see the driver from the orphanage, Doss, waiting for me at the airport after so many hours of travel. I could have kissed him. But I didn't. It was dark when I got here and made myself stay awake during the three hour Jeep ride to see the day dawn on my new, albeit temporary, home. The sky was lovely, but I must have blocked out all those frightening memories of creative driving and not having a seatbelt. Also, we may have hit a cat. But there are some pictures of Jesus taped to the dashboard, so that tends to help

It is so strange to be back here. It's like that Paul Simon lyric, "Nothing's different, but everything's changed." I was worried that the kids wouldn't remember me, but they did. They were shy at first but then started to open up more. I'm really looking forward to just hanging out with them again. I'm not sure what official assignments I will have at the school yet, but we will figure that out after my nap.

I met the other volunteers here, Drew and Johanna. They are my age and were friends before they came here. I'm hoping that we can travel a little on a weekend or at least boop into town every now and then together.

At morning assembly this morning they were doing this ceremonial flag raising and one of the teachers kept saying to me "come, come!" "Um...come where?" It turns out they wanted me to unfurl the Indian flag. The special thing is that the flag was tangled in a nearby tree with these beautiful, daffodil-like flowers on full bloom. So when I pulled on the rope, a flurry of yellow pedals came tumbling down on my head and shoulders. I'm taking that moment as a sign of good things to come.