Hey guys,
Can you believe i'm over halfway done already?! i can't. I feel like i've only been here a week! but at the same time, i kind of feel like i've been here for a very very long time. I donno, it's a paradox i guess :) I love India so much. It's just my style-all the colors and designs and the comfortable clothing and the beautiful landscapes. And the people are so amazing. So friendly and carefree-they remind me of children in the way that they do things with abandon. There are things that can be frustrating here of course, but you have to see both sides.

Something frustrating would be that Nana and Aja, 2 girls i mentioned awhile back, have not come to school the past couple weeks. I'm a bit worried about them :/ I tried to get a visit set up today but no one knew where they were, or lived. It's kind of odd because everyone in the slums knows where people live-it's not very big. Anything could have happened to them. Nana, who held my hand the whole day and liked art. Aja, who had a beautiful smile and reminded me so much of my cousin Amelia. Also a girl from another day care center, Big Angeley, has up and moved out of the village. She was so sweet and smart and ready to learn. There's another girl with a mental disablility and men take advantage of her all the time. :/ and the 15 year old i told you all about who's 6 mths. pregnant and has a 2 yr old and is abused by her husband has moved back in with her parents to escape him. But if the in laws call, she has to move back with him. 15 years old! That's my sister. Some things are just so wild that you can hardly believe them, even as you see them.

There is good in the world though too. A couple days ago i went to Pushkar again, just for the day, to do some shopping with the other girls :) And on the busride home, Steph bought some biscuits from a very tiny, very old man. they were 5 rps. but she only had a 20 so she told him he could keep the rest. When the man realized that she was giving him the 20, i can't even explain the look in his eyes. I could have cried. He put his hand to his forehead and bowed and gave her a bag of his candies as well. And then the old man took the 20 and gave it to a man with a crippled arm! Both men left the bus and a young boy got on selling waters, Steph gave him the bag of candies. I just sat there smiling and speechless, thinking about the chain reaction of one good thing leading to a bunch of others. I don't think anyone involved was a Christian. Could it be that God blesses everyone, THROUGH everyone? It was a new thought but God can do anything right? Who says that He can't use someone who doesn't believe in Him to show someone else who doesn't believe in Him His love? i suppose that's a bit confusing isn't it? :)

Two boys who live next door came onto our roof while i was coloring stuff for school and started flying kites. They're very nice boys, and they were talking to me a bit, and I started thinking about kite runner and how that took place in the east and probably looked a bit like the scene in front of me. Then one of them said he was going to try and cut the other's kite, and i felt like i was seriously IN the book! :) It was the most bizarre feeling, like i accidentally walked right into a movie scene and got written into the movie or something. That book became very real then, while i was watching the boys make their kites flip and spin (he did cut his friend's kite). Just a wierd random thing but yea :)

Better get going! i've added some more pictures on flickr so be sure to check them out!
Have a blessed day, love you all
Cassie