Goodbye Kolkata and Hello Mountains!

Namaste!

We just finished up our week at Mother Teresa house, and have an 11
pm train to gangtok tonight. We're all excited for the mountain air!
volunteering at Mother Teresa has been challenging, but really
rewarding and I think we've all taken a lot away from it. We said our
goodbyes to people we've been helping and other volunteers, and we
even got sung a song that goes like this "We thank you thank you
thank, we love you love you love you, we miss you miss you miss you"
during breakfast, since it was our last day of volunteering.

Last night most of us went out for pizza, overpriced, but decidedly
delicious. The street food (i.e. chapati rolls) in kolkata has not
only been nourishing our bodies, but also made our taste buds very
happy. We're excited to get moving and are really looking forward to
our trek.

becca

Bodhgaya & Beyond

The Bodhi Tempel where Buddha became enlightened in Bodh Gaya


Luke and Noah doing the famous Indian "pinky hold"


Luke's birthday cake (that later got completely smooshed and was creatively put back together by Phoebe and Jess)


Lydia on our boat ride on the Ganga to celebrate our last night in Varanasi and the fact that we had traveled so successfully for the last 2.5 weeks.

hi readers!

we just finished our 2nd day of work at the mother theresa homes in
calcutta, but more on that later.

beautiful bodhgaya offered some respite from the hustle and bustle of
"city india". we explored temples, sat under the bodhi tree (the spot
where buddha became enlightened), and ate a lot of tibetan food. we
enjoyed beet juice tattoos, nap times, and yoga. our hostel was
beautiful, clean, and mostly quiet. we then headed towards calcutta
via overnight train, which was a tad late (2 hours), but during that
time we figured out everyone's animal resemblances (in terms of
personality, not likeness). they are as follows:

Lydia:Wallabee
Becca:Fox
Maddi: Lioness
Noah:Giraffe
Lotte: Golden Hare
Ben: Blue Heron
Phoebe: Red Squirrel
Luke: Salamander
Jess: Otter

We got to calcutta around 10 AM and grabbed taxis to our guest house.
orientation for mother theresa house was at 3, we checked in and
decided which specific homes we wanted to be working in. phoebe,
maddi, and i decided to work in a home for mentally and physically
disabled children (lydia works in a different home with the same
theme), lotte decided to work with toddlers, ben noah and luke work in
a home for men, and jess works in the hospice home. yesterday we felt
things out, and got our bearings. we're doing things such as feeding
people, helping them go to the restroom, or simply holding their
hands. breakfast (bread, bananas, and chai) is at 7, the workday
starts at 8 and ends at 1130. then we usually do yoga, go out to
lunch, or maybe just talk. there are so many great things to do in
calcutta, our free day is thursday so we're very excited to check them
out! maybe a visit to the victoria memorial or the indian museum?
today is luke's birthday so we're going out for a nice dinner (happy
birthday luke!). that's all i've got for now, happy reading.

becca