Touring in India...

Yet another long full day behind us, but this time it was doing  some "touristy" things in India.

We started off by taking our fabric to the Cutting and Tailoring Shop where we will have 

our Salwar Kameez outfits sewn.

Ah yes, another experience where you feel you are object of the locals curiosity as they congregate around the shop to watch you get measured.  But needless to say, a fun experience was had by all!

Next stop was to the "Learning Shop" to spend the money that the J.A.M. Time kids at church gave to buy supplies for the children at Marshall Public School.  

We then ventured out of Kakinada and headed north to Vishakhapatnam. 

Here are a few shots Big Bob got from the front window of our bus...

And could it be???  Is that a WM garbage truck???

not.

We did stop for lunch at a little wayside on the main road where we used traditional squat toilets and ate

food that was so hot I thought my lips fell off my mouth onto my plate.

But as they say, while in India...

We were then treated to a stroll through the Indira Gandhi Zoo.  

How peaceful and beautiful to see the animals in such "natural" settings...

This is all that separates you from the wild animals...

Kinda scary, especially when this is on the other side of the ditch...

We really enjoyed this time with our Indian family...

The last stop was Kailasagiri Hill Park.  A breathtaking area and shrine overlooking the 

Bay of Bengal.  Some of us took a tram ride down the side of the hill while others toured some of the other areas. I was on the tram so unfortunately I don't have photos on my camera of those sights and it was a bit dark to get any decent snapshots while going up and down the hillside, so here's all I got at this point...

Before heading back we stopped at a mall with, believe it or not, a KFC in it!

What a welcome treat for my mouth to have mildly spicy chicken (yes, even the chicken at KFC has a bit of a kick to it) and french fries.  

It's funny how something I normally don't consider a treat back home became a delicacy here.

The journey back to the hotel was a long 3 hour drive with a bit of excitement along the way

with crazy drivers, but we made it here safely and are resting up for tomorrows enjoyment!

I will leave you with one last photo of the "tourist of the day"...

Namaste'

~Jenny

sweaters, sweaters, and more sweaters,,,

We began our day with chauffeur service from our hotel to the orphanage in the mini van that was purchased with money raised from last years Gala...

it was a good thing that we dropped the sweaters off the day before otherwise we

may not all have fit...

Once we got to the village we were deciding who was going to carry what down the road to the school...Novahu said he would carry Big Bob...

As you can imagine, that just wasn't going to work, so Big Bob carried the sweaters instead...

Everyone was assigned a duty to ensure that sweaters from the Prayer Shawl Ladies, letters from the sponsors, and candy dots from Scoops DeVille in Hartford were all delivered with love and accuracy...

We all worked hard at our duties...

especially Big Bob and Mail Dudes when they weren't sipping tea...

The end result was a school full of happy children...

wearing sweaters (while we were all sweating), eating their treats and

showing off their sponsor pictures to each other...

It was fun to see all the kids leaving for the day with their sweaters on, but it was even more exciting driving through the village later that evening and being able to pick out the children from the Marshall Public School because they were the ones playing around with sweaters on!

I guess this little guy felt it would be to warm to wear a sweater while pedaling his bike home so he put it in his back-pack...

If you ask Sophia, she would say you could never have enough sweet treats,

so she handed out more candy once the orphans got back home...

However, if you asked Auntie Twisted, the dentist, she might have something else to say about eating all that sugar...

It's a good thing the orphans toothbrushes were readily available to  help prevent cavities!

Speaking of food (okay, in a round about way), here are photos of some of the kids who bring their lunch to school and where they store it...

And here are some of the children who are in the "lunch bunch",

they are some of the poorest of the poor who just recently started receiving 

a free meal during the day.  It mainly consists of rice and vegetables with an occasional hard boiled egg...

Gifts were not just given to the students today, but Novahu's family as well.

The Landowgals presented some of the women/girls in the family with items 

they sew in their "made with love" business.  And for the younger boys...well,

of course they needed t-shirts showing off our local teams!

As for hand made gifts, we also had knit hats to give out to the orphans

compliments of the Prayer Shawl Ladies...

After a long tiring day we were all about ready to turn in early,

but wait there's more!

Novahu wanted to take us to one of the House Churches and Cutting & Tailoring Centers to check things out and for evening worship.

It ended up being a ride through chaotic little villages and massive sugar cane fields...

over an hour away!!

Although the ride was long, it was well worth it!  We were warmly welcomed by both the people in the church as well as the women in the Cutting & Tailoring Center.  (and not to mention the ride was pretty entertaining too for those of us who didn't sleep)

We sang songs,  I spoke briefly, and then we offered a blessing to the individual villagers.

A humbling evening for all of us.

Pictured below are the Landowgals with some of the students who have learned to sew on the machines that they purchased for them.  Also pictured are the pastor and his wife (who runs the C&T center) with practice sewing samples....

Well, I do believe it's time to retire for the night, as we have another full day ahead of us tomorrow...or should I say later today because it's already after midnight!!

I will close with one of my favorite quotes...

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

~Gandhi

It's amazing what you can discover about yourself when you do so...

Namaste'

~Jenny