first day of school.

Monday night we arrived here in Bangalore and oh what a treat it has been! Everything has been different from our time spent in Delhi.

For one- it is not absurdly hot, it is actually quite cool- usually overcast throughout the day time.
Two- we are staying in a HOME with Sharola and Chinky who do YoungLife here, each of us has our own bed and we get homemade meals :)
It's a nice change of pace being in Bangalore. It's still a bustling city, however as far as I can see it's a bit cleaner.

Yesterday we met with Sam- Sharola and Chinky's father who runs YuvaLok which literally translate to YoungLife here. He has been running the YuvaLok school for about 15 years as well as the National Child Labour Project, working to get children out of the slums and into school. They are doing amazing work here. The fact that we get to be a part of something such as this is so humbling. Sam spoke of all the YoungLifers who have been here to serve and all the other church groups that come throughout the year.

After meeting with Sam we headed out to the actual school sites where we learned we would be teaching for the next 2 weeks! Teaching?! I don't even have a credential. but any help they can get goes a long way. So here I am first day of school. Today was my first day teaching English to primary school children. Most of them come from families in the slums and some of them don't even have families they just come in off the streets. Sabrina and I are helping out with the younger children- Standard 1 to Standard 4 which is mostly 1st to 5th grade. They are the most beautiful children I have ever seen. They have the biggest desire to learn and get off the streets. Once again I find myself humbled at the fact that I have spent most of my life complaining about having to go to school and these kids wake up every morning, yearning to know more and hear stories about life outside of their own lives. I keep stepping back in awe that I have been given this ridiculously amazing opportunity. Each day here is more and more affirming in the fact that you cannot walk into a moment like this and ever walk out the same.

So day one of teaching: check. Last night Chinky had a YoungLife meeting here at the house with 5 other leaders about my age. I love that YoungLife is universal and that hearts all around the world are excited to share Jesus with kids. I really do love this ministry. They fixed dinner for us after the meeting and we sat around, playing cards, laughing over cultural differences and finding more and more similarities :)

I am becoming quite the spicy food lover.. well it's more forced than accepted because I don't really have a choice :) BUT- I really do like it... Some afternoons my mouth remains on fire for a good hour after the meal, but I'm getting accustomed to it.
Some things Sabrina and I are craving at the current moment:
-Blenders
-goat cheese salad
-iced white mocha

I hope you all can come experience India someday soon. I promise, you will never be the same.
Sending all my love!

PS- I miss you Lost Canyon!