Um...I'm in India!

Well, obviously, I haven't updated in quite awhile! It is next to impossible to get onto blogspot in Myanmar. I was only able to do so once while I was there. However, now that I am in India, I am able to update, so I will get you all caught up on what has happened.

For now, we will speak of India. Traveling here took quite awhile. I flew from Yangon to Bangkok (Thailand), then to Mumbai (India) and finally from there to Aurangabad, where I am staying. That sounds easy enough - but I should mention the 11 hour layover in Bangkok, and then the 6 hour layover in Mumbai. I should also mention that Bangkok airport is HUGE. I walked for an hour trying to find a place to sleep (it was 9:00 pm when we arrived in Bangkok). Caroline Mawia (Hilary and Christer's mom) had told me of a place she always went to sleep that most people never went to - and I promise, it is because that place is such a remote location that no one ever is able to find it! However, at last, it was before me, and I must say, it was a beautiful to see those rows of green chairs.


Here is a picture. Cry for joy. Mumbai wasn't as exciting, but I didn't know the address that I was staying at here, so getting through customs was interesting. They finally settled for a phone number, so that was that. And, I didn't have to put my luggage through the security checkpoint...maybe because I'm white?...so that was fun.

Now, I am here. I have been teaching a group of seventh graders English (they understand surprisingly well), and visiting an orphanage of 80 children most afternoons. It has been absolutely wonderful. John and Heather Dongerdive are my contacts here - through Ashlee Alley (Thank you!!). John is Indian, but Heather is American - fun! - and both are awesome to be around. They, along with John's family, are in the process of building a new orphanage, which the girls will move into first, and which will hopefully be done before I leave. If that is the case, then I will be able to live with the girls at the orphanage. If it had been done already, though, I would not have gotten to meet the boys that live at the original orphanage, and that, as well as being around the girls, has been a great joy. (In the long run, both the girls and the boys will be out at the new property (which I have provided a picture of), but building comes with money, so the girls are moving out first, and more floors/buildings will be added to the construction as soon as possible. Also, the term "orphan" here is used loosely, and, in many cases, refers to a child that needs help that the parents cannot supply. The kids are sent for different reasons, but many of them are not orphans in the strict sense of the word.)

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for updates, and feel free to ask questions! Hopefully, I will have pictures of the kids soon, and you will be able to see the beautiful faces I see every day.


~Audra~