I have resigned myself to the fact that I can't share everything here. But what to say? Mysore is a blur of color, people, and action all day and night. Sometimes I have to stop and remember where I am and how everything worked out for me to be here.

My time with the children at BGSS has been wonderful. When I am with the younger children, I work in the computer class helping them play simple games and work the basic functions. They have very little control of their speech, and even when they do say things it is in Kannada (the local language) and only a few of the teachers speak that. Even then, they always tell me that what the children say makes no sense.

We start each morning with all the children from both schools meeting at the main school for songs, simple prayer, and attendance. Then we separate for the day and the older children go to the pre-vocational school down the road.

Outside the main school building, where the younger children are taught and where four of the volunteer teachers, Prasana and Santhi (husband and wife) Clinton, and Nganba live.

On Friday I went with the pre-vocational class to Karanji Lake, a nature conservation park about 15 minutes from the school. There are all sorts of birds including peacocks, the national bird of
India. The older children are so much fun to be with, and are very eager to please and make us teachers laugh. Trips with them in BGSS' bus are always enjoyable. They sing Hindi and popular Bollywood songs for us.

I went out shopping with Jana and Laura later on Friday, and spent my first considerable amount of time in Mysore city. I am so thankful to have them with me, otherwise I would be lost! They are teaching me all the names of the places we frequent and fair prices for the auto drivers (rickshaws) so I know not to get cheated when I go out alone. The vendors here are incredibly friendly, and never fail to ask where I am from and tell me about a distant relative or friend of theirs somewhere in the US.

Today all the teachers met in the morning to clean both schools from top to bottom. With everyone taking a bit of the work, it went quickly. In the afternoon, Laura, Jana, and I met up with another German girl named Hannah who is working at a different NGO in Mysore. We took some children from Hannah's school to the famous Mysore Zoo. One of the children's father works at the Zoo, so we all got in for free. This was good, because I don't have a residence permit, so I have to pay the foreigner price for everything. It was 100 rupees (Rs) for adult foreigners at the Zoo, and only 40 Rs for residents. (Right now the exchange rate is 48 Rs = $1). It's hardly a large sum of money, but still!

The children loved pointing out the animals to us and telling us their Kannada names. They were also always asking me how to say things like hippopotamus and lemur in English. In the middle of our visit it started pouring rain, which was a bit of a challenge. After 30 minutes in the rain, we gave up and embraced being totally wet. We still saw tigers, elephants, lions, kangaroos, giraffes, hyenas, mice, rabbits, crocodiles, and peacocks. Any of those sound out of place? Yep, they had a habitat with about 50 rabbits. Those aren't very common here apparently. The children didn't believe me when I told them that I had rabbits as pets growing up.

I have already gotten used to the fact that people will stare at me wherever I go. Just walking down the street or waiting outside the apartment for the school bus draws a crowd. They're not being rude intentionally, but they will stare and not look away. People driving past on motorbikes will stare behind at me while flying into oncoming traffic. Haha.

One of my favorite things so far is being able to go down the street and get delicious fresh fruit anytime. It's mango season!

Prayer Requests:
-Continued health
-Usefulness at the school
-Building relationships with the teachers
-Sharing the Gospel with Jana and Laura, who don't believe in God

Praises:
-Still healthy!
-Good first few days at the school