The Next 15 Days...

Day 10:

Had church at 9 am in Chennai. It was good! My primary lesson went very well! I had the older kids. There were only 4 of them but they were pretty attentive and were very smart! Stopped at grocery store on the way home. Bought more guavas—so yummy! Went to playtime that night and helped students write sponsor letters. The students write notes back to the emails they receive from the people who sponsor them so they can go to school. It was really fun to see them answer the questions of their sponsors and to see what is important to them that they want their sponsors to know. When we got back, the long-term volunteers and I tried to make peanut butter cookies in the microwave. Didn't work so well... we ate the dough :) The volunteers and I went to Dale and Lily's apartment. Shynee and Lily made us dinner! It was delicious! Since this next week is Pongal and the students don't have school, Shynee and I don't have our normal dance classes. Instead, we had 6 hour rehearsals everyday with LifeDance so they would be ready for the talent show. So that night Shynee and I made plans for those rehearsals for the rest of the week. Watched a cartoon with Kaylee and Shynee before bed.

Day 11:

Up at 6:15 and went running with Kaylee. Then got to Google+ with the family! So wonderful! Got to see baby Graham and he is adorable! Had LifeDance rehearsal from 9:30 am-12 pm. Had a lunch break from 12-2 where we had leftovers for lunch at Dale and Lily's and then we Skyped with Shaun to let him know how classes were going. We started again with rehearsal from 2-5 pm. We ended with having them all improv to a Tamil song to see if we could get some ideas for their Bollywood number we are choreographing. They have a hard time with improv so that is something I want to work on with them. Dinner and Shynee and I did some choreographing.

Day 12:

Got to Google+ with my best friend Celsea for a few minutes! Had LifeDance from 9:30-12. Back to rehearsal from 2-5. Everyone was tired and a bit frustrated so we sat down and talked for about 35 minutes at the end about how to take advantage of dance classes. I just wish these kids could see the potential they have if they just had the motivation to get there! Got to eat sugar cane that the cook, Padmini, gave us. Fun to learn how to eat it! Dinner and more choreographing.

Day 13:

Lots of people out today because of the Pongal holiday. It is a holiday of the harvest and one of the days is dedicated to the cow, an animal that they revere. Many people were pulling cows along with them and had painted their horns to celebrate them. Delicious breakfast of dosa (kind of like a crepe) with curry for Pongal. Rehearsal from 9:30-12 with LifeDance went well. Had one student not show up because he feels he does not belong on the team. I went and found him and talked to him and coaxed him into coming back to rehearsal. More choreographing in between and then rehearsal 2-5. Discussed why we dance at the end of the rehearsal. After, the kids turned on some Tamil music and got in a circle and just danced! I have never seen them move like this! It was incredible! Someone would go in the middle and everyone would follow them. I am definitely learning some moves from them! Forgot all my troubles and just enjoyed watching them move. Feeling really good afterwards! Had dinner and had some cake and ice cream for Anna, one of the long-term volunteers, because it was her birthday. Both of the desserts were very... interesting :) Watched part of “The Amazing Spider-Man” before bed with other volunteers.

Day 14:

Rehearsal from 9:30-12 went very well! We started with some good, long stretching and showed them how to correctly stretch and it gave them a lot of energy. From 2-5 pm we finished cleaning all of the dances! So happy!! Had a little meeting from a visiting couple who were just traveling through and they taught us about how to help children with reading. It was interesting! Ate dinner on the roof of the hostel next to ours (the green house they call it because it's, well... green) :). Beautiful view up there! The moon was huge and bright orange! I love the sunrises and sunsets here. They are incredible! They are a little bit different each day but always just as spectacular! This is such a beautiful country. The Rising Star president got here tonight, Sally Read, so got to meet her. She is a remarkable lady! Skyped with friends before bed.

Day 15:

Went to my second leprosy colony today. Again, it was a smaller colony. There are 52 people living there but only 12 have leprosy and only 4 of those 12 have ulcers that we needed to wash. The rest of the people living there are their families. Families are very close-knit here and because of the stigma of leprosy, the families of leprosy-affected are also often seen as untouchable so they go to the colonies together. I was in charge of changing the wash water. I also just played with the kids a lot. They are absolutely adorable and just need so much love! As part of Promethean Spark, Shynee and I tried to get members of the colony to dance after as some physical therapy, but didn't have many who wanted to other than the children. When we got back I responded to journal entries that I had had LifeDance write. Felt like a real teacher having to read through and comment on an assignment I had given :) Had LifeDance at our regular 4:45-5:45 pm. We ran through their numbers and had a little audition so we can choose people to be in one of their pieces called “Black or White.” At the end of rehearsal, we had them sit in a circle and visualize how they want their dances to look. We gave them time to go through each dance in their head and they were completely silent the entire time! It was amazing! Helped with delousing again tonight after dinner. I actually don't mind doing it at all. The kids sit in front of you and you just massage the shampoo onto their hair. One sweet little girl came up to me and told me I was beautiful and it made my whole night! Shynee and I showed each other dance videos of ours that night to see the differences between dance classes in the US vs. India.

Day 16:

Left for our day trip at 8 am. It was me, Kaylee, Jamesen, Shynee, Anna, Dale and Lily. We went first to a gated city called Auroville that is trying to be a Utopian society. It is based on meditation and finding one-self. There is no politics or religion and no one owns the city, it belongs to humanity. We walked through the visitors center and watched a movie about it. They have some really cool and interesting ideas! Saw some of the monuments there. There were so many tourists there from all over the world, I hardly felt like I was in India anymore! Walked through the gift shops and then drove to Punducherry. Walked on the coast right by the ocean, felt really nice! Dealt with some very pushy vendors. Went to a delicious Italian restaurant for lunch. It was up really high and there were absolutely beautiful views! Then did some shopping through the busy streets. Had some fun bargaining for items :) Went first to the bazaar markets that had produce and flowers. Saw the Gandhi statue and took lots of pictures. The volunteers and I asked each other silly questions and had a blast in the back of the van on the way home. Went to part of movie night that the kids have on Saturday nights. They had one for the younger kids and one for the older. Went to the one with the younger kids. Had 3 little boys sitting on my lap. I stayed till my whole body was asleep and then I went and visited the older kids :) Sat with some of my LifeDance girls. They all told me they were so “cold” because it is winter here. I told them where I am from is covered in snow! The weather felt perfect to me. Great day!

Day 17:

Church was good! Kaylee and I combined our primary lessons since hardly any kids. Relief Society was very good. There is a group of 35 women coming tomorrow and staying at the Elephant House for the short-term volunteer session called “Women to Women” so some of the women were already here and got to meet them at church. They made the branch much bigger! Stopped for groceries on the way home and Sally then treated us to Domino's pizza! They are all over in India. It was great! Some of the female students here are learning to play soccer, so Shynee and I went and joined them after church. I had a great time, but should probably just stick with dance as I am very out of practice :) Shynee came to church with us today and asked me a lot of questions about the church so we had a long Gospel discussion. Loved it! Dinner and planning for the next week.

Day 18:

Taught 8^th standard in the morning and they were very focused. Skyped Shaun for an hour for some tips and then got to Google+ with the whole family again. Really made my day today to get to talk with all of them! Went to teach UKG (kindergarten) but they are having a “Sports Day” on the same day as the talent show this week so they had practice for that. Had a talent show rehearsal (that I had not been informed about because nothing is done in advanced in India) that went fine. Had LifeDance rehearsal at 4:45 and the principal and school director came and watched the dances. The director asked for another old dance of theirs to be performed as well as another one we have to clean before we put it on stage so felt a bit overwhelmed. Had dinner and got to meet the 35 ladies who are here. We have a full house! They range from age 17-60 and are all very nice. Fun to meet them and hear some of their stories. Had a presentation after dinner about Rising Star Outreach, it's history, and how it got started. What an incredible story! Went to story time at the students' hostels and talked with some of the girls.

Day 19:

After running, got to Skype with Celsea again and it was so great! Had an extra rehearsal to clean an Indian dance number some students are doing. Shynee had to do most of the cleaning since she knows what it's supposed to look like, but I helped where I could and definitely learned the choreography because I love Indian dance and want to be better at it. Had 6^th standard class, went well. Had LifeDance for an hour in the morning because we couldn't have it later due to sports day practice. Had some tears at the end because not everyone was chosen for “Black or White,” but we had been asked to only put in 12 out of the 20 so had to sit them down and talk to them about how hard things make us stronger and how they are all incredible dancers. Had 3^rd standard after lunch, went pretty well. Worked on cutting music for the talent show and Shynee and I watched some Bollywood YouTube videos :) Went to story time that night and just sat with the younger girls while one of the short-term volunteers told them a story. Tucked them in and kept thinking about how lucky I am to have a loving mother who did this for me and how they don't get that. Talked with Kaylee, Shynee, and Jamesen to unwind from the day.

Day 20:

First class was 9^th standard today and it was wonderful! The boys especially were so attentive and loving it! 4^th standard was next and they were crazy! Didn't get through much. Ate lunch with the kids and taught some 1^st standard girls “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and they thought it was the best thing ever :) Next had 2^nd standard and they also were a bit wild. Shynee and I went through costumes and created an inventory list and figured out what we wanted to wear for each dance for the talent show. Just passed out costumes for LifeDance rehearsal and it was a bit crazy. That night went to a presentation about micro-grants. Micro-grants are money given to people affected by leprosy so they can purchase something that can help them work and provide for their families such as a cow to sell milk, a bike to ride and sell trinkets, a loom to make clothes, or beads to make jewelry. Then went to story time at the boys' hostel and got to know them better. This is my favorite time with the kids, when I just get to talk to them and get to know them individually.

Day 21:

De-stressed with a long stretching session and some “Mumford and Sons” after running. Had rehearsal at 9:15 for the Indian “welcome dance” piece and then had a 2 hour rehearsal with LifeDance that went really well. We ran through the numbers, talked about performance, and ended with another dance jam to their favorite Tamil song. It was a blast! So much energy! Lunch and did more costume organizing and music cutting for talent show. Had LifeDance again at 4:45 and passed out costumes but it was a bit of a disaster trying to figure it all out and the students were wild. After dinner I skyped with friends and went and said goodnight to the kids. Got to FaceTime with both the parents. Excited and stressed for talent show tomorrow!

Day 22:

Today was “Sports Day” and talent show! The sports day was from 9 am-12:30 pm. The field was decorated beautifully! India is all about decorations and bright colors! They greeted us as all of us and the women volunteers came in. They had an opening ceremonies and then a bunch of events such as running races, relay race games, balancing acts, marching drills, a dance, sack race, and more. So fun to watch them perform and compete and encourage each other! They did a great job! They gave out awards and had a closing ceremony. I took lots of pictures and videos. The Marriott provided lunch for everyone and then had a 2 hour break before talent show. Met 45 minutes early with LifeDance to finish last minute costume stuff. They did each of their dances well and had only a minute to change in between each one but they did it! It was so great to see all their hard work and see their faces light up when they danced. It was another reminder to me the power that dance has. The audience were both touched as well as had a party :) The women just loved it! I was very proud of the students. For LifeDance rehearsal that evening we just had a dance jam. Turned on Tamil music and just had a party! Some were very tired from the long day and others still wanted to dance! Trying to learn their moves as I teach them some of mine. Went to the last 30 minutes of playtime with the kids. Tried cricket for the first time. It's fun but hard! They are obsessed with it here in India. Had dinner and downloaded pictures that night.

Day 23:

Day trip to today! Went for a run and then we all piled into the 3 big 12-seater medical vans and drove to a resort town called Mamallapuram. Talked with the ladies in my van on the way up. When we got there, 4 of us rented a tuk tuk (like a rickshaw), and went to the ancient temple ruins they had there. There are a lot of them! They were so cool! I had 5 people ask to take pictures with me while we were there. Guess it's the hair! Saw the beautiful beach as well. Had lunch and did some shopping. A bit overwhelming with the vendors constantly following and trying to sell you things. Good thing I have experienced this before in China! Found a beautiful elephant tapestry as well as a shell from the beach that was hand-carved. On the way home, we saw one of the men from one of the leprosy colonies who had been given a micro-grant. He was on his bike selling small items so we stopped to say hi. Such a sweet man! Dinner and went to movie night with the kids for about 35 minutes. Fun day!

Day 24:

Church was great! Wonderful sacrament meeting and primary class went well. They love to sing! On the way home, I got to hear the conversion story as well as how Rising Star Outreach got started from one of the founders who is here for the session. It was incredible! Amazing where this organization is now! Kaylee also fell asleep in my lap :) Played soccer with the girls and Kaylee, Jamesen, Shynee, and two women volunteers when we got home. Did better this week! It was fun! I miss sports. Practiced for a bit after the girls had to go to prayer time. Dinner and Shynee and I choreographed a fun Bollywood dance to teach the kids this next week. Want to do Indian dance with them while Shynee is still here. So many power outages lately! About 4-7 a day. They make for some excitement :)

Day 25:

Had 8^th standard first this morning—went well! Tried to Google+ with the family but the internet is not working on my computer so had to do it on my phone and it was very hard to hear. But good to at least see their faces and catch little bits of the conversations! Next class was UKG. The women from the session who were on the education rotation came and helped by my request. It was great! The students loved it as did the ladies and they did great! Had lunch and then 1^st standard. They were a bit crazy but not really bad. Had 5^th right after and it was great! They were so focused and had so much focused energy—it was awesome! Afterwards, Shynee and I were so tired and sweaty from teaching the Bollywood dance so I turned on some chill music and we stretched and just did some improv and relaxation for a full hour and it was wonderful! It was an answer to my prayers. I was able to clear my mind and had a feeling of peace that things will be alright. Shynee fell asleep on the floor for 45 minutes and I kept the children who were coming in to get their snack from waking her up :) Had LifeDance next and they were not focused at all. Had dinner and then a great presentation about how volunteers help at Rising Star and about the beginnings of Rising Star. Went to story time and got to know some of the boys better. Tonight I was feeling very happy and grateful to be having this opportunity.

Week 1!

I have been one of those people who laughed at those who kept a blog and now look at me. Eating my own words as I sit down to write a blog post :)

I know a lot of you want to hear about my adventures in India! I am here for 3.5 months teaching life skills through dance to children in kindergarten through 10th grade at a school in Southern India. I am here with two non-profit organizations: Rising Star Outreach of India as well as Promethean Spark. Many of the children at the school live at the school because their families are far away. Most have grown up with their parents in impoverished villages or have grown up in the leper colonies in India because their parents and/or family have leprosy. Because of this, many of these students have not had the chance to learn any vital life skills to help them succeed in life. This is where the volunteers and I come in. Through education, medical, and construction staff, we are trying to make their world a better place, show them they can do great things, and show them that their lives are worth living. I am privileged enough to get to teach these life skills through my favorite art form of dance. I am the only volunteer here teaching dance classes. It has been stressful but rewarding so far!

I am going to try to write a blog post about once a week (though I can't promise anything!) and let you know the highlights of the week. Everyday is such an adventure! There is always something new and so much going on! I love this country!!

Day 1:
Got in very late. It was a very long couple of days of traveling but I had gotten there safe and everything went smoothly. Many prayers were answered and definitely some miracles in there! The drive home from the airport I was exhausted but couldn't help but stare out the window with a big grin on my face. I love being in another country! Went right to bed when I got there.

Day 2:
Got to know my roommate and we had some great discussions while I was unpacking. She is great! Met the other volunteers and got a tour of the Elephant House where I am staying. They are all so wonderful! Just stellar people! I got a tour of the school and ate lunch with the kids. Eating with your hands is pretty fun :) The kids were so excited to meet me. They have a lot of energy but are so easy to love! There are so many names and so many I have never heard of and can hardly pronounce so will be a struggle to learn them all! Some of the volunteers and I rode bikes into town to the "junction." We just walked around, saw lots of monkeys, went into a few shops. Got lots of stares :) Gotta love having blonde hair in India! Had a poisonous snake outside of the hostel. One of the guards came and killed it with a stick. That night the volunteers and I all just talked and got to know each other. First bucket shower tonight was pretty exciting :) Just my first full day and already saw lots of stray cows and dogs walking around, all kinds of bugs, goats, snakes, and monkeys.

Day 3:
Today was Sunday! Went to the branch in Madras. About an hour and 45 min. drive. It was fast and testimony meeting so heard some beautiful testimonies in both English and Tamil (their native language of the state of Tamil-Nadu, where campus is). It is amazing how the Spirit is felt no matter what language is being spoken. The Spirit knows no language. I helped in primary and then got asked to teach next week already! The members here are so dedicated! Many have only been members for a few years but already know so much! Stopped at a mall and walked around on the way home. Since the biggest city next to us is Chennai and is right where church is, we usually do our grocery shopping then since it is such a long drive.

Day 4:
Had my first class at 8:20 am. It was 8th standard (grade, they call it standard here). They are very rowdy so had to be very strict but went well. Got to google+ with the whole family after. Then taught kindergarten (called UKG here) and they were pretty wild. The language barrier makes it very hard to teach them! You have to do everything so they can just copy it. Had a break and then had 1st standard which went a bit better. 5th standard was next and it went well. Then had LifeDance. This is Promethean Spark's dance company who have shown they have the dance skills as well as the life skills to be on this team. They are very fun to work with and good kids! Today another girl got here who is going to help me with the dance classes for the month of January! She is from India and is very sweet. Her name is Shynee. It's been nice to have someone else to teach with! We both have very different ideas but have come up with some good compromises!

Day 5:
Taught 6th standard with Shynee. We had a Skype session with Shaun to talk some things over and get some ideas. The next class was great! Our next class wasn't able to come due to school work and the class after that only came for the last 10 minutes of class. During LifeDance we ran through all of the old dances they have to prepare them for the talent show that is coming up this month. Dance teaching has been a bit frustrating because all of the teaching methods and techniques I have don't work here. I am having to come up with new methods and develop them while I am here. But I know it will work out and be so good for me! The days are definitely filled with lots of ups and downs. Tonight I went to "story time" where you can go into the kids' hostels and tell them stories. This was wonderful. Helped remind me why I am here. These kids need so much love and attention.

Day 6:
Classes went okay today. Skyped Shaun again today and got some more ideas. Definitely been learning humility lately, it was a bit of a low night. Kaylee, one of the other volunteers, and I did some ab workouts and goofed off.

Day 7:
Went and did a spice trail today! Drove the almost 2 hours into Chennai and met with two darling Indian ladies who took us around town to buy ingredients and then showed us and helped us make Indian food all while telling us about the history of the spices we were using. It was so interesting and delicious! Such a fun day!

Day 8:
Kami had her baby! He is 8 pounds and his name is Graham. I was so excited! I am now an aunt!! Today I went to my first leprosy colony. I get to help with the medical team at the leprosy colonies on Thursdays and Fridays because I only have LifeDance in the evenings. It was a very small colony. There are only about 7 people there. We set up the medical stations and got started. I was in charge of taking off bandages. There was only two patients that we helped. These people are truly incredible. They have been banished here and considered "untouchables" but are so sweet and just crave human interaction. There was one particular man there, Jayraj, who was hysterical! He loved to dance! We turned on music after helping and just danced with him! We are trying to get all of them up and moving for some physical therapy. This man has so much life in him even though life has taken so much out of him. It was an amazing experience. Also had some time to tell about my religion to others of other faiths while I have been here and it's been great! Growing up in Utah I haven't had many of those experiences. Tonight we did delousing for the children. Almost all of them have lice so we put ointment onto their hair. They all got in lines and all of the volunteers helped. Definitely a new experience! Lots of firsts today: my first time being an aunt, first time at a leprosy colony, and first time delousing!

Day 9:
Had a nutrition class in Chennai for a Relief Society activity taught by our dear Dale and Lily Simpson who are coordinators. It was very interesting and had lots of yummy food! Stopped at the mall and got some elephant earrings and tried some treats at a sweet shop. Because the holiday Pongal is coming up soon, it took us about 4 hours to get home! Quite an adventure! We had lots of story time during the car ride with the volunteers :)

Well that's all I got time for right now! More to come and pictures to come as well! Hope you enjoy!!