Nothing calms nerves when traveling to a foreign country like properly settling in and finding a niche in a new community. We could go on with 50 ways this has taken place in our group, but we'll describe just a couple for now...
All of the Indian students and teachers at the FabIndia School have welcomed us so warmly - the children wait until recess so they can run out on the field and surround our group. Some of the Putney students have made new best friends in the 3rd and 4th grades, others have 8th graders bringing nail polish to share with our girls, and the rest are proving their athletic abilities in the most famous sport out here (others call it a religion), cricket!
Fun aside though, we could not be more impressed with how hard your children are working. We have gotten so many compliments from the staff and the Principal at the school! Our students always want to do more and try their best to go the extra mile.
The other day we had a real treat after a hard day's work; we all came back to the castle, cleaned up nicely, wore clean and presentable Indian clothes and sat down for a chat with the Maharani (Queen). She had some wonderful stories to share, and the students hung onto every word! It was evident how engaged they were in the conversation from the intelligent questions they posed, and we are certain the Maharani was pleased to pass an hour of her busy day with our bright young group. It is safe to say that after hearing some of her life stories and struggles, we all sat back for a while and realized how fortunate we are to have the opportunities that we do.
We are looking forward to our weekend getaway when we go on a hike up to the Kumbhalgarh Fort nearby and then continue on with a road trip to Udaipur, a famous city in Rajasthan. We can't wait to tell you about how it goes in our next blog!
- Priyanka and Ted
