What a day! There is just too much for me to write about today; I'll try to cover the high points.

First off, we had laundry done for us.  It was $.30 a piece for wash, dry, press, and fold.  Press and fold was $.08 a piece.  Crazy, huh?

The morning started with teaching in the park. Today, I was working with a person who has low vision, so they weren't really confident about teaching. At the end of the lesson, that person gave me sighted guide across the big, busy street. He was super uncomfortable, but he was able to judge when it was safe to cross; he just didn't want to take another's life in his hands. Mickey was there the whole time, but when we both crossed the road safely, my guide felt incredible.

After lunch, we headed over to another organization, where lots of deaf and hard of hearing people are being trained for work. I really liked meeting the deaf people, and I think it was because they approached us in a different manner. On the streets, people stare openly, with pretty blank faces. They aren't mean about it, but their faces aren't really kind. The people there stared, but they smiled. That's really the first we've seen of strangers openly smiling. I'm guessing they know what it's like to be different in India?

Mickey was holding a meeting for the parents of some of the blind children served by Enable India. We did a cooking activity with the kids while the parents had adult conversation. We made grilled cheese, bananas, and Oreos, aka, an American meal. We (Lauren, Melissa, and I) had 10 kids from 2.5 to 15, so we had our hands full catering to the specific abilities of each child.

I think I got it easy. I took the two oldest – a 12 year old girl, and a 15 year old boy – into the kitchen to cook the grilled cheese sandwiches that the other kids prepared. I had a really nice time with both kids, and I really think I taught them both some good skills. The girl was already pretty familiar with being in the kitchen, but I was able to show her some new techniques, and the boy really had no idea how to do much of it. It seems his family does most everything for him, so teaching him how to turn on the burner, adjust the heat, find the trash can, and use tongs was a really good use of our time. By the end, he was doing the whole process himself. I was really proud! We did a lot of chatting while they cooked, and they were both really surprised to hear that I can live alone in the US and that men sometimes do the cooking. Both ideas seemed very foreign to them. Oh, and kids here call women like teachers auntie. I guess it sort of substitutes for ma'am. So, we were the three aunties today. According to my book, using my first name would be far too familiar and the last name too formal. So, auntie it is!

We took our first autorickshaw ride of about 3 miles for 32 rupees (roughly $0.64). Just google for a picture. It's a three-wheeled, open air, taxi. Apparently, the drivers like to rip off Americans and ask for more money or say the meter is broken, but today, we had our Indian friends do the haggling for us. Hence, the local rate. We drove through rush hour traffic, which is full of exhaust and TONS of people and vehicles. We were glad to be home; it's kind of a gross process.

Dinner: we went to a place with steak in the title, so it sounded promising. It was on the roof of the building with pretty nice views, and it's not far from our hotel. They had lots of American food. I ordered a burger, and it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it wasn't awful. The burger was WAY overcooked, the fries were a bit raw, and the ketchup tasted funny, but at $3.20, who can complain? Also, we may have been served local water masquerading as bottled water, but we shall see.

Enough of that. Pictures!

The kitchen where we did our cooking lesson.

The location of our parent's meeting/cooking extravaganza.

The traffic at the intersection near our hotel.  That is the big fancy department/grocery store in the center of the video.  This should give you a good idea of how loud our world has been for the last week.