Monsooooooon

The monsoon has finally arrived! Its been wet and COLD(er) and fabulous! Rickshaw rides in the torrential rain arent so much fun, especially because many rickshaws don't have the side covers so basically when you hit a puddle, or another car whizzes past you, you get a soaker. haha. But whatever I'm sure I'll get used to it, and figure out the tricks to stay slightly dry!
With the monsoon coming we've had many more blackouts. The power here tends to go out every once in a while already, but because we have a generator we're usually fine. The other day I wasnt even aware that the power was out in our area until they decided it cost too much money to have it running through the night so they turned it off. The last few days we've had to do the same thing, so 11 oclock is lights out - literally. Which is hard when I forgot to bring a flashlight so I'm using some 1970's mini "torch" as they call it, that barely works to get around the buildings. I realised the other day I came really poorly prepared for this whole "monsoon" thing...no flashlight, no raincoat, no sensible shoes...i think i'm gonna need to go shopping again soon!
Thats the other thing though, I have no clue how people here wander around in flipflops during the monsoon. I get that they're the only shoes that will dry out after stepping in a puddle a foot deep, but everything here is made of marble, so its soooo slippery! I'm gonna be lucky if I manage to make it through the whole trip without wiping out and killing myself!
I was feeling sad about having to say goodbye to our first group of participants after the event ended the other day, but I FINALLY got to talk to Katie after 3 weeks of calling and calling and calling, so I feel much better now. It was the taste of home that I needed...in the form of an hour and a half phone call! whoops, good thing everything is cheaper here in India.
I desperately want someone to come visit me - so that when I go home I will have someone who actually understands my stories, and what I'm talking about, and knows where I've lived. I have no idea how I am going to be able to explain half the things I've experienced to people...
Hopefully I will get Deepak our computer guru in soon to fix the network so I can post pictures on here to help explain the stories...
xo