Sometimes it seem like I am hardly breaking the surface of what is here. Put up on the hillside in a house that is a mansion in comparison to what people are living in only 10 minutes away, and given a bunch other Americans to play with. Then I take a step back and look around me, look off the balcony of the flat. In some lights the valley below seems like it could be anywhere. A sweeping green gorge, with a shiny colorful speckling of roof tops throughout. Mountains that take on a new look in every light. Mountain that always seem to roll on forever, like looking out at an ocean horizon. Ok, maybe it couldn't be anywhere. But there is nothing to place in India, only a gorgeous landscape. A landscape I forget to appreciate day after day, that is until the light changes, and everything is once again transformed. The weather has been an adventure all of its own. This morning it was overcast, but warm and lovely even before the sun rose. The valley was dark and blue. By mid afternoon it was clear and sunny. White clouds rushing through the sky in multiple directions. A cool breeze, and a cup of sun tea the only things making the temperature bearable. But before my tin cup was drained the weather had turned again. The cool breeze had driven me inside and it began to hail. The largest hail I have ever seen, at lease a ½ inch round. The sound it made on the roof was deafening. It went beyond the patter of a rain storm, to a constant roar. Then as the hail turned into a gentle rain the light broke through the clouds, illuminating a certain ridge in the mountains that I had never noticed before. It is dark now, and after the weather rollercoaster of this day we are having one of the most fantastic lightning storms.

No day here is like the next. And not only in terms of the weather. A new group of volunteers have come and with them a mini dose of culture shock. I hadn't realized how accustomed to "Indian time" I have become. "India time" in which it is perfectly acceptable for my Tabla (an Indian drum) teacher to tell me he will come in at two or three and nod his head back and forth. "Indian time" where there is no rush to get anything done, where your nephews getting a haircut is more important than going to work. "Indian time" where the whole world revolves around the unpredictable weather, where every thing stops when it rains, and that is ok. But "Indian time" is more than just a slower pace of life, it is a state of mine. Things will get done eventually, they will work out somehow, and it doesn't really matter either way. This attitude can cause its fair share of problems and frustrations where progress is concerned, but it also has its benefits. There is no stress over anything, it is so much easier to be optimistic once you adjust. The arrival of the new volunteers was like a hurricane hitting. A rush of energy, of all the same dramas that my group went through upon first arriving. They seemed so loud, dramatizing things that hardly mattered, just to have something to complain about. I found myself feeling more comfortable sitting with the laid back staff in a corner, listening their snarky comments about the new comers and making bets with thwm on how they would adjust.

With these new volunteers came a girl who was more suited to work at the special school than me, as well as a wonderful new volunteer opportunity. An already existing NGO is planning on starting an Elderly Daycare Center but are too swamped with other work to actually design the program. Me and two other woman are set with the task of figuring out what kind of elder programs would benefit the community and then creating a manual detailing everything from what staff should be hired and what their rolls should be to what services would be offered and how we could get the community seniors to want to participate. We are starting by talking to community leaders and will work are way through village councils and woman's groups all the way to poorest of the elders . We are creating surveys and conducting interviews, trying to understand the cultural stigmas around aging and elderly care. This is a project I can get excited about, it has the promise of making a deference, creating something that will last. And if nothing else it will be a learning experience I could never hope for from a book or even playing with preschoolers.

Yes, I am sure I am hardily breaking the surface of what this country holds . But it seems somewhat like the sorties of Greek gods and how they couldn't show their true form to mortals because a mere mortal couldn't comprehend everything they really are. The amount of things to take in and processes each day is so great, even from the shelter of this all American Flat.

PS. Photo of me dancing at an Indian Wedding thanks to Barbara