Namaste from Trivandrum

Hey All,

I know I mentioned it was hot... did I tell you it was humid? Lordy, I don't know how we keep
going.

Today, we were working on the house of the dance instructor. We spent all day hauling cinder blocks up this urine soaked alley in the sun. Wish you were here? Thank goodness for teamwork which made it go faster.

We eat lunch at this convent every day and today the students from the school gave a dance show for us. Sooooo precious. The girls had full-on costumes and makeup. It was an excellent break in the middle of the day.

Monday and Tuesday we worked at the Hindu family's house. Most of the people on the Habitat Committee here are Christian and they identify everyone by religion first and name second.

We actually spent those days demolishing their old house so the Habitat house can be built. The demolition of their house was a lesson in why the Habitat houses are built with concrete. In the demolition process we unearthed, a colony of cockroaches (huge), many hills of ants and several termite families.

Elsie I thought of you because one day I saw this woman had a red ant on her hat (these are some big ass ants too). I brushed it off and then looked on her back to make sure it went all the way to the ground. That's when I saw their were 5 red ants crawling in her ponytail. It was like a National Geographic special with me pulling ants out of her hair. Ugh.

It seems that two of the neighbors of this family take lessons from the dance instructor and we got a private show at the neighbors house. It was really amazing to see and made me realize why I came even though some people thought it questionable.

The group is very cool, ranging from 18-61. Most of the people are from SF. There are quite a few hotties in the group... and it's so hot, they work with their shirts off.

My roommate Lynda is a bit of a Meloney. Her luggage never made it to Mumbai but will finally be delivered tomorrow. Then she left her wallet on the bus and the driver rode around town on a motorcycle looking for her. Then she left her camera at the worksite but someone found it. We've got to keep an eye on her.

This morning I got up at 5:45 to go to the meditation on the roof and then do yoga. Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it myself. We had a yoga demonstration the other night and learned how to increase the semen flow, fix a compressed uterus, etc. It was rather hilarious.

Today during a block break I was learning a Malayalam song about a crow. So far I only know the first four lines but am expected to perform on the last night.

Overall, I'm having a good time. There are more things to be said, no doubt but someone else is waiting to write home and our self imposed happy hour starts on the roof right now.

I have to remember next time to tell you about the head waggle thing. It makes it very hard to understand if people understand you....

Love,
Kristian