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May 30, 2017 - 2017 Op:Rangeeli Shuruata
By: Eric Leon
After a 3-hour flight to San Francisco, the spirit of adventure was burning.
After a few hours of layover followed by a 12-hour flight to Seoul, South Korea, the adventure was dimming and homesickness crept in.
After that flight came yet another security check, and another layover, this time 5 hours. Why am I here again?
Eventually we boarded our flight from South Korea which is 15 hours ahead of Colorado time, and made our way to New Delhi, which is 12 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Colorado time. 8 hours of flight later, we arrived in New Delhi. WE MADE IT! Kinda. We still needed to go on a 14-hour bus ride to Kullu, and let me tell you, to those who are not familiar with the flow of traffic in India it can be summarized in two words. Controlled Chaos.
Not only are the Indians some of the most courteous drivers I have seen, but they are also the most aggressive and downright CRAZY drivers I have seen. Let me say it this way to keep it brief. Have you ever driven a tour bus through a path that most would consider too narrow for a motorcycle to go through? While said path has a car accident and 40,000 cars overtaking along the way? Most people would call this scenario madness. Indians call it Monday. I cannot say enough about the traffic in India. I am in awe.
Anyway, we finally made it Kullu and to our hotel. We were greeted by a welcome party that put red paint on our foreheads and gave us flowers! I will skip the small stuff like pizza, spiders, and bucket showers and move on to Tuesday. School started at 10:00am and after one of the greatest breakfasts ever, (second only to your cooking, mom), we made our way to Peccah, (pronounced “Pechah”), a school of around 26 primary-age students learning English. The kids melted my heart. The first five minutes of the day at the school made all the travel worth it. The teacher gave us these cool hats and scarves as a gift and they are SICK! I taught my lesson to the kids as well as my friends in the same village team, and we left at 4:00pm. The kids did not know any English and it made it difficult to teach the lessons, but I am motivated to come back tomorrow with adapted lessons to better reach these kids.
After the lesson we recapped as a team at the hotel and after, Marce asked me to write this blog. It is currently about 5 minutes before dinner at 7:00pm Tuesday, so I need to finish up. The experience in India is different, but it is not a new world. These people are our same people. They laugh at our jokes, respect common courtesy, live as we do with many of their needs met, and learn life lessons every day as we do in the United States. I don’t know what I expected, but I look up to the sky and it looks the same as at home. I don’t know if that makes sense or if it can be seen where I’m going with this, but I don’t feel thousands of miles from home, because home is earth. Okay, now that I’m finished with my hippie rant I have to go. This trip so far is amazing and I’m excited to start a new day. Thank you to all those who supported me in this trip, I hope you liked this blog! And once I come back, y’all know you will get an earful! Okay, since I watched the new Star Trek movies before coming on this trip, I will sign off the same way as Captain Kirk did because I cannot think of a more creative ending.
Leon out.
You are just amazing!!! Thanks for being so great. I love your blog entry, I love that you love India and the kids and most of all I love YOU! Go ahead and make this a better world.
Way to go Eric, we are very proud of your works. Love You Tons
Popsicle
Posicle out!
Love this post Eric!! You have the best attitude and outlook on this whole experience.
Eric…you were an absolute pleasure to be on this journey with. So much respect for you! Loved your attitude and you were amazing with the kids!