Hello, India!

Our first week in India has come and gone in a moment! We have developed a flexible schedule for our mornings and evenings, with each days work varying. Our very first order of business, however, was to become more acquainted with our surroundings. Joy Dongerdive and his wife, Liliana run the Hope of Glory children's home and we have spent a lot of time with them and the kids in the orphanage already. They were kind enough to have us over to their home to tell us a little about Pune and it's people.
The most stark difference we had to immediately acclimate to was the different way that men and women relate to each other here. Women (us included) must be careful not to show any ankle, not to make eye contact with men on the street, and to always have an escort. The men on our team, on the other hand, must brace themselves for the attentions of the beautiful Indian women looking for a ticket out of India in the form of an American husband. Our first few outings were slightly troublesome - we were always making eye contact and smiling - it's a hard habit to break! By now we pretty much have the hang of things and have managed to find a happy medium between constantly staring at our own feet and grinning at everyone indiscriminately.
We made several trips to Laxmi (Lack-shmee) Rd. and M.G. Rd. for Indian garb and other necessities - those being the best best shopping roads and most accustomed to Westerners. We got coffee across from a nice hotel where Brad Pitt and Angelina stayed (our team leader is constantly informing us of all the places we visit where Brad and Angelina have been. We are beginning to think this might be a sort of Brangelina pilgrimage). To visit M.G. Rd. we even got to don our Western clothing instead of the conservative Indian dress we usually wear.
After we were moderately settled in, we spent a few evenings hanging out with the kids at the HOGF (the Hope of Glory Foundation). The kids range in age from 3 to their late teens. We had heard so much about them from team members who visited here before, and we knew their names and ages from preparing the Christmas gifts we brought for each of them - a backpack and a new set of clothes - we were excited to finally meet them. It's hard to describe how lovable and affectionate they are. To hear these kids pray is an awesome and humbling thing. They all pray aloud on command for a while before dinner, kneeling with their eyes closed tightly and their hands clasped in front of them, some hunched over on the floor. The older girls honored us by singing a Hannah Montana song on our first evening with them. Most of the kids speak great English and we can't wait to spend more time with them in the weeks to come.