No planes, no trains, but lots of automobiles! Our journey from Delhi began a trip that lasted 17 hours which no one expected. The flight to Dharamsala was canceled so we waited for 3 hours at the airport for taxis which finally loaded all of our bags atop various vehicles. (a group of 19 people in 7 vehicles) The roads here are CRAZY did I say that earlier??? Some pavement, some dirt like Kelly Stand Road..with big potholes and just pure madness when it comes to traffic. People, cows, monkeys, motor scooters with ma, pa and baby sandwiched in between..for real, I saw that about 50 times, auto rickshaws, donkeys with carts..however no one uses signals, they just honk to say "get out of the way..I'm coming!". One car had crash..no one hurt, we disbursed into cars and went to 6 cars, one driver throwing up out the window and having to pull over, we disbursed into 5 cars, one driver, a Sikh..who we renamed the sick Sikh, not to be confused with the "ill driver"..was such a crazy driver we eliminated him to just carry bags, we disbursed into 4 cars. Now, you would never consider all of these people packed into cars like sardines safe by any means, then throw in..no joke...3 hours of fast, skidding, switchback driving with a tired driver. The edges of cliffs could not be seen beacuse of the darkness..and I consider it by the pure grace of God that we arrived safely. I have never prayed so long and so hard that I would live..ever. I felt lifted up by everyone at home..most especially that Lily was wearing a guardian angel charm that Maureen gave us before we left...and it was simply not an option for anything to happen to us. There is such power in the energy that you all send, so keep it coming and THANK YOU!!! I am not sure by watching the video of us when we arrived, you can tell I am relieved..but not having had much sleep I was so elated I could have run a mile!

We were supposed to have begun our work posts today, however due to the circumstances, we all slept in until whenever we wanted to, although I could only sleep a few hours. When I woke up I was immediately revitalized by the serenity, the calm, the peace of this place as I listened to morning prayers recited in Hindi from the mountainside, birds singing and a place outside of our room waiting to be discovered.

Today included a delicious lunch, warm showers (bucket), Hindi lessons, orientation and a trip to the market. CCS is a very organized and loving operation. They divided us into 3 groups and sent us on on "Amazing Race" style scavenger hunt in the village market. I looked at Lily and she was smiling from ear to ear! All items on our lists were to help us find our way, to get us out of ourselves. They provided us with transportation and a pocket full of rupees and sent us out to buy toilet paper, stamps, bread, research costs of clothing, internet and phone calls etc...! What fun we had. When we all arrived back at home base, we sat in a circle reporting what we had discovered (our team won btw!) I followed al of this up with a nap before dinner. I am feeling that tonight will finally be the night we will get on the time schedule and be good to go for tomorrow.

Yoga begins at 7 am, eat breakfast and then we leave for our jobs. Lily and I have been assigned seven 1 -3 year olds to look after for three hours each day. We will teach them some English..like numbers and the alphabet, but mostly try to play with them and show them love. The Laura Ingalls in Lily is about to bust at the seams. Who gets to be a teacher at 9?

I will receive my first Indian coking lesson tomorrow afternoon from Rakesh, our cook. On the menu is tandoori vegetables in a real clay oven, dal, rice and some sort of chicken.

See you tomorrow. Sending love and gratitude. XOXO