नमसते (namaste!)
Sorry I haven' t written in such a long time - things have been very busy over here. I went on a white water rafting trip for quarter break which was a blaste! We went to a town called Rishikesh and stayed in tents on the beach. We had a yoga instructor come and we did yoga on the beach while watching the sunrise, it was beautiful. The group (around 12 girls) rafting on the Ganges (or Ganga as they say here) Rivers - it's a holy river were people bath, collect their water supply, and place dead bodies (because it is a holy river). It was quite an experience - I didn't see any dead bodies as we were near the source (thankfully!). The town was beautiful which great little shops - but even in this beautiful town there was so much poverty. We had to cross a bridge and the whole time we are walking (it was quite a long bridge) this little girl was following me and kept repeating "5 rupees, 5 ruppes" I almost had to run away from her once we got off the bridge because I felt so bad. My friend and I bought chips and handed them out to people who looked like they needed something to eat - in the US charity can sometimes be an insult but these people almost grabbed the food out of our hands! These little kids kept following after us say "काना (kana)" which means "food" I felt bad but we gave them their chips and then just had to ignore them. I am off on a week hike in around a week - it is a glacier trek (we get to see the glaciers) which I am very excited for but a little nervous because I am not in hiking shape. I will be posting pictures soon from Rishikesh and from sports day (I ran, did high jumps and hurdles) which was very funny because I have never done high jump or hudles in my life!

Until Next time,
केथरीन (Catherine)

On the way to the bazaar you walk down this road and at one part there are these tent things made out of old tarps and stuff where these homeless people live and its so sad because there are  4 kids all below what looks like the age of 7 and they are so cute and I always feel terrible when I walk by knowing that I get to go back to a warm bed and if it rains I don't have to be out in it and  I have so much stuff that I don't really need that they could use. Anyway I just always feel really sad. But that's india. I don't know if I told you this but when we were in Dehli I have never seen so much poverty in my life. The morning we left I must have seen around 70-90 people sleeping on the street and that was only on one side of the street. We had little kids come up to us and ask for money. There was this one little boy that would play the drum while this little girl danced and after they went around asking us for money and it was so hard not to look them in the eye and just ignore them when you know that there is nothing they can do to help their situation. I mean they can't really get a job yet and who knows where the money  they do get actully goes. It's also really sad because you see a lot of homeless men, old women and children but not to many teen - 30 or so looking girls...which makes you wonder what they are doing to not be on the street, its so sad. And the train ride up, you see all these small towns and where these people live and it is crazy.  But it is so beautiful.