Longitude

After the longest train ride of our lives, due to the current political situation in Hyderabad, we finally arrived safely in Eluru yesterday morning. It’s been surreal being back here just six months later. Even though we’re staying in the same place, it feels so different with a different group of people. Jonathan and I, who have visited Gummallapadu (GP) once before, were so excited to see all our friends in the village. We couldn’t even sleep for the two remaining hours we had between the train finally meandering into Eluru and our group breakfast.

During the one hour (and very rocky) car ride to GP, our driver rocked some really ridiculous Bollywood music videos. As entertained as I was by all the so-raunchy-it-was-comical booty shaking, I was busy envisioning the first moment that I would see all my friends in the village and wondering how tall some of the kids must have gotten in the last few months. As we pulled up the road to the village, children came running out of every corner- the girls delicately annointed our hair with flower petals while some of the boys made line drives into our mouths. My little friend Anukya from last year came running out of her family’s house when her friend told her I was here again. Since it was Christmas morning, all the children were wearing their best clothing and I was so happy to see their beautiful, smiling faces again.

After our opening ceremony in which Jonathan and I were asked to cut a Christmas cake together (creating a perfect opportunity for wedding-esque photos), we had a delicious vegetarian meal full of fresh local produce and went straight to work on our first house. In one day, 12 very strong girls and Jonathan plastered the roofs of two family homes! We had a great first day and we were impressed by everyone’s good spirits and incredibly hard work after little to no sleep the previous night. We wouldn’t be here without the help of all our family and friends who have supported us by donating to our group! We’re halfway to our fund raising goal, so if you’d like to make a contribution please visit our group page. We’ll do our best to blog everyday so you can check up on our progress and impressions of our trip. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas- we all agreed tonight that this has been one of the most amazing Christmases we’ve ever experienced.