Patience

Today I woke up around 7:00 p.m. and tried to sleep longer, but, as you may guess, it is so hot here in the morning that I wake up sweating and therefore cannot fall back to sleep. At around nine o'clock I got to skype with my family! Even my sister's best friend Abby was there! I was really happy that I got to talk with all of them, it definitely helps to have a support system at home when I am attempting something so different and sometimes overwhelming.
My host mother had to go into her office today to work, and so I was left alone with Pati (my host mother's mother) who doesn't speak any English. I spent those few hours watching the only American movies my host family had on my laptop (The Wedding Planner and Pirates of the Caribbean). When Mahesh got home from work, and Surya from school, the three of us went to the Vidhya Niketan school to fill out my application and paperwork (this time the principal was there!) and so we waited for a little while outside the office. One of the lessons that I've learned while being here is to be patient. For, as my wise liaison Sara Marvin once said "You cannot control India. India controls you." I've found that this statement is incredibly true- and an example of it was today when we had been waiting outside the office for about ten minutes, the Owner of the school arrived, and then we had to wait another ten minutes for her to have tea, before being called in a few minutes later. Patience is key here. Some things are very easy to get here while others are very difficult. I've learned to be very patient over the last few days before I begin school because I don't have too much on my mind right now (although I have a feeling that all of that will change when I begin school tomorrow)!
After discussing a few things with the Principal and Owner, it was decided that I could begin school tomorrow! - but we have to go back tomorrow to fill out the application. I'm excited to go to school and see what it's like. I've heard a few things that make me a little nervous; one being that I am taking three of the hardest sciences, and two, that the teachers will sometimes teach in half-Tamil, half-English. The principal seems to think that I'll do fine though!
After finishing up there, we went to a store where I got two pairs of shoes for my uniform (a black pair, and a white pair for sports). It seems funny to me that the schools have uniforms all the way down to socks and shoes- it's so different from what I'm used to!
After that we went to a sweet shop. Sweet shops are very different from the U.S. First off, none of the sweets are at all similar to those that I am familiar with- they are sweets, but they are not very sweet!! I had a mango juice called "Slice" which was very good, and then I found something with a recognizable name, but NOT a recognizable package! A Kit-Kat!
After buying the sweets, we went home and I went to the gym for a while. When I came back, I showered and was then invited by Mitu (the elder little girl next door) to come and watch her practice the dance that she's learning! It was fun to watch- I think that I will join her class next week, and I'm excited because it looks fun! I'm glad that the two little girls are finally warming up to me, it is nice that they will talk to me now instead of just smiling shyly and running away!