Kerala with the 12th grade: Day 1

After arriving home from Mysore around 2:00 a.m., I was woken at 3:30 a.m. to get ready to leave and go to Kerala with the 12th grade class at my school. I was extremely tired, but at 4:30 a.m. when we reached the school and I met up with some friends, I was wide awake. The principal checked our bags before we all piled onto two school buses and pulled out onto the dark streets, everyone screaming and cheering as we left the gates!
The drive took about eight hours. We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant, but other than that we drove straight through to a place called Kumarakom, along the backwaters of Kerala. We spent the time talking, watching a Tamil movie and listening to loud Tamil and Hindi music that we all got up and danced to in the isles of the bus. It was a lot of fun, not only because we were dancing, but because as the bus drove, swerving around other vehicles, going over pot holes, and braking to avoid crashes, we would all get thrown around and scream and laugh as we pulled ourselves upright again to dance!
We arrived at our hotel around 1:30 p.m. The resort that we stayed in was called "Whispering Palms Resort" and was sooooo BEAUTIFUL! When we arrived and got off the buses it started to pour down rain, immediately stopping as we all reached the reception area. We all crowded in to see- the entire place was outdoors, covered only by a roof. We were offered fresh squeezed juice as we waited for our room keys and we all looked around to see small waterways winding through the small white cabins and a big pool in the center with a view of the backwaters from almost everywhere! It was GORGEOUS! When we got our room assignments, Sowbe and a girl named Renuka and I went to our room to freshen up before coming back to the main hall for a buffet lunch. We then got the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted! We all spent the time outside behind our rooms on a little grassy spot with a pathway, some palm trees and a hammock- all alongside the water! We then had to go inside while the boys got two hours of pool time. We all went into one room, plugged in an ipod and danced! I learned a few dance moves, and taught a few to them too! When it was our turn to go swimming, I borrowed a swim suit from one of the girls and we all jumped in! The swim suits ranged from a one piece to a full body suit! Mine that I borrowed was a uni-tard that went down to my knees that had a small skirt over the top- it was red and I almost felt as if I was wearing a cheerleader uniform!
After swimming, we all went to our rooms to shower and freshen up before a Kerala marshall arts presentation at 7:00 p.m. It was held in a small hall and there was a group of men, ages ranging from about ten to (probably?) forties. They demonstrated Kerala fighting with all kinds of weapons including long sticks, short sticks, swords, shields, knives, whips and even no weapons! It was pretty amazing how flexible these guys were! All of them were doing flips, cartwheels, maneuvering around sharp points, and even the splits!
After that we all went and had dinner at the buffet, then went out and all sat by the pool, hanging out and talking for an hour or so before getting a talk from the principal and correspondent about the fact that there was security all night and how much trouble we would be in if we didn't stay in our rooms. This upset some of us because we had been planning to have the girls in our room for a while after dinner. We ended up all going back to our rooms and going to bed around midnight after the three of us in my room talked for a few hours.