A pretty good Sunday

Today was a pretty good day, I woke to no current but it was okay because heavy rains during the night made it feel very cool. I believe that the monsoon is here to stay for the rest of the season, there has been rain everyday for the past 3 days. Today the children didnt have school so Uttam thought that it would be a good idea for the 9th grade students to come for a communication workshop. The younger children have opened up to me and will interact with me...but it is harder to get this same interaction from the older children. The 9th graders in particular....most of the boys come after school to learn computer skills from me so they are good with interacting but the girls are really shy. Either that or they are going through that "I'm a cool high school student phase" lol. This morning I went to go to the 9th grade classroom only to find that there were no girls there. Only the 9th grade boys, most of them I am familiar with. It was a little discouraging, but we still had a good time....I told them to paint whatever they liked and they did just that. I was amazed at some of the artwork....I can barely draw a straight line and there are little Picasso's at the Parijat Academy. It was fun and at the end of the art session/workshop, we hung the paintings in the classroom. It was a good way to bring color to the class to make the children feel more welcomed, especially because it is the students own artwork. There wasnt that much communication, but the few words that were spoken were well enough for me. I remember back to my first day here when I got head nods and shy smiles....anything is progress as far as I am concerned :)
I had some interesting bouts with bugs today. I can do the spoiders, crickets, and grasshoppers. But I dont care how much city life I have endured, I am still terrified cockroaches!!!!! And I am also afraid of bees. This morning I was getting my clothes off of the line because I had washed them the morning before....when I went to shake the clothes out to make sure there werent any bugs on them....I disturbed this HUGE beehive. Needless to say I took off running, I havent ran that fast since I ran on the track team in high school. The bees were coming after me, and I took off running, it was the worse. Then, this afternoon I was having a conversation with Uttam and Promona...and cockroach the size of a gecko with antennas longer than the hair on my head was crawling up my skirt. I screamed, and what made it worse was that it flew away and began flying around my head. I almost died...really lol. But I am fine now, Uttam gently picked it up by its leg and took it outside. They are still laughing at me :).
Tomorrow we are supposed to be going to Shillong. I am really excited!!! Shillong gets more rainfall per year than any other place in the world. I will make sure to wear my rainboots. Today I let the hostel girls braid my hair, they are really good at it and I am very much interested in hairstyling. I explained to them that I worked in a beauty salon back home and they all wanted me to braid their hair...they even want to use my straightener because they had never seen one before.
I am learning a lot of Assamese history and Hindi tradition and history as well. Promona and I went to visit the Kamakhya temple again today...this time I actually saw the temple. People here are very religious and I learned a lot about Hindi goddesses and temples. IT is really cool to learn about these things!!
I am really enjoying my time here, this is my family away from home. I really miss home...time is flying by...