Longest Bus Ride Ever

Yesterday was a loooong day. It was Saturday, so we got to sleep in a little bit, and then we helped at the school for a couple hours. Heather and I were grading papers in the library and then they brought David and Stacey in to meet with the kids. Stacey read a story with the little girl she sponsors and then David read a book to all of the kindergartners. David was really cute with the kids--he had them counting and hopping around the room--they were sad to see him go.

We had some more time to chill in the afternoon, and then the real "fun" began. We got all dressed up in Saris (the cleaning lady from the village had to help me put mine on--they're a bit tricky) for the big fundraising event tonight--I even did my hair! Then we went to board the vans, only to find out that Heather and I would be making the 2-hour drive on a 16-passenger shuttle with 20 kids and 4 adults without A/C... good times! The drive started off fine. The bus had a TV so the kids wanted to watch a Bollywood movie. They loved the movie, it was blasting in our ears and the kids were dancing in the isles. Everything seemed to be going fine despite being smashed into the hot van, but then, then one of the little girls started crying. Heather picked her up and tried to console her, but it only got worse until she threw up... all over Heather... twice! Gross. I must say, Heather handled it a lot better than I would have, but still not a fun ride for either of us.

Once we arrived at the Marriott in Chennai we were relieved to find clean nice western style bathrooms. We got cleaned up and then went in and watched the dress rehearsal. It was a really great event with performances by Stacy (from "So You Think You Can Dance"), Sean (who performs on Broadway), and, of course, David. Becky (the president of Rising Star Outreach) gave a presentation on the school, showing were these kids have come from and what RSO is doing in the Leprosy Colonies. Then, there was the final number with all of the kids, Stacy, Sean, and David--it was so cute, and moving. You really got a sense for how much these kids have overcome to be where they are today.

After the performance they had a dinner buffet--best food I've had in weeks--ironically most of it was western style though... Then we drove home on what turned out to be the loooongest bus ride of all time. We weren't with the kids this time, but traffic was terrible, the roads were super bumpy, and our van died in the middle of the highway at one point. We finally arrived home at 1:30am and were thrilled to be back, but dreading heading back into Chennai in the morning for church :(... not a big fan of Chennai...