Gettin' here continued

Not sure why Blogger wouldn't let me edit the above post, I had saved the what I had written last night, and wanted to finish up today, but I guess I will just have to write a new post.
So, after we got to the hotel, I tried to take a nap for a few hours before I needed to meet up with the other volunteers, and I got my final real shower (by real I mean not with a bucket), and went downstairs to meet the crew. We all piled onto the un-air conditioned school bus and headed out for Rising Star. I have never taken such an amazing car trip in all of my life, I didn't want to talk to anyone for fear that I would miss out on the action of the city. There are shops crammed next to huts, next to office buildings, people are EVERYWHERE, and tucked into all of this are alcoves where they have set up Hindu prayer conclaves. These are of course my favorite structures, because of their use of color and sculpture. I was mesmerized, there is no comparison to this culture in the US, and while I am typing this I realize how little justice I am doing describing it.
We arrived on campus and were given some time to settle in. The facility is so much nicer than I imagined, and we have AC in our rooms, which may seem like a luxury item, but when I tell you that I have peed exactly one time in the now 36 hours that I have been here, even though I have consumed enough water and Gatorade for a horse, you will understand why. We met the kids, who are adorable, and refer to us all as "Auntie". I spent a good 15 minutes watching three little boys show me cartwheel after cartwheel, before each turn yelling "Auntie, watch this!" Jenny, out volunteer director, bought all of the female volunteers Jasmine to put in our hair, as is the custom, I did my best to find the longest strand to bobby pin, but even with my efforts the kids made fun of me. "Auntie, why do you have jasmine in your hair if you don't have any hair?". We eat dinner on the roof of the girls hostel every night, and the food is delicious, and so far, all vegetarian, compared to camp where the food was usually deep fried and full of meat. All of the volunteers are assigned to a "house" where each night we visit and help the kids with their homework and read stories. I of course ended up with a little girl who needed help with math homework, which just proved that my quarter ass public education does me no good. It took me a good ten minutes to remember how to do multiplication of more than three numbers. The worst part being that the little girl was frustrated, and I felt as though my efforts were for not, because in the end the only thing I succeeded in doing was making a little girl hate me, because I made her do math homework.
Today I got to go to the colony for leprosy patients, it was a humbling experience. We visited a facility that is actually translated to "Old Folks Home", and I helped wash the patients feet and hands that had sores and calluses. This was one of the most intimate experiences I have ever had, and is proof that even though you do not share a language with someone, you still share connection in your basic humanity. This particular colony was a really nice one, and many of the people that live there have houses instead of huts, and there was less garbage in the streets there than anywhere I have seen so far.
One last thing I forgot to mention, our toilets here are "squatters" which means that you squat over a hole in the ground that flushes. Just a thought for you to ponder as you sit upon your royal American thrones.