Today a few people from Hydrabad picked us up from the hotel and we all drove up to Life University. The first thing we walked in on, were the workers digging away for the 3 ponds that will be put in at the entrance of the site. They were digging holes in the wrong spot, as well as the wrong shape and structure.
Emergency planning session for Rico and Ameli to figure out exactly how they can fix the pond situation and and make sure the situation will be sustainable and functional.
I meandered my way up to the main huts, to see how the tree planting was going. There were about 50 or so volunteers, and 1,000 trees to be planted. Holes had been dug by the villagers on the perimeter of the land. The holes were fairly close to each other and some of the holes were right next to already situated bigger trees. Suddenly all of the trees were being planted and there wasn't much consideration for the correct spacing. But the excitement was too high for planting trees. The trees would just have to work it out on their own.
We rode a big tractor up to the other side of the property. People kept piling on, I was sitting on the wheel cover, Ameli and Rico on the other wheel, somebody was sharing a seat with the driver, and in the back trailor, people had piled ontop of the tree saplings and there were also people balancing on the beam that connected the tractor to the trailor. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, and I almost lost my blouse to the tire! I felt a pull, and luckily I got it in time so that the only damage was the corner of my shirt was caked in muddy wonderfullness.
We got to the boundary and planted more trees. There were all sorts of trees, everything from neem to lemon, mango and people trees!
We all took a lunch break.
I came back to the main hut and had myself a seat on a mat they had spread out for everyone. The women were handing out leaf plates and paper cups to everyone. Then they served us fried rice, pickled vegetables (looks like a small gop of stemmy seaweed), spicy potatoe stew thing, yogurt/coconut spicy thing, and then 'cold rice' to help ease the spicyness of it all. They were so cute and worried about me, they gave me a green banana. And told me to take a bite of the banana between every bite. The women continued to walk around and make sure everyone's plates were full. They didn't sit down to eat until everyone was finished eating.
Today was the first day that I ate with my right hand. There were no utensils. The most awkward part was trying to peel and eat my unripe banana with messy spicy rice hands.
Anyway.
I am still alive.
Indian culture is fun.
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