Hi! I've arrived in Pondicherry. WOW. It's good to be back. We arrived around 2:30pm today--sunday. It's hot and the 3.5 hour bus ride seemed long but everyone is still in good spirits. We start building tomorrow. One team member is on the missing list. Missed his connection in chicago due to weather and Obama. He will arrive in Chennai tonight and take the bus down to Pondicherry tomorrow. At least he is courageous enough to take a local bus.
The actual building starts tomorrow and it is going to be a hard day for most of the team. Jet lag is still a factor for most and the heat will rule their enthusiasm. I keep saying, it isn't a race to finish its just to get done what we can. Some is better than none.
At 5pm I'm heading out for a walk and anyone who wants to join can tag along. I suspect the majority will want to venture out for a bit. Then back to the hotel for our orientation to India, to get some information on the actual build and then supper. I am hoping to then head back up to the roof top to enjoy the breeze coming in off the Bay of Bengal and the lights of Pondicherry.
Hotel is amazing. It is a 4 star hotel. Apparently they give Habitat a really good rate--they must. Jason is going to be our on the ground co-ordintator for GV. It is his first international group--we will break him in. There is a roof top pool and while it is only open until 7pm I suspect we will really get some use out of it. Restaurant was fabulous for lunch and I look forward to supper here tonight. They do a buffet and you can tell they cater to tourists as all the dishes are marked with the name of the dish and then 'spicy', 'mild', 'sweet', etc. very helpful for one of our folks who found all the mild dishes spicy!
wifi in the hotel room and my roomie RSC brought a notebook computer so access is good. Should be plenty of updates as we go.
Hope it is Spring in Canada.
The actual building starts tomorrow and it is going to be a hard day for most of the team. Jet lag is still a factor for most and the heat will rule their enthusiasm. I keep saying, it isn't a race to finish its just to get done what we can. Some is better than none.
At 5pm I'm heading out for a walk and anyone who wants to join can tag along. I suspect the majority will want to venture out for a bit. Then back to the hotel for our orientation to India, to get some information on the actual build and then supper. I am hoping to then head back up to the roof top to enjoy the breeze coming in off the Bay of Bengal and the lights of Pondicherry.
Hotel is amazing. It is a 4 star hotel. Apparently they give Habitat a really good rate--they must. Jason is going to be our on the ground co-ordintator for GV. It is his first international group--we will break him in. There is a roof top pool and while it is only open until 7pm I suspect we will really get some use out of it. Restaurant was fabulous for lunch and I look forward to supper here tonight. They do a buffet and you can tell they cater to tourists as all the dishes are marked with the name of the dish and then 'spicy', 'mild', 'sweet', etc. very helpful for one of our folks who found all the mild dishes spicy!
wifi in the hotel room and my roomie RSC brought a notebook computer so access is good. Should be plenty of updates as we go.
Hope it is Spring in Canada.
3 comments:
Sounds like everything is going according to plan, which is great to hear. Hope your straggler soon catches up to enjoy the fun.
It's a chilly, windy spring day here :o)
Stay cool Rx
Jennifer, it's me, Rachel - I'm not sure what's going on and why "John" is showing. Stupid google account :o(
Ok, I think I've got this whole Blog comment thing sorted now.......I should hopefully be appearing as Rachel from now on - finger's crossed.
Have you started work yet? It's 10.45pm here, so it must be mid-late Monday morning where you are.
Can't wait to hear how it's all going.
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