Amused

I have been failing miserably at this whole blogging thing. I think about all these things I want to fill you in on, but actually getting around to it is the hard part. Now that the traveling has slowed down a little and I'm back in a routine, I'm going to do my best to catch you up on what's been going on here.

Several weeks ago, one of my students turned five, and apparently a whole hand is a pretty big deal.



To celebrate, 19 Americans headed to an amusement park in the city. I was a little skeptical about what we might find, but was pleasantly surprised. We had such a great time enjoying the park and its South Asian twists :)

First of all, the whole day cost about $10, lunch included. Disney should learn from this place. I almost qualified for a child ticket, which would have made it even cheaper, but I was a couple of inches over the line. We were greeted by a little person in a clown outfit as we walked in. A little creepy, but the kids didn't mind him. A few even danced with him, which was pretty entertaining. Our first ride was a termite roller coaster. When I say roller coaster, I mean slightly fast train ride with a bump or two that is so short we have to go around multiple times. But I still enjoyed myself.



The next ride was a dungeon/haunted house. I'm not going to lie. I was a little terrified. Who wants to see skeletons or saris or cobras with red eyes coming at you? And those are some of the things I saw. I think my eyes were closed for the majority of the ride. Thank you Wonder-la for the nightmares.

The rest of the rides were much more pleasant. Bumper cars and lots of spinning rides kept us busy until lunch.



After lunch, we headed to the water rides. This was the first time my legs had seen the sun since I've been in the country. They enjoyed the freedom, but I'm not sure other people enjoyed being blinded by them. It was interesting to see how people chose to dress for the water rides. Some women, like us, went with shorts and tshirts over their suits, while others wore their normal clothes with long, heavy pants, long shirts, and dupattas. Only here...

We went down several slides, and seemed to have issues on every one. We weren't sitting right, or we had too many people, or we needed to scoot back. Overcoming the communication barrier to understand these things became so entertaining, we couldn't stop laughing. I have no idea what the employees thought about this crazy group of Americans.

At 4:00, we headed to the rain disco. And yes... it's exactly like it sounds. Rain falls from the ceiling while lasers and lights are flashing and techno music plays while we dance. Pretty incredible. The South Asian twist is that there are two sides when you go in. One is for women, children, and families, and the other is for men. I was pretty thankful for the cultural differences for those twenty minutes.



The day ended with a couple more dry rides and a cup of chai. We decided to stop at one of the city's three restaurants with beef on the way home to wrap up the time of fellowship and laughter. It was a great day to be with the friends that have become my family while I am away from home and enjoy the culture that Dad has us in. I left Wonder-la loving South Asia a little more than before.