sunday 6.27

(delayed a bit)
Yesterday, we drove an hour into downtown Bangalore to visit three of Home of Hope's inner-city homes and schools. When not distracted by the beautifully entropic mess that is the Indian road network, I couldn't help but notice how Americanized the city is. Amidst markets and bazaars stand Pizza Huts and Sony stores; the city's skyline is dominated by skyscrapers that house calling centers for some of America's leading corporations. Our driver told us that American outsourcing has contributed to the exponential growth of the city in the last few decades, manifested by the ubiquitous presence of brands and labels I've grown up with.
We spent the afternoon driving through the streets of Bangalore from home to home. It was my first chance to interact with the girls, preparing me for the next week and a half. The majority of them speak, at minimum, broken English, translated by the nuns who operate the schools, most of whom are semi-fluent. However, the games we played with them transcended whatever hindrance the language barrier posed.
Around 3, though, my jetlag returned, and I was exhausted. I managed to pull through (thanks to the glasses of lime juice provided by the nuns), but when we left the city at around 8, I crashed. Somehow, I managed to sleep through the symphony of car horns to which the chaos of the streets is orchestrated. Last night was my first night of legitimate, eight-hour, uninterrupted, unfacilitated-by-Tylenol PM sleep thus far. Needless to say, it was great; I'm only hoping I have the same success tonight - we're almost out of Tylenol.