February has come and gone...

This month has been super-crazy for me, which is why I haven't written anything until now. Basically, I haven't spent more than 2 consecutive nights in any one place since the end of January, so you can kind of get the idea of the amount of traveling I have been doing. Here's just a brief review of my life since my last post:

Bangladesh:
Christina, the other SALTer in India, and I had to leave India for our visas to be valid for the rest of our term. So we flew into Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on January 30th. We met Dave, the Bangladesh SALTer at the airport and he showed us around for most of the week. It was great to see Dave again and we really had a good time hanging out together. It was interesting how similar India and Bangladesh are, but even more interesting to realize how different they are as well. For one, they speak Bangla, which is similar to Hindi, but I couldn't really understand much of it.
One of the highlights of the trip was when we visited a small village called Pirgacha. We had to take a vangari to get there (a bicycle with a flat bed for us to sit on the back). It was so peaceful getting away from all of the hustle and bustle that is in the cities. The society in that area is matriarchal, and even the atmosphere surrounding the landscape seemed to reflect that. It was so peaceful. Christina and I weren't sure if we wanted to go back to India. When we arrived back in Kolkata on Feb 6th, we got some coffee, got a taxi, and both sighed. And then burst out laughing. It felt so good to be back in India where everything's normal! Yeah, I said normal. Everyone spoke Hindi, it smelled like India - we didn't feel out of place anymore. Such a crazy feeling!

Mom and Dad!:
A few days after returning to Ranchi, I flew to Delhi to meet my parents on Feb 10th. We had such a wonderful time together. It was great to see them again, although it was a bit surreal. In my picture of India, my parents weren't there...but then they were. It was as if worlds collided. But in a good way. We visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, rode elephants in Jaipur and toured around Delhi. After 6 days in the same car, I even made friends with our driver. He seemed to enjoy the fact that I knew Hindi. (That was actually a source of entertainment on a number of occasions.) My favorite part of their visit was when we came to Ranchi and they got to meet all of my friends and coworkers. The whole time we were tourists, I didn't particularly enjoy it. It wasn't MY India. Ranchi is MY India. It was so much fun to share with them the people I know and the things I've been doing for the past 6 months. We kept joking that I may stay in India for years and years...I think Mom and Dad may actually be afraid of that now! Don't worry. I'm still not even sure what's going to happen after returning in July!

Andaman Islands:
On Feb 21, just hours after Mom and Dad began their trip home, I flew to the Andaman Islands to visit Dan, a service worker with MCC in India. Liz and I joined him there and got to visit some of his coworkers and took a ferry out to Haveloc Island, where we stayed for 2 nights. On the 23rd, we went scuba diving! :) Such a fun experience! Well, fun at least after I finally got past the shock of breathing under water. I have been taught my whole life not to breathe under water, and I nearly freaked out when I first tried to get used to the regulator (breathing-thingy). But once I was used to it, I had no problems, and it was actually quite fun. The next day, we went to a beach that is called one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Asia. The water was absolutely beautiful. So clear! I don't think pictures can even capture how beautiful is was. It was also fun traveling around with Dan and Liz again, like we had done in Rajasthan after Christmas. [Side note...Dan and I found out we're related! Yay for Mennonite geneology! Lol]

Nepal:
After returning to Kolkata on the 25th, we caught a plane to Kathmandu, Nepal on the 26th for our MCC Cluster retreat. Dan, Christina, Liz, and I flew together and met the rest of the MCC ex-pats working in India, Nepal, and Afghanistan. We are currently in Pokhara hanging out and getting to know each other better. I have met Amos and Heidi, the Nepal CRs, Micah and Charlotte, Nepal service workers, Ben, the Nepal SALTer, and Hannah, a service worker in Afghanistan, and Glen, another service worker in Afghanistan. Earl, Sarah, and Sri are also here from India. This is such a fun group of people to have on a retreat. We all get along really well and have a great time together. This morning we rowed across the lake, then hiked up a very large hill to a Peace Pagoda. It was still a bit hazy, but I got my first real look at the Himalayas. Such a beautiful sight!

There are already so many more stories than I can share, and traveling so much just piles them up. Check out the pictures. I just wanted to let you all know what I've been up to, and yes, it is as unbelievable and amazing as it sounds. :)