i hope everyone had a good weekend!!!!!!

saturday night allan and i met out some of the girls from children walking tall. we went to another little restaurant right by the beach. even though i only eat tomato soup and naan bread it is still fun to go to new restaurants and see new areas. on sunday we went to the park hyatt hotel where allan's coworker and his wife are staying. we ate lunch and and played games by the pool as it occasionally rained on us. it was really fun. very nice couple. we are going to have dinner with them tonight at another india restaurant close to our hotel.

my third day at the mango house was quite interesting. i arrived at the house around noon and the same routine was going on. children were taking their showers, kids watching cartoons and playing games. the cartoons here are great. they are so funny. i sat and watched cartoons with the children!!!!!

these kids are so funny. there is a cat in the house that i really do not like. the cat must know it because he is always coming by me. anyhow, one of the children must have noticed that i do not like the cat. while we were watching cartoons he came up behind me and threw the cat over my head, and the cat landed right in my lap. i jumped up and saw a little boy running away laughing as hard as he could. they can't get my name straight yet, they are all calling me yabby. it is so cute. one of the other volunteers names is sophie. they call her soapy.

after they had lunch it was time for homework. i helped a little boy with his reading. he is reading an english book right now and did so well. he was so appreciative that i helped him and you could tell he was so proud of himself that he was able to read as well as he did.

around 4pm after they had their snack of apples and milk it was time to take the children home. there is an indian house parent who lives at the mango house and he is in charge of dropping the children off. there are two trips. i went with on the second trip. as we dropped the children home (the slums) we passed out fruit to the families. it was so interesting to see how these families live. for me it was really sad to see but for the children they do not know any better so it does not bother them.

indian families feel that this was the life that they were given and if they do good things in this life, during their second life better things will happen for them. they do not have negative attitudes and you will never see them complain.

i was able to meet some of the children's parents. they were so friendly and also very curious to know about me. they wanted to know why i was in india, where i came from and who i was with. it was fun to see the children in their natural environment. when the kids get back to the slums some of the parents will put them to work. the children will take care of the little babies, others will go rag picking with their parents or go and wash cars. when they get home for the day there is no time for them to relax, it is right to work for these children.

allans work continues to be going well. he is working very hard and doing a very good job!!!!!

besides friends and family i really miss my turkey sandwiches. i have only had one since i got here and i probably will not have another one until i come home in november. if anyone knows how to ship turkey here i would be very happy.

love abby and allan.