Indian Adventures! - July 4, 2012

July 4, 2012 – 12:35 p.m. Brussels time (6:35 a.m. MA/Toronto time) I’m back on a flight with 20+ youth, except this time to a different continent than before! I’m currently on a flight from Brussels to Delhi after already flying from Toronto to Brussels. So far we have been traveling for 16 hours and truth be told, I’ve gotten maybe 30 minutes of sleep. I’m not the type of person that can sleep on a plane and I never thought that would work against me until now. By the time we arrive in Udaipur (three filghts, two layovers – one of seven hours, later) it will be morning and we’ll be starting a full day of travel to the community, leadership modules, etc. Normally when I travel to Kenya, we arrive in Nairobi at night so I get to go right to sleep... but not this time! I’m hoping I can get some sleep on this flight because I can already start to feel my body rebel a bit against me. So far the group seems amazing! They are all really excited to be here, some have gone on Me to We experiences in the past, and for others this is their first dose. It’s exciting from a facilitator standpoint to hear stories of how kids hear about us and decide to spend three weeks of their summer volunteering. While we are in India we will be working on a Free The Children school, participating in community events (like morning yoga, samosa making, a water walk, visiting temples), and doing leadership modules to enhance the skills these young people already have. I am really excited for this trip, but nervous at the same time... both, because I have not yet been to India. Although I’m nervous because it is the fear of the unknown and not knowing what to expect, I’m excited because it’s another amazing opportunity I’ve been blessed with, I will see more of FTC’s projects but in another country, and I’ll get to see Britt finally! This trip will definitely pose some challenges that I can already see, but I think it will also bring out some stellar moments of leadership, self realization, and friendship amongst the participants. Only five and a half hours until we reach Delhi, then a seven hour layover, then a flight to Udaipur... here we go!