Holiday!

Hello everyone!

We've safely arrived back home today after a brilliant holiday. Here's a brief overview of what we did....

On the 3rd January the Kolkata Action Team arrived in Delhi and we went out for a meal and ice cream with them. The next day we saw the sights of Delhi - Qutab Minar, Humayan Tomb, Zoo and went shopping and to a cowboy themed restaurant, where the waiters dress up as cowboys!

The 5th we went to the Taj Mahal! It was such a good day, despite the train being delayed by 3hours there and nearly 4 hours back!
The 6th we took the kolkata team to village and city school so that they could see the projects we're working with. In the evening we went over to the David's to celebrate Christy's birthday.
On the 7th we got up at 2am to catch the train to Jaipur but the train just kept getting more and more delayed so instead we went by coach. This journey was meant to take 5 hours, but took 8 instead and eventually we arrived in Jaipur and found our hotel. In the evening I had my first warm shower in 3 months and we just relaxed.
For our only full day in Jaipur we rode elephants up a hill to a palace, and fed monkeys at the Monkey Temple. It was a good day!
The 9th - 11th were the most boring days. We arrived at Jaipur train station at 2pm to catch our train to Kolkata (we'd then planned to go on to Darjeeling from there) but our train was delayed by 17 hours! We didn't really have much choice but to stick it our at the station. We used the time well though - we prayed for the other action teams, read the bible, played games and took it it shifts to sleep. The train finally arrived, and we had a 33 hour train journey, but by God's grace this time didn't drag either. Eventually we arrived in Kolkata at 5pm on the 11th. We decided not to go to darjeeling because we didn't want another 24 hours travelling there and back so decided to stay in Kolkata for a week.
During our time in Kolkata we had a good balance between resting and doing touristy things. In Kolkata we watched '3 Idiots' at the cinema (the biggest film in India right now - its a good film!), went shopping, relaxed at a beauty salon, went our for yummy meals, mass at the Motherhouse (where Mother Teresa lived and worked), went to a theme park (where we got away with all sorts of things that we wouldn't have been able to in England!), went on a boat under Howrah Bridge, had a party on the roof and went to church.
On Sunday our train back to Delhi was meant to arrive at 7.40pm, but guess what.... it was delayed! It arrived at 1.30am, and 33 and half hours later we were finall back home.

I had a brilliant holiday - we saw amazing places, had brillant fun with the Kolkata team and even the boring bits were blessed. I'm now feeling refreshed and can't wait to go back to school soon. I miss my class and all the women at village school!

And there's a 'brief' overview of my holiday - hope you enjoyed reading it!

Love,
Hannah x