I can't believe this is finally happening...

This is the phrase that has been going through my head since I landed in Chennai late Sunday night. My adventure has finally begun! After 24 hours of flight time and two days worth of traveling I am settled into the volunteer hostel at RSO's compound outside of Chennai (granted I am jet-lagged to the MAX and I can barely keep my eyes open as I type this and I haven't stopped sweating since last night). But even with those things I am excited and anxious to start working here at Rising Star. So as Nacho Libre would say, "Let's get down to the nitty gritty."
So the flights didn't bring any crazy stories or events. I flew from Salt Lake to Chicago to Frankfurt to Chennai. All the flights went great (well as great as a 10 hour flight can go) and I even managed to sit next to a kindly German man on my flight from Frankfurt to Chennai who helped me get through customs and made sure I safely got a cab to my hotel in Chennai (the Lord definitely had a hand in this guys seating placement). I got into the hotel at around 1:30am and almost immediately fell asleep. This morning I woke up, savored my last real shower, and met the my fellow RSO volunteers for this session. Normally, RSO sessions have about 15 volunteers but this session is unusually small with only 9 of us. Everyone else who is volunteering is really amazing and I am excited to get to know everyone as the weeks progress. We were picked up at the Marriott in Chennai and drove the two hours out to RSO's property in RSO's AWESOME big school bus. India is an amazing, chaotic place. It is packed to the bursting with people and there never seems to be a dull moment. I think India needs to steal the tagline, "The country that never sleeps." On the way to RSO's property I was able to see what life is like in India. I honestly felt like I had been dropped into a movie. There are no real traffic laws but everyone gets around by politely honking at one another when they want them to move. There are tons of motorcyclists and people and animals alike will just walking across the street even if there's a line of cars coming. It's crazy and my driving abilities would fit in well here. One of the best parts of the day was driving through the village closest to RSO. The people love it when the volunteers come and are so excited to see us. As we drove through the village they all started waving to us from their houses and smiling at us. It was really great and got me even more excited to really get to know the people in India. Once we got on the property we met all the amazing people that make RSO run and work--they are seriously so wonderful I can hardly put it into words. We had our orientation, took a tour of the property, and ate a wonderful Indian meal on our banana leaf plates on the roof of the children's hostel. It was a wonderful day and night.
The "Rising Stars" at the RSO school will be returning next week from a five week break so there is much to get done before their arrival. RSO is always expanding and adding to better help the children here in India. This whole week we will be preparing the new wing of the school and "refreshing" the dorms so the kids can come back to a pristine and sparkling Rising Star. Before we start those projects, though, we will be taking for first trip to the colonies tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to meet all the people in the colonies and help them in whatever way I can :).
More tomorrow night!
Namaste