This morning we had a breakfast of every imaginable food that could have been offered us (full Indian breakfast of Curd rice, white rice , curried rice, dall, chutney, boiled eggs, onion omlets, white bread and jam, rotis, corn flakes, chicken burgers, fried chicken, curried chicken, papaya, oranges, bananas, dates, figs, an assortment of nuts, several different kinds of sweets, pepsi....the list goes on, I just can't remember it all. We finally left at 9am for Nellore by road in two vehicles (land rover types with luggage strapped to the top and inside the back). The journey took almost 8 hours over roads that were often very good,, occasionally under construction and generally full of farm traffic as the sugar cane crop is still being harvested. No rest stops along the way as there are no public rest areas anywhere along the way. At one point two of the team felt the need so we pulled into a shady wooded area for them to tend to those needs and they had not been in the bushes for more than a few seconds when we started hearing, "Shoo, Get Away, Skat!" Monkeys everywhere!!! That was a very short rest break and we held it the remainder of the way here.

Tomorrow is another Vocational Day with Chris being taken to various Real Estate Ventures, Rebecca going to a C.N. News center, Megan off to the Cinema to see a couple of Ballywood films, Regina going to the Engineering college and Me going to the Medical school where, after touring the facility, I will have about a half hour to speak to the senior students and faculty about Multiple Sclerosis and active listening skills when working with patients. I have some materials I brought with me that will help in that presentation.

Tomorrow evening we will make our presentation to the two clubs here in Nellore after touring the Rotary Hospital and then the next day is a scheduled rest day and the Team has requested a trip to the ocean since we are only about 30Km from there and all are realizing how much they have missed the ocean being in such arid inland conditions for the past three weeks. It seems not quite as hot here but the mosquitoes are huge! And hungry! We are a whole different flavor of blood, I am convinced and they like what they are tasting. Bens's (100% DEET,,,,) they just use as seasoning.

The folks in this town are like old friends as they have been emailing me since December and my host led the GSE team to Missouri from here last April so it is still fresh and he understands so well what the team is experiencing and feeling at this point in our travels. He is also the cultural orientation person for the Team coming from this District to us in April of this year so we spent a great deal of time this evening talking about the traditions and cultures and ethnicities of the southern MA and RI communities they will be visiting.

The house pictured in the second or third post is where I am sitting typing this note to you, I am in a good sized bed chamber off a terraced roof and I do have an A/C in my room. They gave me this room three flights up for that reason rather than putting me on the ground floor in a spare room that did not have it. This house has doors and windows open day and night so the mosquitoes are free to come as they please. However in this room, they have closed windows and doors and I took the liberty of closing the bathroom windows to help keep the population down.

This trip is only a week more in the making before we head back to the States. More when I can write.
Cherie