Traveling?!

I have to do this a little bit quickly, so here's a story for you.

Yesterday was our first day biking to work. It was hot and dusty and smelly, but mostly it was really fun. It's totally different seeing the world from an air-conditioned car than it is to be right in it. Lots of people said "hello" to us, which is a kind of new thing. On our ride back, a whole cricket field full of little kids came running toward us waving and yelling, "HI! HELLO! HOW ARE YOU??" This morning a high school or so aged girl biked with us for a ways and asked us our names, where we were going, etc. I almost hit baby goats twice and almost hit motorcycles about four times, but it was easy enough not to have any collisions. Riding on the left is not too weird, except when other people are riding on the right and I feel like I'm on the wrong side. It's very confusing.

Yesterday Helen and I were talking about how we want to travel and see places like Kolkata, and all of a sudden the family broke into excited Hindi and all of a sudden they were telling us to check if we could go this weekend. We were a little confused, and they said that they have family in Kolkata, so they wanted to take us on a spontaneous family trip! Within an hour, Satish had visited the house with his baby grandson to meet the family and give us permission to miss work Saturday and Monday, tickets had been reserved, family had been contacted, and everything was in motion! Who says things don't happen fast here? (Oh wait, I think that was me...)

So right now, Helen and I are finishing packing for our trip. We leave in an hour and a half, and we'll travel by sleeper bus (That's a thing?) overnight tonight, arriving around 6 in the morning on Saturday. We'll be in Kolkata all day Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then we'll travel back Monday night, arriving in time for unpacking and then work Tuesday morning. I'm taking my netbook and my camera (aka iPhone) and my internet dongle, so I *might* post pictures/stories while we're gone.

There is also talk now about a potential family trip to Delhi to visit Auntie and Uncle's eldest daughter who is studying there.

Have I mentioned lately how lucky we are to be living with this family?

OH! And I forgot to mention, I made challah for the family last night. It wasn't my best challah--it was whole wheat flour, which made it drier and heavier than I like--but it was passable, and everyone enjoyed it. Maybe I'll post a picture later.

For now, time to cook dinner, double check that I have everything I need, and go travel!