It's been a while...oops

Buenas tardes,

Sorry I have been so bad about posting lately. The past few weeks have brought a few surprises and made it a little difficult to find spare time...

This past week, I found myself on an impromptu trip across the ocean back to Dallas. Really last minute, so I apologize to everyone who I didn't see. Turns out that switching your internal clock a few hours over a few days isn't such a good strategy for training, so things have been a little rough over the past couple days.

Last week, I passed the 13-mile marker. Woot! Far easier said than done, I might add. It went pretty well until about mile 10, when I felt like I was going to fall over and die. Turns out that I'm pretty bad at following directions. That whole thing about eating mid-run doesn't really work for me. The problem is in that 13 mile run, my watch told me I burned about 2000 calories. Oops. So running 13 miles on a couple of scoops of shredded wheat doesn't really work. Who knew? So, I went to Luke's Locker in Dallas last weekend and filled up on all sorts of gels, jelly beans, and gummy concoctions. Hopefully, that will help when I feel like my body will implode. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I'm a little confused on how I'm supposed to eat when that is the last thing I want to do...

I am trying to get a count from Colby about the current fundraising amount. So, I will try and let everyone know where we stand soon. Thanks again for all the emails and support. It really does help around mile 9 :)

On another note, I have been thinking a lot lately about the last day at Gandhi Ashram. The day before we left, we had a big performance. All of the kids from the different classes presented on something they had been doing during the month. This ranged from a song about erosion to an acapella rendition of Don't Stop Believin, and of course many of the kids played the violin. The kids were obviously so proud to show off their newly acquired skills. For our art classes, Cali and I created a gallery space where we hung up selected pieces the kids had created during the month - from drawings practicing one-point linear perspective to self-portraits. More than anything, it was the pride the kids had in their own work that was so valuable to see.

The last day was horrible. Imagine about ten nine-years olds crying and hanging out your every limb. It was painful and made it very difficult to leave. That morning, all of the kids were bringing us flowers and presents from their houses. Sometimes, they would give us some of the most valuable things in from their house. I even had one of my students give me a photograph of her family, the only picture they had in the house.

I want to share as much as I can about this place to impress on you its importance not only to the community of Kalimpong but also to Colby students as well. I remember going back to Sikkim that day and feeling that somehow we had come back to reality. Thank you again for all of your support.