| India Survival Tips Vol. 1 |

1. Planes suck. Get used to it. By the time you get to india you won’t be complaining about a five hour flight to Florida anymore.

2. The rules of driving in India are loose, but still structured.

Rule 1: Honk before going through blind corners on thin mountain roads.

Rule 2: Honk to let another car know you are going to pass them.

Rule 3: Honk to let pedestrians know you are coming.

Rule 4: Honk if there happens to be a pack of sheep, cows, or goats crossing the road ahead of you.

Rule 5: Honk when you are angry with the car in front of you. Just to let them know you care.

Rule 6: Honk when you drive by the YMAD Jibhi camp between the hours of 11:00pm and 8:00am.

Rule 7: Honk your horn. Just for fun.

3. Before departing, study the procedures for the operation and repairing of water heaters manufactured in the early 90′s.

In case this doesn’t click with you, I took a hot shower for the first time today…

4. Learn to love soda.

When you are in a country where there are piles of garbage next to every major water source, you become skeptical of the H2O to say the least. Sealed soda bottles are the answer to the water deprivation issues you may encounter while in India. (but you should still drink water after it has undergone a complex and powerful purification)

5. Don’t be afraid to say NO.

I say this because Indian children like cameras.

Indian children become violent when balloons are involved.

Indian children also become apprehensive at the sight of a soccer ball.

And Indian children know they can take advantage of the Americans and their cool candy, markers, paper, and marshmallows.

6.  The schedule is a suggestion. So follow it.

Even though nothing is entirely consistent, you should be ready to make it consistent. Inconsistency is consistent. For example, we have arrived at our school to teach at a different time every day this week. We have also had dinner at a different time each night. The girls also took five hours to shop for clothes. This put us three hours behind schedule on Tuesday.

7. Ziplock bags are your friends.

Thank you Mom for sending me with two whole boxes of bags. I use them for garbage, packing my lunch, water-proofing my camera, holding my lesson supplies, and they work as gloves for removing unidentifiable substances from the floor in my bathroom.

8. Pack one more jacket than you think you will need wherever you go.

Yesterday it was a little colder, so I decided to be a man and endure it.

I should have brought a jacket to school with me.

Today, it was a lot colder; so I brought a jacket.

It was pouring rain. I was cold. I should have brought two jackets.

9. Mom. Buy some Philippine Brand Mangoes from Costco to give me when I get home.

Lisa is rewarding me for finally blogging by letting me eat some that she brought.

They are delicious.

10. Don’t worry about working out.

If you are a boy at the Kandi village you will have many small children hanging from your neck, arms, and shoulders. They are wrestlers and they love to be swung through the air. You have to prove your dominance over the other YMAD boys by successfully carrying more of the village children without falling to the ground from exhaustion. So expect the best and wear long sleeves when possible. (the boys can scratch)

I hope this was enough detail. Get excited for the recap video. I have 15 gigabytes of beautiful footage.  I am working on it on Chandler’s laptop, I will upload it soon.

-Blake Sykes