Today is day 5

Today was a good day to catch up on some missing hours of sleep. Having so difficult nights, some exhausting days, and my mind racing, almost from the second we stepped off the plane meant that the chance for a lie in was one I jumped at. Knowing that we are here for a month meant that I did not feel guilty for missing the morning.

We hopped on the bus to Ahmedabad at 2pm, after yet another lovely lunch on campus (the food is always new, different and there is always something I like).  Going in later meant that it was not quite so hot, we could still feel the sweat gathering on our brow, but it was not as unbearable as the height of the day.

The plan was to do a loop of the old city, but we met the boys at NID, and we decided to book our tickets to an upcoming trip to Diu, a beach town about 10 hours away.  Hannah and I will be joining the boys out there and we do not want to miss Dussehra or the last nights of Navratri so will be leaving one week on Sunday, and come back on Tuesday night, arriving Wednesday morning. We are hoping this short break will give us a chance to relax away from the chaos of the city.

The upcoming festivals are something I am looking forward to immensely. They take my mind off home, and the people I am missing. The evenings here are pretty quiet, leaving the mind to wander far too much.

For those back home, Navratri is a 9 night long festival. The celebration starts with the sowing of seeds, which at our campus happened today (there is an organised plot of seedlings near the volleyball court). The celebrations are for the Goddess Durga, Vijayashtami and Mahanavami. The day after Navratri, the 10^th day, is Dussehra - the celebration of Rama defeating Ravana. On this day there is an effigy made, stuffed with fireworks and set alight, the effigy burns until the fireworks explode. I am so excited!

Each night in this 10 day celebration there is tradition dancing well into the night, the girls dressed in traditional Guajarati clothing, Hannah and I will be going to Law Garden tomorrow to see about getting some of the traditional clothes, the girls have recommended we get some bits – which is so cool!

I shall post some more photos tomorrow :)

C xxx