Miscellaneous Thoughts

A few random things about India I'll miss...


--the smell of moth balls - everyone bathroom has them

--sauntering cattle

--multiple light switches in each room (I counted 37 in the current suite!), most of which have no geographic relationship to the device they control and some which remain a mystery

--Nescafe instant coffee (always with hot milk and sugar)





Ants in My Pants

A funny incident I forgot to tell you about earlier....

We were at the Siloam Girls Boarding School for their evening event. (Ever spent an evening with 700 hyped-up schoolgirls?!). For the second time on the trip, we opened the folder to discover that we were on the program...i.e. "Mr. Gordon Olson and LPGM Group." Why Gordon hadn't figured out that this would happen - as it has in the past - I don't know. And even though he's a musician himself, he came running to me asking what we should do. What, am I wearing a sign that says "Talent Coordinator?!" With Cath's help, I decided we would do "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes." She offered to lead "Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes" as a warm-up song. (Big mistake. Ever try doing that with 700 hyped-up schoolgirls?! They did not need a warm-up song.) I ordered Gordy to go somewhere and dress up like Granny, and told him to enter the scene when we sang "We will all go out to meet her when she comes...Hi, Babe!" He grudgingly agreed. Meanwhile.....
Before the program started, we had noticed a massive colony of red ants doing their thing just in front of us, between us and the dance floor. I watched and avoided them the entire evening--- but managed somehow in the flurry of getting ready for our songs to stand right in them!!! I have never before felt such intense itching! I took the opportunity to scratch during the "knees and toes" phrases. Otherwise, I had to pretend nothing was wrong. As soon as the program was over, I ran for a cold shower and some "Stop Itch." Almost a month later, the bite marks still show.

Oh, and the song? Well, the children looked bewildered throughout. And it turns out, when "Granny Gordy" enetered, they thought he was a monkey. Oh, well. It still got a laugh. When in doubt, do drag!