Journal 8-28-10
Time- 4:34pm,
Before I talk about today (Saturday aug 28th), I will add what we did yesterday. Friday was a fairly laid back day. We started the day with coffee in the hotel room then left around 9:00 to go to the flea market that is held every day in a square one or two miles away. At the rummage sale we saw all sorts of crazy stuff, but didn’t find a raincoat for Katie. Which was the only thing we were looking for. For breakfast we found a bakery close to the square. I don’t know what I got, but it was cheap, tasty and filled with chocolate. 2 minutes later I went back and got another one. We made it back to our hotel room around 11:00am and didn’t do much for the rest of the day. It was a fairly anticlimactic last day in Brussels.
Today I woke up around 5:45 listening to crinkling plastic bags. Leah had gotten up really early for our flight that left at 10:45. 
We took the metro to the train station and a train to the Brussels International Airport. After a minor mix-up with our ticket confirmation numbers we got tickets and made it through customs (they had outgoing customs at the Brussels airport) and security. Then we went to our gate where we found JOHN! Finally another boy on the trip! Soon after, we were all in the air and finally on our way to India. 
We took the metro to the train station and a train to the Brussels International Airport. After a minor mix-up with our ticket confirmation numbers we got tickets and made it through customs (they had outgoing customs at the Brussels airport) and security. Then we went to our gate where we found JOHN! Finally another boy on the trip! Soon after, we were all in the air and finally on our way to India. I had my first Indian meal on the airplane. It was rice with curry chicken. Overall it was ok. Hopefully it will get much better!
At the moment I am watching The Godfather I and II on the way from Brussels to Chennai. We are flying Jet Airways, which I must say, is the nicest airline I have ever used. Just after we sat down we were given hot towels. 
We finally made it to ICSA (Inter Church Service Association). It is 1:32am. I will now explain the events leading up to this point. Let me also preface this story by telling you that the ONLY information we had received about getting to ICSA was that we would be “picked up.”
John, Katie, Leah and I all got off the plane and through customs without much difficulty. We eventually got our baggage at the baggage claim. Finally we made it out the last of the airport doors to be confronted by a small sized crowd of Indian men and women all looking for people getting off of flights. The natural thing to do at this point seemed to be to keep walking. So we kept walking in between the side of the airport and a fence keeping an eye on every sign we saw, looking for ICSA, St. Olaf or anything that looked familiar. We eventually saw a man holding a piece of paper that read ICSA/MS in small print. This was close enough for me (we have no idea what MS means). So I pointed to the man, he meet us at the exit where we left the safety of the fenced off area and entered what I consider to be the beginning of real India. The man with the sign shook my hand, and before I could introduce myself or ask his name he turned and began to walk. We followed. After about two minutes of silent walking I asked his name, I believe he said it was Ashram. Ashram led us to a bus, which we boarded. The bus failed to start, we were all a bit unnerved but Ashram did not look surprised he yelled something to several men who tried but failed to roll the bus forward into the moving traffic of the street in front of us. The men left and john and I got out to help, one of the men came back and the three of us were able to get the bus rolling, once moving, it started right up and we ran to get in. Driving in India is exciting. 
I don’t think we stopped once, it seemed like all lights were yellow. We were moving relatively slowly, but we still managed to hit, and definitely kill, a dog. Trash and homeless people lined the streets, and all the storefronts were hidden behind rust colored metal security doors. The smell of wood fire was the most prominent scent. Except when we crossed bridges, then our small bus smelled overwhelmingly of human excrement. There was a sense that we had lost all control while we were in that bus. We had no idea where we were going, we had just killed a dog, and nothing was familiar. 
But Ashram came through for us in the end. We eventually rolled to a stop in front of a sign that read “ICSA Books”. We got out and went inside. I said “Hello” to a young man sitting on a bench in front of the front desk, He said HELLO, and otherwise ignored us for several minutes until our bus driver came up and said something to him in Hindi (?). Then he turned out to work at the desk and checked us in. This took a while, and we finally made it to our rooms. The boys are in 205 and the girls are in 204. We are still waiting for matt to get here. I hope he makes it. This would be an incredible place to travel in alone.
I don’t think we stopped once, it seemed like all lights were yellow. We were moving relatively slowly, but we still managed to hit, and definitely kill, a dog. Trash and homeless people lined the streets, and all the storefronts were hidden behind rust colored metal security doors. The smell of wood fire was the most prominent scent. Except when we crossed bridges, then our small bus smelled overwhelmingly of human excrement. There was a sense that we had lost all control while we were in that bus. We had no idea where we were going, we had just killed a dog, and nothing was familiar. But Ashram came through for us in the end. We eventually rolled to a stop in front of a sign that read “ICSA Books”. We got out and went inside. I said “Hello” to a young man sitting on a bench in front of the front desk, He said HELLO, and otherwise ignored us for several minutes until our bus driver came up and said something to him in Hindi (?). Then he turned out to work at the desk and checked us in. This took a while, and we finally made it to our rooms. The boys are in 205 and the girls are in 204. We are still waiting for matt to get here. I hope he makes it. This would be an incredible place to travel in alone. It is now 3:37 and I am going to bed. We have to get up for breakfast at 8:00.
Prabhu- man who served us breakfast on the first day.
Parandahman – the man who gave us the water jug. And checked us in on the first night.
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