Another festival... Why not?

This week has gone pretty smoothly at work. I've started doing a project with the kids that has helped keep them engaged in learning and having fun. They are each making their own ABC books. Every day I bring in two letter worksheets that have the letter (capital and lowercase), two lines for them to practice writing the letter, and then a picture that goes with the letter for them to color. The coloring helps keep them concentrated longer, so they're not running around the whole time.
The other night I was awakened to Tonni yelling "Heather there is something in here." It sounded like a small animal going through the trash or in some sort of bag. Tonni turned on the light to have a look around, while screaming and standing on her tip toes in bed. Her freaking out was one of the funniest things I've seen since I've been here. After looking in the trash and finding nothing, Anne set out on a mission to convince Tonni that it was just something outside. The windows here aren't sealed well, so sounds travels quite easily into our apartment. It was a possibility, even if slight. We turned off the lights and attempted to go back to sleep. Everytime I would feel myself dozing off I would be snapped awake by more rustling. After about an hour of this I sat up and said, "That is definitely in our room." So, in a flash Tonni was up again freaking out and turning on the light. This time, the little beast was located after ten minutes of thorough searching. It was in a small bag at the base of Tonni's bed. She had left crachers in the bag that had ultimately attracted a little friend. Tonni bent the sides of the bag down and ran with it at arms length toward the door. I ran ahead of her, making sure to steer clear of the bag, and turned on all the lights. We threw the bag outside and saw a mouse run off, before we immediately ran in the opposite direction as though we were running from some huge monster. I went back outside to grab the bag, and the guard just looked at me like we were absolutely crazy haha. It was quite an eventful night, which caused everyone in our room to sleep through our alarms the next morning. At 9:05 we were awakened by one of our flatmates asking if we were going to work... My roommates and I are all supposed to leave for our placements by 9 haha. Amazingly we all got ready in record time, and were out the door within th next five minutes. We all made it to work.
Yesterday, I didn't have to teach because it was, yet again, a festival day. At school we all just sang songs, ate, and hung out around a fire. From whant I understand it was a festival celebrating the Hindu god of knowledge, which the teachers obviously feel is very important. While talking to the teacher that I help (Mrs. Peters), I was quite surprised to find that she is a Christian. She is the first Christian that I have met here so far. Most of those that I have met are Hindu or Sikh. One of the guys that helps with our program (Vicky) is a Sikh, and he showed us how he puts his turban on. I couldn't believe how big the peace of fabric was. Some of the Sikhs use a 12 meter peice of fabric, which is twice as long as the saris women wear to cover their entire body. The whole process looked very complicated and like it would take a good half hour to put on. Vicky can put his on in 2-3 minutes haha.
Today, I taught the class completely by myself without it turning into total chaos. I've gotten more comfortable using some of the Hindi words and phrases and am actually understanding some of the things the kids are asking. I know all of their names now which helps when you're trying to get someone's attention. I left school feeling like it was a good day.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Ganges with Anne and Tisa is Rishikesh. It is the time of year when a large portion of India makes their pilgrimage to the Ganges for a holy dips, so there are expected to be thousands of people there. I can't wait to see such a huge event in India. It's going to be quite an experience.
Almost all of the volunteers leave tomorrow. Their three weeks are up. There are only going to be 4 people, including myself, left. We are supposed to get a new group in on the 30th. I'm sad that the volunteers in my group are leaving, but I'm very excited to get the opportunity to meet more people.