Our Field Trip

*****Pictures to follow in a few days.......I fried my camera last week and it's in Mumbai getting fixed, so I managed to borrow the Child Haven camera on Sunday, but it will take a few days to get pictures organized.........I thought I would write the post anyhow......

Namaste;
Sunday was our long awaited filed trip that the pre-schoolers at Sunflower raised the money for. I used the money from the loonie/twoonie collection to pay for the school bus. It was a very full day !! We got up at 6:00am. The children dressed in their special outfits and donned lots of jewelry and henna on the hands, nail polish and garlands of flowers in the hair. The bus came around 8:30 and we cracked a coconut on a rock in front of the bus to make sure we had a safe journey. It was a VERY noisy, boisterous bus ride. The music was blasting from the sound system and the children sang and danced along at the top of their lungs. The seats are only used to take a rest, ortherwise the children all stand in the aisles and dance. Five or six boys squeezed into the passenger seat beside the driver. Craziness.

Our first stop was the Silk factory. The grounds are beautiful, with over 100 trees planted 30-40 years ago, it is a peaceful green space. There is a reflecting pool and garden and a fountain by the manager's home. The silk factory was quite interesting. They have 8 rows of huge tables (130 feet long) They are heated by steam running under the tables to heat the wax. There are over 5000 silk screen designs and they are done in blocks along the cloth that is layed out on the tables. I'll show pictures on the blog in a few days. (technical difficulties) The manager gave us samosas and chai (tea) and then we headed off to the biscuit factory.

The "Parle" biscuit factory has Asia's largest oven, over 300 feet long. We watched the batter being mixed in huge vats and then it went along a convayer belt to be shaped into cookies and into the ovens. The cookies come out the otherside, cool down, then get packaged and shipped all over India. VERY popular treat.

We came back to the Ashram for a quick lunch and then off to see a place that makes organic soaps, and breads, pottery, and carpentry. Next, on our way to the beach we stopped by a machine shop, owned by a Child Haven donor who gave us pykoras and pop. Then on to the beach. By now it was 5:00 pm and the sun goes down at 6:00 or so. The area is very popular for walking at low tide to a fort which is about 1 km or so out in the water. They have pony and wagon rides for those who don't want to walk. We had a wonderful walk splashing in the 3-4 inch water out to visit the fort. After out visit to the fort we played at the waters edge. Digging for crabs and just digging holes, soccer in the shallow water, the parachute game and people watching. The police inspector who's a regular donor, had invited us for chai in town so we went to a restaurant and had chai and biscuits, then headed home. We danced and sang full blast all the way home too. The children ate dinner at 10:00pm and then prayers and bed by 11:00pm.

It was such a fun day.

Love Beth