Wednesday- Snakes and Soda Pop

Today was our second chance since being here to get to travel to the colonies to work on the construction project of building bathrooms. We had one job today, but it was a big job indeed. We were in charge of moving about 500+ cinderblocks to designated places in the colonies. These cinderblocks are what will actually be the outside structure for the bathrooms themselves. Who would think that moving hundreds of cinderblocks in 94 degrees plus humidity could be so much fun??? Our group works so well together and we found that we were most successful when we made an assembly line and just passed cinderblocks down the row to the pile. By the end of our work, we felt that we had had a very productive and successful work day and that we had fun doing it. We also had the amazing opportunity see a snake charmer in the village work his magic. I was basically jumping out of my pants when I saw him pull the viper out of his burlap sack. He put the snake's tale under a metal anvil to keep it from getting away and then would tap it with a stick to make it really mad. Oh man, that was one aggressive snake and he was not happy to be stuck under an anvil. He did everything in his power to jump and strike move the anvil off of his tail that a one point we were all standing by the door ready to book it if he happened to slither free. The way it would puff up its body to make himself seem more threatening was so cool, especially when you could actually hear him puff himself up with air so it sounded like the viper was breathing deep and gasping for air. Then, the snake charmer grabbed the viper right at the base of his head basically making it so it couldn't move the rest of its body. Then, he actually milked the viper by getting it to sink its fangs into a plastic cup covered with plastic wrap and release its venom into the cup. The reason why the snake charmer does this is because he then dilutes the venom and drinks it (yes, he actually drinks it) which allows him to build up an immunity to that particular venom. While the snake charmer was holding the snake, we all had the opportunity if we wanted to (and even if we didn't want to) to hold the viper! I was just fine with passing on holding the viper, but Jordan was so certain that I would forever regret it if I didn't at least touch the snake with him. As you can see in the picture, for Jordan, this was basically a dream come true with coming to India, for me, it more like my worst nightmare!

After our very eventful day at construction, our group got to stop in the junction to get ice cream to help cool us off after all our hard work. We don't think there is anything better than sitting in the air conditioned van eating our delectable butterscotch ice cream cones. We also got to buy two of India's most popular drinks, Appy Fizz, which is basically like carbonated apple juice, and Maaza, which is a mango that has been pureed down to juicy, mangoey, refreshing, perfection in a bottle. After a long days work in this heat, these drinks are like delicacies that we look forward to just as much as our bucket showers. Today the heat has been waring on us greatly. After working in the sun all day, we are so excited to come back to our hostel because we get to sit in our air conditioned rooms. Unfortunately we have had so many power surges today that it causes the air conditioning in our rooms to turn off so we can never get our rooms to cool off. In the evening it has actually been cooler outside then in our room. If it weren't for all the mosquitos, I would be up for sleeping outside! Anyway, with all the amazing things that are happening here, it is well worth the battle with the heat! We love you all! Thank you for all your prayers and support!