Salem... Not the One in Oregon.

குட் மோர்னிங் ... apparently 'good morning' in Tamil, which we recently discovered has over 250 letters in its alphabet. It's proving slightly more difficult to learn then Spanish, French, or Swahili.

On Wednesday we found Matilda's white face in a sea of dark ones at Chennai's central station; SO good to be around her again. Thursday we took the train 5 hours southwest to ICMC in Salem. We're staying in a huge 6-story cement building with amazing views, smells, and sounds from every direction. ICMC, run by former orphan Dr. Jay, cares for over 1500 orphans; 200 of them live across the street in 2 girls and boys hostels, and the remaining are an hour away at "Promised Land" in the foothills of the Yercaud mountains. We went out last night for a visit and were greeted by 1300 kids, all lined up in the courtyard, sitting cross-legged, clapping for us. It was insane.

Here at the base in town, we are mostly on our own so we've been walking around town getting stared at, playing games with the kids nearby, and visiting the elementary school.

Some pictures to save me a couple thousand words..

Matilda buying bananas.

Note the ravanous monkeys overhead.

Meat on the street.

After studying this for 5 minutes,

we still have no idea what it is. Dog..?

For Isaac and Leah: the local ice cream shop.

Their motto is "Each is one type ya!"

Anyone want a local STD?? (phone shop)

The drains running down each side of the street.

Who knows what horrific bacteria lurks in these murky waters..

For Maren: the enormous base dog, Brownie.

The boys hostel across the street.

Matilda, Nat, and some of the Promised Land kids.

The PL kitchen, where they cook for 1,300 kids..

The rice fields at PL during sunset.