We went back over to the high school at 4, when we had planned to meet the two students who wanted to play ultimate frisbee. They didn't show up until after 4:30 and we just hung out and watched a bull wandering through the rice paddies. A couple of former high school students came up and pantomimed that they wanted to take a picture of us. They took one of us together then each of us with each of them. Friends from home had told me about this happening to them during some of their trips but it's a strange thing to experience firsthand. More and more people showed up while we were waiting and after about 20 peoples were there we went back to the dirt area at the other school where people have been playing cricket. With some difficulty, we explained the rules and played a quick game that was about 9 vs 9, which was way to many people for the field. We broke into teams of 4 and had a tournament. Everyone got very into it and wants to play ultimate with us every night. Biku said he doesn't like outdoor games usually but he can't stop talking about how much he loves frisbee. Afterwards we stayed and tried to talk with some of the students. They're trying to teach us Odia and I was helping Dudule and Chiku work on English. We're going to start the first Juanga Ultimate Frisbee team. After the game, it was around 7 and Biku walked us out to a beautiful spot by the river and we sat and talked for a while. Biku told us not to walk on the side of roads at night because of snakes. A group of about 10 villagers came to meet and chat with us (mostly through Biku) while we were sitting on the wall. They'd often pull up, 4 on each motorcycle. They made a bonfire by lighting clumps of hay on fire and tossing them into the dried reeds. It's a good thing everything here is so wet.
We got a ride back to the hospital and they were blasting a song by Selena Gomez. We ate dinner at 10 and Biku followed us back to our room and talked for another hour. He loves romance songs and movies so I played him "one more try" by Jake Yarmoff. He says he's going to send this song to his ex. While we were talking, Biku said that when he first say me at the airport he thought "oh no, this guy is very strict, very harsh" and he said that I had "angry face". He has since realized that I'm very nice, but was intimidated when we met. I have no idea why this is and but I'm glad he's changed his opinion.
We've only been in India for a couple of days but it feels like much longer.
Today we are going to go meet Biku's parents and some of his medical school friends in Puri.
-AB
Scary angry face
Juanga ultimate team
Always sweat-soaked clothes
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