Today I slept in until around 9:30 because we had no specific plans for the day. The only plan that I really knew of was to hang around the hotel because of the celebration of Holi. I woke up, jumped in the shower, and got dressed so that I could go down and get some breakfast. I ate 3 tiny pancakes and had some amazing watermelon juice. It was straight up freshly squeezed from a watermelon and it tasted so pure. After eating we went up on the roof to check out what was going on in the streets for the Holi celebration. There wasn't much happening. Maybe a few people here and there painting each other but that was about it. Myself and a few others decided we wanted to go out and see if we could get painted up by the people. So, we walked out on the streets and started walking to see what exactly we had to do in order to get someone to put paint on us. We found a group of guys with paint and we asked them what you had to do... and they just said that you tell someone "Happy Holi" and they put paint on you. So, we did that to them. And they wiped it all over our faces and hair. We continued walking up and down the street and more and more people came up wiping it on us. Eventually we were taking pictures with some of them. They all seemed really excited to have us there for the celebration. It's crazy, but it really makes them happy. After we spent some time out on the streets we went back into the hotel to get showered up. The hotel was going to shut off the water for a few hours and we needed to get all of the junk off of us before they did that. So, I took another shower and just kind of hung out around the room. Spent time on the internet and just hanging around the hotel. From the hotel room every now and then we would hear people yelling in the alley and they would be getting paint on each other. So we would try and talk to them from the window. After a little while it was time for lunch. So we went down to eat. By the way, Holi is a government holiday so everything is supposed to close down. The restaurant in the hotel was not supposed to be open. But they stayed open for us. The food was amazing. For lunch they served us more alfredo! It was just as amazing as the night before. They also had mashed potatoes which freaking rocked my face off and really really good vegetables. It was an amazing lunch. And it was definitely refreshing to have some food that I am comfortable with eating. After lunch we spent about another hour at the hotel and then the plan was to try and get out of the hotel and see a few sights. So, we left the hotel in the bus and started going down the road around 3. As we started driving we took a turn down a road and there was a mob of guys with paint all over them and they were dancing in the street. They had obviously been participating in Holi and seemed very excited. They started walking towards the bus and were yelling "Happy Holi" to us. There were probably close to 20 of them. I got very excited. They eventually surrounded the bus and were all yelling, waving, blowing kisses, hitting the windows, etc. A group of them were trying to barge their way into the door to get on the bus. I was beginning to get slightly concerned but I was still loving it. Some of them were getting a little violent. One person came up to one of the girls windows and punched it as hard as he could. He looked really angry. One person leaned in the drivers window and took out the keys so that we couldn't go anywhere. It was nuts. Apparently they were upset because by the looks of it none of us had participated in Holi. So they wanted us to get out of the bus and do so. Every time the bus driver would begin to drive forwards, the guys in front of the bus would kick it. Finally one of the guys got everyone to stop and they got off and out of the way just enough for us to move out. While driving off a brick hit the back window. It was pretty much the most intense moment ever. But I recorded it which is exciting. So, we talked about that insane event for a little while. We picked up one of the ladies from the church fellowship named Poonam and went to the zoo. I figured this would be pretty awesome. We arrived at the zoo and it was closed for the celebration of Holi. But Poonam knew somebody and was able to get us in for free. So, we went in and waited on a guide to show us around. While waiting we took a group picture. Finally we were about to tour the zoo. We saw a few cool things but not too much. Most of the good animals were either gone somewhere or sleeping. So, it really wasn't as cool as we thought it would be. We left the zoo after about 2 hours and headed back to the hotel. It was getting dark and there were still a good bit of people out on the street for the Holi celebration. But luckily we didn't have any crazy encounters like we did on the way. Once we got back to the hotel we went up to the rooms and started packing out things to leave. I spent some time on the internet talking to Kelly and sending out some emails. We went to dinner around 7 oclock and they had cooked grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and apple pie. It was so good. Again, this place is technically supposed to be closed on the day of Holi, but they were doing us a huge favor so that we would have meals to eat. The food was phenomenal. Once I was done I went back up to the room to finish getting things together and run out my internet time. We all met downstairs around 8:30 to walk over to the train station. Dr. Hagin and Philip squared away the money that we owed with the hotel and then we were off. We got a rickshaw to carry our things to the train station. The streets were pretty packed still but it was a cool night. It was kind of sad to leave Ranchi. It had been such a great time... and I knew that the sooner we left Ranchi, the sooner we would have to leave India. We arrived at the train station and waited around for the train to arrive. We bought some drinks and things for the ride. The train showed up around 9:30. It was a sleeper train so there were beds instead of seats. I had only been on a train once before this and it was on the way to Ranchi, so I had definitely never been on a train like this. We boarded the train and found our bunks. I was actually bunking with Philip which was pretty exciting. I really like him. He is very passionate about what he is doing and it is evident. I'm not exactly sure what it is about him. I just feel connected to him for some reason. We are now on the train and chilling in our bunks. It's been a very fun day... but this is going to be a long ride. Hopefully I can get some sleep.
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