Field Trip!

The second day started off slow because we practically painted until lunchtime. Thankfully, we finished painting the library right before 2:00 P.M. when lunch was served. After lunch, we got to play with the children until they were called to go shower and put on their uniforms. When they came out, it looked like we were in prison because they all had the same outfits. By then, most of them knew we were going to see an IMAX movie at the science museum. When we arrived at the museum, I was surprised at how it dwarfed every structure around it. For an area with so much poverty, it was strange that they had such a nice museum. The children (all 37 of them) piled out of a yellow van. Three of them went on our bus because we had room, but still I can't imagine having to ride everywhere in that van. They were ecstatic to ride in a bus without having someone smushing them into the wall or having someone sit in their lap. After getting off the bus, the girls and boys each lined up youngest to oldest and walked towards the entrance where we posed for a group picture. After the picture, we were split into two groups and went on a tour. My group went to the space exhibit first and the tour guide asked the group of teens to go in this maze while another guide explained the solar system to the children. That maze was absolutely hilarious and horrible at the same time. The entire time, we were crawling because it was about as big as an air duct and there were all sorts of obstacles and drops along the way. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it was pitch black. It seemed like we were in there forever and would never get out, but finally after one last drop, we saw the exit. The worst part of the whole thing was that the entrance was next to a corner and when we got out, we saw that we came out where we went in. After that experience, we played with the kids in the exhibits and then headed for the IMAX theatre. The featured presentation was "India Mistica" and had no subtitles. Thankfully, the scenes and pictures were amazing and I had quite a laugh when the bugs on the projector lens were seen a million times their actual size and walking around like they were part of the movie. When the movie ended, a guide took us to a virtual reality exhibit where the children were split into two groups and played volleyball with each other like they were in video game or something. While the children played, we said our goodbyes and left for dinner. At the end of the day, I could only think about how ironic it was that they have such a good science museum yet no one can visit because the area is so poor. Another observation that I made throughout the trip was the driving. It seemed like in order to drive, you had to master defensive driving. It was like mad dash everywhere; there were many times I thought either we would get in a wreck or a car around us would but that never happened. One thing I did like about their transportation system were the stoplights. Right before they would turn red, the lights would flash so you knew how much time you had until it changed. I thought it was a clever way to prevent people from feeling that they could make the light before it was too late. Anyways, the second day was great on so many levels and I was very excited to see what the next day held.