So Sleepy.

I'm now a day behind (since I fell asleep last night) so I'm going to try and quickly catch up...but without missing the details.

So yesterday was Saturday and we went to Mamallapuram, where there is lots of shopping, ancient temples, and Ideal Beach. So that is just what we did.
The Temples were neat, but without a real explanation the sculptures weren't very meaningful and all looked the same. Mixed with extreme heat, we decided to do these very quickly. Then off to shopping! Shopping was actually way fun. Because I wasn't afraid to Barter prices. We also were all dressed in the Kurtas which made people take us more serious. And even though I didn't get as good of deals as I could have (I later found out). I still feel like I was pretty successful. For instance in the first shop, the man outside told me a good price for a bag, and said he had more inside his shop. So I went in and started looking at them, and the man inside told me a different price- higher. I quickly told him the better price the man outside gave me and he laughed and said okay. So I knew from the beginning I was going to have to be demanding. Then one of the professors that is traveling with us asked him "how much?" for the same bag. And before the store owner could answer I told her the price I had gotten it down to, and he shook his head at me in disapproval. Whoops.
So I felt like I got some good deals. But I'm also already out of rupees. So I might not have been as good at bartering as I thought I was. But I also did feel bad for many of the store owners as we were their only customers for the day. So that might have also had something to do with several of my purchases. But since we were their only customers we spent more time in each store, and spent time getting to know the store owners. One just graduated from college and opened his own store. He is from Kashmir and had to leave because of all the craziness going on there. He told us just a day earlier there were 8 deaths in the area he used to live.
Then in another store, Brittany and the store owner had to go find a credit card machine, so we waited in the store with his worker and talked. He told us he was fasting for Ramadan and that it was "easy". haha We then discussed how us American's could never do it. haha That made him laugh. But then we did share about how in our LDS religion we do fast for two meals once a month. And he thought that was cool. He later also told us we made him miss his prayer, because he was told to stay and watch us in the store. I felt so bad but he said "no, no its fine I will pray after." Sooo hope thats like a normal thing. He then told us he was stopping school and also had to move away because of all the violence in his hometown (which I don't remember where that is). Then he randomly through out that he "Likes Obama" and that we have a very good president. I agreed. :)
Oh I almost forgot the adventure of getting my clothes made. They have many tailors in this town so you just go into their shop pick out the fabric and style- they measure you on the spot and then make it same day. Actually in like 3 hours they made clothing for 3-4 of us. It was impressive. And its all in this tiny shop. Which made it all the more exciting. I made him agree to make me two kurta tops for 600 rupee's, which is like 12 US dollars. So that was a good deal in my mind. But Jenny later told me I still got ripped off. Then I got pants for another 800 rupee's since they were Linen instead of cotton. And I got special ordered pockets and everything in them.
After the shopping we decided to do the Adventure of getting to Ideal Beach. Which is a very nice (for India) resort. Which cost about 74 dollars a night for the nicest beach front condo. So thats pretty sweet. But to get to Ideal beach you need to take a Rickshaw.

Warning Mother: if you don't want to know skip down past this paragraph.
So we (four of us girls) stop and ask one of the rickshaw drivers if he can take us to Ideal beach. He then asked us "what Ideal beach?" was one too many times. So I decided we needed to get someone else. So another guy pulls up, and I ask Can you take us to Ideal beach? And he said yes 80 rupees. (less than 2 dollars). But we were already told by Jenny it should be about 60, and the guy previous had also agreed to 60. That was of course before he even knew where Ideal Beach was- but anyways. I start arguing with the guy and say 60 rupees and he says "No this is expensive diesel gas" So I said then we will go with this other guy. And the rickshaw driver points out the other rickshaw is from Chenni(which is about 3 hours away). So I decided he did have a valid point he probably did know this area better, so I said fine 70. And he said no 75. And finally Tricia decided the .10 cents we were arguing about wasn't worth it. So we all get in, a 3 person rickshaw. And he drives off. He then pulls up to his gang of Rickshaw drivers (who knew that was even a thing) they talk in Tamil, but he repeatedly points to us. And then we keep driving. My first thought was that he was probably telling his friends that we were in a bigger group and more people would be wanting drivers to the same place- but then Trica decided to freak us all out. And points out he is driving in the opposite direction we thought the Beach was. So then we ask "We are going to Ideal Beach right?" And the driver laughs (probably because he understood more English than we gave him credit for) and says "No we go to P..(something)." Then explains it similar to a bar. So then Tricia really starts freaking out, and my motherly calm in stressful situations kicked in. So I then tried to get him to admit he was going the right way and that he was just messing with us, but he just kept laughing and telling us we were going to a Bar. But because I know my Heavenly Father loves me and wouldn't want me to die in India. I just calmly told the Driver I knew it was only a 5 minute drive to the Beach and that he better get us there in the remaining 4 minutes. He then said "okay, okay I joking." And sure enough a minute later we pulled into Ideal Beach Resort. Where he then asked if we would need a ride back. And before anyone else could said yes- since we kind of did. I said "nope we have a ride". We then paid him the 75 rupees. And walked away. :)

Once we were at Ideal beach we quickly changed into out swim suits and jumped into the pool. And had a lovely afternoon complete with Cheese Naan, Orange Fanta, and boys from Minnesota. We then got Jenny to let us just take the bus back with everyone and quickly go pick up our clothing before we left.
The day left me surprisingly drained and I fell asleep at 9:30 and was out until Michelle had to wake me up at 6:30 for church.