Hey! Today was really exciting, well the last half of the day was at least. I woke up somehow at 7am, an hour before breakfast fully rested and without the help of an alarm. I was pretty impressed with myself since everyone is super jet lagged and such, in fact, i don't think i am suffering from jet lag at all I'm tired but no more tired then I would be at home in the east coast time zone.After breakfast we had another Tamil class, were we learned more phrases like "do you want (blank)" and "yes/no i do/n't want (blank)" it started to get complicated already. Our second class was Tamil Myth, Religion and Art where we met Dr. V who gave us a VERY brief overview of India's history and how Hinduism came to be in preparation for our temple visit. Lunch today was a traditional southern Indian meal that comprised of several side dishes, 3 veggies, 3 sauces, curd (yogurt), dessert, and rice (im forgetting some other things as well). I finally kinda understood how you are supposed to eat rice and curry with your RIGHT hand, its this scoop and push method which I have found helpful. After lunch we went on our first temple visit. To be appropriate we wore the traditional clothing we bought yesterday, which I found out was very itchy (at least mine was because of the embroidery and sequins!!) We walked to the temple which was about a 15 minute walk away. I really love walking on the busy streets of India, although all the constant honking, especially the loud honks of buses is a bit startling and I am slowly getting used to it. I find the most difficult part of transitioning to Indian customs for me is not looking others, particularly men, in the eyes. If I did sustain eye contact with a male it could send messages that I do not intend, but I am curious so I want to stare and make eye contact. I am pretty fearless when it comes to American traffic my thought is "if you hit me i will sue you" so that kinda helps in India, not that I am going to run out in traffic but not being afraid helps when people are weaving all over the place. When we arrived at the temple the first thing we did was take off our shoes because it is customary and rude not too. Then we began to explore, we saw many different stone carvings, a bronze statue of a bull god and many other interesting deities. It is just amazing to think that so long ago these temples were constructed, they are so detailed. The specific temple we visited today is known as the big temple, it is either the biggest temple (in height) in India or in Southern India, either way it was super tall! After we exited one of the rooms in the main temple a family asked if i could take their picture, of course I agreed. Soon this simple picture became quite an event. Bill the program assistent was taking my picture with the family of about 4. Then we waited for the grandparents...and the cousins....and the children....until it was a group of me and about 20 indians. It was a really special moment for me because I was happy that they wanted me in the picture and it meant as much to them as it meant to me. They shook my hand after and spoke english to me, it was a very friendly moment.